Drone show at Disney Springs!

[Budshark]

I'm not a pyrotechnics expert, so I don't really know what remains of a firework after ignition. A fallen drone is in my view much more dangerous, as it is a solid piece of metal/plastic/whatever they make drones out of. I also wonder about the how well they can operate in windy condition vs. fireworks. Drones are much more complicated and inherently more prone to potential error. I just see a lot of liability issues for Disney.

I most definitely believe that drones will play a part in upcoming nighttime entertainment. It's just hard for me to imagine a cloud of thousands being feasible and or/safe in such a heavily populated space.

There's a lot of pieces - some still hot - of a firework that remain. The casing, unburned fragments, etc. That's why the fireworks are launched with a fallout area, but even then in strong winds its not unheard of to have some fallout reach. The smaller fireworks launched from fantasyland certainly have regular fallout into the crowd - with some eye irritation. Haven't heard of anything worse.
From the tech sheet, the drones can maintain 5 foot spacing in wind speeds up to 22mph.
Safety is part of the design (lightweight, cages, breakaway components, auto stabilization, return home function, soft landing) but I understand people want to see the evidence. Obviously the use of the drones at the Springs over water is part of the proving ground.

I don't think they will be as heavily featured at MK as they will be at Epcot and Disney Springs. If they do use them at MK the drones or lights would have to be brighter or bigger in order to get a good look at them. The MK fireworks launch site is behind MK so perception and distance might be an issue here.

Agreed... 5 years.
Combination of increase in brightness and tightening up the performance will allow them to achieve the desired brightness. It surprisingly doesn't take high lumens to present the desired look when hovering against a dark sky - in fact they certainly could achieve it today, based on how narrow the output field they want.

 

[rteetz]

Agreed... 5 years.
Combination of increase in brightness and tightening up the performance will allow them to achieve the desired brightness. It surprisingly doesn't take high lumens to present the desired look when hovering against a dark sky - in fact they certainly could achieve it today, based on how narrow the output field they want.

See I disagree. I think we will see it at Epcot within 5 years but not MK.

 

[Budshark]

See I disagree. I think we will see it at Epcot within 5 years but not MK.

That's only because you don't have the perspective of 5 years yet.

$225 Million... thats how much they'll spend at MK on Fireworks in the next 5 years (not including inflation or if they cut back shows).
Add this to the prediction tracking spreadsheet...

Now... what would be really cool is if they used drones to fly over Star Wars land so you had spaceships and Tie-Fighters and X-Wings filling the sky... Now that I could really get on board with.

 

[sachilles]

I think I agree with rteetz on this one....I think they will be able to do them at the MK in 5 years, but I think they won't do it there. Fireworks of the castle is a bit of signature thing for the magic kingdom. It's in just about every commercial, and even the open sequence of movies.
Certainly could see drones integrated into the fireworks show at MK, but won't likely be the feature. I could totally envision a drone tinkerbell for instance.

A big drone show at Epcot or Disney springs makes a lot of sense.

 

[Travis B]

I think I feel the need to be extra curmudgeonly and skeptical over this because @lockedoutlogic hasn't been around lately.

 

[Travis B]

That's only because you don't have the perspective of 5 years yet.

$225 Million... thats how much they'll spend at MK on Fireworks in the next 5 years (not including inflation or if they cut back shows).
Add this to the prediction tracking spreadsheet...

Now... what would be really cool is if they used drones to fly over Star Wars land so you had spaceships and Tie-Fighters and X-Wings filling the sky... Now that I could really get on board with.

This is kind of where I get lost. The drones are essentially floating lights, yes? That can make some very cool effects but I fail to see how it could translate into a realistic-looking spaceship. It would look like the outline of a spaceship made out of Christmas lights. I've been checking out video and have seen some impressive effects, but there's an aesthetic limit there. Everything looks like it's done on a Lite-Brite, albeit a grand scale Lite-Brite.

 

[Budshark]

I think I agree with rteetz on this one....I think they will be able to do them at the MK in 5 years, but I think they won't do it there. Fireworks of the castle is a bit of signature thing for the magic kingdom. It's in just about every commercial, and even the open sequence of movies.
Certainly could see drones integrated into the fireworks show at MK, but won't likely be the feature. I could totally envision a drone tinkerbell for instance.

A big drone show at Epcot or Disney springs makes a lot of sense.

somebody must've complained about the dead horse smilie because I don't see it.

So imagine: <dead horse smilie> $45,000/day.

From the very rough numbers available on the Internet where people tried to extract the daily operational costs of the parks... this would make fireworks roughly 8-10% of the total daily operating cost of the Magic Kingdom.
<dead horse smilie> They have a lot of motivation ... iconic or not.

 

[Budshark]

This is kind of where I get lost.

We are in agreement!!! Just kidding.

The drones are essentially floating lights, yes? That can make some very cool effects but I fail to see how it could translate into a realistic-looking spaceship. It would look like the outline of a spaceship made out of Christmas lights. I've been checking out video and have seen some impressive effects, but there's an aesthetic limit there. Everything looks like it's done on a Lite-Brite, albeit a grand scale Lite-Brite.

Not much different than the boxes or smilie face fireworks.... except they'd actually be visible more than 2% of the time.

