Category: Animal Kingdom

We may not want to get our hopes up again, but there have been rumblings among sources inside the Disney Company that the Rivers of Light nighttime show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom might be nearing completion.

The show, originally slated to debut April 22nd, 2016, was indefinitely delayed due to problems with the automated show barges/floats. Rumors indicate the time down has also been used to rewrite large portions of the show that management may have deemed “too boring”.

The show already has missed most of the Summer 2016 season at Walt Disney World, but Disney did create a filler show to placate guests over the last 2 months. Unfortunately it was the poorly received The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic.

If the rumors are true, a September debut for the show seems likely as that would be the conclusion of the already announced run for Alive with Magic. At the latest, we expect to the show to begin performing in late November/early December, but just as they did before, things can always change.

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be getting a new name on Friday, May 27th, 2016: Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.

No major changes are expected at the trail, but the name change is part of the ongoing re-imagining of Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, which includes the addition of nighttime offerings, also debuting May 27th. A formal announcement on this name change and many new additions to the park is expected tomorrow.

With reservations opening today for the dining package that offers viewing, Disney has dropped many more details on the Jungle Book: Alive with Magic nighttime spectacular:

Enter a wild world of wonder, one inspired by sights and sounds from The Jungle Book and timeless Indian celebrations!

Beginning May 28, 2016, gather your friends and family as evening falls over Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, and make your way to Discovery River. There, by the water’s edge, an Indian celebration of survival, courage and friendship is about to unfold.

The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic is the tale of a human boy, Mowgli, and all his animal friends and foes. But while you may be familiar with the tale, you’ve never experienced it quite like this!

Come along as impressions of the film’s iconic characters take you on a journey following Mowgli’s exciting, perilous and sometimes hilarious jungle encounters. Watch as barges teeming with jubilant singers, Indian musicians and colorful performers take to the waters and enhance the tale with music and song—while fellow players join in from nearby river banks. And thrill to the breathtaking sight of light displays and massive water screens projecting imagery from the blockbuster film!

Don’t miss your chance to feel the spirit of The Jungle Book surround you in a lively celebration of music and visual artistry. Featuring rousing Indian-inspired pop-style arrangements of the movie’s hit songs “Trust in Me,” “Bare Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You,” this uplifting musical presentation builds to a show-stopping finale.

So “forget about your worries and your strife” and swing on by for this musical, magical, madcap sensation that’s hooting, screeching, howling good fun for the whole family!

The show is 20 minutes long and will be pretend twice nightly through July 2nd at 9:00 & 10:30PM.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom has always been a park in need of more table service dining. From the time when the park opened in 1998, the options have been very limited, in fact, at one point in time, your only options were the Rainforest Cafe and a character buffet breakfast in Dinoland. Even with the addition of Yak and Yeti in 2008 and the conversion of Tusker House to a buffet, the options still seemed limited and the park did not feature a fine dining (or signature) establishment. Fast forward to the advent of the expansion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the park finally is slated to add an entirely new land, a nighttime attraction and entertainment lineup, new counter service establishments, and of course, Tiffins Restaurant and the Nomad Lounge.

Tiffins marks an important moment in the park’s history. Tomorrow will see the park boast its very first late night closure without Extra Magic Hours, what could be a daily occurrence from now on permanently regardless what nighttime show is running. Adding a signature venue where guests can drink and dine for a few hours adds a nice chunk more to a day at the park, and with the level of quality and service at Tiffins and the Nomad Lounge, you will certainly be spending at least an hour dining here if you choose to do so.

Of course, we have reservations to dine at Tiffins on its very first day of operation on Friday and once again on Saturday to experience the Jungle Book: Alive with Magic package, but when I heard there would be a soft opening today, I jumped at the opportunity to take our very first look inside the new restaurant and to try the Nomad Lounge area which boasts a unique menu of food and drink from the main restaurant.

