Nighttime at Animal Kingdom

[shiekra38]

wrong thread

 

[Ryan]

It kind-of reminds me of Bill and Ted, for Hollywood when the seating was..well..cramped as hell.

It's the same thing for Bill and Ted in FL too. Bench seating... what can you do?

And this show was a godawful projection water show, because it barely worked, but overall a mediocre nighttime dance show? It was boring. Really boring. It feels like the audience wakes up for that interactive howling stuff and then goes right back to sleep. That said, this was something they put together in a matter of weeks so... hey pat on the back for you.

God have mercy on Rivers of Light.

 

[quinnmac000]

Animal Kingdom at night was underwhelming. Tree lighting was okay. Nighttime Safari was a failure in my book..couldn't see much. Then Jungle book...vocals and #number of performers were great. Everything else was cringe worthy. Honest assessment of the show is its 4/10 and I think I'm kinda being nice with that rating. Tiffin's was good though. Would eat again.

 

[Brian G.]

Driving back home now but um.... Jungle Book was pretty bad.

Will post more thoughts when I get home but

D-

 

[Viator]

Driving back home now but um.... Jungle Book was pretty bad.

Will post more thoughts when I get home but

D-

Atleast Mrs. BriMan was actually pretty smart, given the odds.

 

[Brian G.]

Just a couple photos from Tree of Life Awakens tonight.

 

[Brian G.]

Jungle Book: Alive with Magic - D-

Well, basically - It was pretty boring. The finale picked it up a bit, as it should, which bumped the grade from an F to a D-. The performers and singers do their jobs well, it just seems.... not entertaining strangely enough.

I was looking around during the performances and saw a lot of people's faces that were expressionless.

The theater is themed nicely, but definitely gonna be problematic during busier nights. Tonight, they weren't clear that we needed to line-up near Kali River Rapids for FP+ seating so finding the end of the line was a bit confusing. Doing fuzzy math, it seemed the theater fit around 4,000 but that may be generous by about 500. Half was split for FP and Stand-by, so if you're not in the first 2,000 of waiting, you're SOL.

Biggest issue is the water screens. They're pretty bad. I heard a few families complaining about that after we left the show, so hopefully Disney can fix that, if they intend to.

 

[Nick]

Since we don't seem to have a thread specific to DAK after dark offerings, i'll leave all my thoughts here (in order from worst to best imo):

JB: Alive with Magic:
I can't give a proper review of this show as I didn't actually see the full show. It's clear capacity will be a huge problem, as I was told at 8:00 if I got in line, I was essentially waiting for the 10:30 show. So not having FP+, I pretty much was like, "screw that!" and just came back later in the SRO area of the theatre about halfway through the show. - 3/10

All that said, I didn't need to see the full show to realize that the show was a complete stinker. There was no flow to it - no real story. I'll give Disney props for the amazing cast of instrumentalists, vocalists and actors, but beyond that, it's just something to keep people busy right now.

KS: Night Safaris:
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this. I think in many ways it depends on your driver and his/her ability to spot animals. There were many active animals throughout my trip so that was a plus. What I felt was odd was the "sunset". I understand why they installed it there, as it illuminated the entire Savannah ahead of it, which extended all the way to the Lions. From a them perspective though, it makes ZERO sense. I LOVED the moon-blue lighting near the end of the ride though.

Overall, I enjoyed it and while it does have some weaknesses, it's only in the second day of night operation. Hopefully they collect guest feedback and improve some aspects. I can easily see them offering optional nightvision goggles if they get enough complaints about not being able to see on the night safari. The line was very long (up to 75 mins), people expect to be able to see after that long of a wait. - 6.5/10

Tree of Life Awakens
This was by far the best among the offerings. I believe it came in just under 5 mins, but it was beautifully done. In fact, I said to my group that the 20+ seconds of Jungle Book did the franchise justice better than the 20+ minute show. It may have been because of the time I watched the show (Sometime after 10:30 AWM got out around 11), but it drew a sizeable crowd too. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was pleasing and a fun little show. - 9/10
--------------------
That's basically it. I hope to God that RoL gets here ASAP and that it's much better than this piece of crap. Pandora will definitely help the nighttime feel of the park next year with the bio-luminescent plants/sidewalks. It'll also add much needed capacity. As of right now, I give the nighttime offerings a bit of a "meh", but i'm glad to see the park open later and I have no doubt things will improve with time.

 

[Nick]

Well, basically - It was pretty boring. The finale picked it up a bit, as it should, which bumped the grade from an F to a D-. The performers and singers do their jobs well, it just seems.... not entertaining strangely enough.

I was looking around during the performances and saw a lot of people's faces that were expressionless.

The theater is themed nicely, but definitely gonna be problematic during busier nights. Tonight, they weren't clear that we needed to line-up near Kali River Rapids for FP+ seating so finding the end of the line was a bit confusing. Doing fuzzy math, it seemed the theater fit around 4,000 but that may be generous by about 500. Half was split for FP and Stand-by, so if you're not in the first 2,000 of waiting, you're SOL.

Biggest issue is the water screens. They're pretty bad. I heard a few families complaining about that after we left the show, so hopefully Disney can fix that, if they intend to.

Agreed about the water screens. My mom brought it up that it was hard to make out what was being projected on them and I agree.

 

[Blue_]

I didn't get to see Jungle Book Awkwens because the fast passes were all booked up and there is no way I was waiting in that line by Dinorama for 90+ minutes, but I did go on the night safari and that was.... not good.

