More Permanent Closures. RoL, Stitch and Primeval Whirl

[gharter]

From an "internal memo", Disney just released the permanent closures of Stitches Great Escape, Primeval Whirl and Rivers of Light.
The first 2 didn't surprise me, didn't see the third coming.

From the memo:

“As you know, when Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park reopened to our Guests, several experiences, attractions and shows did not reopen with the park for a variety of reasons. While we look forward to adjusting our operation as we continue to learn and grow in our new environment, Primeval Whirl and Rivers of light: We Are One will not reopen.”

“Over at Magic Kingdom, Stitch’s Great Escape – which has not operated for some time – is permanently closed. Guests can currently see stitch at the Rockettower Plaza Stage throughout the day.

We do not have any creative updates to share for these areas at the moment.”

 

[tnolan]

I was just reading through the DIS stories on the site, and came across one that said Rivers of Light was being permanently closed! Anyone read anything anywhere else about this?

 

[mrsap]

https://blogmickey.com/2020/07/brea...-and-stitchs-great-escape-permanent-closures/
https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...pe-and-rivers-of-light-permanently-closed.htm

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Yeah, that kind of blindsided me. I wonder what AK will do for a nighttime show in the future?

 

[VandVsmama]

Interesting! Here's the wdwinfo article about it:
https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...l-whirl-rivers-of-light-stitchs-great-escape/
I'm not surprised about Primeval Whirl. On the DIS Unplugged podcasts over the last couple of years, they've mentioned that when Primeval Whirl goes down for extended periods of time, it's sometimes because the manufacturer of that attraction is no longer in business, so broken parts have to be rebuilt from scratch.

And re: Rivers of Light...has that really been anybody's favorite night time show? It makes sense for them to spend some time coming up with something new.

Hopefully they'll put something new in Stitch's place.

 

[gharter]

I wasn't surprised at Primeval Whirl and Stitch.
Didn't see Rivers of Light coming. While they spent a lot of money creating it, it didn't seem like it would be that expensive to run as no fireworks. Maybe a lot of maintenance? Not my favorite show, so won't really miss it.

 

[Heather07438]

Over the years RoL had many changes. The best show we saw was Spring 2018 when they had pre-show entertainers interacting with the crowd.

It was dialed down the following spring and we skipped it on our last chance in December.

 

[slpeters]

ROL was my husband's favorite of the nighttime spectacles. Dang! Oh well, I'm sure they'll do something and maybe it will be awesome.

 

[VandVsmama]

I think that the entire dinosaur carnival thing in AK needs to be scrapped and replaced with something different, so I'm not too sad that Primeval Whirl is disappearing.

 

[dachsie]

Wow! The year RoL was supposed to open on April 22 and it got delayed, I was headed in May and hoping to see it. There was a epic thread on here about it - we even had T-shirts made - Rumors of Light. I wore mine that May and a cast member cracked up laughing when he saw it. I can't remember how long after my trip it opened but I dont think it was the final product. I finally got to see it in 2018 when I went back to Disney. I enjoyed it. But that thread was hilarious. And the comments on the blog we made were keeping me in stitches. That was some fun times!

 

[YawningDodo]

I'm a little surprised about Rivers of Light, and glad now that I made a point of seeing it for the first time in January--I really enjoyed it. I'm not so surprised that it's not sticking around, but I'm a bit surprised that it's getting shuttered without a replacement. Makes me wonder if they're planning on going back to an AK without any nighttime show at all, though now they've got an amphitheater and it'll be weird if they don't use it for something. I don't know what people really expected from RoL; it's not like they can have fireworks in the middle of a zoo.

The only thing that surprises me about Stitch is that they've finally admitted it's gone...again without announcing a replacement. Which again makes me wonder if this means we can expect the space to just remain unused for the foreseeable future. Ditto Primeval Whirl; if they haven't announced what they're replacing it with this probably just means more of the same we've seen most of the time for the last few years: a dead roller coaster looming over DinoRama. It was running during After Hours in January and I rode it knowing it might be the last time I'd have the opportunity and...well, I'm always a little sad about any attraction going away, but dang that thing was painful to ride. I'm one of the few people who actually likes the carnival half of Dinoland U.S.A. so this makes me nervous for that land's future--no anchor ride now, and I can't imagine them investing a lot of money into it.

But yeah...no announced replacements plus oncoming recession equals dead spaces with no attractions/shows in them at all for the next few years, methinks.

 

[IluvMGM]

No big deal to me with any of those.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm bummed about this! I actually really liked Rivers of Light, although I know I'm in the minority on this. I also preferred the earlier version to the updated version, especially when they had the live human characters as part of the show.

I love the soundtrack and listen to it often. I liked how it was a nice ending to the day. Once, I even watched the show twice in one night.

I felt like it was a good fit for Animal Kingdom. Many people try to treat AK as a regular theme park and rush through from attraction to attraction, but the real magic in that park is when you slow down and observe. I felt like the original variant of ROL tried to capture some of that.

One interesting thing to note is that it wasn't considered a Nighttime Spectacular. It was coded as a Show on Disney's website and app, so it was never really meant to be on the same level as Happily Ever After or Illuminations.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Yeah, that kind of blindsided me. I wonder what AK will do for a nighttime show in the future?

My guess is DAK will not be open again after dark for a long long time.

 

[Groot]

Kinda expected the first two, surprised by the third though.

 

[kylenne]

I'm bummed about this! I actually really liked Rivers of Light, although I know I'm in the minority on this. I also preferred the earlier version to the updated version, especially when they had the live human characters as part of the show.

I love the soundtrack and listen to it often. I liked how it was a nice ending to the day. Once, I even watched the show twice in one night.

I felt like it was a good fit for Animal Kingdom. Many people try to treat AK as a regular theme park and rush through from attraction to attraction, but the real magic in that park is when you slow down and observe. I felt like the original variant of ROL tried to capture some of that.

One interesting thing to note is that it wasn't considered a Nighttime Spectacular. It was coded as a Show on Disney's website and app, so it was never really meant to be on the same level as Happily Ever After or Illuminations.

I agree with all this. My gf will be devastated because she loved it. I almost don’t have the heart to tell her.

 

[AquaDame]

Wow! The year RoL was supposed to open on April 22 and it got delayed, I was headed in May and hoping to see it. There was a epic thread on here about it - we even had T-shirts made - Rumors of Light. I wore mine that May and a cast member cracked up laughing when he saw it. I can't remember how long after my trip it opened but I dont think it was the final product. I finally got to see it in 2018 when I went back to Disney. I enjoyed it. But that thread was hilarious. And the comments on the blog we made were keeping me in stitches. That was some fun times!

I remember this thread fondly... and will never, ever forget Maggie. I hope she is well...


I never did get to see this. Its crazy... I was so pumped but it was delayed, and then became the Jungle Book version which we did see (and were not fans of). Then when we went back for food and wine the last couple years my husband just never made it... he was always too tired, or too full, and once we left the park I couldn't get him back. As they were anniversary trips I didn't want to ditch him. Guess I lost my chance...

 

[yulilin3]

I agree with all this. My gf will be devastated because she loved it. I almost don’t have the heart to tell her.

I liked rol as well, also original more than newer one.
I find it silly for people that say good riddance or about time or it won't affect me. All the people that went into the attraction and show will now be going to a more limited number of attractions so it will affect everyone in the park, i hate seeing empty venues

 

[Upatnoon]

These closures open up the opportunity for new, more exciting attractions down the road. I hope it isn't too far down the road.

 

[Pooh2]

Glad I got to see ROL last year.
The other two, I will not miss!