OFFICIAL New Animal Kingdom Experiences UPDATE 5/28: Reports from first night in Post #2

[TheRustyScupper]

It's possibly jungle book will be gone in September.

When RoL starts, Jungle Book closes, and no one knows how much longer to debug RoL.

 

[ckelly14]

FYI: I'm back from day 2 of AK at night (tiffins, jungle book and the tree).. I started my posts in the trip report and today starts at http://www.disboards.com/threads/an...kend-2016-05-27-and-28.3514445/#post-55844218

I'm still posting and I have a lot to say about the show and dramatic improvements from disney just overnight for the rest of the park. So far it's tiffins (and some time I spent at epcot earlier) posted.. it's late so not sure I'll get the show and tree posted tonight but we'll see...

Brian:

Great blog, I enjoyed reading it! I'm going solo for a conference in July and want to try out the Tiffin's menu. Always feel silly sitting by myself at a restaurant. Do you know if you can order the Tiffins menu at the Nomad Lounge and is there a bar there, or just tables?

Thanks!

Chuck

 

[rteetz]

When RoL starts, Jungle Book closes, and no one knows how much longer to debug RoL.

Yes I know but I've heard target dates to get RoL open.

 

[j2thomason]

All of it is at the top; everything else goes down steps to the front of the water. If she can transfer from the chair, they'll park the chair and give you time and space to get to a bleacher edge (saw it done Friday at least on FP side) but our party couldn't transfer.

My mom cannot transfer either.

 

[mshanson3121]

As reviews of nighttime AK events come in I will add them all to this post so they are easy to find.


My conclusions after reading a lot of reviews (I did not watch any videos).

I think everyone needs to watch the Jungle Book if you were interested before a lot of these bad reviews came out. Not every review is bad, and I don't think you can get the true flavor of the show from watching a video.

Some people did enjoy the show, others didn't. Not everyone likes everything, so it would be a shame to miss out on the show due to reviews from others.

Maybe expectations just need to be kept in check. This is a placeholder show that was created to fill the hole due to Rivers of Light not being ready.


@yulilin3 :

Safari: 6 out of 10, it was dark, whoever things that there will be a lot of artificial lighting it is not true. Some animals you could see more clearly but most were very dark to see. The lions were up on the front of the Rock and you could barely see them. If you can only do one safari do it at daytime. Or bring night goggles.


Jungle Book show: loved it. It's basically a retelling of the movie they have a lot of dancers and some musicians, some dancers come into the aisles. Definitely a must-see
Tree of Life: only saw a couple of Awakenings, but if you blink you missed it comma not sure if there are longer one but the ones I saw were very fast. It does look beautiful

Tree of Life Kiss Goodnight happened at 11:10

@SureAsLiz :

My reviews of last night are pretty similar to others. I only went to see the Jungle Book since I went to the preview on Tuesday, and got to experience the rest of the nighttime stuff then.

Safari: I wasn't a fan. Maybe if the lights were blended better? The spotlights stood out to me too much and were really distracting. Plus the few fed sounds were annoying. We had a bunch of animals out at 9:30ish, but not all were active. Still a different view of the animals which was cool.

Shows: Carnivale was a lot of fun. Great music, dancers, and interactive. Lots of energy that's contagious even if you don't participate

Tree of Life Awakenings: Saw 2 on Tuesday, and saw one of those 2 last night. Still amazing. Probably my favorite new nighttime feature

Jungle Book AWM: The show wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be (not just by Disney, but from people close to the show as well). It started off slow, but then picked up and was entertaining from then on. I sat in FP for the 9pm show and Standby for the 10:30. I had a terrible seat at 9 - couldn't see the water screens at all, could barely see the singers in the center (why are the singers in the center facing an empty river?). The terrible seat was my fault, but I'm still surprised it was designed like that. I really enjoyed the choreography, and the dancers were great (borrowed from other shows around property), but the whole thing was missing a cohesion that other shows have. There was too much going on, almost like there were 4 shows happening at once, and it was impossible to take it all in. Overall, something I would watch again with a good seat to see the dancers on the front stages, but not something I would go out of my way to wait for.

