John Frost writes, "I know Boing Boing has covered Disney's patent to use flying drones in the parks. Here's the latest update, the FAA recently approved the use of drones in the parks at night. It's only a four-year permit and Disney isn't waiting around. The Mouse House just posted a teaser video for a new holiday show at Disney Springs, the dining and entertainment complex at Walt Disney World, that will begin later this month."
Recall that Disney had secured an unprecedented No-Fly Zone status for its parks (to prevent advertising banners being towed through its skies), only to learn that this meant that they couldn't fly their own drones over the properties.
Sounds great, right? We'll before Disney could actually bring this to the parks, they had to get a waiver of existing laws controlling drone use in the US from the Federal Aviation Administration. That exception was just granted and is good for four years. The FAA can cancel it at anytime, so Disney will have to be on their best behavior. Disney must use authorized remote pilots and prevent the drones from flying off uncontrolled over guest occupied areas.
Semi-autonomous drones approved for use by Disneyland and Walt Disney World [John Frost/The Disney Blog]
