Rivers of Light worth it?

[CAS239]

On the 3rd October, AK closes at 7. Anybody have a guess when RoL would show?

Those hours you see won't be the hours. AK will be open later than 7

 

[Amelia :)]

We really enjoyed it. I am not sure I can say love it. I loved parts of it. The dancing water from the floats was great. The dancers are really lost on their floats. Not sure there was much point in having them since they are pretty difficult to watch. And sadly, the water screens are lacking. They don't meet in the middle (or didn't when we went, not sure if that's the norm or not) so you loose lots of the details. But for the parts that did work well, the lotus floats and the water, I loved it.

ETA - We did a Tiffins DP. We got there about 30 min before the show and got very good seats. We were planning to eat at Tiffins anyway so in the end it ended up being cheaper than had we just dined there. And we had the best server. I love how Tiffins really plays up repeat customers. We got a custom note signed by all the staff

Thanks Angi, we will definitely still try and experience it for ourselves, we have the dining plan and love TH anyway so will try for a dining package, we personally won't mind waiting about 45 mins as long as we have a snack and a seat! I'm still looking forward to it and will reserve judgement

 

[leebee]

I have only seen a short bit of a video of RoL, but to me it seems like the Electric Water Pageant in the MK area. Did you get that feeling from RoL?

 

[fly girl]

World of Color (original) in California Adventure is my standard for a great water show. While ROL is nice, it just didn't have the emotional impact for us as something like the World of Color. I'd say go and watch it yourself, but you most likely won't be super amazed.

That was the very reason why I'm not stressing ROL. I watched the video and from what I can see it is pretty short and lacking the level that I have come to expect having seen WOC in its many incarnations. World of Color setts the bar very high. In fact sometimes WOC doesnt live up the WOC . When I saw the special 60th WOC I was very meh-now When they brought back the original I booked a new trip with viewing package ASAP. My son begs to see it every trip.

Haven't done RoL yet either I am with you that the bar is set with WOC.

Ha ha ha @Kindermouse , I know exactly what you mean about WoC not living up to its own hype! We were not fans of the 60th NPH version either (or as my husband called it, Doogie Houser's WoC). I am late in the game, but just found out they brought it back to original for our upcoming trip in June. We've done CC reserved section before, but we are trying dessert party this time around. Seats, glorious seats!! Insane price, yep. But it's worth every penny for dh since he hurt his back holding dd so she could see the show last time.

 

[Anal Annie]

I booked a RoL dining pkg. at Tusker House for July 2 and they said it was for the 1st show (which I assume is still at 8:45 or will that change)? What time does that mean they will start seating from the dining packages? Do I still have to go like an hour before the showtime because everyone goes so early even tho they just paid an arm and a leg + their first born child for priority seating?? Trying to figure out fast passes to book on Monday morning and I need to have my timing figured out! TIA!!

 

[AngiTN]

I booked a RoL dining pkg. at Tusker House for July 2 and they said it was for the 1st show (which I assume is still at 8:45 or will that change)? What time does that mean they will start seating from the dining packages? Do I still have to go like an hour before the showtime because everyone goes so early even tho they just paid an arm and a leg + their first born child for priority seating?? Trying to figure out fast passes to book on Monday morning and I need to have my timing figured out! TIA!!

That's the showing we saw. I don't know what time they started to let folks in, they were already in when we got there about 8:15 or so. It was plenty early enough though, we got great seats, on the end, about 10 rows up, 2nd section over from the center divider area.

 

[CAS239]

For the first show, or sometimes only show, my experience is that they open up the arena about 2 hours prior

 

[Anal Annie]

For the first show, or sometimes only show, my experience is that they open up the arena about 2 hours prior

So people pay the equivalent of kidnap ransom money for priority seating in that dining pkg and they STILL waste their entire evening and go 2 hours early to this show?!

 

[CAS239]

So people pay the equivalent of kidnap ransom money for priority seating in that dining pkg and they STILL waste their entire evening and go 2 hours early to this show?!

Some people that do the dining option show up that early. But usually from what I've seen majority of the dining people show up about 30-45 min prior.