@TheRustyScupper :

1) Yes.
2) Even the Orlando Sentinel, who gives WDW good reviews due to the ad revenue, gave a mediocre review.
3) The nighttime AK is a disappointment.
. . . the safari is not well enough lit to really see animals
. . . the Jungle Book show is almost amateurish
. . . the Tree Off Life animations were clever and well done, however
. . . the Carnival Dancers are the some ones and same performance from the daytime


@book_junkie : good review of group with wheelchairs

We were a group of 5, two in chairs, that went Friday. Saw the dancers in Discovery Island, tumblers in Africa, the tree light (no stories) and lots of happy people.

As to JB, here's what I posted in another thread.
I'm not sure what people were actually expecting. I thought it was really good, and fit with what they do at AK, what they CAN do, and what it was billed as: musical showcase of the Jungle Book on the water.

We went to the second showing on Friday with FP- it was pretty clear from the amount of clipboard carrying CM's that this was a test run of everything. The queue and weird winding of the FP+ line was horrid- we crossed Kali Rapids line, then the pathway to Everest, with line jumpers everywhere AND people running around us in line because we were too slow. CMs at the benches were trying to catch people but weren't arguing when people said they'd already been checked. We got in line right around 9:55 and would have been in the front of the second/third section over save for we had wheelchairs in our party, so we were at the very top and over.

Had a really good view of one of the secondary floats and dancers, and side projections. There were additional dancers in the aisles at times, and live musicians on floats as well. I think the projections just needed more water- the sprays didn't meet in the middle.
The dancing was really nice, and fit along with the music, story and theme. Lots of traditional influences.

I'm not sure what people were expecting, really. Maybe more like Lion King the Musical costumes? I thought the formal dress looked beautiful, but I could see where you'd expect costumes for the actors. There's no where to change, though- they're on the floats from beginning to end so it'd be a bigger cast. The floats could be more enhanced, but then they wouldn't fit every scene. You can't have the huge pyro the other parks have because of the animals- it's already a huge issue with the night safaris and shifting the animals sleeping schedules. The screaming from Everest was distracting as anything- honestly, I wish they'd pause it while the show is on or close it early like TSMM. It's right behind the FP section and can just cover the sound.

Was it Fantasmic or Star Wars Fireworks? No, different experience. Was it Wishes? No. Was it the forecourt show? Nope, I wouldn't stop for that at all. Did I go into it expecting it to be? Nope.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Have I seen the new version of the movie? Nope. Would I see the AK show again? Yep, in a few weeks to see the differences with FP.

Then again, because it was scheduled I didn't have to spend the night waiting around to see it. Unlike the stories on the Tree, which are random. And on one side. Was in AK from 6-11 and never did see one.

Then again, I fully admit I like this type of dancing and storytelling. And I know the book and first movie. We went when it was full dark so that may have helped as well.


@Accident :

trip report of AK nighttime activities first night: http://www.disboards.com/threads/animal-kingdom-opening-night-2016-05-27.3514445/

@lpizzuro123 :

We were at the second show tonight and sitting nearest to the middle video water projection. We felt the water did not always connect in the middle so felt we were missing the center of the video.


@daftkast :

Just got back from animal kingdom and fortunately was able to bag a spot in the first ever public showing of the Jungle Book show.

They did 2 shows tonight as soft openings. The times were same as normal or advertised. 21:00 & 22:30.

We had to queue up and stand by line started by dinoland. They hold you there and lead several hundred of you into the auditorium. Whilst they do that cast members stop the flow of traffic on the walk ways to let the standby line cross over. Was a little surprised by this. But it works and no doubt over time they will perfect it. We actually got lead around 300 of us from dinoland to Asia opposit everest. as they wanted to fill up the other side of the auditorium.

It's a half hour show. And contains lots of Indian dancing and fantasmic style water projection. I have to admit a lot different to how I imagined it. My wife really liked it. But I am not so sure. Really really pleased to say I have seen it though.

On reading the small amount of reviews. I have to admit I do agree with the majority. The filling time thing is definately evident. The dancers were very good. But hate to say it. I will not rush back. I'm from the UK and like to see the evening shows at least twice on a visit. But this I will not bother going back to see. Harsh. But was a nothing show. Really thought there was going to be puppet animals etc. But didn't really get it at all.

