Fireworks added to drones for new DLP show debuting January

I remember watching the drone show at Disney Springs on NY E in 2016. I wasn’t wowed, found it hard to make out what some of the “pictures” were meant to be.

The Marvel drone show at the DLP Studio Park was really well done. Each character had a huge image created by the drones next to the Tower of Terror, and then projections on the Tower gave a little story line for them. Even I recognised the characters, despite not ever having seen Black Panther for example. 

And that teaser clip looks stunning. I’ll be interested to see if they use projections on the Castle in a similar way.

I just wonder why Disney abandoned their development of the drone technology at WDW? I don’t know if it was done in house and they simply didn’t have the expertise, or if it became too expensive or what? 

I have to say I was blown away on my recent trip to DLP.  The last time I visited was March 1995 and I genuinely didn’t remember much about it (I was pregnant, that’s my excuse lol!).  I thought the entertainment in general was great, the Mickey and the Magician show was top notch, with a proper story, excellent singing, great ensemble dancing and really well choreographed. Each scene was like watching a scene from the Broadway / West End show and there were about 6 shows included. 

The park is so pretty, the Castle is what it should be - a tree winding it’s way upstairs, the stained glass windows were done by someone who was tempted out of retirement after a life of creating windows for cathedrals and churches, and he did an amazing job of telling the story of Sleeping Beauty. Adventureland and Frontierland are so much better laid out, with lots of paths to discover. The details in Frontierland make it so real -  they’ve created a whole story around  the gold mining town of Thunder Mesa and have added the details to back it up. So the food carts are covered wagons and an ice shed, for example. The lake is an added bonus and Big Thunder is so much better! And the Jules Verne theme in  Discoveryland is so much more of a themed land than Tomorrowland. Buzz is the glaring negative, the colours just don’t blend with everything else, but Star Tours is neatly tucked away round the back so it doesn’t ruin the effect. And the indoor arcades are such a bonus, with all the shops on Main Street also opening onto them. Useful in wet weather but also as a way in and out during the parades. And they are cleverly themed too. 

The Studio Park desperately needs it’s expansion. And although I’m gutted that Galaxy’s Edge appears to be cancelled , for purely selfish reasons, they are creating a lagoon with plans for a nighttime water show and 3-4 mini lands around it. The Marvel area is meh to me, but  it’s obviously hugely popular. 

The other massive bonus is that all the onsite hotels, other than the Davy Crocket Ranch, are walking distance to the parks. Even the value ones are about the same distance to the parks than the Beach Club is to DHS. 

I wasn’t expecting to be so impressed. I thought it would be second best. But for me the Castle park at DLP beats MK, even without some of the attractions. 

Initially I thought that the move from DLP to WDW of the director of parks entertainment would be good for WDW. But unless he can persuade Disney to invest in some high tech development with a specialist company then what he can achieve with drones is limited. I doubt that expertise still exists within the company in the US, those people were probably “let go” or never brought back after Covid. But maybe that’s why he’s been brought back to Orlando, that they’re ready to make that investment having seen what DLP has achieved. 

It is my local park! And I found Eurostar so refreshingly easy and stress free. Because you go through border control before you leave, it makes it so relaxed. 

It is still quite expensive though for a 3 night trip.  Having to bookend the trip with a hotel in London on the way out and back added to the cost. If we’d stayed with family instead that would be cheaper obviously, but the hotel was literally across the road from both Kings Cross and St Pancras. And we also paid for DS this time. We could stay offsite if there more than 2 of us. A 2-bed apartment in a near-by hotel for the same price as an onsite moderate room. And within walkable distance (20 mins) or 1 stop away on the train. My sister in law used Airbnb earlier this year. So there are ways to make it cheaper. 

I still hope to return to WDW but we’ll have to see what happens in the next few years. 

We LOVED the Show at DLP last June. It is light on Fireworks (at that time) compared to MK but the show itself was good.