In the post COVID era we've seen numerous changes to nighttime entertainment at WDW.
At Magic Kingdom Enchantment was generally regarded as inferior to Happily Ever After which has now returned.
Epcot has tried to find a worthy replacement to Reflections of Earth failing with Harmonious and doing better with Illuminous after Epcot Forever had numerous returns.
Hollywood Studio's had a modest update to Fantasmic! which is likely how the show will remain for the next decade.
MK never had a nighttime parade return or Once Upon a Time and DHS has settled for a small minimal pyro clip show on the Chinese Theatre.
There are no signs of any additional offerings at any of these parks whilst people complain how busy the parks are even at night especially MK and DHS.
As a huge fan of Animal Kingdom I just rewatched this amazing video of Rivers of Light by
@Cliff and I wonder if it's time for a bit of a reevaluation of the show? Cliff did a great job capturing the essence of the show both in its panoramic moments as well as its close up details.
Yes the show had flaws, the entire show had to be rewritten due to the failure of the 100 individual floating lanterns so many show elements were revealed earlier than they intended, yes the main screen was susceptible to wind and perhaps because of many of these factors and others the finale was never a big a wow moment as some people wanted. But the show did a lot right and less than 10 years later I can't see post-COVID Disney ever attempting something like this and getting it so right?
It fits the theme of the park perfectly, it had no visual intrusion during the day, it had an original score, it had live actors, it could be reset quickly to allow for 2 or 3 shows a night, it had lots of great technology that (when it worked, perhaps a bit ambitious at the time...) was ground breaking and delivered great moments. Most of all it kept people in the park at night, yes it didn't keep the 40000(?) people in the park who watch Happily Ever After each night but 10-15,000 people in Animal Kingdom each night is 10-15,000 people not at the other parks
I'd encourage anyone who has seen the show to watch it again and give it a second chance or if you've never seen it watch and think how well this show fit the park versus most other night time spectaculars and how different the experience of DAK would be if it was still running.
Rivers of Light is long gone and I think it is widely accepted we won't see a night time offering until DAK has further expansion but isn't it such a waste that a park that used to have a night time offering now closes at 6/7pm each day dumping its visitors on the 3 other parks? It seems like such an error when capacity feels so restricted at WDW in the Genie+ era.
