OFFICIAL New Animal Kingdom Experiences UPDATE 5/28: Reports from first night in Post #2

[DisneyWishes14]

Ok, what is wrong with nighttime safari?

You can barely see anything. The lights in the trees and on the ground are very obvious. They pipe fake animal sounds in. Our safari driver kept saying things like, "I know it's very hard to see" and "that sounds terrifying" when the fake animal sounds would start. The "sunset" screen is in one small part of the safari and looks unbelievably fake. It's so bright and isolated. Someone in our truck said "what the heck is that?" when we drove by it. Sunsets permeate the entire sky. This was literally a rectangle of ultra bright light behind some trees. It looked completely fake. I'm betting it gets the axe.

 

[rteetz]

Wow, just read back the reviews, it is not bad, what were people expecting?
The dancers were awesome, the story is great. Not sure what people wanted

I am watching a video of it now. The water screens are a bit hard to see but that just might be the video. The performers are great but its really just a dancing and song show. I think people's expectations were a bit more that it would be like RoL but a Jungle book version.

 

[yulilin3]

The characters were on the water screen, it wouldn't make sense to have the furry characters because they're not the same ones from the new movie

 

[aprincessatlast]

But it was put together in 5 weeks and it'll go away soon for rivers of light.

Define "soon"

Have not seen many reports of anyone saying that they are working on ROL or at least from a visible standpoint. Is it visible and I have missed those posts or vlogs or have they just decided to run this show all summer?

 

[rteetz]

You can barely see anything. The lights in the trees and on the ground are very obvious. They pipe fake animal sounds in. Our safari driver kept saying things like, "I know it's very hard to see" and "that sounds terrifying" when the fake animal sounds would start. The "sunset" screen is in one small part of the safari and looks unbelievably fake. It's so bright and isolated. Someone in our truck said "what the heck is that?" when we drove by it. Sunsets permeate the entire sky. This was literally a rectangle of ultra bright light behind some trees. It looked completely fake. I'm betting it gets the axe.

What do you expect though? Its nighttime unless they give everyone night vision goggles its going to be dark and animals aren't going to be as active. I am surprised that you saw the sunset is just a giant orange rectangle, many reviews of it say that effect worked. I don't think it gets the axe.

 

[provencio]

I Now do not feel so bad that I was unable to get a dining package for my evening at AK... I bet I will be able to book one tomorrow Disappointing! I am thinking Safari at 730....

 

[rteetz]

Define "soon"

Have not seen many reports of anyone saying that they are working on ROL or at least from a visible standpoint. Is it visible and I have missed those posts or vlogs or have they just decided to run this show all summer?

They are working on it at night when the park is closed.

 

[rteetz]

Observation!

The singer that sings I wanna be like you in the Jungle Book show was the same lead performer from Club Villain at DHS.

 

[rteetz]

I just don't understand what more they could do with a nighttime safari. I don't think they will go to night vision goggles either. Of course there is going to be weird lighting and of course animals aren't going to be as active and of course its going to be dark in some areas.

 

[rteetz]

For those who want to see it

 

[yulilin3]

I just got home and had time to think about tonight's experiences.
Safari: there's nothing else they can do. If they put more light it'll mess up the animals. Imagine at night with a bright spot light on you, not good. During my safari the animals were actually active they are just hard to see. It's the first time I've seen both lion and lioness roaming together on the front rock. 2 rhinos crossed in front of our truck, the painted dogs were on the move, it's just hard to see.
Tree of Life: again didn;t get to experience a lot of it but the quick awakenings were cool and the kiss goodbye was breathtaking
Jungle Book SHow: I guess I just love performers, I really liked it, maybe it's not for everyone. There's no way to compare it to anything else. For a show that was put together in 5 weeks I think they did a good job
Which brings me to this: people love to complain. At this point a lot of people are upset because RoL is still not working and that's what we should be seeing...some things are just out of Disney's control.
What did Disney do? they create a new show, based on a current (still playing in theaters) hit movie. It blends with Asia which is where the theater is located, it entertains you for 20 minutes...and then people complain because it doesn't have story or there are no characters...the same people would probably complain if Disney didn't do anything and left an empty theater until they can fix RoL.
I always say, if there's a space, use it. Did I love the Jack Sparrow experience at DHS? no. But I was happy there was something there for people to see
To all of you feeling let down and sad and disappointed because your upcoming trips don't look as magical because of reviews from tonight I say, continue with your plans, experience it for yourself, if you don't like it that's fine but don't let me or anyone else influence what you think of a show or an attraction until you experience it yourself.
And with that I'm going to bed, MegaCon early in the morning
Have a good night everyone

 

[daftkast]

Hi all

Here is my little report.

Just got back from animal kingdom and fortunately was able to bag a spot in the first ever public showing of the Jungle Book show.

They did 2 shows tonight as soft openings. The times were same as normal or advertised. 21:00 & 22:30.

We had to queue up and stand by line started by dinoland. They hold you there and lead several hundred of you into the auditorium. Whilst they do that cast members stop the flow of traffic on the walk ways to let the standby line cross over. Was a little surprised by this. But it works and no doubt over time they will perfect it. We actually got lead around 300 of us from dinoland to Asia opposit everest. as they wanted to fill up the other side of the auditorium.

It's a half hour show. And contains lots of Indian dancing and fantasmic style water projection. I have to admit a lot different to how I imagined it. My wife really liked it. But I am not so sure. Really really pleased to say I have seen it though.

