Disney Tests Fireworks at Hollywood Studios' World Drive Launch Site

Disney tested fireworks at Disney's Hollywood Studios late last night, launching large shells from the park's World Drive fireworks launch site.

Photo: @bioreconstructAerial view of the World Drive fireworks launch site in the foreground, with Disney's Hollywood Studios including Toy Story Land visible beyond the tree line

The site sits just outside the park, across the road from Disney's Hollywood Studios, and rarely sees use outside of one-off shows.

Photo: @bioreconstructAerial view of the World Drive fireworks launch site showing the grassed launch area, equipment staging, and access road running parallel to World Drive below

Goests on social media reported shells launching every couple of minutes throughout the test.

Disney's Hollywood Studios is currently launching one big fireworks shell every few minutes from somewhere inside the park. Here's a video from outside the park?? pic.twitter.com/MSl6f2Ittn

— Attractions 360° (@SoCal360) September 2, 2026

Disney has not said what the test was for, but it may connect to a private event scheduled for October 20, 2026. Disney's Hollywood Studios will close early that day, cutting park hours short as the Gartner IT Symposium | Xpo conference takes over the park from 8pm to 11pm. Regular guests lose access to the park after 5:00pm that day.

A nighttime show tied to a corporate buyout is the most likely scenario, and there's no word yet on any new show coming to the park. The test could also be routine maintenance or a check of existing show elements.

You can see the launch site in use during the Star Wars fireworks show from 2016 in the video below.

The World Drive site was intended to be the primary fireworks launch area for Disney's Hollywood Studios. Disney built it to replace an older setup: a trailer parked near the former tram tour station, paired with low-level pyrotechnics fired from rooftops around the Great Movie Ride.

That setup couldn't survive the redevelopment of the park, which took over the tram tour area. It sits on previously undeveloped land across World Drive, roughly in line with Hollywood Boulevard, mirroring the setup at Magic Kingdom, where the main launch site also sits well outside the park.

The site debuted with Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular on June 17, 2016. That show paired the off-site shells with low-level pyro, lasers, projection mapping on the Chinese Theater, and flame throwers on the Chinese Theater rooftop. The launch site's position to the side of the park meant the large shells never quite felt like part of the show, unlike the more centered setup at Magic Kingdom.

Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular firework show concept art

Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! also used the World Drive site for its larger fireworks when it debuted in 2016. Disney scaled back the site's use in the 2018 version of the show, resulting in noticeably fewer large shells than the original.

The site sees occasional use for one-off events, too. Hollywood Studios' New Year's Eve fireworks have used the World Drive site for larger shells, paired with low-level pyro from the rooftops of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway.