A couple of days ago, we discussed the news from the end of March. We will keep that excitement going with new attractions, experiences, and meet-and-greets coming to the Walt Disney World parks in April and May. There are four big ones coming down the pike.These new experiences will be coming to EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. Each park will be getting two new experiences to enhance what is already in the parks. Let’s head into Animal Kingdom and explore those new experiences.
Rivers of Light
The official opening for Rivers of Light will be April 22, 2016 to coincide with Earth Day. There are rumors that soft openings will be sometime around April 6 to prepare for the grand opening on the 22nd. The Rivers of Lights can be seen from the 5,000-seat theater as well various locations through Animal Kingdom.
This show merges live performances, floating lanterns, animal imagery and water screens to create a spectacular show which can be used as the ultimate way to end your day at Animal Kingdom. The best way to describe this show is to take the live stage performances from Fantasmic and merge them with the water imagery from Disneyland’s World of Color to create Rivers of Light.
Kilimanjaro Sunset Safaris
For those guests not interested in seeing Rivers of Lights but want something just as visually stimulating, head over to the Kilimanjaro Safaris and experience the new Kilimanjaro Sunset Safari experience. Two species have added to the attraction; African wild dogs and hyenas both of which are active at night.
This new experience could prove to make one of Animal Kingdom’s most popular attractions even more popular. Some animals are more active, at night, so guests do not get to experience them when they go on the safari during the day. Guests will be able photos of new animals as well as get some breathtaking photographs of the sun setting over the safari. A must-do experience in my book.
Heading over to EPCOT, the first experience for the guests will be at the EPCOT Character Spot where guests will get to meet Joy and Sadness from the movie Inside Out. Guests will interact with Joy and Sadness at the console after journeying through Riley’s long-term memory.
This will being the first meet-and-greet for characters from the Academy Award winning movie. Guests have been dying to meet characters from this highly popular movie and starting in April, they will finally get their wish.
Personally, I think this is a great use for the EPCOT Character Spot. There are plenty of opportunities to meet to the Big Five characters throughout the Walt Disney World theme parks. Joy and Sadness will be joining Baymax from Big Hero 6. I hope that Disney continues to use the EPCOT Character Spot for highly popular characters from more recently released Disney films.
In May, Turtle Talk with Crush will be getting a new friend. Dory and other characters from Finding Dory will be joining Crush as they swim up to the “human tank” to interact with guests. This is will give this experience a fresh take as Dory, who is a natural blue, will get to interact with guests. Will she be able to remember the names of guests who ask her questions? Will she be able to remember Crush’s name? What new characters will also be joining in the fun? Lots of questions to be answered when this new experience debuts in May.
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