Yes, you are correct... step 1 is they would create a lite brite effect. step 2 is they would actually lift reflective material and project on it (Disney patent). step 3 is Intel's long term goal (10+ years away, maybe sooner?) where you could actually have enough of these, at a dense enough ratio, where they could act as pixels in the sky and create a dynamic video board. Hence Disney's patented name "Flixel" - Flying Pixel.

 

[rteetz]

That's only because you don't have the perspective of 5 years yet.

$225 Million... thats how much they'll spend at MK on Fireworks in the next 5 years (not including inflation or if they cut back shows).
Add this to the prediction tracking spreadsheet...

Now... what would be really cool is if they used drones to fly over Star Wars land so you had spaceships and Tie-Fighters and X-Wings filling the sky... Now that I could really get on board with.

I am sure they spend around that on Epcot as well. IF they save the money on Epcot they'll have money for pyro at MK. And the money has never stopped them before, they have been doing fireworks at MK for over 40 years. I just don't believe we will see Drones at MK within 5 years.

Now flying over SWL would mean flying over people. That's one of the big concerns.

 

[sachilles]

somebody must've complained about the dead horse smilie because I don't see it.

So imagine: <dead horse smilie> $45,000/day.

From the very rough numbers available on the Internet where people tried to extract the daily operational costs of the parks... this would make fireworks roughly 8-10% of the total daily operating cost of the Magic Kingdom.
<dead horse smilie> They have a lot of motivation ... iconic or not.

Don't try to argue with logic and common sense

Might I impress upon you with another money sucking park icon known as the Monorail?

Fireworks might get cost reductions, but I don't foresee them disappearing no matter how much you beat on the cost cutting drum(horse).

 

[sachilles]

Eureka, I've got it.

Eliminate electric boat parade that goes around the lagoon(they still do that right?). Drones could totally replace that. Maybe some onboard pyrotechnics to take out a gator of opportunity in the right circumstances.
Eliminate the floats, and then you can put a regular bridge across the canal to connect Grand Floridian, and the yet to be made alternate parking area.

 

[Travis B]

We are in agreement!!! Just kidding.



Not much different than the boxes or smilie face fireworks.... except they'd actually be visible more than 2% of the time.

Yes, you are correct... step 1 is they would create a lite brite effect. step 2 is they would actually lift reflective material and project on it (Disney patent). step 3 is Intel's long term goal (10+ years away, maybe sooner?) where you could actually have enough of these, at a dense enough ratio, where they could act as pixels in the sky and create a dynamic video board. Hence Disney's patented name "Flixel" - Flying Pixel.

Fair enough. I do concede that we are only seeing the very beginnings of this tech, and Disney is undoubtedly better at producing entertainment than Intel. It will be fun to see what they can do with it, and how they navigate the inevitable challenges.

 

[Q-man]

I'm not a pyrotechnics expert, so I don't really know what remains of a firework after ignition. A fallen drone is in my view much more dangerous, as it is a solid piece of metal/plastic/whatever they make drones out of. I also wonder about the how well they can operate in windy condition vs. fireworks. Drones are much more complicated and inherently more prone to potential error. I just see a lot of liability issues for Disney.

I most definitely believe that drones will play a part in upcoming nighttime entertainment. It's just hard for me to imagine a cloud of thousands being feasible and or/safe in such a heavily populated space.

I've had the fireworks debris fall on us where Dumbo used to be when Dumbo was still in that location. Not sure it would even register in grams if you weighed it and as ash it was slowly drifting on the wind. I would assume drones would weigh in pounds.

 

[Budshark]

I've had the fireworks debris fall on us where Dumbo used to be when Dumbo was still in that location. Not sure it would even register in grams if you weighed it and as ash it was slowly drifting on the wind. I would assume drones would weigh in pounds.

.6 pounds max weight.

 

[Travis B]

.6 pounds max weight.

Plus whatever velocity it gathers as it falls from hundreds of feet up. Certainly enough to hurt someone.

 

[Budshark]

Plus whatever velocity it gathers as it falls from hundreds of feet up. Certainly enough to hurt someone.

That won't ever happen. They're designed to not crash.

http://bgr.com/2016/11/10/gopro-karma-crash-recall/

 

[hakepb]

Disney Springs is not in the no fly zone, am sure they've been working on this knowing they can send it up. Getting that approval will aid them in MK and Epcot.

Isn't the TFR 1.5 miles around the Contemporary, which covers MK and Future World, but not all of World Showcase?
http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/reg/scale7/tile_53_53.html

 

[HopperFan]

Isn't the TFR 1.5 miles around the Contemporary, which covers MK and Future World, but not all of World Showcase?
http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/reg/scale7/tile_53_53.html

Here is a clearer map - it appears all of Epcot was under the no fly zone.

 

[LeeAndRobin]

TFR Doesn't matter. Pilots routinely get permission from ATC to fly over Disney. The thought was that it was lobbied for by Disney to keep competitors from overflying the parks, under the "guise" of security. As the owner of the lands under the TFR it's likely they can get an exemption anytime they want...

 

[thegib95]

I think your estimate on nightly fireworks cost is way over blown. They import directly as do we (we have shared containers) and the shows are 18 minutes long. Depending on the shells I can't see that costing them in the bulk they order the shells much over 10-15K.

We just did a show with all professional shells for an event in North MO that lasted 12.5 minutes super rapid sky fill to music and our cost on it was just over 7K.