Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has announced an upcoming Industry Day dedicated to exploring innovative and emerging solutions in the context of counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) and adversarial red teaming services to test the effectiveness and responsiveness of C-UAS solutions. The Industry Day will be held on 12 June 2024, on Webex. […]
UNVEX’24 will gather the leading experts in drones on 4 and 5 June in Barcelona. Representatives of the institutions related to the sector, from regulation to users, including integration, at all territorial levels, will debate the most important issues in the sector. The UNVEX’24 conference programme is structured in four theatres covering the main applications. […]
Hundreds of university and high school students from more than 70 schools across the globe will descend on Southern Maryland to compete their self-built unmanned systems at the 22nd annual RoboNation Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) Competition on June 25-26 at the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD)—the […]
Summer 2024 is shaping up to be the season of theme park drone shows, with nighttime entertainment at Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Dollywood and more. Even smaller theme parks like Indiana’s Holiday World are jumping on the drone light show train.
I’ve documented most of the biggest drone shows in 2024 happening around the country. That list is much broader, incorporating festivals, conferences, rodeos and even some semi-private events. But here, I’ve honed in on just theme parks.
I’m not going to even bother saving the best for last. I’m putting what’s very likely set to be not just the best theme park drone show of summer 2024, but perhaps the best drone show of the entire year, at the front of my list.
Dubbed CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular, the nighttime show at Universal Studios Orlando will feature 600 drones. They’ll fly in sync to a soundtrack featuring songs from some of Universal’s most beloved films including “Harry Potter,” “Jaws,” “Shrek,” “Ghostbusters,” “Trolls, Back to the Future, Universal Monsters, Transformers, How to Train Your Dragon, E.T., Fast and Furious, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Minions,” “The Mummy” and King Kong.
True to its name, this is not just a drone show but a full spectacular. The show takes advantage of its location on the waters of the Universal Studios Florida lagoon by incorporating water effects too. The show features 228 fountains that reach heights up to 131 feet, as well as 4K projection mapping on the buildings around the lagoon.
“CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular” kicks off on Friday, June 14.
Walt Disney World Resort (Lake Buena Vista, Florida)
The Universal Orlando drone show is not the only drone show in Orlando this summer. You could see drone shows on back-to-back nights by heading over to Disney Springs. That’s the outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment district at Walt Disney World.
There, you can watch “Disney Dreams That Soar”, which features state-of-the-art drones choreographed to create scenes and characters from beloved Disney stories. It’s all set to a soaring musical score.
The show runs nightly from May 24 through September 2, 2024.
And though we anticipate the Disney World drone show to likely not be as large of a spectacle as Universal’s show, there’s one big reason why this one is better. It’s free to watch. With its seemingly-endless dining and shops, Disney Springs makes for one of the best free things to do outside the Orlando theme parks. The larger-than-life Disney Lego models at the Lego Store are museum-worthy. Meanwhile, the Disney Springs shops sell unique Disney merchandise beyond the usual plush dolls and jackets. Don’t miss The Art of Disney for gallery-style framed prints, DisneyStyle for on-trend fashion, Disney’s Candy Cauldron and Disney’s Days of Christmas.
Throw in this free Disney drone show, and Disney Springs is the place to be this summer.
Disneyland Paris (Marne-la-Vallée, France)
The 2024 Paris Olympics aren’t the only excitement happening over in France this summer.
Head just outside of Paris to Marne-la-Vallée, France for Disneyland Paris’s “Disney Electrical Sky Parade.” This drone show pays homage to the classic Main Street Electrical Parade, featuring iconic characters and scenes formed by hundreds of drones.
Dollywood’s Sweet Summer Nights will be back bigger and brighter than ever this year.
This popular event is becoming something of an annual tradition. The first Dollywood drone light show debuted in 2021, and it’s been going strong ever since.
In 2024, its nighttime drone features hundreds of drones that accompany fireworks. And just ahead of the show, there’s a dance party, too.
In a 30-minute drone pre-show of sorts, a hyped DJ and energetic dancers build up anticipation in the park’s Wildwood Grove section. Drones sync up with the culmination of the dance party, launching just as the dance party ends.
The Dollywood’s Sweet Summer Nights Dance Party and Drone Show occurs nightly at 9:40 p.m., weather permitting.
Holiday World (Santa Claus, Indiana)
Theme park drone shows aren’t just limited to the major players. Indiana’s Holiday World has a drone show of its own, featuring 500 drones. Other than the free Disney World drone show, this ranks among the most affordable theme park drone shows you’ll ever see.
