Making Memories: The Night Comes Alive at Animal Kingdom

on August 31, 2021

Each week through the Walt Disney World 50th anniversary, we will be taking a look back at various parades, entertainment, and nighttime spectaculars throughout the history of the resort. Walt Disney World has seen so many different things come and go throughout its 50 year history. So, let’s take a look back at what people remember dearly or forgot quickly.

Animal Kingdom was long looked at as a park that was or still is a half day park and a place that couldn’t have a nighttime spectacular like the other parks do. As the newest Walt Disney World park evolved, guests were not staying as long as Disney wanted them in this park. The park also lacked actual rides for guests too. A major expansion was announced in 2011 for the park based on the James Cameron film, Avatar. This all new expansion, Pandora: The World of Avatar, opened in May of 2017 and has been a major hit since. That is not all though. As part of this expansion, other updates throughout the park were added.

The Animal Kingdom icon, the Tree of Life received projections that would be shown ever night. Tree of Life Awakenings features animals carved on the tree coming to life. This is not a set show but rather can be seen several times throughout the night. Pandora even had its own nighttime effects with the glowing bioluminescence on plants and the floating mountains above. To even further keeping guests at the park Disney announced a brand new nighttime spectacular to debut in 2016 called Rivers of Light! The show would be performed in a newly built theater that sat 5,000 guests at a time between Asia and Dinoland U.S.A.

Rivers of Light was set to debut on Earth Day 2016 however was met with delays and pushed to February 2017 when it finally made its debut. Due to the delay Disney threw together a limited engagement called “The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic,” which to some is regarding as one of the worst shows Disney has done. The show featured live singers and was based around the 2016 live-action version of “The Jungle Book.”

Rivers of Light was all about the values of nature, people, and the planet, brining people together as one. The finale song We Are One showcased that. The show utilized remote controlled barges and live performers on highly detailed boats. The show struggled greatly from the beginning and the live performers were cut in 2018. Come 2019, Disney added a new version of the show called “Rivers of Light: We Are One,” which added Disney characters and Disneynature films to the water screens. The show continued to struggle and after the parks closed due to the global pandemic in 2020, it was announced Rivers of Light was gone for good.

Rivers of Light was not the first time Disney considered some sort of nighttime entertainment at Animal Kingdom. As early as the 2000s, Disney was looking at the idea of a nighttime parade at the park and even using the same name. Animal Kingdom would’ve had to rework pathways and viewing areas for the parade so it was something that never came to fruition.

Rivers of Light struggled with having the wow moment that fireworks shows do. At the end, the show utilized some fire effects on the large lotus float. The show overall included four intricate animal floats, four small lotus floats, a large lotus float, and two highly details boats that the live performers would be. Visually, Rivers of Light had a lot going for it and based on concept art and what was announced it was set to have more. Due to technical issues and money constraints some of the was never seen.

The Discovery River Theater remains to this day and will be used soon for a daytime show! The all new Disney KiteTails will bring the river to life during the day with kites of all kinds including 30 feet long ones pulled by jet skis. Will Disney bring something back at night here? That is yet to be seen. What did you think of Rivers of Light?

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