Animal Kingdom Tree of Life to Light Up

MyKingdomAwaits

Member
Original Poster
Hi all, so, by this point this is old news for me, but having found your site I would like to share a bit of information. I don't know if the general public has had the opportunity to find out, but last year when the Tree of Life went down for refurb, they actually did more than they let on. In fact, as a Cast Member during that time, I can testify to the fact that they set up a system to individually light the leaves on the tree (either for the Rivers of Light show or just in general... there were a few rumors, but nothing I can be sure of). I wasn't able to see it myself, but being the last people to leave the park before custodial (I was food and bev, and whoever had to close this one location always ended up staying until 11-ish) some of my coworkers were shocked to see the tree lit up as they were testing the system.

Please don't bombard me with questions, because that's honestly all that I know, but I just wanted to make sure that you all were aware since this was construction that you couldn't really see!
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Yes we knew the Tree of Life has had work done recently. Apart from whatever they may have done to "enhance" it for night time presence, they had to refurbish the branches due to the fact that one fell in a guest area a while back (it was overnight thankfully while no one was there to get hit). But it hasn't been stated (as far as I know) whether they added lights to it during this construction. Someone would probably have found a permit for it if they did.

It had better light up, considering both pieces of Animal Kingdom's "nightly" art includes the Tree of Life's individual leaves being lit up with LED's. It would be a pretty massive disappointment if they cut that aspect out of the project/budget...

One of the pieces of concept art makes it seem like the lights might be kept on throughout the night, not just exclusive to Rivers of Light. Though the RoL concept art also showcases the tree lit up as well of different colors. It would be nice if the tree was lit up with the green/blue lighting (seen in the first image below) as normal night lighting package for the tree. Then do color-changing and crossfading choreography during the River of Light show.

r-1381586189-avatar-artwork-animal-kingdom-4.jpg


Rivers-of-Light_Full_20990.jpg


Then again there are no sure things here. The budget for this night show has been reported to have received massive cuts since last year or so, and it occurred after both pieces of art were released by Disney. The first image in particular is an older piece of art, though it just seems to be a conceptual drawing of what that area would look like at night (doesn't look like it's part of Rivers of Light, I suspect the lit tree there may have been intended to remain on throughout the night).

The night show has been described recently by knowledgeable people on this forum as a "lite" version of a Bellagio fountain show. Supposedly it was originally intended to be similar to the level of quality from World of Color, but downgraded well below that due to budget slashes since the project began. So the boats and performers in the second piece of art may not be part of the final product. As to what else has been cut from the art, unknown...
 
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ImagineerDude

Well-Known Member
You very much are the general public. We knew lights were coming, I can say I and many others did not know they were already installed and testing. So save the sass.
It was just the way the first part of the post was written. I'm thankful the OP gave us this information. I thought I had read somewhere here that the refurb was specifically to install the new lights, but I admit I did not know they were being tested or even really think about it. Please pardon my sass.
 

Mat Cauthon

Well-Known Member
"Then again there are no sure things here. The budget for this night show has been reported to have received massive cuts since last year or so, and it occurred after both pieces of art were released by Disney."

Question: In the threads talking DHS redo it has been stated budgets don't get cut once approved, it's WDI going over budget and things getting cut that cause projects to be scaled back. Is your statement here about actual budget cuts or WDI going over?

Edit: Sorry for the reply fail. This was in response to Merlins Post
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Hi all, so, by this point this is old news for me, but having found your site I would like to share a bit of information. I don't know if the general public has had the opportunity to find out, but last year when the Tree of Life went down for refurb, they actually did more than they let on. In fact, as a Cast Member during that time, I can testify to the fact that they set up a system to individually light the leaves on the tree (either for the Rivers of Light show or just in general... there were a few rumors, but nothing I can be sure of). I wasn't able to see it myself, but being the last people to leave the park before custodial (I was food and bev, and whoever had to close this one location always ended up staying until 11-ish) some of my coworkers were shocked to see the tree lit up as they were testing the system.

Please don't bombard me with questions, because that's honestly all that I know, but I just wanted to make sure that you all were aware since this was construction that you couldn't really see!
Thanks for the update!
 

Mat Cauthon

Well-Known Member
I doubt it's been cut. Why would they be approving 3 billion one day and cutting budgets the next?
Sorry. My reply fail may have caused some confusion. I was only referencing the DHS redo as a way of explaining what I had heard about budgets and projects being cut. Merlin had stated the budget for the AK night time show has received massive cuts since last year. Since other threads had mentioned budgets don't get cut once approved it is actually WDI going over budget and having to scale back I wondered if that was the case with the AK project.
 

Bartattack

Well-Known Member
I wonder if the lights on the tree will look like butterflies as in the concept art... or if they can have different shapes.
 

dreamscometrue

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the boards!

Thanks for the info. I expected that something may have been done during the refurb, but had no idea if it actually had been completed. Good news!
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Sorry. My reply fail may have caused some confusion. I was only referencing the DHS redo as a way of explaining what I had heard about budgets and projects being cut. Merlin had stated the budget for the AK night time show has received massive cuts since last year. Since other threads had mentioned budgets don't get cut once approved it is actually WDI going over budget and having to scale back I wondered if that was the case with the AK project.
Many of the budget cuts proposed for DAK have since been reversed. Like our boat ride which will not only open but which should be pretty phenomenal.
 

flyerjab

Well-Known Member
Hi all, so, by this point this is old news for me, but having found your site I would like to share a bit of information. I don't know if the general public has had the opportunity to find out, but last year when the Tree of Life went down for refurb, they actually did more than they let on. In fact, as a Cast Member during that time, I can testify to the fact that they set up a system to individually light the leaves on the tree (either for the Rivers of Light show or just in general... there were a few rumors, but nothing I can be sure of). I wasn't able to see it myself, but being the last people to leave the park before custodial (I was food and bev, and whoever had to close this one location always ended up staying until 11-ish) some of my coworkers were shocked to see the tree lit up as they were testing the system.

Please don't bombard me with questions, because that's honestly all that I know, but I just wanted to make sure that you all were aware since this was construction that you couldn't really see!

Thanks for the information and welcome! As you will find, there are those with negative or positive slants about the goings on and the moneys spent on Disney projects. I tend to slant towards a more positive outlook and will hold judgement until I see the finished and completed project. I am actually very excited about this aside from any reports that budgets supposedly were slashed. There have also been times - not very many, admittedly - when things have gone the other way; the dwarf animatronics on the mine train as a recent example. With the slate of aggressive moves that UNI has been making of late, I think that Disney is feeling the pressure. I can already say that originally listed as a C-Ticket, the Avatar boat ride has more recently been reported to be a D-Ticket in an LA Times article. Now could that person be misrepresenting this ride? Sure. But again, being more optimistic, I take that as a positive sign that Disney is realizing that they can't open another New Fantasy Land type area: a beautifully designed land without a killer attraction or two.

Again, time will tell, but all the same thanks for the info!
 

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
I'm willing to bet that there will be projections up on the Tree, too. The new structures being added to Discovery Island seem to be the perfect heights and distance away from the Tree for aiming projectors.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I'm willing to bet that there will be projections up on the Tree, too. The new structures being added to Discovery Island seem to be the perfect heights and distance away from the Tree for aiming projectors.
I would be curious to see how projections would work on a tree since has no single border to project on. That is not to say it's impossible--just that I'd be curious to see how it would work.
 

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