Rivers of Light. RIP?

Fascinating article suggesting the possibility that ROL may not happen ever and that even the nighttime activities at DAK could be postponed/cancelled. http://www.themeparktourist.com/news/20160707/32045/rivers-light-opening-or-not

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“Interesting”, but not in keeping with the insider reports that I have been reading. From what I’ve read, Disney has NO plans on scrapping RoL, and they are very busy “backstage” working out the technical problems. But as the article pointed out, “leaked” details are few and far between. Because of the fiasco surrounding the previously announced/cancelled opening, you can be sure that Disney will say nothing officially until it’s a 100% go - maybe not much more than a week or two before it opens. Not testing during park hours indicates a return to “normal”. Disney has NEVER tested under development shows during park hours. The fact that they were doing so for RoL was a sign of their desperation in trying to meet an opening deadline that was set by PR/marketing, not by engineering.

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Interesting input. What are these reports you mentioned? Blogs? If so, which ones? Thanks!

My primary source is the “News and Rumors” section of the WDWMagic.com forums. The RoL thread is over 250 pages long…

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I have also wondered about the park hours judging by the fact that after October, they show the park closing at 5 PM still. However, I’m holding on to hope that they will get this show up and running and extend the hours for those months. I know we’ll be incredibly disappointed if we don’t get to see the Awakening of the Tree of Life or RoL.

I agree with @bswan26 Radio Harambi reported there was a float system being used in Shanghai that the engineers thought would fix the issue but that it was going to take a while for the redesign. That may have been on a podcast and not a blog?

Radio Harambe is a fantastic podcast mostly focused on DAK. Like all, I’m hoping ROL happens and that all this nighttime stuff continues. But, if blog post that I linked is accurate in saying that attendance for the nighttime stuff is low, I could totally (sadly) see WDW pull back at least until Avatar. It is odd that there has been no news and that DAK’s hours end early in Sept, no?

I think they will cut back somewhat but I heard somewhere else ( maybe wdwnt, or the E-ticket report?) that Tiffins could also drive longer hours. If the park is not open, no one can eat there- and it is Dsiney owned.

I do not know how much we can count on the hours. In September there are three DVC events and HS hours and fireworks are incomplete for August!

I wouldn’t be shocked if the show never saw the light of night. They’ll figure out some sort of nighttime show for the park, but the longer things go without any announcement the less likely it seems that it’ll be named Rivers of Light.

I was listening to the latest Radio Harambe this week. They were talking about the long lines for JB. I am wondering if they have a bigger problem regarding atrendence and they will have to shorten the hours in the future since regardless of how many people go to the show- very few seem to be staying?

Oh, JB is doing well? Long lines is a good sign, right? Anyway, don’t the crowds usually thin after the nighttime shows? For example, Fantasyland in the MK is often not too bad after Wishes.

They were talking about the long lines to get in and the design of the stadium that has people on top of one another. They also said the audience was disappointed.

I just think that Disney needs people in lines and in the restaurants/ at the kiosks to make it profitable to stay open and I do not think those crowds are spread throughout the park?

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