New Nighttime Entertainment at Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom’s new nighttime spectacular, Rivers of Light, officially debuts this summer (delayed from the original date of April 22). Additionally, Walt Disney World has released new information about how Disney’s Animal Kingdom will come alive with nightly magic this summer. This post provides details about Walt Disney World’s newest night show and Animal Kingdom’s “Nightly Magic”, what this means for the park, and how this will all impact Summer 2016 at Walt Disney World.
First, Disney announced that Rivers of Light will open this summer. They also revealed that there would be a live chat on March 8. As a bit of background, Rivers of Light will take place on the Discovery River in the Asia area of the park. The show will center around an ancient lantern festival guided by two storytellers.
These guides will summon four Animal Spirit Guides: an Asian Tiger, Tropical Turtle, African Elephant, and Great Horned Owl. These Spirit Guides return at different points during the show to lead the audience through their journey through the Rivers of Light. The Disney Parks Blog has a video (I assume with spoilers–I didn’t watch for that reason) featuring some of the lanterns, water screens, fountains, light projections, and other tech that will be showcased in Rivers of Light.
Obviously, Rivers of Light is the highlight of the new 2016 offerings at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but there are also some interesting nuggets on a new page on DisneyWorld.com bearing the headline “This Spring, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park Is Now Alive with Magic Nightly.”
Not much is surprising with regard to Rivers of Light, so let’s jump right to the other stuff. As for the other new entertainment detailed as part of the ‘nightly magic’, it makes perfect sense and consistent with what we predicted would be added to supplement Rivers of Light and flesh out the nighttime offerings.
To be honest, I’m surprised by the scope of the added entertainment. It sounds like it will give Animal Kingdom a palpable nighttime energy and provide guests with enough to do as they await the nightly Rivers of Light showtimes (we are hearing rumors that it will be shown 3 times per night in the summer, but that’s unconfirmed).
As a photography geek, the Tree of Life Awakenings sounds most exciting, as if this periodic projection show will be emotionally akin to the chills-inducing Kiss Goodnight after park closing in the Magic Kingdom. This show is described as featuring fireflies that awaken the animals’ spirits carved into the Tree of Life, in a ‘visual extravaganza’ with vivid color and animated imagery. It will be roughly 3 minutes long, and will celebrate the eternal balance and harmony that exists in all living things.
Another new offering is the Discovery Island Carnivale. This will start just before sunset, with drumming and a dance party that “welcomes the night” on Discovery Island. Led by the Viva Gaia Band and “Islander” dancers, it will be a gala celebration for the “Nature Family” that includes us all. The Carnivale could include a light story element as well, with Islander Danza del Arpa taking to the stage to summon the animal spirits with his Paraguayan harp. Uptempo (on-theme) music and elaborate costumes inspired by animal life should make this a dance party befitting of Disney.
Then there’s the Harambe Wildlife Parti, which is another intriguing and diverse party in the New Harambe district. This high-energy street festival starts in late afternoon in Harambe’s Old Square with Afro-Pop musicians the Burudika Band performing music popular in Africa. It’s followed with a diverse and eclectic group of entertainers, including stilt-walking musicians, crane-like a capella musicians, soccer-playing acrobats, and circus performers. None of those are misprints…it should be interesting to see how all of this culminates in a single show. Like all things Animal Kingdom, I’m sure it will be incredibly well done.
What’s most exciting to me about these shows is that they sound like they will be lavish and authentic. This is as they should be, and unlike the lazy “throw in a few costumed characters and inappropriate pop music” approach popular recently in Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Rivers of Light sounds like it’s staying true to Animal Kingdom’s original vision, and so too are these pieces of entertainment (or so it sounds). This is a huge breath of fresh air, and yet another reason why Animal Kingdom could conceptually be in the league of Tokyo DisneySea come Summer 2016.
Both the Parti and the Carnivale sound fairly large scale, with multiple entertainment acts within them. This makes sense, as Disney needs to bridge the gap between the 3 p.m. time many guests presently depart the park, and the Rivers of Light showtimes. Some of this will come in the form of guests spending time doing attractions and having dinner, but this entertainment also plays a crucial role. Think of it all as a de facto pre-show for Rivers of Light.
All of this means it’s going to be a big year for Animal Kingdom. If the rumors of 3 nightly showings of Rivers of Light are accurate (if there are even 2 showings!), Disney is projecting a huge attendance boom for Animal Kingdom. This would certainly make sense, given the infrastructure work in adding new restaurants, expanding other areas of the park, and even widening walkways. There’s no word on FastPass+ yet for Rivers of Light, but it should be a given (by summer–perhaps not right upon debut) as are dinner packages for the show with reserved seating.