Before we get too far into this, you MUST see the interior of this restaurant. It is absolutely one of the most gorgeous restaurants in all of Walt Disney World. If you are like me, which if you are reading this I assume you are, you are fascinated by theme park design, and that’s what this restaurant is all about: the journeys and the hard work that went into creating Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Here’s a video walkthrough of both eh restaurant and lounge:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjlByfiGJIA?rel=0]

Nomad lounge is placed in the midst of Tiffins, along the path from Discovery Island to Pandora: The World of AVATAR. This was done so Nomad would have waterfront patio seating and a circular bay of windows around the interior seating and bar area. Being a lounge, you do not need and can not make reservations to dine here, unlike Tiffins.

The specialty drink menu here is gigantic compared to many of the lounges on property, at least in variety of drink only offered at this establishment. There are even drinks only available at the Nomad Lounge that will not be served to dining tables at Tiffins.

The drink menu can be a bit overwhelming, but the staff at Nomad Lounge is impeccable. All of the recommendations and the guide through the menu we received were second to none. Also, I’m a sucker for themed coasters…

I’m no fan of mint drinks, but if you are, the Snow Leopard’s Salvation is the drink for you.

The Boto-Rita was fine, not really my thing, but pretty good.

I’m a really big fan of the ubiquitous Jungle Juice, so when I tried two drinks here that tasted like alcoholic versions of the Animal Kingdom favorite, I was quite happy. The first of which was the Leaping Lizard, which also has a pineapple decorative piece meant to  look like a lizard’s head…

My personal favorite was the Night Monkey, which just might be may favorite drink in all of WDW.

The Kungaloosh Spiced Excursion Ale is a nod to the former Adventurer’s Club at Pleasure Island and a really fine dark beer that I will certainly be ordering again. You may yell at me, but this is honestly the first thing ever having to do with the club that I’m happy about…

The Lamu Libation was my second favorite drink that we tried. It was perfectly sweet and had a great flavor to it. I will be ordering this again for sure.

The Temping Tigress was also enjoyable, even though I hate bourbon, I would not turn this down if it were offered to me again. This is probably the highest honor I can give to any bourbon drink I’ve ever had in my life.

The lounge also has a number of non-alcoholic options, of which we tried the Hibiscus Henna. The lounge offers a number of the alcoholic drinks without alcohol under different names, which is a nice offering.

Nomad Lounge also offers a small menu of exclusive bites, which of course we had to try.

The vegetarian summer roll was surprisingly good. This is not necessarily something I would usually order anywhere, but the spicy sauce accompanying the roll made this quite enjoyable.

The Indian Butter Chicken Wings were a bit of a letdown. The flavor just wasn’t there on these, which is somewhat disconcerting as this was the item I was most looking forward to. Luckily, we were so wowed by this point by the atmosphere and drinks that this don’t ruin our experience.

The seasonal fish balls were one of my favorite dishes here, even though I had zero expectations they would even be on my radar when eating here. The pepper accompaniment blended well with the perfectly cooked white fish for a great flavor.

The seared wagyu beef was by far the worst item we tried. No flavor and quite expensive for just three small pieces.

The pork ribs were the real winner here. Again, while a small portion, the lime accented flavor and fall-off-the-bone quality were worth every penny. Unlike some other lounges on property, the portions here may be good for 1-2 guests, but that’s about it. This is a lounge attached to a signature dining venue, so it isn’t shocking, but could be better.

One last item that is not featured on the menu is the bread service. Similar to Sanaa, this plate features a sampling of bread with dipping sauces. However, this plate here offered unique breads and dipping sauces, including a spicy yogurt sauce which was my favorite. I highly recommend ordering this on your next visit to the lounge.

For dessert, the lounge offers an exclusive “Taste of Tiffins” which has minute samplings of three of the larger desserts in one small plate. This was really fantastic, and gets a review pretty much like Amorette’s pastries; it’s very small but makes us for it and taste and quality of the presentation.

