Animal Kingdom Begins Casting for New 2016 Nighttime Entertainment

WDWNT on September 3, 2015

We know that starting next year, Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open late for guests to experience the park after dark, including the new Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular. While we still don’t know too much about this show or the other nighttime entertainment coming to the park in 2016, an interesting set of auditions was recently put out by Walt Disney World…

Physical Dancer/Actor – Silent Storytellers with Movement/Dance Ability for New Disney Offering

For: Walt Disney World
Audition City: N. Hollywood, CA
Location: Debbie Reynolds Studio
Looking For: Actors and DancersWednesday, September 16, 2015
10:00 AM
Time zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada)


Disney Creative Entertainment is seeking dancers and physical performers for featured roles in a new offering at the Walt Disney World® Resort, near Orlando, FL.  Dancers and Actors with strong communication skills using movement are needed to tell a story.  These silent narrators orchestrate all the action to convey the spirit of an ancient and timeless celebration.

Candidates should be trained in any one or a number of classical Indian or Southeast Asian dance styles:  Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathakali, Chhau, Balinese, etc.

Any additional movement training, including physical storytelling, martial arts or martial dance, is a definite plus.

All candidates must have strong rhythmic foundation/movement and physical storytelling abilities.

Seeking the following roles:

Male Dancers:  5’8″-5’10” and 6’0″+.  Strong mover, agile, strong physical storyteller.

Female Dancers:  5’7″+.  Strong mover, agile, strong physical storyteller.

Audition Information:

Please prepare a 2-minute piece that will best demonstrate your skills and specialties.  You may also be asked to learn a combination and/or perform an improvisational piece.

Which entertainment piece this is related to isn’t clear, but Animal Kingdom is gearing up for new nighttime entertainment starting in Spring 2016.

Dirk Wallen’s 3/3/15 WDW Photo Report (Hat is Gone, Toy Story Mania Expansion, Haramabe Marketplace, ETC.)

WDWNT on March 19, 2015

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom this week and has some great newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip, so let’s take a look:

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NO MORE SORCERER’S HAT

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Neverbeast banners up in the Animation Courtyard

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Also, an ad for Big Hero 6 on Blu-ray

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A Tomorrowland billboard has gone up by PIXAR Place

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An Inside Out billboard at the other end of the street

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Still no signs of life at the Backlot Tour

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A Cinderella billboard behind the Great Movie Ride

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After years of waiting, walls are up outside of Stage 1, possibly the home of a third Toy Story Mania track

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Moving over to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, walls have engulfed what was the Island Merchantile pin cart

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Work continues on Rivers of Light

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From Everest, you can see the vertical construction of AVATAR

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Also, the prep work for Rivers of Light

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We assume the need to run pipes through the viewing area is for some water effects that will take place in the audience, similar to World of Color

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Work continues on revamping the entrance to Kali River Rapids

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Work continues on the new Africa Marketplace area, including the Harambe Marketplace restaurant

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Some of the buildings in the marketplace are nearing completion

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A look at the AVATAR construction walls… still nothing to see here

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And one last look at Rivers of Light construction

Tom Corless’ 9/30/14 WDW Photo Report (Big Hero 6 Art, Backlot Tour, Rivers of Light, New Frozen Merchandise, ETC.)

WDWNT on October 24, 2014

It was quite the busy weekend at Walt Disney World, so I managed to visit all 4 parks to see what was new and have a ton of newsworthy photos to share with you in today’s report:

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The Studio Backlot Tour closed forever on Saturday

A Big Hero 6 exhibit can now be found at the Magic of Disney Animation

Moving over to Epcot, menu changes have been made a the Electric Umbrella

I decided to try the French Dip burger

It was surprisingly good!

I also tried the Pumpkin Macaroon from the France ice cream parlor and it was amazing.

Over at the Magic Kingdom, this low clearance was added in the bus stop to ensure busses go the right way through the loop

The awning on the boat dock at the entrance was replaced, it’s now red instead of green

The latest progress on the hub at the Magic Kingdom

The Astro Orbiter reopened this weekend, but you can read more about that here

The leave-your-phone charging stations in Tomorrowland have all been closed, the test period came to an end and we’ll now have to wait to see if it was a success and is brought back

New Space Mountain ladies’ shirt

New men’s “I conquered Space Mountain” shirt

This artwork was previously on a black t-shirt and slightly different

Dumbo character sketches are now being sold at Big Top Souvenirs

New Beast plush for sale at Bonjour Village Gifts

Instead of selling generic items, there is a now a Beauty and the Beast shield toy

If you don’t have a FastPass for it, prepare to arrive at Be Our Guest at park opening to get a return time to eat lunch there or you’ll be turned away

Even more of Sir Mickey’s has been taken over by Frozen merchandise, even Ariel merchandise got pushed out

Some new Frozen artwork for sale

A two-sided Olaf ceramic ornament was just released

Queue work continues at Peter Pan’s Flight

We thought it would only be at Disneyland, but the Zero popcorn bucket was released at the Magic Kingdom! It costs over $13 but has a light-up nose feature

Strange new t-shirts…

LOVE this new sweatshirt!

