With how much extra they ended up paying to fix the issues, i'm sure they wish they had just paid for drivers now.
They wasted a TON of money.
Rivers of Light General Discussion and Photos
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They wasted a TON of money.
And, this is a company that cut the song "Hoop Dee Do" from the Hoop Dee Do Review because they didn't want to pay the royalties any longer!
While we await the show reset.. (funny, other wireless/trackless attractions also take forever to reset) you can read the write-up from WDWMagic
VIDEO - Rivers of Light at Disney's Animal Kingdom
You know, to remove any doubt you may have had about Steve over there being a biased hack.
VIDEO - Rivers of Light at Disney's Animal Kingdom
You know, to remove any doubt you may have had about Steve over there being a biased hack.
He makes it sound like it's truly one of the all time great night time shows ...Methinks your comment is appropriate.
And the review you guys are reading is from the CM preview, when the show was still 18 mins long... meaning they were raving about it even before they shaved 3 minutes of boring offHe makes it sound like it's truly one of the all time great night time shows ...Methinks your comment is appropriate.
And the review you guys are reading is from the CM preview, when the show was still 18 mins long... meaning they were raving about it even before they shaved 3 minutes of boring off
He's posting in the forums about how everyone worked soooo hard on the show and soooo unfair they are dealing with it breaking down.
Yeah, you keep sucking that teet. The good news for the internet is that it likely won't be employed in the near future and somebody's source is gonna dry up.
Not only that, but there's multiple reports that good chunks of people straight up left the moment they announced the show was having technical difficulties. There was no "Wait a little bit and see", they dashed the first chance they got.
Watched the show from the Flame Tree Barbecue dock tonight. Cant really make an informed decision since I was watching the show from behind and I also couldn't see the projections. But what I did see didn't look too bad. (I also didn't have to wait in a huge line for an hour or fight crowds to get a seat, so that kinda helps the overall experience). But I do have a fast pass for the 25th so I can properly view the show then. The E stop of tonights performance was a bit serendipitous in that running the show later in the evening made it overlap with DHS fireworks, and those combined with everest and the full moon created a very nice backdrop.
Nice photos. :thumbsup:Watched the show from the Flame Tree Barbecue dock tonight. Cant really make an informed decision since I was watching the show from behind and I also couldn't see the projections. But what I did see didn't look too bad. (I also didn't have to wait in a huge line for an hour or fight crowds to get a seat, so that kinda helps the overall experience). But I do have a fast pass for the 25th so I can properly view the show then. The E stop of tonights performance was a bit serendipitous in that running the show later in the evening made it overlap with DHS fireworks, and those combined with everest and the full moon created a very nice backdrop.
Tim Tracker did a video on the show - he cut it down to 4mins of the whole video and it's still the boringest boring that ever bored.
- Sep 18, 2015
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Elements of the show are good but I agree the need to make a show where they can brag about the tech got in the way of creating the best and most cost effective show.
After hearing the reports that the show ran for a good 7-8 minutes before stopping and a large chunk of guests up and left during the reset goes to show that this is NOT a good show that is going to keep guests coming back. Another scary thing is the fact that this is probably one of the first Disney nighttime shows in history to have an ENTIRE merchandise line created just for it. Were talking pins, pens, t-shirts, towels, cups, etc. They need to recover the insane amount of money they have dumped into this boring show and the only way to do that is merchandise because this is not going to effect ticket sales in the slightest. In all my years of going to Disney I have never seen a Wishes or RoE merchandise item let alone an entire collection of random items with Rivers of Light on it. They created merchandise for the Jungle Book show as well...probably to get enough money to fix the problems they had with RoL. I really wanted to like this show. The delay gave me hope that it would just make the show better. I wanted something to top WoC which is still my all time favorite show. Instead we got something way worse than probably any other nighttime offering. Heck, I would rather stand around and watch the Tree of Life projections for 15 minutes to end my night than have to sit down 45-60 minutes before showtime on a hard bench to see a 15 minute show with roughly 40 fountains.
The only thing the show has going for it is the music and the fact that it photographs REALLY well!
The only thing the show has going for it is the music and the fact that it photographs REALLY well!
I really don't think this show is as boring and uninspiring as everyone says, though I can acknowledge its faults. Being there in person is definitely a different experience. My hope is that they run this show for two years, then give it the face-lift it deserves.
I would imagine the ROL merchandise is due to the Chapek emphasis on retail merchandise & sales. Actually, that's probably a good thing he's done. They've gotten away from the One Disney same merchandise and have been going back to their roots of diversified product. Example: The Haunted Mansion specific merchandise & Marvel merchandise. I don't care much for Chapek overall, but I think this merchandise change in direction is a plus for him.
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FastPassed it last night, so got to see the show 1.5 times in person. Tl; dr: a few interesting elements that may have worked elsewhere but sum of the parts deeply flawed.
First off, crowd control is bad. Tape boxes on the ground at any location where you might see a piece of the show without a golden wristband/FP. Reminded me of the "homeless boxes" they had a few years ago downtown. Tacky AF.