Nomad Lounge and Tiffins are not yet accepting any sort of discounts, as to be expected at this point from a new dining establishment at Walt Disney World.

Overall, Tiffins is a gorgeous restaurant and definitely the signature restaurant that Animal Kingdom deserves, design wise at least. We’ll bring you a full review of Tiffins in the days ahead, but the interior is a beautiful love-letter to the attention to details and amazing journeys that Imagineers made to make Disney’s Animal Kingdom happen. The interior is jaw-dropping.

Note that they were not yet allowing guests to purchase the customizable tags to hang over the bar, but when they do, $0.85 of your dollar (which is the minimum donation) will go to the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund.

Nomad Lounge is just a beautiful as the rest, both inside and out. The music is relaxing, yet vibrant and the patio is just as serene as it is in the main bar area.

The food menu is really solid and may even improve as the days progress (our server was surprised to hear we did not like the wagyu beef). The drink menu might be second to none quite honestly. I can’t think of a specialty drink menu at Walt Disney World where I would have a more difficult time picking a beverage. There is a lot on this drink menu and a lot of it is absolutely phenomenal. Nomad Lounge will without a doubt will be a regular drink destination for us, and the bread service and ribs will likely be on the must-order short list overtime we visit. The atmosphere alone is worth your money, never mind anything they will serve you. Kudos to all involved in the creation of Animal Kingdom’s latest masterpiece.

When Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was indefinitely delayed (at least until the Fall at this point), Walt Disney World found themselves in a tremendous predicament. They had announced there would be a brand new nighttime show for the park, in fact its very first, and developed an entire nighttime entertainment roster around it. So, when the headlining act goes down, what do you do?

If it were a concert, I’m sure you realize that the opening act is no real replacement for the headliner, but maybe someone can fill in? That’s essentially what happened here. Rather than give up on the Summer, Walt Disney World realized they had a perfectly good, new nighttime show venue in the Discovery River Theater and still had a tremendous line-up including nighttime safaris, Tree of Life Awakenings, a brand new signature restaurant, and lots of atmospheric entertainment. Why not put something temporarily in the theater as a replacement offering? The park’s first late-evenings would be saved and all of the dining packages and such Disney had their hearts on could still be sold. Could it be done in just 41 days?

In a little over a month, Walt Disney World and Disney Imagineers put together a show called The Jungle Book – Alive with Magic, which promised to use nighttime lighting effects created for Rivers of Light and blend them with some sort of live entertainment. In a short preview of Rivers of Light given to media back in April, we saw that many effects from that show could still operate, so maybe the working effects combined with good music and a solid entertainment act could create something worth seeing. I’m sure it could have, but that didn’t happen.

The best description I can give for this show is it is essentially Glow Fest on water. Glow Fest was a short-lived event at California Adventure which included a Bollywood-style dancing act on a stage in the evenings. Jungle Book – Alive with Magic was basically this act presented on barges with a half-functioning giant mist screen behind it. The show has music from The Jungle Book infused with an Indian influence playing as choreographed dance takes place on stages and barges (and even in the aisles) around the theater, but that’s pretty much all that happens. There are none of the “wow” moments of grandeur or technical effects that you would find in IllumiNations, Fantasmic, or even Wishes for that matter, something that has categorized every nighttime spectacular in the history of Disney Parks, even the worst ones.

Now, before I get any hate mail from anyone involved in this thing, let me talk about the positives (which surprisingly there are): the performers are very talented, the soundtrack is good, the live singing is a nice touch, and the choreography is enjoyable. This isn’t a bad show, it’s a bad show to put in this situation. If it was 4:00PM and I’m between FastPasses and I’m walking by this theater and this was performing during the day (with little to no advertisement other than a mention in the times guide perhaps), I would love to sit and watch this. As unscheduled atmospheric entertainment for this park, this show would be the absolute best they have to offer. However, it is being marketed as a nighttime spectacular, they are selling rushed merchandise for it, they are distributing FastPasses, and there is a very pricey dining package being offered.

