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

[Master Yoda]

Also don't forget Animal Kingdom when it was built was cut back when Beastly Kingdom was cut.

Correct. The list is a mile long. I honestly can't think of a single attraction or refurb in the last decade that did not get some kind of cut in either content, budget or both from concept to reality. It is almost like is is some kind of automatic thing to try and get the designers to do less with more.

 

[JustInTime]

Spaceship Earth's budget was cut so bad that they couldn't even finish it

 

[Mike S]

Correct. The list is a mile wrong. I honestly can't think of a single attraction or refurb in the last decade that did not get some kind of cut in either content, budget or both from concept to reality. It is almost like is is some kind of automatic thing to try and get the designers to do less with more.

I know this is probably a typo, but that's actually a pretty good way to describe it.

 

[Incomudro]

Epcot itself wasn't built as Walt envisioned his Florida Project.
Sometimes too much knowledge is a bad thing you know?
In the internet age, we're privy to information that in the past we would have never known.
Seeing all these early artist renderings and hearing all of these rumors apparently sets up many here for disappointment.

 

[Master Yoda]

Epcot itself wasn't built as Walt envisioned his Florida Project.
Sometimes too much knowledge is a bad thing you know?
In the internet age, we're privy to information that in the past we would have never known.
Seeing all these early artist renderings and hearing all of these rumors apparently sets up many here for disappointment.

This....a bagillion percent.

Virtually every project done by Disney or anyone else starts out much grander then the finished project. In the days of ignorance we enjoyed what was made, now we lament what could have been.

 

[ZodIsGr8]

Spaceship Earth's budget was cut so bad that they couldn't even finish it

LOL, That is too funny!!!!

 

[Mike S]

This....a bagillion percent.

Virtually every project done by Disney or anyone else starts out much grander then the finished project. In the days of ignorance we enjoyed what was made, now we lament what could have been.

I believe Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion were originally supposed to be walkthroughs called Rogues Gallery and Museum of the Weird, respectively. I think everyone is happy with what they eventually became. I'm pretty sure attractions like Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain etc. all turned out not that far off from what they were in concept and are still of very high quality except maybe Space because of that botched refurb. If this show was to be of a similar scale to World of Color, why the need to cut it back significantly? They know the great reactions to the show they have out in California so what gives? Why can't they spend the necessary amount of money for a show of similar quality in Florida?

 

[MarkTwain]

This....a bagillion percent.

Virtually every project done by Disney or anyone else starts out much grander then the finished project. In the days of ignorance we enjoyed what was made, now we lament what could have been.

I think it also depends on what scale the initial project gets cut down to. The Indiana Jones expansion at Disneyland was supposed to include a dark ride, an indoor roller coaster, new Jungle cruise scenes, and a themed passage for the railroad, all sharing a huge interconnected showbuilding. It ended up getting cut down to a single dark ride, considered one of the best ever created and still remembered as one of the best additions in DLR's history. Not what was originally planned, but still great.

Even if the new show isn't what was originally proposed, if it's still entertaining and a fitting alternative to watching Wishes or Fantasmic, I'll be happy. I think something even 80% of the scale of WoC would be hugely successful for the park, and understandable since the water conditions aren't as ideal. In the end, the show's ultimate goal is to keep people in the park til nighttime, prevent them from overcrowding MK or Epcot's nighttime shows, and feel like a solid conclusion to the day at DAK. It doesn't need to redefine the standards for nighttime spectaculars the way WoC did... although a THEA award or two wouldn't go amiss.

 

[marni1971]

LOL, That is too funny!!!!

And sadly true.

 

[flyerjab]

Epcot itself wasn't built as Walt envisioned his Florida Project.
Sometimes too much knowledge is a bad thing you know?
In the internet age, we're privy to information that in the past we would have never known.
Seeing all these early artist renderings and hearing all of these rumors apparently sets up many here for disappointment.

