New nighttime show 'Rivers of Light' confirmed to be coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

Prototype82

Well-Known Member
In the south, people line up to see boats strung up with christmas lights in parades. People drive by houses just to see them covered in lights. People love lights, they love music. It will be a successful draw, whether they get the artistic aspect or symbolism or not. And much like other shows at WDW, I don't think it will fall victim to IPs. I feel like thats generally a bigger problem with rides overhauls.
 

Mike S

Well-Known Member
I don't understand why people think guests will reject RoL. Projections, fountains, barges, lights -- why wouldn't that be entertaining? People seem to line up to watch the Bellagio fountains year after year and they have no theme or story, but are just fun to observe. Or, more direct for WDW, people wait in long lines to enjoy Soarin' with its score and great scenery.

Maybe I'm giving the common Disney guest too much credit, but why wouldn't it be well received? Is there something comparable that already "failed" with the guest demographic?
WRONG!!!!!!

Everyone goes for Tinkerbell ;)
 

RandySavage

Well-Known Member
It's not anymore. I said "should." It once was. Clearly, they are experimenting with RoL to see if we still enjoy class or if we are all actually just rubes who expect to see Simba roar and Timon make fart jokes about Pumbaa on a water screen (with scents!).
Nice post. I fondly remember the halcyon days when a WDW vacation could feel pretty classy.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Z0aZ6_s-200x150.gif

Nope I still can't find where you thought you had any sort of part of the previous conversation.

Oh, I didn't. Just not a fan of e-tuffs.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I honestly don't think all this hype and infrastructure will be for just a 10-15 minute show, it'll probably be at least 25 minutes as you said. Then again I'm no insider (and haven't really been sniffing around for ROL rumors/info as of late) so I have no idea for sure.
I don't honestly know length but I haven't heard that it's particularly short. Based upon the storyline they are going with, I'd guess 20-25 min.
 

No Name

Well-Known Member
I said good. Dinosaur is not.
The range of opinions on these boards stretches wider than the widest ocean. It's not a bad thing at all, and I love hearing people's thoughts. Some of the opinions people have are surprising though.

But I think the no-character fear is weak. Although my anology may not have been the best, there are so so so many things in WDW that have no "characters," aren't thrill rides, and yet are super popular.
Plus, the show is at night, and families of little children don't all stay that late. And if some families don't want to watch the show because their favorite zootopia fox isn't in it, they can miss out. It'll save room for everyone else.

Fireworks tho'
Floating lanterns tho'

Sure, you may be joking, but my point to everyone is that, yes, fireworks are cool, but are they the only thing other than movie characters that get little children excited? Umm I don't think so. The lights and colors, the fountains, the floats and sloating lanterns, and the music should all get their attention and smiles. There should be enough visual flair in front of them to prevent boredom. And as for the message or theme, even though they don't "get it," that's okay. Their parents do. Therefore the show will cater to all viewers in different ways, something that doesn't always happen with newer shows and movies.

And as I've said, characters would ruin the theme and message of this show for your large percentage of guests who do "get it" (ya know, the paying folks). The show simply cannot be as captivating if it included characters, they have no place here. Especially for a show smack in the center of the park. It has non-movie-character animals in it. That's not all it needs, that's what it needs. I truly hope future changes don't "break down" what looks to be a good and captivating show.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
The range of opinions on these boards stretches wider than the widest ocean. It's not a bad thing at all, and I love hearing people's thoughts. Some of the opinions people have are surprising though.

But I think the no-character fear is weak. Although my anology may not have been the best, there are so so so many things in WDW that have no "characters," aren't thrill rides, and yet are super popular.
Plus, the show is at night, and families of little children don't all stay that late. And if some families don't want to watch the show because their favorite zootopia fox isn't in it, they can miss out. It'll save room for everyone else.


Floating lanterns tho'

Sure, you may be joking, but my point to everyone is that, yes, fireworks are cool, but are they the only thing other than movie characters that get little children excited? Umm I don't think so. The lights and colors, the fountains, the floats and sloating lanterns, and the music should all get their attention and smiles. There should be enough visual flair in front of them to prevent boredom. And as for the message or theme, even though they don't "get it," that's okay. Their parents do. Therefore the show will cater to all viewers in different ways, something that doesn't always happen with newer shows and movies.

And as I've said, characters would ruin the theme and message of this show for your large percentage of guests who do "get it" (ya know, the paying folks). The show simply cannot be as captivating if it included characters, they have no place here. Especially for a show smack in the center of the park. It has non-movie-character animals in it. That's not all it needs, that's what it needs. I truly hope future changes don't "break down" what looks to be a good and captivating show.
That depends on how much longer Bob Iger is around. You know he wouldn't hesitate to force the addition of a five-minute clip from the new Jungle Book to the show if it does well...
 

Pirate665

Well-Known Member
I still say I'm against this, but at least the more I find out, the more I see they took a bit more thought into things. I'll go when it's fully armed and operational, but until then... they could've used the money to fix the yeti....
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
I agree with that. Its the only reason I ever set foot in Epcot, tbh. If IllumiNations wasn't the nighttime show, I'd probably never bother. Same with Fantasmic. I know that's a silly reason but hey, whatever :cool:

It's not a silly reason at all. The large entertainment spectaculars is a major part of the appeal of Disney parks IMHO. It's one area where they have an offering that is clearly superior to Universal.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
I don't understand why people think guests will reject RoL. Projections, fountains, barges, lights -- why wouldn't that be entertaining? People seem to line up to watch the Bellagio fountains year after year and they have no theme or story, but are just fun to observe. Or, more direct for WDW, people wait in long lines to enjoy Soarin' with its score and great scenery.

Both of those stimulate emotional responses... mostly through music, scale and great direction. They 'work' because they resonate with the audience and spark positive emotions.

It's a difficult beam to focus.. and still hit the wide audience. You'll notice both of those are also relatively wide appeal topics (granduer of nature, strong instrumentals, etc).

A story about african lanterns, etc is a much more explict story line that people are going to have to buy into.. its a point that if it doesn't resonate, alot of the emotional hooks could be lost.

It's hard to predict before you see the final product.. but it certainly has risks.
 

habuma

Well-Known Member
...I think the no-character fear is weak.

Both the no-character and no-story arguments are weak. Illuminations (at least in its current form) has no characters and although it has a story, most people probably don't catch on to that story. (I had seen and enjoyed Illuminations several times before realizing the story of chaos/order/meaning being told.)

Time will tell if Rivers of Light matches up to Illuminations or is even any good at all. But I wouldn't discount it on lack of characters or story.
 

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