The night safari was really good. Never been so close to the animals. A rhino and giraffe. Were literally 2meters from the vehicle. Some of the animals were difficult to spot. It really is dark! And we may have been lucky with the proximity of the animals. But they did seem more active in the dark. The sunset thing I finally twigged. What it was. It was in the Savannah. But looks ridiculous. For a few minutes. I thought it was a bar or restaurant that had bright lighting. The piped noises were terrible. I did actually hear real flamingos though!

Everest in the dark was brilliant also. For those wondering this did run all night some people on other forums. Thought it would not run whilst the show was on. But it did go on until 11pm.

Kali river was Also running all night. At first I didn't think it would. As most of the cast members helping with the crowds for the show had Kali outfits on.

The tree of life show. Looks great. But sadly only got the last 2 mins of the final show. It seems to loop every few mins. From when it gets dark. Apparently there are 4 different versions of the show.

But was a great evening and will definitely recommend animal kingdom in the evening. But not necessarily the show.

Despite it being the first ever late evening was quite surprised at how quiet it was. It wasn't dead by anymeans. But thought there would have been a lot more people there than there was. Everest standby was between 20-30mins. Safari when we did it at 10pm was around 65mins. When we arrived around 18:45 a lot more were leaving than arriving.

Hope this may be useful


Jungle Book Reviews are...not great. DISboards posters are quoting tweets about the show:

josh ‏@easywdw 2m2 minutes ago
It's so bad people don't even know when to clap. I have no idea what I just watched.

Bill Blankschaen ‏@BillintheBlank 32s32 seconds ago
I give the Jungle Book light show a grade of D. Only because the dancers are trying hard and it's hot. Fail. Hope they learn

Blankschaen on Twitter: "@WaltDisneyWorld Jungle Book night show feels like they're killing time until something better is ready. Oh wait they are."

So far this Jungle Book show is one of the biggest "blank" shows of a nighttime spectacular I've ever seen. #AnimalKingdom

WDW News Today ‏@WDWNT 8s8 seconds ago
Jungle Book: Alive with Magic is bad. Rushed, uncreative, should not be marketed as a nighttime show.


Reports from @yulilin3

Alright, I have some time to kill until I have to start live streaming.

Nomad's Lounge, beautifully dine, great back story, the menu adjoin is full of stories about the imagineers and how they found inspiration all over the world to create ak. Each drink has a story begin it, 2 of them are about Joe Rhode
The prices are the same add other lounges but the menu is more extensive and many of the drinks come in non alcoholic versions.
It's definitely a great place to relax.

I ordered the only dessert that is offered and it tasted great but small for the price
I asked and no ap discount offered only cm

As to the theater for jungle book, the theming is great, there are a couple of places along the walkway to EE from Asia where you can see inside, no clue if they will let people linger or they would have them walk without stopping.

I'll report my impressions on everything else when I get back home tonight.

At AK now. Made my way to EE and asked about a couple of things
EE will NOT close during the jungle book show
They are not offering fp for evening times to see how the crowds impact the area, they will reconsider that at a later date, but for now no evening fp

Guys Nomad's Lounge, holly molly is gorgeous, completely empty right now, I'm the only one sitting here
Can someone share this post with the rol thread?

Wow. Some pretty harsh reviews. Not what I was expecting. So far evenings at AK sounds a bit disappointing with regards to the safari and show. What is the "sunset thing" one person is talking about?

 

[yulilin3]

Wow. Some pretty harsh reviews. Not what I was expecting. So far evenings at AK sounds a bit disappointing with regards to the safari and show. What is the "sunset thing" one person is talking about?

They have a giant screen hidden behind trees in the open savanna part that is supposed to look like a perpetual sunset.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow. Some pretty harsh reviews. Not what I was expecting. So far evenings at AK sounds a bit disappointing with regards to the safari and show. What is the "sunset thing" one person is talking about?

