SANTA CLAUS, Ind. (WDRB)-- The hazy air during a summer day in Santa Claus, Indiana is full of clicks, clacks, whooshes and screams.

As the clock ticks toward night, it all gets drowned out by unloading, rolling and some scrolling in the shadow of a roller coaster.

"We've got a few (weather) systems in the area," said pilot Matt Hearl.

Inside and outside of a home on the edge of Holiday World and Splashin' Safari's property, a team prepares for take off.

"We'll put batteries in them, we'll plug them in," said producer Matthew Sanker.

400 drones stand ready to dazzle in the park's nighttime drone show.

"My best advice is to put your phone away and enjoy the show," said Leah Koch-Blumhardt with the amusement and water park.

"A lot of people think that there's 400 people sitting here with controllers in their hands," said Sanker.

"Yeah, not the case at all," added Hearl.

Software operates the drones on a laptop computer that sits in a garage below the show.

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Holiday World holds a drone show in Santa Claus, Indiana.

"We start with an animation or a drawing, and we have our software that will take an animation file, and translate it into a drone's path," explained Sanker.

He and Hearl are from a Michigan company called Firefly. Both are prepared for whatever could fly their way at sunset.

"I am able to intervene in any group of drones," said Hearl.

Replacements are ready, and preparation for anything is complete.

"A motor might go out," Heal added.

As dusk approaches, a pre-show dance party gets fired up. Then, park goers prepare for the finale to their summer getaway.

"I love that pre-game feeling, where you're pumped up, you're ready to go, the adrenaline is flowing a little bit," said Hearl.

Right at 8:45 p.m., Hearl and his crew's hard work gets off the ground.

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Holiday World holds a drone show in Santa Claus, Indiana.

"It's time for 'Holidays in the Sky!'" said an announcer on the speakers at the park.

In 15 minutes, visitors jet through the calendar, blast off to space, and land in the new year.

"It was awesome," said one guest.

"It was beautiful, I loved it," added another.

The flight crew clearly gets a paycheck, but the priceless reactions are what it's really about for each of them.

"We all do this because we love doing it," said Hearl. "Hearing a crowd cheer and roar, there's just no other feeling like it."

There's roaring, soaring, satisfied spectators, and pleased park goers, during a special summer day in Santa Claus, Indiana. 

"This will probably go down as one of the many memories we've made together," a visitor said.

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