While the year 2024 has a number of astronomical events lined up for night viewing, namely the penumbral lunar eclipse in March, total solar eclipse in April, and meteor showers throughout the year, night drone parades and shows are a brand new way to light up the sky. Night time drones are the latest attraction, catching one’s attention in vibrant colours, mesmerising videos, clear sounds and designs.
The latest being Disneyland Paris, which has introduced a series of exciting experiences starting January this year. The show is called the Electrical Sky Parade and includes a night time drone parade in the sky with synchronised drones, video projections, lights and fountains across Sleeping Beauty Castle. The sky breaks into a palette of colours with up to 500 drones above the castle. The night viewing is on till September this year. The schedule is available on the official mobile app of Disneyland Paris which has access to the list of shows and parade times with an interactive map.
This January, the Australian government hosted a night sky show with drones and night markets at Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra. The event used about 600 drones to show a vast array of Australian experiences and stories across a trilogy of shows. The drone choreography included a soundtrack, ensuring a multi-sensory experience. Busan in South Korea will celebrate the Lunar New Year starting in February as the Year of the Dragon, with a dazzling display of blue dragon made up of thousands of drones in the sky. So will Hanoi in Vietnam, which will use 2,024 drones to welcome the Lunar New Year on the night of February 9.
This year, Ras Al Khaimah has set two new Guinness World Records for drone display, that lit up the skies along a 4.5 km stretch of waterfront to make the ‘longest chain of aquatic floating fireworks’ for a grand total of 5.8 km and the ‘longest straight-line drones display’ for a total length of 2 km. The show featured groundbreaking techniques that have never been attempted before using a combination of 1,050 LED drones, a ‘carpet’ of aquatic floating fireworks and acrobatic pyro planes display inspired by Ras Al Khaimah’s natural wonders — the desert, the sea and the mountains — all choreographed to music especially composed for the celebration.
The night viewing phenomena is not new, and has been ruling the skies in the past. Last year, at the Mid-Autumn Festival in September, Chengdu City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, saw a mesmerising poetry-themed light and drone show. In India, the spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium last year witnessed a mesmerising drone show ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 final between India and Australia. The drones opened up in a sphere-like formation lighting up the night sky in blue colours.
French start-up Dronisos has created a spectacular drone show at the Odisha Hockey World Cup opening ceremony in 2019, besides the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA) Award Ceremony in Dubai. The startup is said to have delivered a total of 10,000 drone shows around the world so far with a specialisation in indoor and outdoor drone shows and has connections with several French and American attractions and theme parks.
Dubai too concluded its 500-drones display as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival.
