Rivers of Light closing

Graham9

Graham9

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So I have just read that Rivers of Light is permanently closing. We saw the construction of this during our last trip some years ago and have always wanted to see it when we come back, which we planned to this year - before this Covid-19 messed everything.

I have always like light shows like this and was really looking forward to see it, keeping away from Youtube vids so as not to spoil it.

So now I'm really gutted and disappointed I'm never going to see it and a large quantity of pixie dust has suddenly evaporated.
 
Queen of the WDW Scene

Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Admittedly I never saw it in person but Disney over hyped and under delivered and delivered it late.
Its still shocking that it had such a short runtime though.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
We missed it as well. It had been on out list of things to do on our Covid cancelled trip and we were hoping to catch it on our 2021 make up trip. Guess we'll have to settle for watching other guests videos.
 
Oddysey

Oddysey

Well-Known Member
To the OP, if it is any conciliation, the show was disappoiting. I have been told that it was highly technicle and difficult to execute, but that didn't really translate to the audience imho.
 
Elfinko

Elfinko

Well-Known Member
Thankfully, I saw it before Disney neutered it. It was a great show at one time. There are some good HD videos of the original show on Youtube.
 
Nottamus

Nottamus

Well-Known Member
We saw it on two different occasions
The first time it broke down like 5 minutes In two times In a row....so they just cancelled it

second time we saw the whole show finally when it had live people in it...it was good

it had always been my understanding that there were effects and parts of the show that never materialized. So I guess we all never saw a full show ...
 
Club Cooloholic

Club Cooloholic

Well-Known Member
We thought it was ok. A bit dull, would be cool to see them do something interesting with that river. Quite honestly maybe some permanent light fixtures to add something at night, giant glowing lilly pads and frogs, would be cool.
 
T

thomas998

Well-Known Member
Graham9 said:
So I have just read that Rivers of Light is permanently closing. We saw the construction of this during our last trip some years ago and have always wanted to see it when we come back, which we planned to this year - before this Covid-19 messed everything.

I have always like light shows like this and was really looking forward to see it, keeping away from Youtube vids so as not to spoil it.

So now I'm really gutted and disappointed I'm never going to see it and a large quantity of pixie dust has suddenly evaporated.
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I was always surprised that they tried to create some show to lure people to the only park that has notoriously crappy hours where so much of the park is pointless when the lights go down. Remember AK is really just a zoo with rides and zoo animals aren't very visible at night. They need more rides at AK if they want to get change the park into one that pulls people in when the sun goes down. And now that they have pretty much eliminated the park hopper until the virus is history I can't see AK pulling in anywhere near as many people as it did in the past. For us AK was never a full day park only one we would spend a half day at and one night show wasn't ever going to be enough to convince us to stay a full day.
 
JusticeDisney

JusticeDisney

Well-Known Member
thomas998 said:
I was always surprised that they tried to create some show to lure people to the only park that has notoriously crappy hours where so much of the park is pointless when the lights go down. Remember AK is really just a zoo with rides and zoo animals aren't very visible at night. They need more rides at AK if they want to get change the park into one that pulls people in when the sun goes down. And now that they have pretty much eliminated the park hopper until the virus is history I can't see AK pulling in anywhere near as many people as it did in the past. For us AK was never a full day park only one we would spend a half day at and one night show wasn't ever going to be enough to convince us to stay a full day.
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I respect your opinion, but I disagree that the park is pointless at night. In fact, there are parts of it which, in my opinion, are far better at night. For example, Pandora is exceptional after dark. I would also prefer riding EE at night as opposed to the day every time. The safari is also very cool as it gets a little darker (of course, it’s still pretty hit or miss with respect to which animals you see). To be honest, I can’t really think of anything at the park that the night negatively affects. Maybe KRR? I dunno. Anyway, agree to disagree, I suppose!
 
NelleBelle

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
JusticeDisney said:
I respect your opinion, but I disagree that the park is pointless at night. In fact, there are parts of it which, in my opinion, are far better at night. For example, Pandora is exceptional after dark. I would also prefer riding EE at night as opposed to the day every time. The safari is also very cool as it gets a little darker (of course, it’s still pretty hit or miss with respect to which animals you see). To be honest, I can’t really think of anything at the park that the night negatively affects. Maybe KRR? I dunno. Anyway, agree to disagree, I suppose!
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We loved AK at night as well--loved the atmosphere when we were there. Of course, we love all the parks at night, but were glad when the introduced later hours.
 
Serverfarm

Serverfarm

Member
RoL started a lot like WoC: plagued with problems from the get go, but with reduced budgets & rushed even more so, the show suffered big time from the original concept. A lot of loss potential. After year one, the technical challenge was a huge pain in the and barge maintenance for the team was more involved than fountain jets at WoC. Mind that a much larger stage space and was very wildlife friendly. But it is one of the easier attractions to kill off: no tracks nor platforms to rip out, no stage infrastructure except the fire hose fountains by ToL, the seating area can easily be repurposed. Everything was R/C, semi-autonomous. Rumor has it that someone at the [now very] top wanted to kill this show before the 1st barge delivered: "no IP/franchise play" was the main reason. And when they tried to redo the show with IP last year, it was an ugly hot mess.

They should display the barges themselves somewhere as they were neat vehicles in their own right--like Asimo. RIP RoL.
 
D

DVCakaCarlF

Well-Known Member
Tom P. said:
Clearly, Disney isn't going to do anything new right now, in the midst of COVID-19. But once we get back to "normal," do you think there will be another nighttime show at Animal Kingdom?
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I would hope so, that’s a terrible use of space without something to come.
 

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