BREAKING: Rivers of Light Replacement Show

As reported previously here Traveling Through Disney stated that Disney had postponed the opening of Rivers of Light the new nighttime show at Animal Kingdom. When a press conference was held early this week highlighting all of the new summer offerings for Disney parks our speculations that Rivers of Light would not open in May were confirmed. 

Late last night, Disney released a new nighttime show and attractions coming to Animal Kingdom called Animal Kingdom Awakens at Night. The new show will be centered around The Jungle Book with a live musical performance. 

This also opens up the sunset safari on Kilimanjaro Safaris, nighttime street parties, and other special entertainers at night. 

We do expect that Rivers of Light will open eventually as they continue testing and rehearsing for the show. However, Disney being the perfectionist that it is decided to go with another more secure plan for the summer. Rivers of Light construction is on-going and it has been speculated that the system that controls the floats is having on-going issues that they cannot get under control. 

Animal Kingdom Awakens at Night will debut Memorial Day 2016. More information about this new offering is listed below. Stay here for more details as they become available. 

From Disney writer Jennifer Fickley-Baker

Starting this Memorial Day Weekend, guests will be able to enjoy Disney’s Animal Kingdom in a whole new way – after the sun goes down! Whether it’s riding Kilimanjaro Safaris at sunset, venturing down Kali River Rapids at twilight, dancing alongside African performers in Harambe, or reveling in a live musical celebration of Disney’s hit film “The Jungle Book,” park guests have a lot to look forward to.

Here’s a taste of what to expect:

“Jungle Book: Alive with Magic” Show – For the summer, Discovery River will become the stage for a limited-engagement show inspired by Disney’s hit live-action film “The Jungle Book.” “Jungle Book: Alive with Magic” is filled with music and special effects that celebrates the new film and the classic songs, now infused with an Indian influence.

Photo Credit Disney

The Tree of Life Awakens – Disney Parks Blog author Thomas Smith previously shared the first look at this amazing sight, in which the park’s iconic Tree of Life undergoes an extraordinary “awakening.” You can expect to see animal spirits come to life throughout the evening by magical fireflies. Each scene appears to emanate from within the tree itself and reveals stories of wonder.

Kilimanjaro Safaris After Dark – Guests can enjoy Kilimanjaro Safaris in the evening hours, thanks to special lighting that will allow guests to explore the savanna – and its inhabitants – well into the night.

• Harambe Wildlife Parti – Guests can turn into “party animals” at the Harambe Wildlife Parti and enjoy lively African music, exotic foods and drinks, and explore the local marketplace.
• Discovery Island Carnivale – On Discovery Island, guests can join the local community in their celebration of their love for nature in this party that features music, dancers, stilt walkers, food and more.
• Tiffins – Guests can enjoy the park’s newest eatery, Tiffins, for both lunch and dinner. Check out this previous post for a peek at what to expect from the menu.
• Nighttime Attractions – The park’s attractions, now operating in the nighttime hours, will take on a whole new life. For the first time, guests will be able to experience the thrill of attractions like Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids – surrounded by darkness. They’ll also be able to enjoy colorful midway games and attractions in DinoLand, U.S.A.

BREAKING: Rivers of Light and Other Nighttime Experiences at Animal Kingdom

Disney has confirmed this morning that Rivers of Light and other nighttime experiences that were set to open on April 22nd will be postponed. 

Disney expected the experiences to be ready to debut in late April but are experiencing some setbacks that will not allow the experiences to debut as originally planned.

Expect for a new opening date to come in mid-May as they work out all of the kinks in the experiences. This set back mainly relates to Rivers of Light. 

When the Traveling Through Disney family was there back in late March we assumed this announcement would be forthcoming. The amphitheater did not look anywhere close to being done and much construction was still being done. 

Disney has been testing out and rehearsing the show for anticipation of a mid-May opening date,, check out the video below to get a sneak peak!  

 

Stay tuned here for more information as it becomes available!

Day 2 of WDW Trip: Reviewing Animal Kingdom

Day 2 of the Traveling Through Disney WDW trip took us over to Animal Kingdom to explore all that is nature and conservation. The park opened an hour early from 8-9am for extra magic hours. 

