Drone Show Announces Arrival of Disneyland Abu Dhabi

Disneyland Abu Dhabi may not have a set opening date just yet, but the magic has already made its way to the area.

Credit: YouTube

To mark the start of the development for the new resort, The Walt Disney Company teamed up with drone light show company Lumasky to light up the night sky with a multimedia display. The result of this collaboration was a record-breaking 9,000-drone show (see video below), making it the largest drone show to ever take place in the Middle East. The display was accompanied by pyrotechnics, a water screen, and a 107-piece live orchestra performing A Whole New World alongside a choir floating on a pontoon.

Disney already has six theme parks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Their next resort will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, in a collaboration between Walt Disney and local leisure and entertainment company Miral.

The company's first theme park, Disneyland, opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. It was followed in 1971 by Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. International expansion began in 1983 with a park in Tokyo; Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, then came Hong Kong in 2005 and, most recently, Shanghai in 2016.

Since Disneyland Abu Dhabi is only in the first stages of its design phase, it is estimated that it could open between between 2030 and 2033 at the earliest, following a projected construction period of four to six years.