Disney Gives Start Date for Rivers of Light and Details other Summer Entertainment

by John Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, The Studios

In a kind of diabolical move, Disney made a few announcements regarding its upcoming summer entertainment while most Disney writers are over at Epcot covering the start of the Flower & Garden festival.

The biggest announcement is that the new Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom will debut on April 22, 2016. (There was no mention of how many shows per night they’ll be doing, however.) Elyssa and I were recently discussing whether or not Rivers of Light would open in April, and it looks like Disney is going to get it in just under the gun. Disney provided a preview video of the show, but I find that shows involving water projection (e.g., Fantasmic!) don’t really translate to video. At this point, the best “hype” for Rivers of Light comes from the concept art that has been around for a while.

For those who want more information about Rivers of Light, Disney is going to do a live chat on Tuesday, March 8 at 1:15pm, which will include answering questions left in the comments section of this page on the Disney Parks Blog. If you want to get your question answered, I’d suggest getting it in early (and maybe asking it again during the actual March 8 call.)

The press release for the summer entertainment includes a bunch of things that we have already heard off, including:

Nighttime safaris at the Animal Kingdom;
The opening of the “Frozenstrom” BOATRIDE at Epcot (not the real name, obviously); and
A bunch of new Star Wars-themed entertainment coming to the Studios.

Unfortunately, the only things that have a definitive start date listed are the above mentioned Rivers of Light show and the “Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away” stage show (which will debut on April 4 at The Studios.) It will be interesting to see when some of the other offerings mentioned in the press release roll out. Similarly, rumors are that the Zootopia character will be joining the Move it! Shake It! Dance It! & Play It! Parade, but no date has been announced for that, either.

(Also, let’s just pretend that the summer entertainment press release didn’t include a section on the Skipper Canteen (which opened before Christmas last year.))

Will we soon get to take this pictures with Lt. Judy Hopps?

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Dining, Disney Springs, DVC, Epcot, Events, Magic Kingdom, Shopping, Walt Disney World

Here are Rope Drop [dot] Net HQ we’re still recovering from the price increase that happened this weekend. Of course, even 8-10% ticket price increases can’t stop us from publishing the next edition of the News Nuggets!

All-New ‘Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire’ Stage Show Coming This Summer to the Magic Kingdom – Putting Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, Flynn and Tiana in a show in front of the castle seems like a no-brainer. I wonder if this is the start of a trend that will see more and more entertainment being updated (Illuminations, anyone?)
Frozen Ever After and Royal Sommerhus now to open in Summer – This, obviously, could just be a typo, but would anyone be surprised if it took a few more months to get this ready to open?
Symphony in the Stars Fireworks to Continue through at least April. – This leads into the next nugget, which happens in April:
New Star Wars Entertainment coming to The Studios this Summer – With the new “Star Wars Stage Show”, the march of Captain Phasma, and the new “Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular” firework show, it sounds like this Disney is going “all in” with Star Wars at The Studios this summer.
Disney Moves Magic Kingdom’s May 24th Morning Extra Magic Hour to May 27th – I link to this not because of the actual content of the news, but for Josh’s analysis as to what it could mean for 24-hour day. Even though Elyssa and I wouldn’t be able to make 24-hour day this year, I’ll be bummed if we’ve seen the last one.
New Concept Art Released for Star Wars Land – The special itself was a little bit of a letdown, but the “concept art” sure looks pretty. (Are we still thinking 2018 before this is done? 2020?)
WDW News Today explains how It thinks the “eternal sunset” will occur in Kilimanjaro Safaris. – A nice little rumor / insight from WDW News Today about how Disney might be planning to achieve its “eternal sunset” effect.
Kylon Ren joins Jedi Training at The Studios – I’m surprised with how quickly they’ve integrated Kylo Ren into the various Star Wars attractions at The Studios. I’m probably equally surprised that they haven’t done something to allow photos with BB-8, yet.
Toy Story Midway Mania Closed March 15 to Prepare for Third Track. – The third track is rumored to open in summer 2016. It should help a lot with the capacity issues for this attraction. Also, re-book you Fastpass+ for March 15 so you can do what you want instead of the backup Disney gives you (I might just plan to go to another park that day).

