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

[TheRustyScupper]

In summary, I guess I need to lower the expectations I have for Disney going forward.

1) Yes.
2) Even the Orlando Sentinel, who gives WDW good reviews due to the ad revenue, gave a mediocre review.
3) The nighttime AK is a disappointment.
. . . the safari is not well enough lit to really see animals
. . . the Jungle Book show is almost amateurish
. . . the Tree Off Life animations were clever and well done, however
. . . the Carnival Dancers are the some ones and same performance from the daytime

 

[SureAsLiz]

My reviews of last night are pretty similar to others. I only went to see the Jungle Book since I went to the preview on Tuesday, and got to experience the rest of the nighttime stuff then.

Safari: I wasn't a fan. Maybe if the lights were blended better? The spotlights stood out to me too much and were really distracting. Plus the few fed sounds were annoying. We had a bunch of animals out at 9:30ish, but not all were active. Still a different view of the animals which was cool.

Shows: Carnivale was a lot of fun. Great music, dancers, and interactive. Lots of energy that's contagious even if you don't participate

Tree of Life Awakenings: Saw 2 on Tuesday, and saw one of those 2 last night. Still amazing. Probably my favorite new nighttime feature

Jungle Book AWM: The show wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be (not just by Disney, but from people close to the show as well). It started off slow, but then picked up and was entertaining from then on. I sat in FP for the 9pm show and Standby for the 10:30. I had a terrible seat at 9 - couldn't see the water screens at all, could barely see the singers in the center (why are the singers in the center facing an empty river?). The terrible seat was my fault, but I'm still surprised it was designed like that. I really enjoyed the choreography, and the dancers were great (borrowed from other shows around property), but the whole thing was missing a cohesion that other shows have. There was too much going on, almost like there were 4 shows happening at once, and it was impossible to take it all in. Overall, something I would watch again with a good seat to see the dancers on the front stages, but not something I would go out of my way to wait for.


I am going back again tonight with some friends to try Tiffins, and to experience the rest of the nighttime stuff more ~naturally. I'll see what others think about it all.

 

[amg35]

Thanks all you beta testers! Keep the complaints coming and let Disney know. They can work out the kinks and by the time I'm there in October 2017 things should be great!

 

[lovethattink]

I've watched parts of several videos, KTP's, Mousesteps, and the one posted above. I'm in the minority, I've enjoyed what I've seen. I'm going tonight to see it in person with my family. We have a FP+ for the safari after the show.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I saw the video... I am confused about what to do. I had very high expectations for this show and it seems to fall flat. I will likely be cancelling my Tusker dining package. I may go see it anyway but I though it would be more like the preview we saw a few weeks back before they postponed ROL. I think that is why people had high expectations as the preview seems cool.

This is where I am. We are paying OOP for the TH package and we are adding a day to our tickets when we get there (long story), so I can't make FP for the show ahead of time. I'm going to wait a few days and see what happens, I guess.

 

[RinRin]

So our trip is in early Sept. FP window opens in a little over a month- should I make Jungle Book a FP priority or you think by then standby would be ok? First day at AK will still Jungle Book show. Second day at AK not sure what nighttime will be like...

 

[rteetz]

I watched it a second time via the DIS's video of it. I think I liked it better the second time. One observation and something I've heard is the water screen in the back wasn't working at full power which created a gap in the middle. I think those projections would've worked better had the water screen worked fully.

 

[rteetz]

So our trip is in early Sept. FP window opens in a little over a month- should I make Jungle Book a FP priority or you think by then standby would be ok? First day at AK will still Jungle Book show. Second day at AK not sure what nighttime will be like...

It's possibly jungle book will be gone in September.

 

[Missyrose]

Okay, here's my quick take after watching the video...

If this were a show Disney put on in a theater like Beauty and the Beast at DHS --one where it showed five or six times a day and you could just wander in, get a seat and take a break from your park day -- it would seem to be an okay show.

The problem is Disney has elevated it into "night time spectacular" status, meaning people plan their day around it, buy preferred seating via a dining package for it, block themselves out from additional FP+ reservations to have a FP+ for it. And that is why it's disappointing.

The water screens are a disaster. Inside the Magic had a dead-on view and you couldn't see what was on the screen.

The upside is two of my favorite performers from Club Villain have solo songs.

But the bottom line for me is that the show is just okay. It's something I'd like to check out in person. But I'm not paying money for it, and I'm not sure I'd waste a FP+ reservation on it.

 

[CouchTater]

We had FPs for tonight's show but based on what I've seen and read it's just not worth the trip specifically for that so I think we'll cancel. I'll wait for the Rivers of Light show to get up and running.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I watched it a second time via the DIS's video of it. I think I liked it better the second time. One observation and something I've heard is the water screen in the back wasn't working at full power which created a gap in the middle. I think those projections would've worked better had the water screen worked fully.

