Disney’s Hollywood Studios Tests Massive, Unexpected Change Overnight

Disney’s Hollywood Studios tested an unexpected change last night.

A lot has changed at Disney’s Hollywood Studios over the last few years. Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy was replaced by Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After, while The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure debuted in Animation Courtyard. Last year, Muppet*Vision 3D and PizzeRizzo also permanently closed to make way for Monstropolis, while this year has seen Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster embrace The Muppets while Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run added a new mission featuring The Mandalorian and Grogu.

And the overhaul isn’t finished yet. The Magic of Disney Animation opens on September 14. Beyond that, Monstropolis is set to begin opening in 2027, with the area eventually spanning restaurants, shops, a new theater show, and Disney’s first suspended coaster, which will recreate the door-vault sequence from Monsters, Inc.

Judging by tests that took place at the park last night, we could also see another major change hit the park soon.

Testing Takes Place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Last night, there were multiple reports of fireworks testing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Fans noted multiple launches of the same firework – seemingly from the fireworks launch site across World Drive, which has largely sat unused since the end of Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.

We got more pyro tonight at Hollywood Studios! Looks like some firework testing of some sort??? Theyve shot of 4 of the same firework, about 90 seconds apart

We got more pyro tonight at Hollywood Studios! Looks like some firework testing of some sort??? Theyve shot of 4 of the same firework, about 90 seconds apart pic.twitter.com/ldDInBWZut

— RockNstardust🎸✨ (@CoasterK24) September 2, 2026

Right now, the park lacks a regular nightly fireworks show. Instead, it has Fantasmic! at the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater and Wonderful World of Animation, a projection show on the Chinese Theatre.

One possibility is that Disney was simply testing the infrastructure ahead of a special event. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is scheduled to host a private event connected to the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo on October 20, and Disney has previously used fireworks for private functions. That would explain why the company suddenly needed to check a launch site that has otherwise sat largely dormant.

There’s also the upcoming holiday season to consider. Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! returns during Disney Jollywood Nights this year, with Disney advertising fireworks alongside its projections, lasers, and holiday music. Recent versions have relied on smaller-scale pyrotechnics, so the testing could potentially point to Disney bringing larger fireworks to the event.

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🤔

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

New Year’s Eve is another possibility. Hollywood Studios brought back a countdown fireworks show in 2024 and again on December 31, 2025, but those displays relied largely on rooftop pyrotechnics rather than the larger World Drive launch site.

There’s also a chance (slim though it may be) that Hollywood Studios could finally be preparing to bring back a proper regular fireworks spectacular. The park has a long history of them. Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular became a nightly show in late 2015 before being replaced in June 2016 by Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular, which combined large-scale fireworks with projections, lasers, fire, and other effects around the Chinese Theatre. The latter ran until Walt Disney World closed in March 2020 and never returned.

Go back even further and Hollywood Studios hosted Sorcery in the Sky, seasonal Frozen Fireworks Spectacular performances, and special displays for July 4 and New Year’s Eve. In other words, a major fireworks show wouldn’t be unprecedented for the park.

Why do you think Disney is testing fireworks at Hollywood Studios?