Could not agree more with the main point of this post.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Correct. The list is a mile long. I honestly can't think of a single attraction or refurb in the last decade that did not get some kind of cut in either content, budget or both from concept to reality. It is almost like is is some kind of automatic thing to try and get the designers to do less with more.

Well there is one I can think of. Next-Gen. It had unbelievable cost overruns that could have easily funded all of those ride and attraction cuts for the past two decades.

 

[FerretAfros]

I think it also depends on what scale the initial project gets cut down to. The Indiana Jones expansion at Disneyland was supposed to include a dark ride, an indoor roller coaster, new Jungle cruise scenes, and a themed passage for the railroad, all sharing a huge interconnected showbuilding. It ended up getting cut down to a single dark ride, considered one of the best ever created and still remembered as one of the best additions in DLR's history. Not what was originally planned, but still great.

Even if the new show isn't what was originally proposed, if it's still entertaining and a fitting alternative to watching Wishes or Fantasmic, I'll be happy. I think something even 80% of the scale of WoC would be hugely successful for the park, and understandable since the water conditions aren't as ideal. In the end, the show's ultimate goal is to keep people in the park til nighttime, prevent them from overcrowding MK or Epcot's nighttime shows, and feel like a solid conclusion to the day at DAK. It doesn't need to redefine the standards for nighttime spectaculars the way WoC did... although a THEA award or two wouldn't go amiss.

Even in the pared down darkride-only version, Indiana Jones had a noticeable budget cut, leaving 2 rooms unfinished a la Spaceship Earth. About halfway through the ride, just after your Jeep passes under the rope bridge, it turns a corner into a dark room with some raffia grass in front of a blue spotlight and the car "stalls out". It then rounds the corner to a mist screen projection of some rats on a log, before heading into the dart corridor. Both of these rooms were originally intended to be fully fleshed-out scenes, like the rest of the ride, but had to be cut after the track layout was designed.

The dark and empty rooms can be seen at roughly 2:38-3:00 in this video:


There were rumors a few years ago during one of Indy's extended refurbishments (~6 months) that they were finally going to finish those scenes, but it never came to pass. Yet it's still a very highly regarded attraction

And when they built a modified clone of the ride for the big-budget extravaganza known as Tokyo DisneySEA, those scenes were also left unfinished, despite everything we think we know about OLC's supposed deep pockets. The projection effect was swapped out for a smoke ring (similar to the one in the Heffalumps & Woozles scene of Pooh in MK), but the rooms were still unfinished and in the dark

Every project has cuts, and the designers know it before they create their concepts. Part of the reason they blue sky ideas is to have an ultimate design in a world without constraints, so they can use that as a guideline once they know what they can actually work with. I don't think any of the designers actually go into blue sky thinking that they'll get the whole thing built; that's just not how the process works

 

[Next Big Thing]

Have i missed something - why are their budget cuts?

Because Disney

 

[GoofGoof]

Well there is one I can think of. Next-Gen. It had unbelievable cost overruns that could have easily funded all of those ride and attraction cuts for the past two decades.

Even that project was supposedly cut back. There were going to be more interactive queues and interactive elements that were never built out.

It's possible for an attraction to have its budget cut or design scaled back before construction and then end up going over the revised budget once construction begins. I think this is very common with Disney. We always hear about cutbacks on these projects but usually during or after construction we hear about budget overruns. It seems to be part of the back and forth. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Do they always cut budgets during design knowing WDI will run over or does WDI always run over because their budgets are always being cut?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The cuts you're referring to were elements intended for enhancing the guest experience, the actual budget for nextgen grew to well over twice its original allotment (so they didn't just slash the funds and pocket it for their big executive bonuses like what happens with other budget cuts). I don't even know what the budget has ballooned to at this point, but it began at $800 million and as of early this year it is said to have grown to over $2 billion. It may now be over $2.5 or even $3 billion at this point. Someone like @marni1971 might know what the current budget is. It may well still be growing considering the tremendous technical issues they were and still are having with the system. But regardless of what elements were cut from the guest experience, the original budget was NOT decreased like other park projects (like New Fantasyland and Rivers of Light). It has grown, well over 2x its original budget at least.