Tickets cost just $75 at the gate (and are even cheaper when booked online). With a Holiday World ticket, you also get incredibly generous bonuses you won’t get at the other theme parks. That includes free parking, free soft drinks and free sunscreen. For context around just how valuable that is, parking alone at Universal Orlando costs $32.
If you do want to splurge a bit more, consider booking the Drone Show Dessert Party. For an additional $30 on top of your theme park admission ticket, you’ll get premium seating plus bottled water, fruit, cheese and dessert.
The Holiday World Drone Show kicks off on Saturday, June 22. Weather-permitting, shows run nightly through Sunday, Aug. 4.
There are a few reasons why theme parks continue to display enthusiasm for drone shows.
Stunning visuals: Drone shows offer a whole new level of creativity and flexibility for nighttime entertainment. Drones can create intricate formations, dynamic animations, and vibrant colors that traditional fireworks displays simply can’t match.
Environmentally friendly: Unlike fireworks, drones don’t produce smoke or air pollution. This is a major advantage for theme parks looking to reduce their environmental impact.
Quieter experience: Fireworks can be loud and startling for some guests, especially young children. Drone shows, on the other hand, are much quieter, making them a more inclusive form of entertainment.
Scalability and flexibility: Drone shows can easily scale up or down to fit a theme park’s size and budget. They can also adapt to different themes and stories, giving park creators more creative freedom.
Long-term affordability: Unlike fireworks, which necessitate the purchase of a fresh batch of gunpowder for each show, drone shows are largely a fixed, upfront cost. Typically, light show drones cost about $1,000 each. That’s per drone, but since they’re reusable, drone light shows can cost about $15,000 for smaller shows (which means about 100 drones). The cost per theme parks can be even lower given the repeatability. Rather than one-off drone show events for festivals or sporting events, these shows can keep costs down since there’s less setup, and no travel costs involved.
This year’s FAA Drone and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Symposium will focus on how the FAA continues to safely integrate these aircraft while creating a framework to accelerate advanced operations. The event, which runs from July 30 – Aug 1 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, will bring together representatives from the FAA, other government […]
Mayman Aerospace will unveil a full-scale model of Razor, its high-speed Air Utility Vehicle, during SOF Week 2024, May 6-10 in Tampa, Florida. Razor is the name for the military variant of the dual-use, jet-powered, high-speed vertical take-off and landing (HS- VTOL) vehicle, from US-based manufacturer Mayman Aerospace. Derived from the Speeder design, the scalable […]
The team at DARTdrones is hosting a raffle for their online Part 107 test prep course (a $200 value!), exclusively for Drone Girl readers.
The contest is underway, and readers must enter by May 14, 2024, for a chance to win. Use this link to enter and win a free online Part 107 test prep course.
On May 15, 2024, DARTdrones will announce a winner. And here’s the best part: One of Drone Girl’s readers is guaranteed to win if you use this link to enter.
A closer look at DARTdrones courses
The DARTdrones Part 107 course is a self-paced online class with 8 interactive hours of class material, unlimited practice tests, and a monthly review webinar. There’s a 99% pass rate for those who use the DARTdrones course, along with a money-back guarantee.
Additionally, DARTdrones offers live virtual courses starting at $375. These courses occur on select days (typically weekends) and span about four hours each day.
Also, you may recognize the name DARTdrones from the company’s CEO, Abby Speicher, appearing on Shark Tank. There, Mark Cuban invested $300,000 in exchange for 10% of her company.
XPONENTIAL 2024, the massive drone conference for uncrewed systems and robotics, wraps up today in San Diego. This year’s conference, which is considered one of the biggest drone events in the world, ran from April 22 to 25, 2024 at the San Diego Convention Center. XPONENTIAL 2024 is put on by Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems (AUVSI), which is a massive lobbying group that advocates for the drone industry.
With the conference came the big XPO Hall with tons of vendors (and free swag), plus keynotes, breakout sessions and workshops. Many tech companies use conferences like XPONENTIAL 2024 as a place to launch their newest products — which was certainly the case this year. And AUVSI itself included some new offerings, including outdoor demonstrations, a segment focused on the military, and a new zone called “Cyber City” focused specifically on digital defense.
The week has left attendees buzzing with the latest advancements in the field. So with that, here are the top highlights that stole the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2024 show:
The top things you missed at AUVSI’s XPONENTIAL 2024
Pacific Pivot offers outdoor demos of defense drones
An aerial view of Shelter Island on the San Diego Bay.