I saw a photo of the sunset in my Facebook feed and it looked really cool but have read other reviews that said it is too bright and looks fake

Seems like re there are still a few kinks for Disney to iron out for nighttime at AK in general so kinda glad our trip isn't for another month

 

[yulilin3]

Went last night to AK again, this time with my DD15. I didn't tell her anything about the show and asked her to give me her objective review.
We had a fp for the 9pm show. Arrived at AK around 7:20pm went over to Discovery Island and watched one of the Viva Gaia performances with all the dancers for the Wildilife Partii.
I asked one of the managers why they're sets weren't posted on the schedule for the nighttime shows and he said they are trying to see how this weeks goes and then adjust the schedules accordingly. It sounds like they are giving the live performances both at Discovery Island and Africa a test run...I hope they stay because everyone was dancing and jamming to their music.
Anyways after the show ended we made our way over to the theater, we walked in without having to queue at 8pm,The standby by and package side was pretty full, the fp side still had a lot of empty seats.
Around 8:30pm the rush of fp began to arrive, makes sense since the fp times say 8:25pm to 8:45pm
So here's what my DD15 had to say
If this was a permanent show she gives it a 6 out of 10. If this is a show they put in 5 weeks and is temporary she gave it a 8 out of 10.
Biggest disappointments were the water screens, and she noticed that some of the dancers forgot steps. Other than that she liked it. She said some people may not like it because most of the music, apart from Bear Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You, is not well known since it's the soundtrack from the movie.
We walked over to the Tree of Life and stood there for a bit and just got the random, seconds of awakenings (Tigers lift his head, a butterfly fluttered, snow falling) but she wanted to go check out Tiffins and Nomad's Lounge.
We got there at 9:55pm and I thought it was closed because it was empty. My daughter said "look there's a stroller parked outside" so we went in.
Tiffins is so beautiful inside, we might not be able to eat there cause of prices but they did an awesome job with the theme and decor. There were only 2 families dinning
Nomad Lounge had about 5 people sitting at the bar and about 3 tables being used.
Because we were hungry I checked what the nearest food place would still be open and went over to Strarbucks, it's on the trail side from Discovery Island to Africa, while we were eating we noticed the ambiance music turned off and you could hear that the tree of life was doing it's 5 minute awakenings, this had to be around 10:15pm, we finished our food and headed again to the front of the tree and saw an awakening around 10:40pm and then another right at 11pm so it looks like the full 5 minute awakenings happen about every 20 minutes

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Both sides, both nights opened at 7:30pm.

I loved the show! My husband and son liked the show. We had incredible seats. I could see both the stages perfectly. The water projections were clearly visible.

The songs, storyline, and dancing made perfect sense to me and fit together. My dh and I both felt there were subtle changes between tonight and the videos from last night.

I think your seat matters. Because where I could see the stages and water projections clearly, the people behind me on the safari said they couldn't see from their seats. I showed them a picture I took, and they said their view was no where close to what I saw.

The safari tonight.. We saw lots of animals! ! Several coming right up to our car. Our guide was Frank and he knew how to work his spotlight. He was a great guide! We were surprised by how many we saw!

The

Where do you think the best seats for seeing the projection screens are? And do we know where the dining package seats are specifically? Or are they just mixed in together with standby?

Just thinking if where your seat is matters and the dining package gets you the better seats then maybe there is some value

 

[SureAsLiz]

Where do you recommend sitting? Where did you sit that view was bad? Thanks for the review.

In either section (Standby or FP), towards the center of the lake, 6 or so rows up. I would absolutely try to center on at least one of the 4 front stages, and sit a few rows back. This is a show where front row =/= best spot.

The first showing, I sat at the far end of the FP half next to the ramp, and the fencing blocked all of the water screens. Since it was the end, the angles weren't quite right - kind of like sitting at the end for Fantasmic!

Last night I sat in the first row for one of the shows, and while it gives you a wonderful view of the first group of performers, it's hard to see anything that goes on behind them.

What time did you get in the FP line? Just trying to figure out if they are lining up before the 8:25 return time.

Both nights for the 9 show I entered about 8:30 (after Lion King and after dinner). At least while the show is still new, I would recommend entering a bit earlier than that to avoid the rush that starts about that time (since the FP officially opens at 8:25)

I have read where a few people did not get to see the tree of life light show. How often do they have it light up and how should we go about be able to see it?

It is random. The only way to guarantee seeing it is to wait in front of the tree for it to happen

 

[lovethattink]

Where do you think the best seats for seeing the projection screens are? And do we know where the dining package seats are specifically? Or are they just mixed in together with standby?

