Rivers of Light - FP+ availability 12 - 5pm day of

[DisFanDad]

I am sure this is somewhere, I googled but didn't find what I was looking for, and wanted some solid first hand accounts.

Anyone have any commentary / strategy regarding rivers of light FP+ ?

Just wondering if people have been able to find FPs for it later in the day, during the day they wish to go.

Going to be there for 2 weeks mid May, HATE having to use an FP for it and not have that to use during the day AND locking myself out of other potential FPs, since I wont have burned all 3 until after the show.

For me this highlights the biggest weaknesses (or the true intent) of FP+ - it is ride rationing and crowd redistribution. Of course, its strength could also be show in that, with a few tweaks Rivers (or any night time show FP+) wouldn't restrict you from booking others after your first two were used. But (as far as I know) disney has chosen not to do this. So booking Rivers of light doesn't mean foregoing 1 other FP, but might mean foregoing 3, 4 or 5 (and yes, we have been able to pull 5 FPs day of, with FP+, in Mid may).

Just looking to see people's experiences.... I guess its never been available in May before, so there wont be any real data yet ... .

 

[CAS239]

If you want a FP for RoL then I would get it long before the day you go. Those FP's are rather hard to get and highly unlikely that you'll see any available the day of, at least for another few months

 

[SureAsLiz]

I grab same day passes all the time. The other day I grabbed one 3 hours before showtime without a problem.

If you have a small group, it should be pretty simple. If you have a larger group, you might need to book for just a few people at a time. If no slots show up, just refresh a couple times and see what happens. During race weekend (the second weekend of the show), I had a group of 6 and just booked for 2 at a time until we all had passes. It took maybe 20 minutes of refreshing the selections (we were waiting in lines anyways) but it was no problem.

The nice thing about shows is that you don't have to worry about overlapping times - everyone going to the 9:30 show will have the same return window. And once you book someone with the same window, it combines the selections (so rather than 2 parties of 2, you will just have 1 party of 4)

 

[momto2js]

I don't think you are going to get a ROL FP 30 days out for a while, let alone day of. The viewing area is really not that big. If you are going a day with 2 shows, our experience was there lots of seating for the second one.

 

[Videochicke]

Rivers of Light takes place in the dark. Basically they are projecting a movie of sorts onto a spray of water. Takes place in the stadium seats. We had a fastpass for the 10 pm show this week. They have been running the show twice at night. First was at 8:45 I believe and the second at 10. They started admitting people at 9:20. Getting to it was tough with all the people from the first show getting out and heading to the exit. In all honesty, I was less than impressed. You watch "Wishes" and feel something. You want to watch it again and again. The theme of Rivers of Light is "We are One". A couple of giant streams of water are sprayed into the air. The falling water curtain acts as a screen. Lots of shots of animals projected onto the water spray. Looked cool but there was just no big wow factor for me. And there are 4 floating water flowers that spray and turn color. And 2 boats that floated around but seem to have no real point other than the person on them pretending to be playing the music. The applause and cheering after Wishes was intense. People at Rivers of Light clapped politely when done. I understand things can't be loud with the animals close by,so you will never see fireworks there. But this show needs a story and emotion brought into it. My husband and I agreed we would never bother again.

 

[Bomahog]

Dear Videochicke: Thank you. You just saved me $39.00 !!

 

[HopperFan]

I am sure this is somewhere, I googled but didn't find what I was looking for, and wanted some solid first hand accounts.

Anyone have any commentary / strategy regarding rivers of light FP+ ?

Just wondering if people have been able to find FPs for it later in the day, during the day they wish to go.

Going to be there for 2 weeks mid May, HATE having to use an FP for it and not have that to use during the day AND locking myself out of other potential FPs, since I wont have burned all 3 until after the show.

For me this highlights the biggest weaknesses (or the true intent) of FP+ - it is ride rationing and crowd redistribution. Of course, its strength could also be show in that, with a few tweaks Rivers (or any night time show FP+) wouldn't restrict you from booking others after your first two were used. But (as far as I know) disney has chosen not to do this. So booking Rivers of light doesn't mean foregoing 1 other FP, but might mean foregoing 3, 4 or 5 (and yes, we have been able to pull 5 FPs day of, with FP+, in Mid may).

Just looking to see people's experiences.... I guess its never been available in May before, so there wont be any real data yet ... .

Well ............... that is how FP+ works (for reasons) and you will have to decide what is important to you time wise. There is still the option of a Dining Package (haven't seemed hard to get yet) and Standby (night we went 1/3 of SB at second show was empty) and you could always stake a spot on bridge between theaters and there were also some decent spots along wall of Asia side. I do agree with booking smaller groups and keep trying, folks change their minds all the time.

Shows will start running on a daily basis for now and hopefully they will start adding shows to the one show nights. And who knows maybe we see three shows like they originally projected. I think these decisions will be made as they see how well the theater stays full. Gosh if second shows don't stay full they may even get cancelled.

I've seen it and like a previous poster ......... no need to cut that time out of my day. Unless I can literally walk in, I don't see returning.

 

[mlayton14]

Rivers of Light takes place in the dark. Basically they are projecting a movie of sorts onto a spray of water. Takes place in the stadium seats. We had a fastpass for the 10 pm show this week. They have been running the show twice at night. First was at 8:45 I believe and the second at 10. They started admitting people at 9:20. Getting to it was tough with all the people from the first show getting out and heading to the exit. In all honesty, I was less than impressed. You watch "Wishes" and feel something. You want to watch it again and again. The theme of Rivers of Light is "We are One". A couple of giant streams of water are sprayed into the air. The falling water curtain acts as a screen. Lots of shots of animals projected onto the water spray. Looked cool but there was just no big wow factor for me. And there are 4 floating water flowers that spray and turn color. And 2 boats that floated around but seem to have no real point other than the person on them pretending to be playing the music. The applause and cheering after Wishes was intense. People at Rivers of Light clapped politely when done. I understand things can't be loud with the animals close by,so you will never see fireworks there. But this show needs a story and emotion brought into it. My husband and I agreed we would never bother again.

Interesting , sounds like the same technology as fantastic - water screens. If that's all it really is with no clear story then we won't even bother with it , what a shame with all of work, delays, and hype from Disney , sounds like a lot of people agree with your review - a dud !

 

[Videochicke]

Here is a youtube video of the show from online. There are many but you can hear the narration better in this one compared to others. If you listen to the music and voiceover you can see where they went wrong. It is just sadly dull.

 

[HydroGuy]

Interesting , sounds like the same technology as fantastic - water screens. If that's all it really is with no clear story then we won't even bother with it , what a shame with all of work, delays, and hype from Disney , sounds like a lot of people agree with your review - a dud !

FWIW, there are some good Disney shows which focus on celebration and not story. Think Festival of the Lion King, Illuminations, March of the First Order (at DHS) and World of Color (at Disneyland Resort). Rivers of Light is more in this category. IMHO it is worth seeing. It probably will not blow your socks off (it did not for me), but it was an original experience and overall well done.