because they made the big push for Earth Day 2016 it has become a comedy of errors.
1) Yep, you nailed it right on the nose.
2) WDW wanted to show everyone how they were improving things.
3) Then, they simply did not perform on their announced AK projects.
4) Look how they hyped the Nighttime Safari and evening Tree of Life.
5) The public was not kind in their opinion, and even the CM's thought it came off as a joke.
. . . the Tree of Life animation, to me, is superb and extremely well done
. . . maybe even crossing the border into the realm of amazing
. . . well worth waiting to watch three different shows projected upon the tree
. . . the evening safari was done-on-the-cheap and is a pitiful effort by the Disney Design Team
. . . I want to say "Imagineering" instead of "Design Team", but the safari is not up to Imagineering standards or past showmanship
. . . Joe Rohde is OFFICIALLY in charge of overseeing "Creative" and he must had too much Irish Whiskey in his coffee to call this one acceptable
. . . or, his earrings have tilted his head so much, that his sight-judgment-opinion has become skewed
6) Then, the vaulted RoL failed, and failed miserably.
. . . the Public Relations Dept call it Technical Issues, and try to excuse the non-performance of the engineers
. . . the fact is that is was not well-thought out, and most of the show simply does not work
. . . the parts they show to the Cast Members has great lighting (at which Disney excels!)
. . . the rest of the show is "Well, that is 20-minutes of my life I can't get back!
7) In an attempt to save face, they assembled together Jungle Book (and, in ONLY two weeks).
8) Although Jungle Book was a stop-gap show, it was conceptually well designed and performed
NOTE1: Rumors are just that, RUMORS, but, the rumor is that RoL will be introduced/opened to the public-at-large at the same time Pandora aka Avatarland is opened, which could be May-June-July-2017 . . . although they would really like to open Avatar on Earth Day, like the original AK opening date and significant other rides opening dates.
NOTE2: Two "rumor mill experts" state in a podcast that when it opens, it will not be complete, but after the show pays back the investment - they say is 3-to-4 years - then it will have the non-functioning parts/sections re-done. These two experts claim this approach has been approved by Ogre, which means Rohde and Company don't think they can deliver the show that was promised and promised and promised. (Sadly, this means the once hailed and envied Disney Imagineering Team has been reduced to a bunch of Hacks.)
NOTE3: "Golly Gee, Scupper, don't you think that you are being too harsh in your opinions?" NO, I do not. If one announces and hypes an event, then another would/should expect that event to work as announced. Instead, Disney and the Creative Team have consistently performed badly and missed promised/scheduled dates, and even underwhelmed guests in the event/show/ride quality. People plan their vacations, spend their money, get the family excited, and then get cheated when the events do not occur. I would never use the word "fraud" for luring crowds then not performing, but I do use the word incompetent.