Phew. That was a lot of News Nuggets. Let’s take a quick break to relax in the early morning glow of World Showcase:

Early Morning at World Showcase

Now, back to the News Nuggets!

DFB Rumor about Star Wars Ice Cream coming to the Boardwalk – The DFB has to connect a lot of dots to get there, but it’s a nice little rumor. Of course, nothing is stopping Disney from just branding any ice cream as “Kylo Ren Tracks” on its own.
Rumors of Rivers of Light Dining Packages Possibly Coming to Tusker House – Some more rumor scooping by DFB. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this happened.
A light test of Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom? – Speaking of Rivers of Light, this picture seems to be a test of the lighting effects they will be using during Rivers of Light at the Animal Kingdom. I wonder how close they are to really having that show ready.
The Land of Avatar Rises at the Animal Kingdom. – Da Mouse is always great with these types of photo essays. If you’re interested in the Avatarland..err..”Pandora” construction, then you should give this a look.
A few menu items for Tiffins at Animal Kingdom Revealed. – The pork ribs sound pretty amazing.
Disney Springs Water Taxi hours to be reduced – This seems consistent with rumors of budget cutbacks at Disney World, but it’s tough for me to get too upset about the water taxis not running after midnight.
No more Turkey Legs at the Animal Kingdom – Elyssa and I aren’t big turkey leg people, so this doesn’t really impact us too much. That said, it’s always a little weird when something iconic is removed from one of the parks.
All-New Character Meet featuring Olaf and Mickey & Minnie Coming Soon to The Studios. – Putting Olaf in The Studios while Anna & Elsa are in Epcot is pretty brutal for families that want to make sure they get to all the Frozen meet-and-greets. I imagine the line for Olaf is going to be quite long for some time.
The next Phase of the Disney Springs Expansion Announced. – Wow. This is a ton of stuff. I definitely am looking forward to trying out the burger place, and I am hoping Fulton’s really steps up its game. I understand people are “upset” that stores “they have in their local mall” are showing up at Disney Springs, but it doesn’t really bother me.
Two big new features coming soon to MyMagic+ – I hope WDW Magic is right on this one. Being able to make the 4th (5th, 6th, etc…) Fastpass+ reservation from my phone instead of at a kiosk would be a really nice change.
All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Dining Coming to The Diamond Horseshoe in Magic Kingdom Park – All-you-care-to-enjoy BBQ with a nice apple dessert sounds like it might be okay.
Same Day Reservations at the Skipper Canteen Extended. – Personally, I’m glad that Skipper Canteen exists and allows me to get a reservation in the Magic Kingdom almost any day. That said, I have to wonder how long it will be before it starts using a more traditional ADR system.
Orlando bids for 2017 & 2018 Wrestlemanias. – Okay, this isn’t really Disney news, but I am about 99% sure I’d go to Wrestlemania weekend if it took place in Orlando.
Dates Announced for 2016 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival – Much like Flower & Garden, this year’s Food & Wine festival is going to be longer than before, running from September 14 through November 24. That’s a start about 2 weeks earlier than normal.

We’ll finish things up with a couple of “events” from Disney World. First, they recently had a DVC 25th Anniversary “party” at the Magic Kingdom. It featured, among other things, a rare appearance by the Haunted Mansion’s tightrope girl and a special fireworks show. Here are the videos of that show from DVC News, Inside the Magic, and The DIS:

Also, Flower & Garden festival starts tomorrow. There’s a nice primer to the festival at TouringPlans and Denise at Mouse Steps has put together a really nice preview. If you’re still looking to get more hyped for the festival, I’ll leave you with this video from The DIS:

Thanks for reading!