I understand that they couldn't shine big floodlights at the animal habitats, and at the very beginning of the safari our driver made a point to tell us that the point of the night safari was not for seeing more animals or for taking pictures, but for experiencing the sounds of the animals-- except you couldn't hear anything over the creaking of that dumb truck. Every once in a while they would pump fake animal noises through the stereos of the truck, and that was obviously stupid and didn't work at all. The fake sunset is okay but the real star is the blue moon-like lighting that overtakes the last few parts of the ride. I wish the rest of the safari was lit similarly, "sunset" theme be damned.

I don't think I can review the TOL show properly because I only saw one of the shows, but in my book that was a huge disaster. We got there at the tail end of the previous show (which sounded like it was scored to some music from The Lion King) and decided to wait for the next show. The animals moving in between shows was pretty cool, but the downtime was so long that those animations actually began repeating themselves. I was leaning against a rock off to the side, but that place is technically pretty much standing room only, and it was packed. Finally after about 45 minutes the show started, and it was the humming bird one which lasts for like 2 minutes. It was ridiculous. Asking people to stand around for "15-30 minutes" for a show that barely makes it past 2 minutes is asking for too much.

So yeah, as it stands right now, the night time offerings at AK are pretty bad. I know RoL isn't even here yet (if it comes at all) so maybe that can help take some negatives away from the other 2 big experiences but as it stands I definitely don't care for any of it at all.

 

[Brian G.]

I guess I had a different experience with the Night Safari.

Our guide Bailey was very personable and straight up said at the beginning something along the lines of "This will be a different experience for me as much as it is for you. While during the day I can help point out where animals may be, at night my goal is to focus on the road. So if ya see something, holler out and I'll try to go slower.".

Seems like the best time to go though is around dusk. We saw a lot of activity from the animals, we were even lucky to see 4 lions actually up and about. Dusk also helps sell the "Sunset" better so it didn't bother us at all. Some of the riders were wondering if it was legit until they saw the orange spotlights.

Also noticed they skip some of the enclosures and rickety bridge, but I didn't feel it took away from the ride.

A-

 

[Brian G.]

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Jungle Book: Alive with Magic - D-

Well, basically - It was pretty boring. The finale picked it up a bit, as it should, which bumped the grade from an F to a D-. The performers and singers do their jobs well, it just seems.... not entertaining strangely enough.

I was looking around during the performances and saw a lot of people's faces that were expressionless.

The theater is themed nicely, but definitely gonna be problematic during busier nights. Tonight, they weren't clear that we needed to line-up near Kali River Rapids for FP+ seating so finding the end of the line was a bit confusing. Doing fuzzy math, it seemed the theater fit around 4,000 but that may be generous by about 500. Half was split for FP and Stand-by, so if you're not in the first 2,000 of waiting, you're SOL.

Biggest issue is the water screens. They're pretty bad. I heard a few families complaining about that after we left the show, so hopefully Disney can fix that, if they intend to.

In general it sounds like the worst aspects of WoC combined with some great music and dance that's WAAAAY TOOOOOOO FAAAAAAR away to appreciate.

 

[Nick]

In general it sounds like the worst aspects of WoC combined with some great music and dance that's WAAAAY TOOOOOOO FAAAAAAR away to appreciate.

Yup. The music/dance is a big issue. I actually thought they were playing a track before it was pointed out to me that there were people actually singing on the floats. One of the guys looked and sounded like one of the lead vocalists in Lion King.

That's where my fears for RoL really set it because that show is planning on using live dancers/actors as well. It makes no sense why they put bench seating in... SRO like WoC would've increased capacity immensely with the size of the 2 amphitheaters.

 

[Brian G.]

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Yup. The music/dance is a big issue. I actually thought they were playing a track before it was pointed out to me that there were people actually singing on the floats. One of the guys looked and sounded like one of the lead vocalists in Lion King.

That's where my fears for RoL really set it because that show is planning on using live dancers/actors as well. It makes no sense why they put bench seating in... SRO like WoC would've increased capacity immensely with the size of the 2 amphitheaters.

The show could be in Discovery Island and project onto the tree of life and be considered the best thing offered at night. FP+, seating, queuing, and "night time spectacular" add too much expectations to it.

 

[Nick]

The show could be in Discovery Island and project onto the tree of life and be considered the best thing offered at night. FP+, seating, queuing, and "night time spectacular" add too much expectations to it.

JB:AwM is virtually the LK show, just with Jungle book. They come out on floats and sing a "greatest hits" version of the movie. Unfortunately for JB, It doesn't have anything as spectacular as the tumble monkeys or Trapeze artists. In place of that, it's mostly a bunch of a dance show with Indian-inspired instrumentalists. So it gets pretty boring. Actually it starts boring and stays boring.

 

[IzzyB]

So if JB is so bad, how is that ROL is delayed because it is bad? If it was just bad, why not put it out there instead of this crap?

 

[Nick]

So if JB is so bad, how is that ROL is delayed because it is bad? If it was just bad, why not put it out there instead of this crap?

I think we need to put to bed this notion. It absolutely was not delayed because it's bad, it has to do with major tech issues with the GPS system.

According to those working on it, it's testing 3rd shift every night with orders to get it open as quick as possible. Many other members on magic who tend to have some inside knowledge all say the same - actually no one even mentions story changes.

If RoL was ready to go, it'd be out there. They don't want all this bad press.

 

[IzzyB]

I think we need to put to bed this notion. It absolutely was not delayed because it's bad, it has to do with major tech issues with the GPS system.

According to those working on it, it's testing 3rd shift every day with orders to get it open as quick as possible. Many other members on magic who tend to have some inside knowledge all say the same - actually no one even mentions story changes.

If RoL was ready to go, it'd be out there. They don't want all this bad press.

I agree. I always thought it was tech issues. Story line never made sense to me since they have put bad shows out in the past and JB seems to be on the top of that list now lol