I would hazard a guess that the interactive elements intended for the guest experience were not ever part of the primary budget for next gen in the first place. They were probably budgeted separately. Or at least they couldn't have made up such a significant portion of the budget that their cost was able to add over a billion to the main nextgen budget. Even if they were budgeted in the same pool, I don't buy whatsoever that slashing some very minor interactive features could have possibly covered the $2+ billion cost the main project has ballooned to. Even for Disney's absurd bloat and inflated budgets, I just don't see what would likely have been a lot of poor quality video games in the queues amounting to that sort of cash.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The cuts you're referring to were elements intended for enhancing the guest experience, the actual budget for nextgen grew to well over twice its original allotment (so they didn't just slash the funds and pocket it for their big executive bonuses like what happens with other budget cuts). I don't even know what the budget has ballooned to at this point, but it began at $800 million and as of early this year it is said to have grown to over $2 billion. It may now be over $2.5 or even $3 billion at this point. Someone like @marni1971 might know what the current budget is. It may well still be growing considering the tremendous technical issues they were and still are having with the system. But regardless of what elements were cut from the guest experience, the original budget was NOT decreased like other park projects (like New Fantasyland and Rivers of Light). It has grown, well over 2x its original budget at least.

I would hazard a guess that the interactive elements intended for the guest experience were not ever part of the primary budget for next gen in the first place. They were probably budgeted separately. Or at least they couldn't have made up such a significant portion of the budget. Even if they were budgeted in the same pool, I don't buy whatsoever that slashing some very minor interactive features could have possibly covered the $2+ billion cost the main project has ballooned to. Even for Disney's absurd bloat and inflated budgets, I just don't see what would likely have been a lot of video games in the queues amounting to the funds added to nextgen.

Killing the interactive queues seems to have also been largely influenced by their being an operational and maintenance nightmare.

 

[GoofGoof]

The cuts you're referring to were elements intended for enhancing the guest experience, the actual budget for nextgen grew to well over twice its original allotment (so they didn't just slash the funds and pocket it for their big executive bonuses like what happens with other budget cuts). I don't even know what the budget has ballooned to at this point, but it began at $800 million and as of early this year it is said to have grown to over $2 billion. It may now be over $2.5 or even $3 billion at this point. Someone like @marni1971 might know what the current budget is. It may well still be growing considering the tremendous technical issues they were and still are having with the system. But regardless of what elements were cut from the guest experience, the original budget was NOT decreased like other park projects (like New Fantasyland and Rivers of Light). It has grown, well over 2x its original budget at least.

I would hazard a guess that the interactive elements intended for the guest experience were not ever part of the primary budget for next gen in the first place. They were probably budgeted separately. Or at least they couldn't have made up such a significant portion of the budget that their cost was able to add over a billion to the main nextgen budget. Even if they were budgeted in the same pool, I don't buy whatsoever that slashing some very minor interactive features could have possibly covered the $2+ billion cost the main project has ballooned to. Even for Disney's absurd bloat and inflated budgets, I just don't see what would likely have been a lot of poor quality video games in the queues amounting to that sort of cash.

No doubt the project went over budget, but there were still elements that were cut or are at least are still delayed.

 

[WDWtraveler]

"Rivers of Light" photo update as of Monday, Dec 22. Since the last photos posted in early October, underground work was conducted on the shoreline and now parts of the shoreline are fully exposed and graded. Sequence from left to right from across the lake.

In the background of the last photo, you can see the Finding Nemo theatre.

 

[pug]

Here is a pic from 12/21/14

 

[doctornick]

View attachment 77212

I wonder if the bridge between Asia and Dinoland is going to be popular for people to stop on to watch the show. Can a person see over the sides effectively to watch what is going on in the water?