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

JillC LI

JillC LI

Well-Known Member
aimee1080 said:
Omg you guys...this is my first post on this board. I've been lurking on this thread every day for 9 months following the progress of RoL. Our very first trip to Disney ever is next month, and our first day is planned at AK for 1/21. If that will truly be the opening night I will lose my schmidt.
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OMG, us too! Same day!
 
aimee1080

aimee1080

New Member
This project has hurt my feelings so many times and I know I'm foolish to get my hopes up (again) but seeing that date was like a shot to my HEART. It's like it was MEANT TO BE.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
Disney themes do "outdo" the local museums, parks, zoos, etc. as they should, their educational experiences do not. Disney won't replace what they can offer...and I don't want them to. Disney is more about fun and fantasy than it is about learning...I can think of a ton of educational trips, but WDW is nowhere on the list. SeaWorld would even be above WDW on that list, for me. There are things to learn sure, just as you can learn anywhere, but the "educational" aspect of Disney is not anywhere near exclusive, or as good as what someone could receive elsewhere. This is what I said earlier, when you get into the educational stuff, does it matter that the theming may be a little more immersive than the best museums, zoos, and aquariums in this country? Or when you get into the theme alone topic- What about other beautifully themed fun filled resorts? If kids have these immersive experiences on a regular basis do they care that Disney's animals are in a bit more scenic environment? It's still the same experience. I compare Atlantis to Disney a lot bc I love both, and both themes.. As a result they are in direct competition for my family vacation dollars. Much more than Universal is at this time. Disney won out the past 2 years bc of their characters and my nostalgia (meaning wanting my kid to have that same childhood experience at WDW as I did)....and mostly WDW won out this year because- Star Wars. If it wasn't for Star Wars we would have been on DCL, not at WDW. The force was strong there.
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(Bolded text) Today's Disney is certainly as shallow as you perceive them. You like it. It makes some of us sad...on multiple levels.

Some of us remember when America didn't strive to be as dumb as possible.
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
(Bolded text) Today's Disney is certainly as shallow as you perceive them. You like it. It makes some of us sad...on multiple levels.

Some of us remember when America didn't strive to be as dumb as possible.
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I had to respond to this... If you read the rest of my comment it speaks to other places for educational fun in America. Disney is not America to me, it's Disney World, that's it. America is only "dumbed down" if you choose not to take advantage of all of the wonderful places available to us...and there are plenty of them, all you have to do is look :)
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I had to respond to this... If you read the rest of my comment it speaks to other places for educational fun in America. Disney is not America to me, it's Disney World, that's it. America is only "dumbed down" if you choose not to take advantage of all of the wonderful places available to us...and there are plenty of them, all you have to do is look :)
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My kids have been from Danali to Key West, Yosemite/Yellowstone/Grand Canyon/Zion/Bryce/ Arches/ Great Smoky Mtn/Rocky Mtn/John Pennakamp/New River National Parks. Broadway to Hollywood, the Smithsonian more times than I can remember.

That doesn't mean that as a country we haven't gone from The Learning Channel being started by NASA to the Honey Boo Boo/Duck Dynasty Channel and Discovery Channel has gone from Cosmos to the Bigfoot Channel.

We should not encourage this trend and we should fight it every inch of the way.
 
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21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
My kids have been from Danali to Key West, Yosemite/Yellowstone/Grand Canyon/Zion/Bryce/ Arches/ Great Smoky Mtn/Rocky Mtn/John Pennakamp/New River National Parks. Broadway to Hollywood, the Smithsonian more times than I can remember.

That doesn't mean that as a country we haven't gone from The Learning Channel being started by NASA to the Honey Boo Boo/Duck Dynasty Channel and Discovery Channel has gone from Cosmos to the Bigfoot Channel.

We should not encourage this trend and we should fight it every inch of the way.
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I think those shows are trash.. I also think that people choose to watch them. It's sad, but it's their choice. There is plenty of better programming available. We definitely shouldn't encourage that kind of stuff, but that is an individual's responsibility, it starts in the home. My kid is at a museum camp all week, learning, exploring, having fun..yesterday was dinosaurs today is whacky science..tomorrow is Space...(next week is baseball and soccer camps which I feel teach just as important lessons) people choose how they present the world to their children, you can't just blame "society" for dumbing things down, it's easy to avoid it, there are plenty of opportunities to counteract that segment of "entertainment". That's an entirely different subject though.
I can't equate Disney characters in a Disney park, something like an image of Simba in a night time show at Animal Kingdom, to trash television.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
Escape to Witch Mountain?
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Starring "The Rock"? Or the original? Or both?!? Haha!

We could keep naming Disney live action from the '70s all night. But context is everything. The '70s were an alternate reality where a John Denver Christmas Special was an instant "classic" that they played for years.

(I still think John Denver was an amazing talent. I miss him and the America of those days).
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I think those shows are trash.. I also think that people choose to watch them. It's sad, but it's their choice. There is plenty of better programming available. We definitely shouldn't encourage that kind of stuff, but that is an individual's responsibility, it starts in the home. My kid is at a museum camp all week, learning, exploring, having fun..yesterday was dinosaurs today is whacky science..tomorrow is Space...(next week is baseball and soccer camps which I feel teach just as important lessons) people choose how they present the world to their children, you can't just blame "society" for dumbing things down, it's easy to avoid it, there are plenty of opportunities to counteract that segment of "entertainment". That's an entirely different subject though.
I can't equate Disney characters in a Disney park, something like an image of Simba in a night time show at Animal Kingdom, to trash television.
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Replacing the presentation of actual factual content in an area dedicated to educating people about history and culture with a cartoon that literally is about some place else is a kick in the crown jewels of intellectualism.

Some of us felt it. Everyone else said, "Oooohh, pretty."
 
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DDLand

DDLand

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I can't equate Disney characters in a Disney park, something like an image of Simba in a night time show at Animal Kingdom, to trash television.
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If all you expect from a Disney Parks experience is a collection of best of moments from film and television, the bar is incredibly low. Crossing off a list of your favorite characters after visiting each one's ride. That's it.

This explains why so many individuals have such diametrically opposed view points on this. Many people (myself included) view Disney Parks not as the place where your favorite characters come alive, but as their own stories equal to (or even more impressive) than a movie or tv show. When you say that more Disney characters should be in a park, ask yourself a different question. Would you suggest a fix for a movie like John Carter is Disney Characters? That the movie would have worked if there was a short sequence with Anna and Elsa, but because of its originality it didn't work.

No. That sounds ridiculous. Apart from the fact John Carter technically became a "Disney Character" and a "Disney Story," it wouldn't have made any sense whatsoever. That's the same way you should view a cohesive theme park. Those are Disney Story's and everything from pirates in PotC to the newsie on Spaceship Earth are Disney characters.

That's why, among other reasons, adding Simba to RoLs makes little sense in a theme park.
 

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