Odd new Magic Kingdom shirt

Simple, but nice

Halloween 2014 Duffy

Some of the Haunted Mansion 45th anniversary lithographs have made it to Florida

An awesome new print by Alex Maher

In preparation for “Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!”, video screens are being installed on the floats

Moving over to animal Kingdom, it’s still a mess

At least all of the construction walls are decorated now

The UP meet and greet has seen better days

“it’s tough to be a bug” re-opened this weekend

Most of the nets installed to protect guests from falling particles have finally been removed from the queue

There are still nets by the base of the tree, not sure if these will stay here

work is picking up on the new nighttime show, Rivers of Light

The Everest shrine is behind walls and probably will be until the construction is done in late 2015/early 2016

Since one of the Wilderness Explorers’ answers is behind walls, they made a copy and placed it on the walls

The walls wrap around most of the river

We can peek through and see that the construction vehicles are already in place, ready to start working on the show and viewing area

Some sort of new structure is going up by Flame Tree Barbecue

An Oswald Christmas ornament was released

9/16/14 Walt Disney World Photo Report (Rivers of Light Construction, AVATAR, Polynesian DVC, Magic Kingdom, ETC.)

WDWNT on September 30, 2014

WDWNT Reporters Joe Hogarty and Dirk Wallen have been busy visiting the parks this week and have some great photos from Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom to share with us, so let’s take a look:

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Work continues on the Disney Vacation Club wing at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

A look at the current progress on the bungalows

Work is also continuing on the hub project at the Magic Kingdom

The Halloween statues are finally in the hub for this year

Meanwhile, the permanent hub statues have been removed for future construction, but should return next year

Olaf? Kind of looks like Dilbert…

The crane is up behind Cinderella Castle installing Elsa’s magic…

They finally installed a permanent sign telling guests they can see Anna and Elsa in the parade if they don’t want to wait forever

The former Seven Dwarfs Mine shop is still behind walls

The Astro Orbiter wraps up its refurbishment on September 27th

The Disney Vacation Club booth in Tomorrowland is behind walls, hopefully for some fresh paint since bulldozing this would see the removal of the last former ticket booth left inside of the park

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Joe Hogarty visited Animal Kingdom to check out all of the construction happening there

Discovery Island is still quite a mess as they build a new breezeway for easier exiting from the new nighttime show, Rivers of Light

You can see workers out fixing the Tree of Life during the park’s operating hours as they race to meet deadlines

Some of the walls will be up for a few months, so Disney has done their best to make them a good photo-op in some areas

“it’s tough to be a bug” is still closed until September 27th

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Walls up by Flame Tree Barbecue

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Another look at the work on the Tree of Life

Construction has begun on Rivers of Light, the new nighttime show for the park

A large viewing area will be constructed along the section of the Discovery River that separates Dinoland and Asia

It will be at least a good 18 months until you can get those glamor shots of Everest again thanks to the construction walls

But, there’s quality photo-ops like this one…

No Dream Builders signs being used here, “Disney’s animal Kingdom is about to show a whole new side”

There are a lot of walls…

These walls appear along the Theater in the Wild stroller parking path in Dinoland

Another look at the home to Rivers of Light

Shall we peek into AVATAR-land?

Nothing too exciting yet…

Dirk Wallen’s 8/28/14 WDW Photo Report (Animal Kingdom, All-Star Resorts)

WDWNT on September 5, 2014

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s All-Star Music Resort earlier this week and has some newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look at what’s new:

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The Tree of Life behind walls as work is being done to repair it and prepare for the new nighttime lighting that will illuminate the tree in the evening.

A new pathway is being cleared out behind Disney Outfitters, likely a new path to help guests exit faster when leaving after Rivers of Light

The path will cut straight through to the other side near Flame Tree BBQ

Walls are also up at Flame Tree BBQ

“it’s tough to be a bug” is closed for a few more weeks until work is completed at the Tree of Life

The new path around the marketplace in Africa is also still behind walls

We can see cranes, but not much else happening over in AVATAR-land

The food court at All-Star Music is getting an overhaul, so you can either dine in the temporary dining location or grab a bus to All-Star Movies

The temporary dining location is in the arcade

Final Performance of Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade on May 31

WDWNT on May 12, 2014

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The final performance of Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be on May 31, 2014. There is currently no new parade scheduled to take its place but this will be due to heavy construction happening around the park including around the parade route. In the meantime, Rivers of Light is scheduled to debut sometime in the future with no current timeframe set.

If you’re a fan of the parade at Animal Kingdom, go check it out before it goes away forever!

“Rivers of Light” Nighttime Spectacular Coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom

WDWNT on May 12, 2014

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As part of the largest expansion to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a new nighttime spectacular has been announced. “Rivers of Light” promises to be an innovative show unlike anything ever seen in Disney Parks, combining live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery. The show will magically come to life on the broad, natural stage of the Discovery River, between Discovery Island and Expedition Everest, delighting guests and truly capping off a full day of adventures at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.