While Pandora is the big-money opening, we stand by our claim that this year will be Animal Kingdom’s coming out party, the year when guests and locals (who hadn’t previously) really take notice and start treating Animal Kingdom as a top-tier theme park at Walt Disney World. It seems this is the sentiment within Disney as well, as internally, Cast Members are being told that there will be a re-launch in April, presumably on Earth Day. This may sound premature with Pandora a year away, and maybe it is. However, this isn’t “simply” a new piece of nighttime entertainment for Animal Kingdom. Rivers of Light represents a total shift in how Animal Kingdom will be perceived and visited–a shift that (I think) is greater than what we’ll see in 2017.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you agree or disagree that Rivers of Light and the “Nightly Magic” will be huge draws for Animal Kingdom this summer? Are you excited to visit Animal Kingdom at night? Any questions about the new additions or other planning questions for visiting Animal Kingdom once this all starts? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments below!
Why aren’t these attractions available in December? Never been to DW before, taking our 13 year old grandson that is on the spectrum of Autism and has difficulty waiting or standing for long lines. Seems DW is not om tume with special needs kids any longer. ???
Hi! My kids are big fans of AK and we’re going last week of october, do you know if it’ll be already on? Because it doesn’t show in the schedule… Thank you!
Going in December . Will this be a year round addition or just for summer ?
Tom-thanks so much for the information “Ignore the current hours for Animal Kingdom; they are not correct. Expect there to be 3 showtimes for Rivers of Light per night, and the park closing around 10 or 11 p.m.” This is just the information I was searching for, & I’ll bet many other readers have been looking for the same!
I went to WDW Halloween 2015 (with a great deal help from your site I might add, thank you!) and it truly was the most amazing and magical experience! I already can’t wait to go back but feel it might be a couple years down the line for me. Being a bit of a Disney newcomer, is this sort of stuff (Rivers of Light, Tree of Life Awakenings) likely to be a “2016 only” thing or when new spectacles like this are added do they become permanent features for the foreseeable future?
4/22 is the day we already planned to go to AK. We have lunch reservations at Tusker House and dinner at Boma, plus all of our fast passes. It looks like there will be 3 shows so we should be able to see one that doesn’t interfere with our dinner reservation. I’ve been checking the Disney website multiple times a day to see if the if the show times and park closing time have changed and to try to get a fast pass or dining package. I feel like a stalker. Do you know of a way to get notified when this becomes available?
Have fun 😀 Looks good for your chances. And they will definitely have the Night version of rides going, along with the evening dance parties.
35 Shirley St
We will be visiting in December – Do you think that this will be a Spring Summer event only – or is it likely to be a year long show??
We have a family reunion (most of family reunion anyway) in May and are now changing our itinerary to be able to see as much of the new AK events as possible. We had previously planned just doing AK one morning through maybe lunch. So much for those plans!
I am curious though what this means for hours at AK. Everything I kind find on Disney’s own pages has the park closing well before sunset for the time of year, like 6pm. Suppose we are going to see an update to the park hours soon?
So…
My vacation dates are April 14-21nd…..
=( =( =(
So excited. Sounds like World of Color animal style. We’ve seen WOC a couple times and it’s always a great show.
Planning a trip this June, will have to look for FP+ or something to assurea good view
We’re ending our June trip with this show! The ‘crescendo’ of our entire trip — just as our Lord and Savior, Joe Rohde, intended.
Concept art looks really great for ROL. I’m hoping the show is more akin to Illuminations in terms of having a broader theme (animals, conservation, nature) instead of a Disney character/song highlight reel that many other nighttime spectaculars currently have.
We booked our trip in December and are going to be at Disney during that time. I just checked my itinerary and April 22nd will be our AK day!! I am pumped to see this new show, but selfishly also a bit apprehensive about what this will do for crowds. This is my first Disney trip in 15 years. I went once as a kid. Now I am preparing to take my preschoolers to Disney.
Will this opening cause a massive surge at AK for the day?
I have the same concerns! We picked the 22nd as our AK day months ago and planned our Fast Passes before the announcement. They still haven’t updated park hours on the Disney website. Does anyone have a clue about what time Rivers of Light will begin?
Ignore the current hours for Animal Kingdom; they are not correct. Expect there to be 3 showtimes for Rivers of Light per night, and the park closing around 10 or 11 p.m.
This news makes me so happy!!!!! Finally an official opening date for Rivers of Light plus other fun sounding entertainment. How exciting for my first ever Animal Kingdom visit this May. Last time I visited WDW was a few months prior to AK opening.
This all sounds so cool, especially Rivers of Light! IT’S WORLD OF COLOR BUT WITH ANIMALS AND FLOATING LANTERNS?!? OK sorry, I just really want to see this show!
Do you have any idea what time(s) this show might be showing?
Surprised River’s of Light might possibly run 2 or 3 showings per night. I was under the assumption it would be presented & timed along with sundown. Not even Disney can make more than one sundown per day, so guess I thought wrong.
Please AK, do soft openings for the 2 weeks prior to Earth Day. Practice makes perfect & we’re leaving April 14th 🙁 Hoping something will be ready, like Kilimanjaro Safari… *at night* (SpongeBob voice).
Wondering if Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, & Kali River Rapids will be considered separate attractions after dark? Animal lovers could then choose both versions of Safari, unless of course AK also becomes a Tiered FP+ park.
This year is the first time my kids will get to go to Animal Kingdom. What a year to go!! As ever, thanks for the updates.