The Disney Dreams That Soar drone show at Disney Springs had its final show on September 2, 2024. The show, which featured 800 drones, ran throughout the summer over the western portion of Disney Springs. Now that Disney’s first major drone show at Disney World has wrapped, what’s next?
Let’s talk about all the things that Disney Dreams That Soar did right. As we mentioned in our review, the show featured a lot of impressive character designs that floated in the sky. It didn’t break any new ground, but the show was entertaining and a great free bit of nighttime entertainment. We think drones are long overdue at Disney World, so it was enjoyable to see them on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, Disney Dreams That Soar had its issues and most of those had nothing to do with the drones themselves. The show was an operational nightmare at Disney Springs. The area wasn’t designed for the crowds that often were in attendance. That led to some hectic, claustrophobic, and arguably unsafe conditions that had cast members counting down the days to the show’s finale.
The goal of Disney Dreams That Soar was to bring additional traffic and revenue to the stores at Disney Springs. It most certainly brought in more guests, but whether that translated to boosted revenue that was worth the operational headaches is probably the better question. We think there were enough issues that Disney won’t rush to have another show at Disney Springs.
Will drones come to one of Disney World’s theme parks? That’s the big question fans have been asking for years. Many ask for drones at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but issues around animal safety make that seem like a risky or even an unlikely option. EPCOT is probably the best venue for a show incorporating drones, though Disney would still need to work out how to use them without flying them directly over guest walkways.
At this point, drones aren’t a new technology and are used at even small venues and events around the country. Disney’s adoption of drones is pretty late. As much as we’d like to see drones used in a Disney World show, they’d need to raise the bar (like they did in Disneyland Paris) by having the drones do more than just form basic character designs.