Standby is where people have to get there super early. Usually the first show, standby is completely full an hour prior

 

[FastPasser]

So people pay the equivalent of kidnap ransom money for priority seating in that dining pkg and they STILL waste their entire evening and go 2 hours early to this show?!

The policy is that if you have either a DP or FP, you're assured of a seat as long as you arrive at least 15 minutes before the show.

 

[LvsTnk]

The policy is that if you have either a DP or FP, you're assured of a seat as long as you arrive at least 15 minutes before the show.

We are actually going to that same showing with the package but DS is in a wheelchair would you know how early we should get there? I am really worried that it is going to fill up fast but the heat was a little hard on him last year for Jungle Book. I would be appreciative of any info.

 

[Anal Annie]

Some people that do the dining option show up that early. But usually from what I've seen majority of the dining people show up about 30-45 min prior.

Standby is where people have to get there super early. Usually the first show, standby is completely full an hour prior

Thank you. It just never made sense to me that people would pay for a seating package then squander it by going super early anyway.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

So people pay the equivalent of kidnap ransom money for priority seating in that dining pkg and they STILL waste their entire evening and go 2 hours early to this show?!

We wanted to see it on our trip over Easter Week (the Mon-Fri leading up to Easter Sunday, which was level 10 crowded the whole week). So we booked a PPO ROL package at Tusker House for breakfast. It only cost $5 more per adult to do the package (2 of us, so $10). Totally worth it! The breakfast was delicious. DH loved the food and got a kick out of the characters too. We rode rides in AK that morning, went to DHS to use our FP+ in the afternoon, watched DD's softball game at ESPN Wild World of Sports at 4:00 PM, then headed back to AK for one last ride, dinner at Flame Tree and ROL. The 1st show was at 8:30. We got seats at around 7:45, and the dining package area was only 1/4 full at that point.

Having seen the show once now, I would see it again, but I would not jump through a ton of hoops or pay a premium to do so. However, it was worth it to see it for the first time.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Most dissapointing nighttime spectacular .... but if you must see it gets packed out.

 

[cdnusagurl]

I haven't seen it in person but I watched a few youtube videos of it and was completely underwhelmed. It's the only night time show that we'll be skipping on our trip.

 

[DaisyNY]

Booked ROL Dining package...wanted to try this restaurant and with the pricing of the package with appetizer, dinner entree, and dessert, it looks like we'll come out ahead $$$ and not have to show up hours earlier.

 

[dmband]

Does AK have anythîng "special" for July 4?

We are planning on going to RoL that night in hopes to avoid some crowds

 

[gillep]

We really enjoyed it. I am not sure I can say love it. I loved parts of it. The dancing water from the floats was great. The dancers are really lost on their floats. Not sure there was much point in having them since they are pretty difficult to watch. And sadly, the water screens are lacking. They don't meet in the middle (or didn't when we went, not sure if that's the norm or not) so you loose lots of the details. But for the parts that did work well, the lotus floats and the water, I loved it.

ETA - We did a Tiffins DP. We got there about 30 min before the show and got very good seats. We were planning to eat at Tiffins anyway so in the end it ended up being cheaper than had we just dined there. And we had the best server. I love how Tiffins really plays up repeat customers. We got a custom note signed by all the staff

I agree with this completely. We did the Tiffins package on April 23rd and it made this completely worth it, as we felt like we were getting a really good deal on a meal that we were excited about anyway. This show is in no way comparable to WOC, but is nice, and a lot of the floats are different and interesting and look really beautiful coming out. I could have done without the scenes on the water screens, and added in more of the dancing water effect, but overall it was fun to watch. We arrived about an hour before show time because we had a already ridden all the rides and were way too full for any more food, plus DH is still recovering from a broken foot and we had seats in the 4th row right next to where the floats come out.

ROL certainly isn't a must do for us on every trip, but we would certainly book the ROL package anytime we could fit Tiffins into the rotation, as it was a good meal, and a good deal with the package.

 

[kristen821]

I did the dining package at tusker house. It was worth it if you are on the dining plan or planning a table service anyways. I don't think I would wait stand by for it. Fantasmic is so much better. I wasn't a huge fan of River of lights. The pictures in the water didn't come through too clear. I might have seen a poor performance, but I didn't think it was worth a long wait.