Steel City Magic
Well-Known Member
Wow the Tree of Life nighttime effect! straight to B mode... Its a shame i hear in A mode its branches swoop down like its going to grab tourists. wait a sec...
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Harambe Nights at Disney's Animal Kingdom this summer
- Thread starter NEL
- Start date
Soarin' Over Pgh
Well-Known Member
I dunno dude, I saw something about alcohol included. Meet me under the clock, let's hop a flight and get out of this city
jt04
Well-Known Member
I really hope they are considering adding a nightime safari to this event. If the safari had exclusive features I think they could sell this out weekly from now on.
Encouraging this has gotten off to such a great start.
Isn't this essentially much of what JR proposed about 5 years ago?
WDWoptmist
Well-Known Member
Anyone know if this is gluten free friendly? Do they have other options?
The night safari will not be ready for the 2014 events. I would also doubt it will be part of the event later because there really is not time.
jt04
Well-Known Member
That is what I thought. Just hope they give it consideration in the future. This is close to having enough benefits that I would consider it worth the price.
Much-Pixie-Dust
Well-Known Member
My family went to the June 14th HN. Here's my account.
Appetizer time was great! We did get to have it outside and the food was good. The music and the atmosphere were excellent.
Like others have mentioned, premium seating is not the best seat in the house. If you are short then, you won't be able to see most of it. We were placed seat by seat in the assigned section, and the first two rows of the section were reserved for what appeared to be corporate people.
Avery Brooks, the orchestra and singers were amazing to hear. The only one we could actually see well was the narrators. There are two and place up high on the stage. It was interesting that Avery Brooks said he auditioned for the part of Mufasa. He was an exceptional narrator.
The coordinators were not prepared for doing the event in rain with a paying audience. They did give ponchos out, and rather nice ones, but the rest of was so chaotic. They divided the audience into groups and sent some to Tusker House, stayed in FOLK building, or were sent to Pizzafari to eat. We were sent to Pizzafari. With the exception of the food, the rest of the night was no different than sitting in a QS venue for the evening. There were four food tables set up, one for each kind of food type being served (salads, desserts, surf and turf, beef) which was not enough to serve the amount of people sent to eat there. There was much confusion with the bar. It was finally set up about 45-60 minutes after the food was served. Everybody got in one long line at the QS counter to get beverages. They did give you a canned soda or water upon entering the establishment, but no alcohol came until the bar situation was figured out.
Characters came, two to each of the eating locations, but it was about an hour and and half before one came to Pizzafari. No cast member in our area knew of the Mickey Bars. No live music. We finally left and headed back to where the party should have been, if there was no inclement weather. Found a Mickey Bar. There were many food areas out in the rain. We found the other characters, but were told to leave and go back to our table to wait for them. Since we did not have a table in those areas. That was challenging. There was stilt walkers inside of the FOLK during the eating time.
At 10:00, we still had not found or heard the live music. We inquired where it was going to be and got various answers from several cast members (the ones dressed in professional attire, not the ones places to say "Have a magical night". They all said the music would be starting soon, which the event was over at 10:30.
Many people had already left by 10. It was not crowded at all. Disney had many "suits" out and they all inquired about how much fun we were having. I saw them asking many people. We were honest with them.
Upon leaving, it was really neat to get pics made with some of the floats (animals, not really floats) from the jammin jungle parade. Seeing twinkling lights in the Tree of Life was nice too. AK is such a beautiful park at night. It is a shame that it is not open in the evening regularly.
I think the concept of this evening is wonderful and it would be executed as such as long as the weather was cooperative. However, if you go on an inclement weather night, hopefully they learned a lot of lessons this past Saturday evening. It was chaotic, cast members and execs alike seemed frazzled. They definitely need a much stronger "in case of rain" plan than was in place.
Appetizer time was great! We did get to have it outside and the food was good. The music and the atmosphere were excellent.
Like others have mentioned, premium seating is not the best seat in the house. If you are short then, you won't be able to see most of it. We were placed seat by seat in the assigned section, and the first two rows of the section were reserved for what appeared to be corporate people.
Avery Brooks, the orchestra and singers were amazing to hear. The only one we could actually see well was the narrators. There are two and place up high on the stage. It was interesting that Avery Brooks said he auditioned for the part of Mufasa. He was an exceptional narrator.
The coordinators were not prepared for doing the event in rain with a paying audience. They did give ponchos out, and rather nice ones, but the rest of was so chaotic. They divided the audience into groups and sent some to Tusker House, stayed in FOLK building, or were sent to Pizzafari to eat. We were sent to Pizzafari. With the exception of the food, the rest of the night was no different than sitting in a QS venue for the evening. There were four food tables set up, one for each kind of food type being served (salads, desserts, surf and turf, beef) which was not enough to serve the amount of people sent to eat there. There was much confusion with the bar. It was finally set up about 45-60 minutes after the food was served. Everybody got in one long line at the QS counter to get beverages. They did give you a canned soda or water upon entering the establishment, but no alcohol came until the bar situation was figured out.
Characters came, two to each of the eating locations, but it was about an hour and and half before one came to Pizzafari. No cast member in our area knew of the Mickey Bars. No live music. We finally left and headed back to where the party should have been, if there was no inclement weather. Found a Mickey Bar. There were many food areas out in the rain. We found the other characters, but were told to leave and go back to our table to wait for them. Since we did not have a table in those areas. That was challenging. There was stilt walkers inside of the FOLK during the eating time.
