Rivers of Light --- Almost Ready for Prime Time

[MamaBelle4]

I will be honest and say I never thought I wouldn't be seeing RoL when I am there in January.

Right there with you. We are going end of January. I thought for sure the kinks would be worked out by now.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I have officially lost hope for Christmas week. Time to change my schedule. This will be my fourth trip since the delay. That is just unacceptable.

 

[Anal Annie]

I planned one late afternoon / early evening for AK thinking I would have room if it opened to say drop our FP for Nemo & switch it for RoL but now I'm wondering if we should just plan on going to Disney Springs or something. Uggg. Always screwing with my plans - can't seem to make a final plan & stick with it. But if the park is closing at 7:00 we'd find more to do if we went to DS. This will be our 3rd trip since last springs delays...

 

[Moliphino]

I will say one thing - the extended delays for ROL make me feel better about missing it back in October. If it had opened two weeks later I would've been pretty annoyed. As it stands - not so much.

Same here. We usually go in December, but switched it up and went in September this year (actual heat! no need to carry sweatshirts around!). Back when it was first delayed I thought for sure it would be open in September. Then it wasn't and I would've been so annoyed if it had been up and running for our usual week.

 

[MJ6987]

I have officially lost hope for Christmas week. Time to change my schedule. This will be my fourth trip since the delay. That is just unacceptable.

They could start soft opening by then if they are doing the CM previews now, couldn't they?

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

They could start soft opening by then if they are doing the CM previews now, couldn't they?

They could. If that is the case, then I'll just change my plans back again. However, things are just not looking good still for this show to start if everything I am seeing is saying 2017.

 

[MJ6987]

They could. If that is the case, then I'll just change my plans back again. However, things are just not looking good still for this show to start if everything I am seeing is saying 2017.

But that will be referring to the official launch. No way they go into an official launch before a good period of soft opening, right? I mean, New Fantasyland seemed to have a long period of regular soft openings. Given that they are now having regular previews it seems logical that the next step is to let the general public into unannounced showings. But then, I don't know the inner workings of WDW like others on here.

 

[jpeden]

Probably gonna just scratch this off the to-do list for February. I'm just going to say it, but we're approaching Test Track delays here.

 

[rteetz]

Probably gonna just scratch this off the to-do list for February. I'm just going to say it, but we're approaching Test Track delays here.

While it probably the smart thing to do, it still could open by February.

 

[maltdizzy]

But that will be referring to the official launch. No way they go into an official launch before a good period of soft opening, right? I mean, New Fantasyland seemed to have a long period of regular soft openings. Given that they are now having regular previews it seems logical that the next step is to let the general public into unannounced showings. But then, I don't know the inner workings of WDW like others on here.

Sure, they can. They do it with shows all the time at DLR. World of Color's soft opening was the night before the grand opening, Frozen's previews were invitation only.

They had Jungle Book last summer to practice crowd control logistics for the amphitheater. Ultimately, this is just one ticketed show in a dedicated amphitheater, it's major expansion or park-wide event .

But, I have said before, that I believe, if the show is operational, they'll do unannounced previews during the holidays and maybe at Spring Break and hold the grand opening off to Pandora, when they can try and relaunch AK as a all-day park again during the peak summer season. Because that effort fizzled last year, most people still treated AK as a morning only park.

We really should have started a pool about this...it'll be fun to see which of our estimates is right.

 

[Irish_Mike]

At this point, might as well delay it to Earth Day 2017 and say there was a typo last year.

 

[bigmac5]

Was there not a preview last night? Did anything come from that? or did I miss it here?

 

[rteetz]

Was there not a preview last night? Did anything come from that? or did I miss it here?

There was. No major reports. I did hear a report on wdwmagic that fire was in last nights show. There is another showing tonight.

 

[bigmac5]

Thank you rteetz. We are going mid January...I have now given up hope in seeing ROL.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Thank you rteetz. We are going mid January...I have now given up hope in seeing ROL.

I was so looking forward to seeing this beginning of January as well. So disappointed!

 

[mom2elle]

I also assumed that ROL would be running when we are in AK on Jan 2. Had hoped to catch the show then we have ADRs @ Sanaa for 8:30. Oh well!!

 

[rteetz]

I was so looking forward to seeing this beginning of January as well. So disappointed!

I am in the same boat, never thought I wouldn't be seeing it in early January but here we are.

 

[rteetz]

Twitter reports from tonights preview. Bob Iger was indeed there.

"Finally saw #RiversOfLight and got to meet Joe Rohde! The show is beautiful and is definitely worth the wait."

"Rivers of Light is amazing"

"The music is very illuminations like. I had the feels during and after the show."

"#RiversOfLight was amazing!! So beautiful!"

"Rivers of light is like 20 minutes of the Illuminations globe if the Illuminations globe were something you wanted to watch."

"#RiversofLight at Disney's Animal Kingdom was truly magical. Breathtaking, technological and spellbinding. Thank you Joe rode and team"

"Saw Rivers of Light again. And I'm still blown away. Much better the second time around. This needs to open NOW!"

"Rivers of Light is seriously the most beautiful show I've ever seen. Congratulations opening team & cast on a job well done! Excited for you"

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Twitter reports from tonights preview. Bob Iger was indeed there.

"Finally saw #RiversOfLight and got to meet Joe Rohde! The show is beautiful and is definitely worth the wait."

"Rivers of Light is amazing"

"The music is very illuminations like. I had the feels during and after the show."

"#RiversOfLight was amazing!! So beautiful!"

"Rivers of light is like 20 minutes of the Illuminations globe if the Illuminations globe were something you wanted to watch."

"#RiversofLight at Disney's Animal Kingdom was truly magical. Breathtaking, technological and spellbinding. Thank you Joe rode and team"

"Saw Rivers of Light again. And I'm still blown away. Much better the second time around. This needs to open NOW!"

"Rivers of Light is seriously the most beautiful show I've ever seen. Congratulations opening team & cast on a job well done! Excited for you"

Now you are confusing me. Is this going to open, or is it not? lol

 

[rteetz]

Now you are confusing me. Is this going to open, or is it not? lol

We don't know lol.