On reading the small amount of reviews. I have to admit I do agree with the majority. The filling time thing is definately evident. The dancers were very good. But hate to say it. I will not rush back. I'm from the UK and like to see the evening shows at least twice on a visit. But this I will not bother going back to see. Harsh. But was a nothing show. Really thought there was going to be puppet animals etc. But didn't really get it at all.

The night safari was really good. Never been so close to the animals. A rhino and giraffe. Were literally 2meters from the vehicle. Some of the animals were difficult to spot. It really is dark! And we may have been lucky with the proximity of the animals. But they did seem more active in the dark. The sunset thing I finally twigged. What it was. It was in the Savannah. But looks ridiculous. For a few minutes. I thought it was a bar or restaurant that had bright lighting. The piped noises were terrible. I did actually hear real flamingos though!

Everest in the dark was brilliant also. For those wondering this did run all night some people on other forums. Thought it would not run whilst the show was on. But it did go on until 11pm.

Kali river was Also running all night. At first I didn't think it would. As most of the cast members helping with the crowds for the show had Kali outfits on.

The tree of life show. Looks great. But sadly only got the last 2 mins of the final show. It seems to loop every few mins. From when it gets dark. Apparently there are 4 different versions of the show.

But was a great evening and will definitely recommend animal kingdom in the evening. But not necessarily the show.

Despite it being the first ever late evening was quite surprised at how quiet it was. It wasn't dead by anymeans. But thought there would have been a lot more people there than there was. Everest standby was between 20-30mins. Safari when we did it at 10pm was around 65mins. When we arrived around 18:45 a lot more were leaving than arriving.

Hope this may be useful

Rich

 

[TheWorld101]

Is there any projection on a water screen?

 

[joelkfla]

I just don't understand what more they could do with a nighttime safari. I don't think they will go to night vision goggles either. Of course there is going to be weird lighting and of course animals aren't going to be as active and of course its going to be dark in some areas.

I was so bummed after watching JB that I didn't stick around for a nighttime safari, but ...

In the first incarnation of nighttime safaris, which ran about 10 years ago over the Christmas holiday, they mounted moderately bright lights on the side of the trucks and had a 2nd cm riding shotgun and controlling a roof-mounted floodlight to spot animals. It actually worked pretty well in the areas where the animals were out. But in areas with no nighttime animals, they resorted to silly stuff like a bunch of cm's shouting and dancing around a campfire in the distance in a "tribal wedding celebration."

JB seemed even worse because I had just come from an amazing performance of FotLK - possibly the best performance I've seen of it. Kiume was perfect and dramatic in his lines, Simba was dancing to the music and really reacting to the show elements, the fire dancer was one of the best I've seen, and all the dancers and stilt-walkers were enthusiastic and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

At JB, I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did. I don't want to fault the dancers, but the choreography didn't seem very interesting. The mist screens weren't real mist screens, they were water shot into the air, and I couldn't tell what was being projected onto them most of the time. I must confess, I haven't seen either version of the movie, so the story was lost on me.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Wow, not so good reviews on the show tonight. From the video it was hard to see the water screens, maybe they were better in person. I think the dancing is good, but maybe should have something more incorporated into that? With such a short put together time, they did ok.

 

[Mom of Jack 2009]

I'm wondering why they can't do night vision goggles. If they want to extend hours and the safari doesn't allow enough opportunities to see the animals why not add that?

 

[daftkast]

In the first incarnation of nighttime safaris, which ran about 10 years ago over the Christmas holiday, they mounted moderately bright lights on the side of the trucks and had a 2nd cm riding shotgun and controlling a roof-mounted floodlight to spot animals. It actually worked pretty well in the areas where the animals were out. But in areas with no nighttime animals, they resorted to silly stuff like a bunch of cm's shouting and dancing around a campfire in the distance in a "tribal wedding celebration."

I actually thought this whilst riding the night safari. The driver stopped several times and thought if she had a swivel mounted floodlight she could illuminate the animals! The second CM in hind sight would be a better option!!!

But was good the sunset was silly thought. And it s very dark. I attempted to video camera some of the safari but was so dark gave up as couldn't see anything on camera.

I have to admit though the night safari was a highlight for me tonight. But we're lucky with several animals. The sunset and piped animals noises should be left off though.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

I guess I'm confused about the sunset thing, where is it on the safari? If it's at the beginning, that might make sense, but the fact that it's already dark when you get on the truck why would there be a sunset?

 

[lpizzuro123]

We were at the second show tonight and sitting nearest to the middle video water projection. We felt the water did not always connect in the middle so felt we were missing the center of the video.

 

[daftkast]

I guess I'm confused about the sunset thing, where is it on the safari? If it's at the beginning, that might make sense, but the fact that it's already dark when you get on the truck why would there be a sunset?

As you come on to the Savannah. By the first bayou Bob tree (not sure how to spell it) you see a huge amount of light coming from the trees. It looks really out if place. As its so dark for 5-10 mins. Then this. For a few minutes it took me awhile to work it out. I thought it was another part of the park I wouldn't have noticed in the day. But then realised it was a huge. Huge. Lcd screen mimicking a sunset but doesn't work. It only sort if works when your nearest it one side and then you look out from the other side. But the fact you can just see yellow light for several minutes leading up to this bit. Just ruins the illusion they have tried to create. Would have been better with subtle lighting.