In addition to previously announcing opening dates of Pandora (I guess I’ll start call it that instead of Avatarland?) and Star Wars Land, Disney announced a few other upcoming openings / changes in advance of yesterday’s ticket price increase::
Rivers of Light
Disney has announced that Rivers of Light will officially open on February 17, 2017. If you’re down at Disney World this week, though, it’s already having showings as part of a soft open.
Most reviews of the show are generally positive, with some notes that there’s no “wow moment in the finale”. Here are the reviews from from WDW Magic, Mouse Steps and WDW News Today (which has some pictures and video).
There is also a highlight video from WDW Magic and some more photos from AllEars.net
Dining packages are also available for the show, and Josh at easyWDW has already expained how they might not be too bad of a value.
Flower and Garden Festival
My favorite of the festivals at Disney Festival Adventure (i.e., Epcot)–Flower & Garden– starts on March 1 this year and the Disney Parks Blog has posted all the menus for the “outdoor kitchens”. My general fear when reading these menus is that the items are going to be fairly “expensive” what you’re getting from Epcot booth food. I’ll wait and see what’s actually being offered, however, before making an final judgments.
‘Happily Ever After’ to replace ‘Wishes’ at the Magic Kingdom starting May 12
Ever since the Main Street Electrical Parade ventured out (along the Oregon Trail, I presume?) back to California, people have been wondering when Disney would announce the Magic Kingdom’s new nighttime parade. Interestingly (surprisingly?), Disney has announced a replacement for Wishes instead. Disney describes the new show, entilted Happily Ever After, as follows:
The show will feature the latest fireworks and pyrotechnics and original animation, plus a heart-tugging original score. And thanks to the inclusion of state-of-the-art projection mapping technology, more Disney characters than ever before will be featured in the show, including moments from “Moana,” “Brave,” “Big Hero 6,” “Zootopia,” “The Princess & The Frog,” “Aladdin” and many others.
Disney has announced May 12 as the official opening date for the new show, but if you really want to make sure that you see Wishes one more time before is relegated to the Youtube archives, you might want not want to wait until the last day / week before Happily Ever After debuts (just in case Disney gets too aggressive with “soft opens” of the new show.)