Just thinking if where your seat is matters and the dining package gets you the better seats then maybe there is some value

I had friends doing the dining package last night. I'm waiting to see what they put up on their blog.

 

[lovethattink]

We are going back tonight. We plan to enter the JB FP+ area last minute and see what that seating is like on the far right.

Thought of something else. There was an actor that stood on the steps, in the aisle of row 7. I'm sure he blocked the view of people. Not sure if the reserved seating flag of row 7 was for him or not? A cm came and removed it to let someone sit. I don't think it was VIP as each section had it. @yulilin3 what was your experience? This was the guy who held a pole and later the torch.

 

[yulilin3]

We are going back tonight. We plan to enter the JB FP+ area last minute and see what that seating is like on the far right.

Thought of something else. There was an actor that stood on the steps, in the aisle of row 7. I'm sure he blocked the view of people. Not sure if the reserved seating flag of row 7 was for him or not? A cm came and removed it to let someone sit. I don't think it was VIP as each section had it. @yulilin3 what was your experience? This was the guy who held a pole and later the torch.

they have dancers go up and down the aisles, in some songs they stay dancing on a step for the entire song, if you are right next to him he might block your view.
I don't think the dancers have a reserved row, it might just be a VIP row like they do in Fantasmic!

 

[CJK]

Thanks to everyone for posting their thoughts/tips for experiencing Animal Kingdom at night! Has anyone used FP on the second show? I'm wondering how early we'd need to arrive.

 

[yulilin3]

Thanks to everyone for posting their thoughts/tips for experiencing Animal Kingdom at night! Has anyone used FP on the second show? I'm wondering how early we'd need to arrive.

I did fp for 2nd show on the first night. Not sure if they will change this or not but we had to line up next to the Kali River Rapids entrance, and wait for the first show to empty, then they moved us inside. I would say get in line close to 10pm and you should be fine

 

[CJK]

I did fp for 2nd show on the first night. Not sure if they will change this or not but we had to line up next to the Kali River Rapids entrance, and wait for the first show to empty, then they moved us inside. I would say get in line close to 10pm and you should be fine

Thank you! We will do the Safari around 9pm (with FP), will watch the Tree of Life for a little while and then get to the FP line for the show before 10pm. Hearing your thoughts on the Nomad lounge has really made me want to check it out. We're dining at Tiffins in the fall, but the lounge may be good for a drink. The bread service looks good too. I wonder why it's not on the menu? Are you returning to AK this week?

 

[Irish_Mike]

Question to people who have attended JB - How is it with Everest still running? Is the music loud enough that you can't hear the screams, or are they still audible?

 

[Candycane83]

im sure it was mentioned somewhere already but can someone tell me about the Tiffins dining package? Can u order any app, entree, dessert and non alcoholic drink with the package? Thanks!

 

[yulilin3]

Thank you! We will do the Safari around 9pm (with FP), will watch the Tree of Life for a little while and then get to the FP line for the show before 10pm. Hearing your thoughts on the Nomad lounge has really made me want to check it out. We're dining at Tiffins in the fall, but the lounge may be good for a drink. The bread service looks good too. I wonder why it's not on the menu? Are you returning to AK this week?

I don't think I'm going back this week. I'm streaming from Epcot Monday morning and MK Monday afternoon for the flag ceremony on Memorial Day.
I will be at AK on June 6th celebrating my son's 20th birthday (he fell in live with AK the moment it opened, for a while there I thought he would have a career in animal care until he went into entertainment) We have ressies at Tusker House for lunch and then fp for FOTLF, nighttime safari and JB show. He wants to see all the new stuff.
I didn't know there was a bread service, the waitress didn't mention it on Friday, will have to go back and try it. The food portions are tiny but the drinks were very well made. I had 2
The Leaping Lizard was my favorite of the two

Jenna's Tattoo, it was good but I didn't think the flavors blended well

the lotus flower tastes like a fruit roll up

I ordered the taste of Tiffins, it was very good but teeny tiny

 

[yulilin3]

Question to people who have attended JB - How is it with Everest still running? Is the music loud enough that you can't hear the screams, or are they still audible?

I've done the show twice from the fp side, so closest to Everest, sat toward the front, right where the stone benches become wood benches and I did not hear any screaming at all