Rivers of Light --- Almost Ready for Prime Time

[rteetz]

Could it be possible that the Brass has reviewed the show and it just fell flat, lacking the WoW factor that WDW night time shows are known for?

I don't think so. From people that have even seen just parts of the show say it lives up to the factor of other nighttime shows.

 

[rteetz]

Maybe at the conception of the show driverless barges were presented as both a cost saving and a safety factor along the lines of monorail automation.

But given the technical problems and severe cost overruns, this could be another case where "spreadsheet smart" does not add up to "actually smart".

I've used GPS in a boat before and I don't think I would ever trust it for safety or extreme reliability. It doesn't react to movement very quickly and after moving across a flat body of water it invariably states that my altitude (!) has changed by several meters.

And when the GPS inevitably has glitches, how do the human performers on the barges halt them? They might have an E-stop button on their own barge but how do they stop the following barge from crashing into them? With good old 100% reliable WiFi?

And if the performers on the following barge aren't ready for the E-stop or collision then what's to stop them pitching overboard or onto the railings or the deck of the other barge?

I understand but if they were to go to drivers they would have to modify or get new floats. The floats that are having issues aren't ones that have performers on them from what I understand so that aspect wouldn't be an issue.

 

[rteetz]

I agree. I wonder how much effort it would take to either just replace the barges with ones that could be steered by cast members or if they could just modify the existing barge to allow it to be manually operated.

Its likely all about money. Disney is way over budget on this show and wants this open ASAP.

 

[Madonna3]

Its likely all about money. Disney is way over budget on this show and wants this open ASAP.

I understand that. I guess that's why I also don't understand why they don't dress a guy in black and have them operate the barges to get this going. That's what they did in Jungle Book. A guy pushed out the barge with the performers, dropped them off, and hauled booty back behind the scenes. I am not up to par on exactly what this show is, but I'm guessing there is probably something preventing that.

 

[rteetz]

I understand that. I guess that's why I also don't understand why they don't dress a guy in black and have them operate the barges to get this going. That's what they did in Jungle Book. A guy pushed out the barge with the performers, dropped them off, and hauled booty back behind the scenes. I am not up to par on exactly what this show is, but I'm guessing there is probably something preventing that.

Personally I think that would look tacky to have people dressed in black standing on the barges driving them. They would be easily seen. The RoL floats are to be seen 360 degrees around, there is no backside where they could hide during the show. These floats move with the music and story of the show, they aren't just driven out and placed in one spot for the entire show.

 

[Madonna3]

Personally I think that would look tacky to have people dressed in black standing on the barges driving them. They would be easily seen. The RoL floats are to be seen 360 degrees around, there is no backside where they could hide during the show. These floats move with the music and story of the show, they aren't just driven out and placed in one spot for the entire show.

Ah. Then that plan doesn't work ... at all.

 

[HopperFan]

Ah. Then that plan doesn't work ... at all.

It absolutely could work. There are drivers in all the float parades, they could be adapted to work similarly. If not it is also common to have stagehands, puppeteers etc in full black that are very visible in shows but the black allows them to fade from your focus. This would be especially true with these floats because they are so bright and vibrant your eyes will be on the animals etc not on the guy sitting low driving. AND they are not close to the seating and out there in the dark.

JBA drivers were barely visible and I don't think I would have even noticed them had I not been focused on watching all the technical aspects. This show is not human-less, there are entertainers out there already, a guy with a low presence in black would not be a problem. Many great performances and forms of art use guys in black. Even can be done creatively like the puppeteers in Nemo. Costuming makes them part of the set.

This seems more about stubbornness on Disney's part to want to claim a technology in their show or not pay for modification and extra people. WELL given what it has cost them to run this thing to now almost the beginning of the eighth month late, their money could have been better spent. AND given the difficulty they have had with the man-less floats there is probably a good chance this will be an ongoing issue.

 

[rteetz]

It absolutely could work. There are drivers in all the float parades, they could be adapted to work similarly. If not it is also common to have stagehands, puppeteers etc in full black that are very visible in shows but the black allows them to fade from your focus. This would be especially true with these floats because they are so bright and vibrant your eyes will be on the animals etc not on the guy sitting low driving. AND they are not close to the seating and out there in the dark.

JBA drivers were barely visible and I don't think I would have even noticed them had I not been focused on watching all the technical aspects. This show is not human-less, there are entertainers out there already, a guy with a low presence in black would not be a problem. Many great performances and forms of art use guys in black. Even can be done creatively like the puppeteers in Nemo. Costuming makes them part of the set.

This seems more about stubbornness on Disney's part to want to claim a technology in their show or not pay for modification and extra people. WELL given what it has cost them to run this thing to now almost the beginning of the eighth month late, their money could have been better spent. AND given the difficulty they have had with the man-less floats there is probably a good chance this will be an ongoing issue.

Yes it's Disney being stubborn but isn't that a good thing? They don't want to just give up. Doing that would just be typical Disney. I am surprised they are keeping going at it and happy that they are.

Its very possible there are other reasons they can't have manned floats for this show. You and I don't know all the inner workings here.

 

[Madonna3]

Well I would imagine trying to have drivers be in sync to produce the show that Rivers of Light is supposed to be would be far too technically difficult. So, yes, I guess the idea COULD work if they changed certain aspects of the show. But as it's been described to me, the driver situation wouldn't work unless they were willing to compromise on some visuals. Again, I don't know the entire concept, but from what I'm researching it is imperative to the show that these barges be able to move about freely. If they adapted drivers to the concept, they'd have to be able to synch up with each other very well.

I guess I don't know why they can't have remote controls and have "drivers" up in a control room "Driving" the floats.

 

[rteetz]

Carouselof twitter account saw RoL last night, said it worked, it was beautiful, enjoyable, and world of color like with animals.

 

[WDWFantasmicFan]

I'm hearing debut during the D23 Destination D event next week... Eeeekk!!

 

[MonaMN]

Anyone hearing anything new????

 

[rteetz]

Anyone hearing anything new????

There was a showing last night. Everything worked. Someone that saw it called it World of color with animals.

 

[OuliPatrice]

There was a showing last night. Everything worked. Someone that saw it called it World of color with animals.

Was it a soft opening?

 

[rteetz]

Was it a soft opening?

No private CM/Exec showing

 

[tink too]

Here's hoping soft openings will follow soon.

 

[OuliPatrice]

I'll be here in wdw til Friday morning...would love to get a chance to see it Thursday before we leave...but I guess it's anyone's guess as to when soft openings will happen.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I was disappointed that there were no soft openings during my trip earlier this month, but hoping it will be up and running for real when I go back in early March 2017.

 

[Tomh]

There was a showing last night. Everything worked. Someone that saw it called it World of color with animals.

Well, this is certainly encouraging. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Madonna3]

Carouselof twitter account saw RoL last night, said it worked, it was beautiful, enjoyable, and world of color like with animals.

Well that's exciting!