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

Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
flyerjab said:
Nicely done. After seeing this, it makes me wonder if they would build up the sides of the bridge so that people can't see anything from it. That could cause a minor traffic flow problem.
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It wouldn't be that hard to install a couple of panels on the left side of the bridge that way people no matter what can't stop and watch on it.
 
Crazydisneyfanluke

Crazydisneyfanluke

Well-Known Member
Sped2424 said:
If fantasmic almost always fills up with two showings and an entire stadium with overflow seating I shudder to think what only 2 showings could do for this bare seated nighttime spectacular.
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I would think there will be sitting and standing. Sitting would be Dinning package (lets say about 5-10 bucks more than F!), Standing will be FP+. Handicap will most likely have a section of the seating area as well.
 
Daveeeeed

Daveeeeed

Well-Known Member
Disney is insane if they do not add a massive viewing area (at least for 25k guests,) either sitting, or standing (10k if seating, and to clarify around 25k for the surrounding waterfront areas for standing. I am also assuming that there will be a dinner package, and FP+ seating either way. This would be comparable to the designated viewing area like World Of Color in California). I do know for a fact though that the areas around it are getting a facelift, and paths are as we speak, or are going to be in the near future expanded. I don't know about the bridges though. I am heavily relying that they will add a completely new and additional bridge from Asia To Dinoland USA.
 
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Coaster Lover

Coaster Lover

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
TimothyD said:
Disney is insane if they do not add a massive viewing area (at least for 25k guests,) either sitting, or standing (10k if seating, and to clarify around 25k for the surrounding waterfront areas for standing.
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Animal Kingdom pulled in ~10,402,000 guests in 2014 according to the published reports (I know, they don't get their data from Disney, but let's pretend that they are reasonably accurate), so if the park is open 365 days of the year, that's ~28,498 guests per day on average. Absolutely no need to build a venue to hold 25K people. Not everyone will have interest in seeing this show and not everyone will stay at the park that long. I think it's generous to say that 50% of the total daily guests would have interest in seeing the show and would stick around at the park late enough to see the show and given how Disney routinely has two performances of popular nightly shows, you can split that figure in half again. As such, a reasonable capacity for the show would be closer to 7,000 people.

By comparison, California Adventure pulled in ~8,769,000 guests in 2014 (~24,025 guests per day on average). World of Color runs two performances most nights and from all the figures I can see, their venue for World of Color has a capacity of 4,000 people. So, with two shows a night, they can accommodate approximately 1/3 of the guests that visit the park on average each day. Using that figure, the venue at Animal Kingdom would only need to be large enough to hold ~4,800 per show (with two shows).

With Pandora, night safaris, and a bevy of other things, I'd argue that there is plenty to do at Animal Kingdom that is unique enough at night (as compared to doing them in the day) that spreading the crowds out won't be that big of an issue.

Will you need a FastPass to see River of Lights? Almost definitely, but hopefully they can do at AK what they do at DCA and make that FastPass NOT count against your FastPass allotment.
 
dreamscometrue

dreamscometrue

Well-Known Member
TimothyD said:
Disney is insane if they do not add a massive viewing area (at least for 25k guests,) either sitting, or standing (10k if seating, and to clarify around 25k for the surrounding waterfront areas for standing. I am also assuming that there will be a dinner package, and FP+ seating either way. This would be comparable to the designated viewing area like World Of Color in California). I do know for a fact though that the areas around it are getting a facelift, and paths are as we speak, or are going to be in the near future expanded. I don't know about the bridges though. I am heavily relying that they will add a completely new and additional bridge from Asia To Dinoland USA.
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I didn't know if you meant this to be a joke or if you were serious. 25K? Um, no. World of Color has designated area for 4000-4500 and even Fantasmic! is about 9000. I am super excited to see this show, but even if somehow it could attract 25000 people, which it won't, Disney would never even entertain the idea of 25000 people in one spot at that park. Not a chance. Likely 4000-5000 people will be able to take in each performance. That'll work
 
Coaster Lover

Coaster Lover

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Took the liberty of putting the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at DHS right next to the River of Lights seating area (same magnification) for comparison. So each of those white lines in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater represents a row. Given the spacing and the spacing of the similar white lines at Animal Kingdom, I'd argue that it seems quite likely that it will be seated viewing at River of Lights.

Now for the fun math (and I know this isn't 100% accurate, but it should be close enough). The amphitheater portion of the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater (not counting the standing room or the additional seating behind the main bowl) holds 6,900 guests. There are 10 sections in the bowl and it looks like each section contains 27 rows. As such, each row would seat about 25.5 people. At Animal Kingdom, the rows seem to be similar length and spacing so we can assume a similar number of people per row. There are currently 10 sections in the River of Lights seating area, but only 5 rows in each section (which would be a paltry capacity of 1,275), however, if you look behind the rows of seats, there is still a LOT of room between the seats and the construction wall. Assuming the viewing area will extend right up to the walkway, they could triple (or in some areas quadruple) the number of rows currently there leading to an overall seating capacity of 4,000-5,000 people (just about exactly the capacity @dreamscometrue suggested).
 

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Daveeeeed

Daveeeeed

Well-Known Member
dreamscometrue said:
I didn't know if you meant this to be a joke or if you were serious. 25K? Um, no. World of Color has designated area for 4000-4500 and even Fantasmic! is about 9000. I am super excited to see this show, but even if somehow it could attract 25000 people, which it won't, Disney would never even entertain the idea of 25000 people in one spot at that park. Not a chance. Likely 4000-5000 people will be able to take in each performance. That'll work
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I was exaggerating, but still. 10k seating is not enough if they are planning one show a night and put aside the average daily stuff because Animal Kingdom is going to get a huge rise in attendance as well as the entire summer, December etc. are so busy. I am saying that when I compared the main viewing area of world of color I compared it to a possible seating size. Sorry if I was slightly confusing.
Fantasmic! Has enough for ~ 7,500 people to sit. I think that number would work well for 1 show a night IF they have 20k extra standing area (like IROE has) where you are not perfect, but can still see it. If they do that will be enough. Obviously if they have two shows a night and it has 10k seating capacity it will work well. It's all relative to their plans.
 
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ABQ

ABQ

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
So based on those pictures it looks like you are actually going to sit on those wall sections in the seating area.
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I agree and I'm so pleased at just how much effort is going into doing something extra to make what's essentially just a big grand stand area fit, as best as possible at least, into the theming of the park. They could have cheaped out and just thrown aluminum benches in much faster, but have not.
 
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T

twebber55

Well-Known Member
ABQ said:
I agree and I'm so pleased at just how much effort is going into doing something extra to make what's essentially just a big grand stand area fit, as best as possible at least, into the theming of the park. They could have cheaper out and just thrown aluminum benches in much faster, but have not.
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ill say it again
from what I ve seen so far every aspect of the DAK expansion is and will be top notch, from the new Harambe, to ROL, to Pandora, to the new look TOL
 
Rteetz

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
Fox&Hound said:
Oh my gosh!!!!! That's awesome! Love the whale leaping in the water- especially if they timed water shooting out as it were plunging into the water. I really hope this nighttime show is a homerun for AK!!!!!
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And to think this video is from D23 but hasn't been talked about yet
 

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