Drones may be used in Disney Parks in the future.

[NeXuS1000]

Not to mention any gust of wind would take control of the show. And the chaos that follows.

Just like projecting Walt on a smoke screen above the castle it'll never work.

The smoke comparison isn't really applicable; you can't really control the direction of smoke, whereas drones today can easily self-adjust their angel and direction to accommodate the wind. Drones used for e.g. photos and filming are getting to a point without much shakiness, since they are so good at automatically keeping their position and direction intact.

 

[The Tuna]

Good god.

Imagine the fall out area needing to be cleared if this ever happened.

Not to mention any gust of wind would take control of the show. And the chaos that follows.

Just like projecting Walt on a smoke screen above the castle it'll never work.

Some drones can have GPS coordinates programmed into them so if they are blown off course they immediately go back to those coordinates. You can grab one out of the air, run with and let go and it goes right back to those coordinates. (60 Minutes and personal experience) If they can program a sequence of GPS coordinates in so that they move in a timed rhythm, these things could create an amazing show.

 

[blm07]

They are going to use them to grab half eaten churros before the birds get them so they can re-bake them and sell them as a new churro.

 

[invader]

Good god.

Imagine the fall out area needing to be cleared if this ever happened.

Not to mention any gust of wind would take control of the show. And the chaos that follows.

Just like projecting Walt on a smoke screen above the castle it'll never work.

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

 

[marni1971]

Drones don't work in sudden 30 mph gusts a few hundered feet in the air. Let alone a collection of coordinated ones.

Imagery is mostly stable due to onboard gyro stabilisation. The platforms theirselves bounce around a lot. Not good for holding anything static.

 

[cjkeating]

I know this happened over a year ago but this quite a cool stunt used to promote Star Trek in London using drones.

 

[NeXuS1000]

Drones don't work in sudden 30 mph gusts a few hundered feet in the air. Let alone a collection of coordinated ones.

Imagery is mostly stable due to onboard gyro stabilisation. The platforms theirselves bounce around a lot. Not good for holding anything static.

Of course it can't stand still with a 30mph gust, but using Drone's as e.g. flying pixels, keeping a fairly safe distance from each other, with still be able to do some cool stuff and keep somewhat in position, at least looking at it from a distance.

 

[marni1971]

I wonder when we will see it then.

I won't hold my breath.

 

[ABQ]

Could they legally utilize them over the water in an AK Rivers of Light show? Or similarly @ Epcot over the lagoon? Launched from an island or shore location to never pass over a spectator position?

 

[NeXuS1000]

Could they legally utilize them over the water in an AK Rivers of Light show? Or similarly @ Epcot over the lagoon? Launched from an island or shore location to never pass over a spectator position?

Yeah, I'm thinking them being utilized initially for something along those lines, over a stage area like the new ROE, maybe something for Fantasmic, or Rivers of Light. I would put my money on Rivers of Light, but drones are still a maturing technology, so it wouldn't surprise me if it took a few more years for drone to have a mass appearance (a single drone or two prior to that would be more realistic, to try out out the tech)

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

"Would you fork over $96 to watch a drone enable your favorite Disney characters to fly above your head?"

Now, we all know if they added this, the park tickets would go well over $96! $96 would be a steal!!

 

[kap91]

Drones don't work in sudden 30 mph gusts a few hundered feet in the air. Let alone a collection of coordinated ones.

Imagery is mostly stable due to onboard gyro stabilisation. The platforms theirselves bounce around a lot. Not good for holding anything static.

Even if that's not the case now (I'm honestly not sure it is) you can bet that will be a trivial problem in the next few years. The tech behind autonomous objects is getting crazy advanced.

The real issue is currently the FAA simple wouldn't allow it. It's supposed to be a few years before they even release their suggestion for regulations of commercial drone use much less actually put them in place. For that reason alone don't expect to see this tech used as cool and as feasible as it would otherwise be.

 

[FutureCEO]

Even if that's not the case now (I'm honestly not sure it is) you can bet that will be a trivial problem in the next few years. The tech behind autonomous objects is getting crazy advanced.

The real issue is currently the FAA simple wouldn't allow it. It's supposed to be a few years before they even release their suggestion for regulations of commercial drone use much less actually put them in place. For that reason alone don't expect to see this tech used as cool and as feasible as it would otherwise be.

FAA = Freedom Anti Agency. BTW. the Star Trek video was cool

 

[Rob562]

Yeah, I'm thinking them being utilized initially for something along those lines, over a stage area like the new ROE, maybe something for Fantasmic, or Rivers of Light. I would put my money on Rivers of Light, but drones are still a maturing technology, so it wouldn't surprise me if it took a few more years for drone to have a mass appearance (a single drone or two prior to that would be more realistic, to try out out the tech)

I wonder if a water-platform-based *tethered* drone would work... If the maximum length of the tether were set at less than the distance of the platform to the closest Guest area, it would keep a haywire drone inside the safe zone.

-Rob

 

[marni1971]

Even if that's not the case now (I'm honestly not sure it is) you can bet that will be a trivial problem in the next few years. The tech behind autonomous objects is getting crazy advanced.

The real issue is currently the FAA simple wouldn't allow it. It's supposed to be a few years before they even release their suggestion for regulations of commercial drone use much less actually put them in place. For that reason alone don't expect to see this tech used as cool and as feasible as it would otherwise be.

That's the FAA.

 

[Prototype82]

Why do I get the feeling we're going to be shocked by some of the stuff we're going to see at Pandora?

 

[morningstar]

Am I the only one who remembers the other use of "drones" at Disneyland circa 1997? Except back then neither Disney or us in the general public knew to call them that, it was just a "remote controlled helicopter" with a fake Tinkerbell dangling below it. It was used for the opening scene of Light Magic on Main Street USA, and it failed rather miserably. They stopped using it very early on in the stunted and infamously short run of Light Magic in the summer of '97.

This isn't new. But now we have a hip media-savvy name like "Drone" that conjures up battle fields and government spying and scary things. And they are available on Amazon.com to any kid in the suburbs who just got 100 bucks for his 14th birthday.

It's easy to conclude this is just a new spin on an old idea. Just like that Twitter website. Isn't that the same as e-mail? Sounds like you would have predicted that to be a failure.

Obviously radio-control aircraft have been around for decades, but what has happened is that the technology has evolved to the point where new possibilities are opened up. They are cheap. They require little skill to fly. They can be mounted with cameras and GPS units. That means a computer can fly them. That means you can have swarms of them. We're not talking about one helicopter carrying Tinkerbell. We're talking about hundreds in an orchestrated ballet.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here's the Disney and More article on this:
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/08/amazing-new-wdi-patents-shows.html
Note that one of the applicants is "Robert Scott Trowbridge". Perhaps this is offering a hint at what's coming for Star Wars content?

 

[Mike S]

Here's the Disney and More article on this:
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/08/amazing-new-wdi-patents-shows.html
Note that one of the applicants is "Robert Scott Trowbridge". Perhaps this is offering a hint at what's coming for Star Wars content?

Bring it on.

 

[IWant2GoNow]

Second sun for Tatooine?