SeaWorld Seeking Coastal Development Permit for Pilot Program to Conduct Drone Shows

No Fireworks on Nights of Drone Shows — California Coastal Commission Meeting is April 15

By Donna Frye

Sea World San Diego is seeking a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) from the California Coastal Commission to conduct up to 110 aerial drone shows, that would be approximately 15 minutes in length and “include up to 1,000 illuminated drones above the waters of Mission Bay for a pilot period of one year from the date of CDP issuance.” The Coastal Commission meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 15 to hear the request; it is Item Number 10b on the agenda.

The Coastal Commission staff report states in part:

“SeaWorld San Diego has traditionally ended many of its park days with a nighttime fireworks show. However, in response to growing concerns related to the impact of fireworks on coastal resources, as well as improvements in drone entertainment technology, SeaWorld is proposing a pilot period of one year for aerial drone shows.The drone shows would involve up to 1,000 illuminated aerial drones that would be programmed to autonomously take off, perform an up to 15-minute show up to 660 feet above Mission Bay, and then return to land. The shows would involve the drones following pre-programmed routes that depict various shapes formed by their onboard colored lights, accompanied by music played at ground level for patrons within SeaWorld.”

SeaWorld would not be allowed to have any firework performances on any night an aerial drone show is being held.

In addition, “Each performance of the aerial drone show shall count as an equivalent performance of a firework show for purposes of tracking SeaWorld San Diego’s annual firework quota, thus reducing the allowable fireworks shows during the pilot period from 150 by the amount of drone shows conducted.”

The Coastal Commission staff is recommending approval of the SeaWorld CDP with the following three special conditions:

“Special Condition No. 1 establishes the parameters of the aerial drone show to restrict the location, height, and duration of each performance to limit its potential impact to coastal resources to the greatest extent feasible.

Special Condition No. 2 requires the applicant to submit a final monitoring plan to ensure a minimum of 20% of drone shows are monitored for each calendar month when drone shows occur. The permittee is also required to monitor a minimum of one fireworks show during the pilot year to be used in comparison to the data collected from the drone shows. Special Condition No. 2 also sets thresholds for noise, light, and bird strike impacts so that if the threshold is exceeded, shows must be suspended to determine what modifications are necessary to avoid future impacts and shows may not resume until those modifications are implemented.

Special Condition No. 3 prohibits fireworks performances during any night an aerial drone show is held so as to not compound their impacts and also limits the number of fireworks shows allowed during the pilot year based on the number of conducted drone shows. The applicant proposes to conduct approximately 78 drone shows with an upper limit of 110 drone shows in total.”

Link to the Staff Report for Item Number 10b, Application No.6-26-0102 on April 15:

Click to access W10b-4-2026-report.pdf

To submit your comments:

Link to the Coastal Commission’s webpage for Item Number 10b :

https://www.coastal.ca.gov/meetings/agenda/#/2026/4

There is a link on the website directly below the staff report for Item Number 10b to submit comments.

In addition, there is a Public Participation Guidelines Link:

Click to access VIRTUAL-HEARING-PROCEDURES.pdf