Rivers of Light and Illuminations in one night?

[HarvardAce]

So we will be at Disney with a group of 10 adults. We already have plans/FP+ to Animal Kingdom on October 1, and that is the only night that we'd be able to see Rivers of Light (which none of us have ever seen). We're just hearing about the special Illuminations that night at Epcot for the 35th anniversary, so our question is whether there is any chance we could see Rivers of Light (starts at 8pm), get in an Uber (or 3) to Epcot, and see the special Illuminations at 9. Based on what I can tell, RoL is 16 minutes, so we'd have about 40 minutes to get out of the park, into an Uber (or 3), over to Epcot, and to the World Showcase. My understanding is that the end of Illuminations is what is different (like the extra part during the holidays, I'm guessing), so I suppose it wouldn't be a huge ordeal to miss the first part of Illuminations either.

Is there any chance we could pull it off? Would getting an Uber right after RoL gets out be difficult?

 

[Robo]

Unlikely.
Expect IllumiNations viewing to be PACKED.

I would drop RoL completely, and just be in World Showcase by 90 min. before IllumiNations.

 

[Lynne G]

And if do try it, I would get an uber to the beach club or as close to the international gateway as you can. Easier to get a viewing spot from entering there instead of at the front of the park.

 

[HarvardAce]

I would drop RoL completely, and just be in World Showcase by 90 min. before IllumiNations.

We've all seen Illuminations before (and many of us probably 20+ times). Is RoL bad enough that it's worth skipping (and perhaps never seeing for some in the group) just to see the "special" bit at the end of Illuminations? The other issue is that we have FP+ for the safari at 6:30 (so we can go during sunset), so I wouldn't see us leaving AK before 7:30 even if we skipped RoL.

 

[Robo]

We've all seen Illuminations before (and many of us probably 20+ times). Is RoL bad enough that it's worth skipping (and perhaps never seeing for some in the group) just to see the "special" bit at the end of Illuminations? The other issue is that we have FP+ for the safari at 6:30 (so we can go during sunset), so I wouldn't see us leaving AK before 7:30 even if we skipped RoL.

If you prefer seeing RoL, by all means, see RoL.

If you want to try to see IllumiNations afterwards, head on out.

Have fun!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've all seen Illuminations before (and many of us probably 20+ times). Is RoL bad enough that it's worth skipping (and perhaps never seeing for some in the group) just to see the "special" bit at the end of Illuminations? The other issue is that we have FP+ for the safari at 6:30 (so we can go during sunset), so I wouldn't see us leaving AK before 7:30 even if we skipped RoL.

If you hightail it out of ROL, you might be at the entrance of AK by 8:30 pm at the very earliest. You then may have a 5-10 minute wait (or more) to get enough ubers to get you to EP. I would ask them to drive you to BC and enter through IG. That will take you at least 20 minutes (with the drive and the walk), maybe more. You then have to go through bag check. You might get there by the end of Illuminations, but as PP said, it will be packed so who knows what you'll actually be able to see.

I think the problem is, no one really knows what the special ending will be that night, so who knows if it will be worth it. As Robo said, you can always try to get there, but it's highly unlikely you'll make it. If it were me, I would ditch ROL for Illuminations, but EP is my favorite park, so that's an easy choice for me. We saw ROL and I thought it was lovely, but it was once-and-done for us. If you drop ROL and still do the Safari, you would make it to EP, I just don't know what kind of view you would have. Quite honestly, the sunset safari is pretty lackluster. I would say, if you want to see Illuminations on the 35th anniversary, I would make that your priority and get to EP earlier to get a good spot.