Some have called Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade the best drone show ever. It’s about time I decide for myself.
Tonight, I’m trading in my drone controller for a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. I’m not flying drones tonight, I’m watching them, and I’ll be doing it live tonight at Disneyland Paris. While most folks are in town for the 2024 Paris Olympics, I knew I had to head to Paris before what’s billed as the most mesmerizing drone show ever ends its run on Sept. 30, 2024.
This will be the second drone show I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. The first was also themed to Disney. That was a Star Wars drone show put on by Sky Elements, held after an Oakland A’s baseball game. And perhaps that’s not surprising. I do love Disney just as much as I love drones.
And though this will be my second drone show, I’m planning to see it three times! Yes, I’ll be watching this parade for three nights straight to find out all the right angles to look out for, as well as the best places to watch. Stay tuned for future editions of this Flight Diaries series, as I promise I’ll give you all the tips on watching Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade!
And even if you miss this specific show, expect more going forward. Disneyland Paris has had a fairly long history of drone shows, including past shows like Disney D-Light and Avengers: Power the Night.
The final Sept. 30 performance of Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade might be the last one of this particular show (for now, at least) but expect more shows coming soon. And hey, this show might return itself. After all, the 1970s parade continuously gets updates and returns to Main Street on an unpredictable but still quasi-frequent basis.
What to know about Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade
Brought to life by French drone light show company Dronisos, Disney’s Electrical Sky Parade recreates beloved scenes from the classic Main Street Electrical Parade. That parade debuted in the 1970s, but the 2024 version gets a refresh by way of more than 500 drones. With it, drones fly into the formations of classic characters such as Elliott the Dragon from the 1977 film “Pete’s Dragon.” It’s all synchronized to that same electro-syntho-magnetic soundtrack that was famous in the 1970s.
It runs most nights in the skies over Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris.
The light show drones themselves are modified versions of aircraft from French drone maker Parrot. Parrot is perhaps most famous for its now-defunct Bebop drone. Dronisos made a deal with Parrot to iterate on its platforms to build a drone-show specific product that’s made in France.
Dronisos uses a few Parrot drones as its template. That includes the Mambo (initially marketed as a toy drone), which has since been renamed “Helios.” Though, Helios is an indoor-only light show drone.
Dronisos also uses a reworked Parrot Bebop 2, which it mounted a light to, and renamed it the Zephyr drone. It also uses the more powerful Anafi drone, which it modified to be a new aircraft called Autan.
Not only are the Disneyland Paris drones powerful, but there are a lot of them. Also this summer, Disneyland Paris and Dronisos together set a Guinness World Record for “Largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors / drones.” As part of the 2024 Bastille Day celebrations (which occur every year on July 14), Dronisos sent a spectacular, tricolor Mickey Mouse head made out of 1,571 drones into the sky.
So with that, I’m signing off to jump on Space Mountain before tonight’s drone show. Au revoir!