New to this year’s XPONENTIAL 2024, AUVSI ran a series of outdoor demonstrations of defense-oriented drones in an area called ‘Pacific Pivot.’ Attendees saw intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) drones, they saw hydrogen fueled drones, and they saw anti-drone detection in action.And given the flights over the ocean, Pacific Pivot was able to showcase maritime domain awareness, too. Among the companies that put on demonstrations included:
Jaia Robotics: uses drones for aquatic data collection
MatrixSpace: builds an ultra-small radar system to provide integrated outdoor surveillance in 4D
The conference used its location in downtown San Diego to conduct demonstrations from Pepper Park to Point Loma and around San Clemente Island.
An increased focused on defense
Adam Bry, Skydio CEO conducts a demo flight with Deputy Secretary of Defense Katheen Hicks. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)
Those live demonstrations were just the start of this conference’s emphasis on defense. In fact, AUVSI 2024 served as the site of the second installment of ‘AUVSI Defense.’ That event was a convergence of military leaders and industry executives, including high-ranking military officials. Military representatives included leaders from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, as well as federal agencies including DARPA, DCMA, DHS, DIU, FAA, NASA and the NSA.
AUVSI Defense came at a critical time as the drone industry grapples with various military projects and general Buy American questions. Many formerly consumer-oriented drone companies, including Skydio and Teal, have since pivoted to focus on the defense sector. And government efforts like the Replicator initiative have certainly made it interesting for American drone companies to do so.
The third installment of AUVSI Defense is set for Oct. 23 and 24 in McLean, Virginia.
Drone cybersecurity comes to forefront
AUVSI used its opening day keynote to announce some fairly significant news with the Department of Defense (DoD).
The organization announced that it was entering what’s called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). With that MOU, the two are creating a process for drone component manufacturers that also hold a Green UAS certification to share their data with the DIU.
The goal? To make it easier to add certified components to the DIU’s Blue UAS Framework list. And by being on that list, cybersecurity products and their supply chains would become more streamlined, in turn making it more clear as to what drone parts truly are NDAA-verified.
Green UAS certification is a process somewhat similar to the compliance and cybersecurity verification procedures used to verify products on DIU’s Blue UAS list.
In the future, Green-certified components could be more easily added to the DIU’s Blue UAS Framework list.
“The intent behind this effort is to increase availability of NDAA verified UAS components to the uncrewed industry at large and streamline the process for Blue UAS consideration,” said Derek McBride, Deputy Director of DIU’s Autonomy Portfolio. “Providing better options for our warfighters and our national security is paramount.”
Though the drone industry has certainly found its foothold in the last few years, there’s still room for drone startups. Yes, that comes even at a time when drone industry funding is showing signs of drying up. Over at the XPO+ Launcher Startup pavilion, drone startups could showcase their ideas.
On Wednesday, April 24, startups pitched at the Innovation Theater on the exhibition floor. The day concluded with he first XPO+ Launcher Pitch Award followed by the XPO+ Launcher VC & Startup Reception. Much of the day was powered by GENIUS NY, a business accelerator program based in Syracuse, New York that hosts an annual startup competition. GENIUS NY also claims to be the world’s largest UAS accelerator.
Among the startups that conducted demonstrations included Aerotate, Angel Aerial Systes, Arrive, Duality Robotics, Field AI, Lift.Works, Linia, Pattent, Phoenix Flight Industries, Secure AI, Semai, Shearwater Aerospace, Upgrade Energy and WingXpand.
Suter is launching its new HF-TOA288-SDI heavy fuel engine at this years’ xPonential 2024 in San Diego, CA. This new 22.5hp unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engine meets the growing demand for engines utilizing jet fuel (Jet-A1, JP5, JP8) to meet safety and logistics goals of global customers. Suter has produced over 300 gasoline TOA288 engines […]
UNVEX’24 has secured the participation of key national and international leaders in the drone industry in its conference programme, as reflected in the first Spotlight session on June 4. The director of the Spanish Aviation Safety Agency, Patricia Pérez de Juan; the director of the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), Joachim Sucker; the director of Mossos d’Esquadra, Pere Ferrer; and the co-founder of the […]
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has announced an upcoming Industry Day dedicated to exploring innovative and emerging solutions in the context of counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) and adversarial red teaming services to test the effectiveness and responsiveness of C-UAS solutions. The Industry Day will be held on 12 June 2024, on Webex. […]