For those of you unfamiliar, you can find extra magic hours at one park each day and there are AM or PM magic hours. During these hours the park is only open to on resort guests. This gives them ample opportunity if they choose to take advantage of the park having less crowds and being able to ride the majority of the rides prior to the park opening up to everyone else. 

In the past, I have shied away from extra magic hours but on this trip I decided to test them out again and boy did it make a difference. Especially useful during last week when it was super packed and the crowds were overwhelming by noon each day. 

Now, let me preface this post by saying I'm a big lover of Animal Kingdom. It has become one of my families favorite parks over the years solely because it is the best park where we do not feel rushed and overly crowded. Animal Kingdom is a great place to have a slower paced day and also be able to still see and do everything in the park. 

They are also currently expanding Animal Kingdom to include a new land called "Pandora - The World of Avatar." Just like the movie, this new land will completely catapult you into the movie and feature Avatar based rides, restaurants, and more. I can't wait to see what they do with the new land. It's slated to open in 2017 right now so we will have to wait a while.

Pandora - The World of Avatar projection

Another change we noticed while at AK was they are hard at work on the new Rivers of Light nighttime show. We saw the lake being transformed into quite a large amphitheater right near the entrance to Expedition Everest. This new light and firework show will surely draw in the crowds to AK whereas this park normally closes at 6pm daily. Not any longer, AK is adding Rivers of Light on top of nighttime safaris over at Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is truly going to become a much busier and exciting park over the next year. Rivers of Light is expected to open in late Spring 2016. 

    

Now that we've discussed all that we saw going on in the parks let's talk about what the Traveling Through Disney team did on our day at the park. As I said, we took advantage of the EMH and headed straight for Expedition Everest. We ended up riding the backwards and forwards roller coaster twice before the wait time got to be a little too much for us. We enjoyed it immensely! 

  

After fun with ride photos we headed over to Dinoland USA and hit up another of our top rides called Dinosaur! We love this ride and did it twice as well before the lines got crazy. 

   

Can you tell we love the on ride photos yet? My little traveler is also a big fan of character meet and greets and AK does not disappoint. AK features some rare characters that you can only meet at AK so we took full advantage of these meet and greets. 

She met Flik, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Baloo and King Louie on our first day at AK. We had an absolute blast!!

    

  

After dinner we had an amazing buffet meal inside the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Boma. They had such a great selection of food and don't even get me started on the deserts. It was so good I forgot to take photos haha! 

So that was our day 2! Comment below with your favorite things to do at Animal Kingdom, we'd love to hear from you!!

UPDATE: Rivers of Light Confirmed Opening

As previously mention here we last spoke about the Rivers of Light Dining Package a few weeks ago.

Today, Disney Parks Blog announced the official release date for the new nightly Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom Parks.

The show will debut on April 22nd, 2016! Take a look below at a sneak peak of the upcoming show.


Rivers of Light Show

The show will feature illuminating lanterns, water screens, moving fountains, and light projections. The show will be set on the Discovery River in the Asia section of the park each night. Two story tellers will guide us on an adventure of Rivers of Light. The spirit guides will be an Asian Tiger, Tropical Turtle, African Elephant, and a Great Horned Owl.

There are already Fastpass+ being debuted for priority seating as we rumored a few weeks ago the dining package is set to debut in the next few weeks just in time for the show to start. 

Stay tuned here for more information as it becomes available! 

BREAKING: Rivers of Light Dining Packages Confirmed

With the new show Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom debuting this Spring there have been many a rumor swirling around that a dining package will be offered for this new event. 

Much like the dining package that is currently offered for Fantasmic, guests can enjoy a lunch or dinner at one of the participating restaurants and receive a voucher for priority seating at Rivers of Light. 

Earlier this morning the packages were leaked on Disney's site but you were not able to make reservations. Now when you go to this site Disney URL you are greeted with a message stating the page is unavailable. 

No other information is currently available but stay tuned here for the most up to date info as it develops. Look for Disney to make a big announcement regarding the dining package this week.