By LaRayne Topp
Wiz is the sound kites make when they’re released hundreds of feet in the air on miles of string attached to an electric power drill. Wiz is the way pop bottle rockets sound when they erupt from the ground to explode overhead. And a Wiz is how coworkers describe their boss, Don Wisnieski.
It’s not surprising that Wisnieski, owner and CEO of Fantasy Drones, grew up making things fly. Fantasy Drone Shows, based in Norfolk, Nebraska, creates choreographed, high-tech, lighted drone displays for concerts, weddings and sporting events nationwide, lighting up colorful 3D shapes in the night sky. Before Fantasy Drones there were fireworks, and today, Wisnieski says, he has no hobbies other than blowing things up.
But for Wiz, his soaring path to drones has been an evolution. He worked construction for three decades, beginning in 1986, as the owner of Wisnieski Construction. He also spent time in other occupations: a grave digger (some 8,000 of them), curb grinder, snow remover, and insulation installer, all small companies Wiz began.
“I find a niche and then I go for it,” Wiz said. “Something different all the time.”
In the early 1990s, he became involved with the Norfolk JC’s which staged a bang-up fireworks display each year.
It brought Wiz back to his childhood when the Fourth of July was bigger than Christmas. The Wisnieski family hosted a big party on their family farm each year where two galvanized water-filled tanks kept the watermelon cool along with the beer. Half of Dodge turned out for it, Wiz explained, and everyone was encouraged to bring fireworks.
Twenty dollars bought a lot of fireworks then.
In 1996, Wiz became chairman of the JC fireworks, and by 2001, that fireworks display metamorphosed into Norfolk’s Big Bang Boom, attracting as many as 30,000 visitors. This year, in fact, the event will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Wisnieski began branching out, setting up fireworks at various places, but none bigger than Norfolk’s annual festivities.
About five years ago, airborne drones became “a thing,” and Wiz turned his attention in that direction. “The same customers who asked for fireworks, asked for drones,” Wiz said. He’d been working with J & M Displays out of Iowa at the time, who said Wiz could do the drones; J & M Displays would stick with fireworks.
Establishing a drone show wasn’t cheap, Wis said; it was a real investment. But Wiz who is willing to try his hand at anything new, provided it’s fun, jumped in with both feet.
Fortunately, in the words of Fantasy Drones designer Scott Buss, “There’s nothing about Fantasy Drones that isn’t fun.”
Wiz and wife/business manager Jolene started out by ordering 100 drones; then added another 60. Fantasy Drones continued expanding, establishing a second division in Dayton, Ohio. Ten staff share their time between the two locations including designers, certified and licensed pilots, and launch teams. About 30 sales people work market shows and fair conventions, showcasing just what Fantasy Drones can do to bring excitement to any event.
Today, at a typical show, Fantasy Drones will have as many as 300 drones in the air at once. At times the drones begin their work in a scattered launch, with various flight paths and utilizing an astounding 18,000 different colors. When drones aren’t in use they will hover in the sky’s background, 20 to 30 yards behind the remainder, until they’re called into the spotlight once again.
After months of meetings, Fantasy Drone computer wizards and designers come up with a story board rendering. For a typical 14-minute show, with 1 ½ scenes per minute, 18 to 22 different scenes, many of them animated, are incorporated into each show.
“It’s like 200 pegs on a Lite Brite,” Wiz explained, referring to a child’s toy.
They use Google maps and other components to determine free air space above their desired show locations, await client approval, and sponsor by-in. Once they get the go-ahead and travel to the show site, they set up a ground station to communicate with the drones, and measure off and tape down a grid to lay the drones onto.
Once all the work is completed, a crew member pushes a button and then all sit back to enjoy. It takes only 15 minutes for the drones to tell the story, according to Buss.
“We watch the same show you do,” Wiz said. “We want it to go perfect,” and his gut, he said, takes the brunt of it.
In spite of that, Wiz truly loves the excitement of each new project. When Nebraska University’s Cornhuskers took on the Omaha Mavericks at Memorial Stadium at the 2023 Volleyball Day, naturally Wiz wanted to be involved.
They’d been setting off fireworks at Husker games for the past 20 years. Wiz procured an audience with UN-L head coach Jon Cook, and the Fantasy Drone crew laid out their design, shown from the vantage point of the 50-yard line.
“We offered the ultimate fan experience,” Wiz said, “and we had one shot.”
Cook’s response? “That’s sick! Make it happen.”
So, they did.
Set to a University soundtrack chanting “Go Huskers,” the drone show featured a rotating volleyball, a dancing red “N” and the numbers 92,003 representing the world record-breaking count of attendees at a women’s sporting event, all amid a backdrop of exploding fireworks.
Then Fantasy Drones took their shows one step further, launching pyrotechnics on the backs of drones once they’re in the air, known as pyrodrones.
In 2025, Fantasy Drones, in partnership with Warner Brothers, staged a drone show to promote the theater release of the movie, Superman. Highlighting the Fourth of July celebration on the St. Louis riverfront, four hundred drones displayed Superman, Krypto and the Fortress of Solitude, all near the Gateway Arch.
In a dramatic rising of the curtain of the 250th anniversary of the country’s declaration of independence, Fantasy Drones collaborated with Fireworks by Grucci to launch a major 2025 New Year’s Eve drone show over the Tropicana at the Las Vegas Strip. Fireworks by Grucci is one of the nation’s premier pyrotechnics firms, originating in 1850. At the stroke of midnight, 600 drones became spinning roulette wheels and dice, all integrated with traditional fireworks.
More recently, in February of 2026, a record-breaking 3,000 plus drone show for Apple TV took to the Los Angeles sky to promote the series, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.” The 600-foot-tall spectacle not only set a world record for the tallest drone show, but also featured Godzilla, Kong and a Titan battle in the skies over Hollywood’s Forever Cemetery.
The show’s pyrodrones did battle over the final resting places of stars such as Burt Reynolds and Judy Garland, Wiz said. The show set a Guinness World Record the tallest aerial depiction of a fictional character.
A little closer to home and more down to earth, employees of Nebraska’s power districts have become certified to fly drones equipped with cameras, using them to patrol lines and complete other maintenance tasks. Elkhorn Rural Public Power District in Battle Creek is one of them. Manager Mark Johnson said that Elkhorn RPPD has been utilizing drones for the past half dozen years.
Four Elkhorn employees are licensed to operate the company’s drone, utilizing it for line inspections for maintenance, or periodically, if there’s an issue, or for building lines across areas such a creek.
When there’s a blink, Johnson said, the drone will fly the lines. They’re helpful, save on manual labor, and give an idea of what’s going on up high, things the human eyes can’t see from the ground.
Drones are especially useful at locations such as sub transmission lines, where poles are tall and the workings of the station hard to see. The photographs taken by the drones are integrated into review maps, available for FEMA intervention if a storm moves through.
The electrical service for Fantasy Drones’ workshop is provided by Stanton County Public Power District. Fantasy Drones also occasionally offers the services of several of its drones, those with cameras attached, to realtors looking at possible investments or farmers looking for possible missing cows.
Drones, like Don “Wiz” Wisnieski, are always looking for something, as long as it’s fun.