Universal Orlando set to unveil new drone show, hot on the heels of Disney

16 days ago in "Universal Orlando Resort"

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CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular concept art

Posted: Monday April 29, 2024 3:50pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Today, Universal Orlando announced that the waters of the Universal Studios Florida lagoon will come to life with an all-new nighttime show, CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular.

CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular concept art

The new show will celebrate the emotional power of music by leveraging the iconic scores and scenes from blockbuster films that have inspired Universal Orlando's past, present and future attractions – including Warner Bros. Pictures Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, Jurassic World, Jaws, Shrek, Ghostbusters, Trolls, Back to the Future, Universal Monsters, Transformers, How to Train Your Dragon, E.T., Fast and Furious, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Minions, The Mummy and King Kong.

CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular will feature 228 fountains that reach heights up to 131 feet, 4K projection mapping, an original composition featuring newly arranged scores, and more than 600 drones.

CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular concept art

Disney will launch its own drone show on May 24, although we don't yet know the number of drones involved.

"Disney Dreams That Soar" will showcase Disney stories celebrating the joy of flight with state-of-the-art drones choreographed to create designs in the sky, paired with a "soaring" musical score and memorable movie quotes. Disney Dreams That Soar will run nightly from May 24 through September 2, 2024.

Disney Dreams that Soar

Walt Disney World has previously presented a limited-time drone show, Starbright Holidays, at Disney Springs for the 2016 holiday season in association with Intel and its Shooting Star drone product. That 5-minute show featured 300 drones, intricately choreographed in 3D space over the Disney Springs lake and synchronized to holiday music.

Starbright Holidays overview

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monothingie15 days ago

DAK and EPCOT were created to stand their own without complete dependence on IP. Epcot did this for quite some time because the way it was originally envisioned made IP insertion difficult to pull off. It was only until they completely stopped caring about the original concept of EPCOT did they start pushing IP in. (Nemo started it, but it was clear when Frozen in Norway was undertaken.) DAK had IP on day one, but it was made to supplement, not define the park experience, because the park was about the animals first. It was only until later that you had an entire themed land devoted to a specific IP that defined the park experience. (even though the AVATAR insert was done very well). But now you see it in full with the Indiana Jones clone and TBD Ecanto/Coco stuff just mashed together under the "Central/South America" umbrella.

Andrew2515 days ago

I'd consider the Monsters land an original land as pretty much everything there will be unique and not follow any sort of linear storytelling told elsewhere. I can care less about IP or Original concepts... just make a good ride/land. One of the issues with creating original-based attractions is translating what's actually going on to the general public without pre-existing knowledge. Disney has had the luxury of relying on simple concepts to grasp onto (Pirates, Ghosts) for their original rides. Not saying it's impossible, just difficult to do properly.

MisterPenguin15 days ago

It seems that way. But what is it about the theming of the whole park itself would necessitate that? A 'movie studio' theme would bring about the expectation of being part of the movies. Does a 'celestial theme' also necessitate that? This is just Universal doing what Disney is doing... making everything IP. Or, to put it as often phrased "crammed into every nook and cranny and shoved down our throats!" Even Six Flags feels the need to theme a totally unthemed coaster with a flat cut-out of some IP at the entrance and to paint the metal a color evocative of that slapdash IP. Only our dear Saint Dolly has escaped the IP mandate.

monothingie15 days ago

Isn't EU by its nature, a park dedicated to going inside the fantasy worlds created by assorted IP such as Nintendo, HTTYD, etc?

MisterPenguin15 days ago

1. Thank-you for just rephrasing my point, I guess. 2. WRT USO being necessarily an "IP park"... Then what's the reason for EU being almost solely IP driven? That wasn't necessary, no?

monothingie15 days ago

Prefer NOT inappropriately shoehorning in IP to every crevice of specific parks (Epcot and DAK) solely for the sake of marketing synergy. USO or DHS are by their nature IP centric parks and need IP to be present for an excellent park experience.

Coaster Lover16 days ago

Hooray! All this opens just two weeks before my trip! Excited to see this! (Will only miss the new parade)

jrhwdw16 days ago

OK Then!!!!! 600 Drones!!!! How many is DS getting????

jrhwdw16 days ago

No mention of Drones but, New Lagoon Show is June 14th, New Parade is July 3rd.

Andrew25Mar 25, 2024

This IP v Non IP stuff needs to stop lol... both companies have shown they can make really good (or really awful) stuff with or without IP. As long as quality wins, who cares lol Universal is known for its IP reliance and is starting to realize the power of picking the right IPs (whether new or not) instead of just focusing on the new. Universal's nighttime shows have slowly gotten better over time, but always include faults when they decide to include newer/synergy IPs over classic IPs. My hope is that this new show is a symphony of BTTF/JP/ET/Potter scores, instead of focusing on individual IP segments that have hard cuts.

MisterPenguinMar 25, 2024

For some people, especially OG Disney fans, they prefer non-IP attractions and are angry at Iger for mandating IP attractions. Something which Uni is doing as a matter of course. And good for Uni that they now are starting to have enough of their own company-owned worthy IPs to use (tho, they're still relying on a lot of licensed IP).