Rivers of Light --- Almost Ready for Prime Time

[rteetz]

Of course they didn't drag it out on purpose. But we have absolutely no idea why they had the delays they did. Were they not given the budget they needed? Were they not given the A team of Imagineers? Were they trying to accomplish the impossible plunking a major show in the middle of an already built park?

It was mainly technology not cooperating. The GPS floats were not working like they hoped originally. Then I have heard that the company they worked with on building these floats did not cooperate either.

We will never get a full explanation from Disney. I also think it's not a budget issue because they obviously kept pushing through and pouring money into it to get it ready.

 

[mom2rtk]

It was mainly technology not cooperating. The GPS floats were not working like they hoped originally. Then I have heard that the company they worked with on building these floats did not cooperate either.

We will never get a full explanation from Disney. I also think it's not a budget issue because they obviously kept pushing through and pouring money into it to get it ready.

I understand all of that. But you never know if the right budget and talent was assigned to the project initially. I'm just saying we have no idea.

 

[rteetz]

I understand all of that. But you never know if the right budget and talent was assigned to the project initially. I'm just saying we have no idea.

Which is true but I truly believe this is not a talent problem. The people who worked on this have worked on various Disney shows.

Budget could have been an issue.

 

[mom2rtk]

Which is true but I truly believe this is not a talent problem. The people who worked on this have worked on various Disney shows.

Budget could have been an issue.

I just thought I read somewhere early on that the A team of Imagineers would not work on this and they used the B team instead. But that was a while ago so I might not be remembering the story exactly.

 

[rteetz]

I just thought I read somewhere early on that the A team of Imagineers would not work on this and they used the B team instead. But that was a while ago so I might not be remembering the story exactly.

I have never heard that claim so I would guess that is not true. Again like you said we don't know for sure but I would guess that's at the bottom of the list of possibilities.

 

[Tuffcookie]

So excited this looks like it will be up and running for our Mid-May trip!

TC

 

[maltdizzy]

I'll reserve judgement, it'll be a couple of years before we head to WDW again. And even then it may not make our must-see list without great word of mouth. From what I gather seems more of a water pageant in its current form, like it would have been better in a passing "parade" format instead of being in its own limited seating venue, a la a show like Fantasmic.

The nice thing about Illumination or Wishes is you can see it while moving about without committing additional time or hassle (I know many do).

 

[Josh Hendy]

I don't think that there would have been nearly as much strife and grief over these delays if AK wasn't so lacking in attractions. Ten years is too long to wait to make additions to a park that had (and still has) less than half what a normal park has (Nemo added 2007, Everest 2006).

Sea World will have to do the same thing now that the whales are being de-emphasized and/or phased out. There just aren't enough animal lovers out there to be satisfied with passive animal and nature displays for their $100/day/person.

 

[rteetz]

I don't think that there would have been nearly as much strife and grief over these delays if AK wasn't so lacking in attractions. Ten years is too long to wait to make additions to a park that had (and still has) less than half what a normal park has (Nemo added 2007, Everest 2006).

Sea World will have to do the same thing now that the whales are being de-emphasized and/or phased out. There just aren't enough animal lovers out there to be satisfied with passive animal and nature displays for their $100/day/person.

DCA turned 16 today and that still has its issues....

It will be interesting to see what SeaWorld does. I think Animal Kingdom has more options than they do.

 

[Micca]

Maybe it doesn't translate to video well and it's better in person

I'm guessing that's the case. As I mentioned earlier, think of fireworks videos...they're kind of boring compared to the real thing. I had to FF couple of times through the ROL video posted because I thought parts of it were really dragging along. But 1)That's not a great video, 2)It's pretty similar to watching fireworks videos, 3)Hearing the music through an awesome sound system makes a big difference, and 4) The general ambience of being in the theater watching it is missing.

I don't know if I'll love ROL, but I'm pretty sure it will be more entertaining than that video.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm not going to sugar-coat this, that show is a boring mess. The floats just float around, there's no real story, it just feels like a longer version of the globe part of Illuminations (with better water fountains).

I definitely agree with you about the floats. I think there are some cool parts with the lotus fountains and the bigger fountain with the fire, etc. ... but the animal floats are a bit of a disappointment (they don't really seem to do much other than look kinda cool). Also, at times a lot of the water looked pretty empty (maybe that is where the floating lanterns were to be?)

I do like the music and the couple of "big" spots were pretty cool - overall I liked it but wasn't wowed by it ... though I suspect it will look more impressive in person

 

[TwoMisfits]

DCA turned 16 today and that still has its issues....

It will be interesting to see what SeaWorld does. I think Animal Kingdom has more options than they do.

Sea World does have the advantage of an entire little kid ride zone (like 5-6 rides plus a huge play structure). I have Florida family who got APs just for this (they see one show or one animal and then hit the kiddie area each time)...

 

[DizDaD7]

I'm probably of the minority here, in terms of this...People are always commenting on how AK is a 1/2 day park at best, or say "I'm not wasting a day to go there"..."I already have a zoo nearby where I live"....When I try to rationalize why I think it's the opposite of what people think it is *(meaning more than a Zoo, or Plenty 2 do), I finally realized this, It's their ideas, vacations, or whatever, & who am I to try and tell them they have to go. If they don't want to go there for a FULL day or only part of the day, that's fine with me...It just means more time on more attractions for<-------This GUY!!

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

It would be awesome if Rivers of Light was up and running in time for my trip for Spring Break/Dark Side half marathon weekend in April, but it would really throw a wrench in my plans! I want to see most of the other night shows as well but I may have to prioritize/sacrifice a couple if this is showing. I'll really only have 3 nights to do those since the other two will be pre-race nights.

Definitely going to avoid the videos though because I don't want to spoil it.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

So, supposedly dates are showing up in blue for making dining packages for ROL beginning February 17th. The options show for the first weekend and then every other day after that until April 8th. Beginning April 8th, the dates are showing up in blue for every night. I wonder if that means that this show won't run every night until April 8th? It also says that you must call to make a reservation. You are not able to make reservations online yet. That might be because they haven't fully announced an opening date for this show, but it is looking like February 17th could be the "target" date based on this.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom/rivers-of-light-dining-package/

 

[soniam]

So, supposedly dates are showing up in blue for making dining packages for ROL beginning February 17th. The options show for the first weekend and then every other day after that until April 8th. I wonder if that means that this show won't run every night until April 8th? It also says that you must call to make a reservation. You are not able to make reservations online yet. That might be because they haven't fully announced an opening date for this show, but it is looking like February 17th based on this.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom/rivers-of-light-dining-package/

I don't think they are actually open, even if you could call the phone lines now. I think they are about to open though, like any day now. I wouldn't bet on those dates listed until things are actually bookable. They sometimes put inaccurate info in the links when they first pop up.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I don't think they are actually open, even if you could call the phone lines now. I think they are about to open though, like any day now. I wouldn't bet on those dates listed until things are actually bookable. They sometimes put inaccurate info in the links when they first pop up.

True, but this is the first sign of that Disney has shown to be a potential opening date. They usually post potential dining plans on the website, but usually you can't even look at the calendar, or dates show up in grey. Seeing dates show up in blue is very promising.

 

[rteetz]

There is a rumor we get an announcement tomorrow.

 

[Ferrentinos]

I was able to book a dining package for our date in late June for RoL 1st showing at Tiffins. Ours is around 5:30pm at Tiffins. Tusker House was also available. No dates for July were showing up. Just FYI!

 

[EEyorelover22]

I booked a dining package for March and also for late June this morning. In March, it's not running every night.