I showed up when my FP said I could--45 minutes prior to showtime. The theater already had many dozens of people. So realistically, with exit crowds, even with a FP you're looking at a 75 - 90 minute chunk of your day. That said, a lot of FP guests must have bailed, because FP theater was far from full--probably not even 90%. But with standby on the other side of the park, they didn't have a line of standby guests ready to go at 7. People dribbed and drabbed into the theater for the next 20 minutes (yes, 5 minutes into a 12 minute show they were still trying to sit late-comers, annoyingly). Never achieved anywhere near 100% capacity--only way I see them doing that is starting load earlier. So even more time spent on this.
The preshow is incredibly boring. Just the lilypads moving into place and an occasional, hard-to-see projection on the trees in the back. It feels like it's supposed to be a part of the show, tho, so already the crowd is getting antsy.
As for the show itself, I didn't mind the boats. A little sparse with just 2 actors aboard each, but they did fine. My favorite moment of the show involves the boats.
It was the only moment in the show that made me gasp.
The animal floats are the clear stars of the show--unfortunately they are just do a cameo appearance. They have zero relevance to the non-plot. Float out, disappear, re-appear to change colors in the finale. If there were more of them, they could make for a very cool updated Electric Water Pageant, either here or Seven Seas Lagoon. But wasted in this show.
The projections are horrible. Couldn't identify what half the animals were supposed to be. I've not seen WoC in person, but both Cinematic Spectacular and Poseidon's Fury 20 years ago managed to do much cleaner, crisper graphics on a water screen. Meant to be the focus of the show, but don't deliver on the level they need to.
There is no plot, no semblance of story. The music is ... not my speed. Basically a world beat remix of illuminations, sounds like something your hipster 5th grade music teacher would come up with for Multicultural Awareness Day. Or maybe a Kidz Bob take on Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The dialogue is ponderous. Borders on parody. Pacing is off, the show feels longer than it is. And they left in the line at the end re: "stars" that was clearly intended to introduce the drones--now it kind of just hangs there, an anti-climax.
The fountains and fire effects are striking. They'd work really well in the Sea World or EPCOT lagoons as part of a once-an-hour show you just sort of stop walking by and watch. Would work even better with fireworks. But you don't wait an hour to see just fountains and a fire tower.
As has been reported, the first show stopped halfway through. As soon as they announced there would be a 15 - 20 minute delay, a third of the FP theater got up and left. Mostly people with little kids. To me, that's the most honest review you'll see.
First off, crowd control is bad. Tape boxes on the ground at any location where you might see a piece of the show without a golden wristband/FP. Reminded me of the "homeless boxes" they had a few years ago downtown. Tacky AF.
I showed up when my FP said I could--45 minutes prior to showtime. The theater already had many dozens of people. So realistically, with exit crowds, even with a FP you're looking at a 75 - 90 minute chunk of your day. That said, a lot of FP guests must have bailed, because FP theater was far from full--probably not even 90%. But with standby on the other side of the park, they didn't have a line of standby guests ready to go at 7. People dribbed and drabbed into the theater for the next 20 minutes (yes, 5 minutes into a 12 minute show they were still trying to sit late-comers, annoyingly). Never achieved anywhere near 100% capacity--only way I see them doing that is starting load earlier. So even more time spent on this.
The preshow is incredibly boring. Just the lilypads moving into place and an occasional, hard-to-see projection on the trees in the back. It feels like it's supposed to be a part of the show, tho, so already the crowd is getting antsy.
As for the show itself, I didn't mind the boats. A little sparse with just 2 actors aboard each, but they did fine. My favorite moment of the show involves the boats.
A tiger shadow puppet on the sale turns into an animated tiger, then jumps off the sale onto the big water screen.
The animal floats are the clear stars of the show--unfortunately they are just do a cameo appearance. They have zero relevance to the non-plot. Float out, disappear, re-appear to change colors in the finale. If there were more of them, they could make for a very cool updated Electric Water Pageant, either here or Seven Seas Lagoon. But wasted in this show.
The projections are horrible. Couldn't identify what half the animals were supposed to be. I've not seen WoC in person, but both Cinematic Spectacular and Poseidon's Fury 20 years ago managed to do much cleaner, crisper graphics on a water screen. Meant to be the focus of the show, but don't deliver on the level they need to.
There is no plot, no semblance of story. The music is ... not my speed. Basically a world beat remix of illuminations, sounds like something your hipster 5th grade music teacher would come up with for Multicultural Awareness Day. Or maybe a Kidz Bob take on Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The dialogue is ponderous. Borders on parody. Pacing is off, the show feels longer than it is. And they left in the line at the end re: "stars" that was clearly intended to introduce the drones--now it kind of just hangs there, an anti-climax.
The fountains and fire effects are striking. They'd work really well in the Sea World or EPCOT lagoons as part of a once-an-hour show you just sort of stop walking by and watch. Would work even better with fireworks. But you don't wait an hour to see just fountains and a fire tower.
As has been reported, the first show stopped halfway through. As soon as they announced there would be a 15 - 20 minute delay, a third of the FP theater got up and left. Mostly people with little kids. To me, that's the most honest review you'll see.
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I now fully understand any complaints people have about this show... and I haven't even publicly seen it yet.
In order to get any kind of good seating you need to get here *at least* 45 mins early, definitely more if you don't have FP+. So for a 15 minute show, I now fully feel the complaints.
In order to get any kind of good seating you need to get here *at least* 45 mins early, definitely more if you don't have FP+. So for a 15 minute show, I now fully feel the complaints.
Yeah, they'll be hanging out in Pandora for the most part. And the novelty for the locals should wear off by then.
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