Rivers of light or a sunset KS??

[DatFan]

We are undecided between Rivers of Light and a sunset Safari? Our party consists of 4 adults and 3 kids(10,10 and 9). What is the better choice here?? All opinions are welcome!

 

[LSUfan4444]

The better choice would be both =)

Seriously though, Id think the kids would enjoy the Safari more.

 

[CAS239]

Both have good and bad reviews. I personally would get a FP for the safari. We saw RoL and I wouldn't wait more than 10 min for it. So being that you need to arrive decently early for RoL, and I find the animals on the safari more exciting, I'd go Safari

 

[abnihon]

Why not both?
For my trip at the end of May I have a 7:25 FP for safari and 8:35 for ROL.
Sunset is about 8:15 so thinking I may ride about 8.

 

[ELSA711]

Hmm, this thread is making me rethink my plan.
We have a FP+ for ROL, as well as FP+ for KS. Opted to use stand by for EE since the queue is pretty cool.
Opinions? Should we use ROL dining package or keep it as is. Has the opinions on ROL been a one and down per trip kind of thing?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I thought the sunset safari was terrible. The lighting design was quite bad, IMHO (the "sunset" is very fake looking) and the animals were in shadow so you could barely see any of them. I would do the safari at another time during the day and keep ROL.

 

[gillep]

I thought the sunset safari was terrible. The lighting design was quite bad, IMHO (the "sunset" is very fake looking) and the animals were in shadow so you could barely see any of them. I would do the safari at another time during the day and keep ROL.

I agree with this completely, the night safari was one of the most disappointing things that I have experienced at Disney. I didn't love ROL, but I would absolutely recommend it over the night safari based on my experiences with each.

 

[CAS239]

Why not both?
For my trip at the end of May I have a 7:25 FP for safari and 8:35 for ROL.
Sunset is about 8:15 so thinking I may ride about 8.

You'll be cutting it real close to getting a seat for RoL if riding the safari at 8

 

[automaticsoap]

The nighttime safari is hit or miss -- I've had great experiences and some only okay experiences. I have yet to see ROL so can't compare.

 

[cigar95]

I thought the sunset safari was terrible. The lighting design was quite bad, IMHO (the "sunset" is very fake looking) and the animals were in shadow so you could barely see any of them. I would do the safari at another time during the day and keep ROL.

I'm curious, did you do it fully after dark, or right at dusk/sunset? I've had really good luck seeing animals with the latter, and the ambient lighting was such that most of our truck was convinced that there was a really great sunset behind the trees.
Given the timing of RoL other than in peak season, it's tough to do both and still do the safari at one of the better times. We're splitting the difference for our September trip with two evenings at AK.

 

[Micca]

I agree that the nighttime safari was worthless, not much to see. Haven't seen ROL and it's not really the sort of thing I like to do at WDW but I'd give it a shot over another nighttime KS.

 

[abnihon]

You'll be cutting it real close to getting a seat for RoL if riding the safari at 8

Even with a FP? It starts at 9:15. What time should I get there?

 

[Shanti]

We really liked Rivers of Light.

 

[CAS239]

Even with a FP? It starts at 9:15. What time should I get there?

Oh that's not bad then. I thought you meant RoL was starting at 8:30.

 

[maryj11]

If you choose the safari you need to go a little before sunset, otherwise it is to dark to see the animals.

 

[abnihon]

Oh that's not bad then. I thought you meant RoL was starting at 8:30.

Yeah it says FP 8:35-9 but show starts at 9:15.

 

[davkata]

Why not both?
For my trip at the end of May I have a 7:25 FP for safari and 8:35 for ROL.
Sunset is about 8:15 so thinking I may ride about 8.

We are also going end of May and were going to do this same plan as I really wanted to do the safari around sunset (not dark). We re-thought the plan after considering the safari has too many possible unforeseen circumstances. If you get stuck on a vehicle when the animals decide to cross the road, you could potentially miss ROL. Slim chance, yes, but not one we wanted to take. We don't want to miss ROL.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Is a FP necessary to have a good view for ROL? Also, is ROL tier one? We will be there in October, so I think we will need tier one selections for Pandora.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I'm curious, did you do it fully after dark, or right at dusk/sunset? I've had really good luck seeing animals with the latter, and the ambient lighting was such that most of our truck was convinced that there was a really great sunset behind the trees.
Given the timing of RoL other than in peak season, it's tough to do both and still do the safari at one of the better times. We're splitting the difference for our September trip with two evenings at AK.

I did it right at sunset. It was the very first weekend it opened and our safari truck driver basically kept apologizing for how bad the lighting was. She seemed embarrassed by it. We've done the safari at all different times of day - from early morning through sunset and early morning will always be my favorite time to go.

Is a FP necessary to have a good view for ROL? Also, is ROL tier one? We will be there in October, so I think we will need tier one selections for Pandora.

ROL is not tier 1. From what I've read, FP+ or the dining package are the only way to go to avoid a long standby line.

 

[DatFan]

Thanks to all for the info/opinions. It seems that I may drop my ROL fp for a 7:30ish KS fp(actual darkness not being until 8ish). We had high expectations for ROL but from what I gather here it seems mediocre at best. Would do both if I knew for sure that same day KS fp's would be available?