At 10:00, we still had not found or heard the live music. We inquired where it was going to be and got various answers from several cast members (the ones dressed in professional attire, not the ones places to say "Have a magical night". They all said the music would be starting soon, which the event was over at 10:30.
Many people had already left by 10. It was not crowded at all. Disney had many "suits" out and they all inquired about how much fun we were having. I saw them asking many people. We were honest with them.
Upon leaving, it was really neat to get pics made with some of the floats (animals, not really floats) from the jammin jungle parade. Seeing twinkling lights in the Tree of Life was nice too. AK is such a beautiful park at night. It is a shame that it is not open in the evening regularly.
I think the concept of this evening is wonderful and it would be executed as such as long as the weather was cooperative. However, if you go on an inclement weather night, hopefully they learned a lot of lessons this past Saturday evening. It was chaotic, cast members and execs alike seemed frazzled. They definitely need a much stronger "in case of rain" plan than was in place.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
I was there on the 14th as well and I was wondering what was happening down at Pizzafari. We did not have Premium seats and were held for about 10 minutes in the theater and it was hinted that we should stay put and enjoy it there. We wandered out to Tuskers where they had everything set up there.
On our way out we saw that Pizzafari was operating and I wondered how/if the people in there knew about the happenings in the theater and Tusker's.
As for the weather and Disney's response, I must respectfully disagree with you. I think they did a very good job given the circumstances. Every indication at the start of the event was that the afternoon storms were over and additional rain seemed unlikely (I had been following them all day on my phone, knowing the event was outside). It was partly sunny during the preshow mingle. The weather was extremely unpredictable that day and not typical for a Florida afternoon/evening. I understand your frustration with being shuttled and then apparently abandoned in Pizzafari, but the speed in which they reconfigured an entire land was fairly impressive to me.
Much-Pixie-Dust
Well-Known Member
It was utter confusion at the Pizzafari location, so that is why I felt like they didn't have a good contingent weather plan. Most people at that venue left the park after eating. There were people at the door telling them good night and directing them towards the exit. Had my family not been looking for a souvenir and live music we would have not known that anything else was happening. It was crowded, disorganized and confused at Pizzafari, so that is why I say it was not a good rain plan. A think a much better experience would have been had if we were originally placed in the theater or at Tuskers. I feel that you don't place anybody, premium or not at a QS location for an event of that cost and caliber. You should have seen the line for the bar and the confusion with it once it was finally set up.
Did they ever play the live music where you were. We were really looking forward to that part of it and disappointed we did not get to experience it.
Like you said, it was strange weather event, even for a Florida June, but the Pizzafari locale was not a good reflection of the service and quality that Disney is known for. I thought all of the Cast Members did a good job at trying to salvage the evening but communication should have been better.
jdmdisney99
Well-Known Member
This coming from the guy who said he'd never set foot in DAK in the near future. They must be doing something right!
Talked to a security guard on my last trip, and this is how they usually do it. He said once, on a day when the park closed at 6, they waited 3 whole hours for an elderly couple to finish their meal at Tusker House and and make their way out of the park. But they have to wait.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that. We were a bit surprised they had folks all the way down there. Sounds like there was definitely a communication gap between Harambe and Pizzafari and that was the root cause.
I can understand your frustration. I don't even want to eat at Pizzafari on a normal day, much less than for a hard ticket event.
We weren't looking for live music (embarrassingly, we were there mainly for Avery Brooks), but the DJ was active in the theater at one point. I don't remember what time, but we just popped in to see what was going on and then exited.
We are attending again in about three weeks (since this was a last minute Star Trek influenced trip), so I'm looking forward to the dinner being the same caliber at the preshow mingle. If that is the case, this event is going to be a keeper.
Much-Pixie-Dust
Well-Known Member
We loved the preshow mingle and Avery Brooks was phenomenal.
Please post back your thoughts on the next show. I would love to read them. If they work out the kinks, I think it would be a truly special event and well worth every penny that we paid for it. Sadly, that just wasn't the case in our previous experience.
I will say that I loved the ponchos. They were great quality!
We did speak to Guest Relations regarding the view at Premium Seating. IMO there should not be a premium seating in the venue, and the the gentlemen speaking with us said there have been many complaints on this matter. I also discussed how Pizzafari should never be an option for placing people. Like you, I don't find it pleasant in the day, let alone at a hard ticket event. We had a nice conversation, others came in quite angry and vocal. There was even shouting, which I don't feel helps the situation.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
the tree of life lights look like a laser to me the way they flicker. As if they are just pointing a laser up there...
WildcatDen
Well-Known Member
I am sure there are some that could simply "Drink in" the value of this event, making the price not so bad. . .
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Someone asked if they would be keeping this past summer.
Initially, I thought, of course, it's selling like hot cakes(whatever that means).
But, I think it's going to be a seasonal thing. I can't imagine them getting enough celeb narrators to keep this going 12 months a year.
Initially, I thought, of course, it's selling like hot cakes(whatever that means).
But, I think it's going to be a seasonal thing. I can't imagine them getting enough celeb narrators to keep this going 12 months a year.
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
Looks like a decent spread of food.
FYI Steve, I'm being told "This video contains content from SME...." and forced to view it on youTube directly. It looks like your video was auto flagged by one of the media conglomerates.
I with they would extend it though September because that's when my anniversary is and we will be there.