They definitely need to fix that water screen then as it's one thing for a show not to be structured as you want - another thing for it to be an unerperforming Component

 

[rteetz]

They definitely need to fix that water screen then as it's one thing for a show not to be structured as you want - another thing for it to be an unerperforming Component

It technically was a soft open so hopefully it's fixed today.

 

[10CJ]

Jungle Book AWM: The show wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be (not just by Disney, but from people close to the show as well). It started off slow, but then picked up and was entertaining from then on. I sat in FP for the 9pm show and Standby for the 10:30. I had a terrible seat at 9 - couldn't see the water screens at all, could barely see the singers in the center (why are the singers in the center facing an empty river?). The terrible seat was my fault, but I'm still surprised it was designed like that. I really enjoyed the choreography, and the dancers were great (borrowed from other shows around property), but the whole thing was missing a cohesion that other shows have. There was too much going on, almost like there were 4 shows happening at once, and it was impossible to take it all in. Overall, something I would watch again with a good seat to see the dancers on the front stages, but not something I would go out of my way to wait for.


I am going back again tonight with some friends to try Tiffins, and to experience the rest of the nighttime stuff more ~naturally. I'll see what others think about it all.

Where do you recommend sitting? Where did you sit that view was bad? Thanks for the review.

 

[luvallprincesses]

Something to consider is that during the night, when it's dark your eyes open up more, that's why if you ride haunted mansion at night you can see more details so I'm not sure that safari that late at night is a bad idea you might end up seeing better because your eyes will be adjusted for the night. . . I would keep the fp as they are. You can go on Everest after safari using the standby line, last night during the show the standby was 15 minutes

Thank you for your advice. I trust it fully; last time I trusted it we had an amazing SWW! Will leave as is.

 

[luvallprincesses]

I've watched parts of several videos, KTP's, Mousesteps, and the one posted above. I'm in the minority, I've enjoyed what I've seen. I'm going tonight to see it in person with my family. We have a FP+ for the safari after the show.

Please do report back here about the Safari as far as level of light right after the show. We are doing that as well in 2 weeks and hope it's not completely dark after the 9 pm show plus the walk over and FP line wait.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Did you happen to notice if all of the wheelchair seating is at the top, like Fantamic? I will be there Wednesday with my mom who is in a wheelchair and we have fast passes.

There is disability seating on the first row.

 

[ITALIANNYC]

The way I see it, if you are watching the video on YouTube and now aren't even going to be surprised by anything, why even bothering going now?

Answered your own question on if you should go or not imo

 

[cvjpirate]

The way I see it, if you are watching the video on YouTube and now aren't even going to be surprised by anything, why even bothering going now?

Answered your own question on if you should go or not imo

This is why I will not watch the video. I don't want to see it that way for the 1st time. No matter how good the video is or isn't it can't show you everything that you will see, hear and feel in person. Now I enjoyed reading the reviews of people that were there. Now at 1st I was really really worried but the more I read the more I was like wait, I have no real expectations about how this show will be so will I truly know it isn't great? I will judge it when I see it June 12th for myself. It has a lot to live up to but not from my expectations of the show but more of is it worth it for me to spend that much time at AK. Normally I leave AK around 2-3 and do not return. So for this trip Disney will at lest get the one thing they want out of me, to spend more time and more money at AK. Now Disney will have to prove to me that it will be worth it to do it again and again. That will be the true test.

 

[jknc]

Kids gave the JB: Dead with No Magic Whatsoever a thumbs down.
Decided to drop the FP+ and hang around for 2 of the Tree Awakenings instead.

Good luck to all with future plans.

 

[joelkfla]

Did you happen to notice if all of the wheelchair seating is at the top, like Fantamic? I will be there Wednesday with my mom who is in a wheelchair and we have fast passes.

The main wheelchair seating is in the first row at the bottom; overflow is at the top. That's actually the way F! originally was, until they decided it was too much trouble to take the wheelchairs down to the front. The front wheelchair slots are still there at F!, but you have to specifically request them and wait for a cm to be available to lead you down the ramp, and then stay down there until a cm comes to get you at the end. I went down and up the ramp on an ECV myself a couple of times and the cm's got very bent out of shape. You are not allowed to leave before the end of the show.

But back to JB: you're probably better off sitting at the top. At the bottom, your view is blocked by the floating stages that are docked in front of the bleachers, and you may be looking sideways at the dancers. I sat in the 1st row, and didn't even know there were live singers. In fact, the video that's been posted looks much more interesting than the show I saw from the 1st row.