Imagine if you bought a Fantasmic dining package and then went to the theater to find the Dapper Dans performing in the giant Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. Sure, Disney had added some fountains to the Dapper Dan’s show, but this isn’t worth what you spent on your dining package, no matter how much you might love this act. It isn’t a spectacle worth spending money to have reserved seating for. That’s the problem with Jungle Book – Alive with Magic; it isn’t worth a FastPass, it isn’t worth sitting there for any amount of time while you wait for it to start, and it for damn sure isn’t worth the price of an expensive dining package, even if they sit you on the barges in the river… OK, that might actually be kind of cool, but you get my point.

Tiffins is a spectacular restaurant (review to come) and I have no problem with the great buffet at Tusker House, but that isn’t going to resolve any cheated feelings guests are going to have walking out of this show. Last night alone, I encountered at least two dozen guests who were less-than-enchanted with what they had just waited an hour for, most of which were those with small children. I’ve sat with kids for an hour until Fantasmic! has started and that can be rough, but there is a payoff. Fantasmic is a wonderful spectacle and typically, watching a child take-in that 27-minutes of color and explosions is worth all of the stress and time-investment that you put into it, and that’s why people keep going back. At Jungle Book – Alive with Magic, children looked the same as I did: confused.

With the dining packages starting tonight, I am anxious to see what happens. I will be seated in that reserved dining viewing section as I have my reservation at Tiffins later today and I will give this show another chance to “wow” me, but based on my first viewing and the reviews of countless other who I asked about the show last night, I doubt very much that I will feel like I got my money’s worth out of that dining package, just as I felt like I had wasted time and a FastPass seeing this show last night. Standing in front of the Tree of Life and watching the awakenings projection shows would have been a far better investment of my time and energy. But I am anxious to witness the response of less-informed guests in that viewing area, who paid over $50 a person to see this show from a premium viewing area. There may very well be a riot (or at least a Light Magic style guest march to guest relations). These packages are being offered through September… is this going to continue to be offered through then if guests complain nightly in droves? I can’t imagine a scenario where wither the show or the package both continue to exist until then.

In short, this isn’t worth your time. Skip Jungle Book – Alive with Magic (but not Tiffins, you should still eat there regardless) and enjoy a nighttime safari, take in the splendor of the Tree of Life at night, or just ride Expedition Everest under the moonlight. Animal Kingdom is beautiful at night, don’t cancel your trip to the park just because of this show, just don’t make this show a priority unless you feel you absolutely must see it for some reason (like you really, really love this style of music and dancing).

If you do want to still see it, all you need to really know is that FastPass seating enters on the Expedition Everest side while Standby is located on the Theater in the Wild side. I wouldn’t worry about showing up too early… Showtimes are nightly at 9:00PM and 10:30PM.

The clock is now ticking on Summer 2016 and I anxiously wait a debut date on Rivers of Light. It has to be better than this Discovery River Disaster…

While The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic may not be a smash hit, there is one nighttime show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that is now getting a standing ovation nightly: the Tree of Life Awakenings.

This projection show takes place only on the very front of the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom after night falls and runs continuously until sometime after park close. The show is similar in technology to “The Magic, The Memories, and You!” and Celebrate the Magic presented at the Magic Kingdom, but that’s really where the similarities end.

This show doesn’t stop. The Tree is alive throughout the evening changing colors and coming to life with short silent vignettes and longer, music-filled segments. Some of the segments are absolutely amazing, such as this one that pays homage to a number of Disney animated films (and AVATAR):

Others are more on the artistic side (less IP driven), but present beautiful stories on the giant canvas of the Tree of Life:

The longer vignettes happen every 15-20 minutes or so, but there is always some sort of movement happening on the Tree of Life, from a slight animal move, to the presence of falling leaves or snow.

Everything about this show is pretty much perfect: the music, the imagery, and the use of technology effectively. If there is any reason to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom at night, this is it.