River of Light worth it?

The dining packages allow for breakfast as an option.
We did a Tusker House breakfast ROL package and felt it well worth it.

My family loves the show. It's very Zen-like and a good fit for the vibe of AK. Pyrotechnics would not be a good fit, IMO. I agree that you should see it at least once to decide for yourself.

BTW, we love HEA and Illuminations. We like the Star Wars fireworks but love to do the dessert party with it, which we will be doing again in May. I am not a fan of F!.
 
One and done for me. It was nice enough. But it just isn’t something I need to see twice. I really did think I had to see it. I’m glad I did. It wasn’t a waste of time, but seeing it again would be.
 
Personally, I thought it was boring. If you have time, great, go ahead and see it! If not, don't stress about it and make sure you get your priorities done.
 
Wow! As a new Disser out of lurkdom I feel pretty special that a thread I started reached a second page!!!

I appreciate each and everyone of your comments! I do not know how to do multi replies yet, so please accept this heartfelt thanks!

I'm of two minds here, I might look into the Tusker House RoL package breakfast, as breakfast buffets are my favourite and usually cheaper OOP. Also, I do like the idea of trying to get a fast pass later in the day, or doing standby. It doesn't sound like you need to get ther too early, and then that way, if we have cranky kids we can easily skip out. But it does seem that the majority suggest seeing it, at least once anyways.

Ps. We go to Disney every 4-5 years. So I know we'll be back, but not for some time.
 


Agree that not every show needs fireworks, but fireworks and other pyro can help add moments of excitement to an otherwise boring show.
That's probably true, but anything with a noise level past a certain point was not an option for the show. At AK in particular due to the animals, there is also the environmental issue. The accumulation of debris on the natural landscape from the nightly fireworks show would be a concern. You can't easily hose it off like you can at the other parks.

In general Disney has been moving away from fireworks. It's more expensive, somewhat labor intensive and comes with the obvious safety concerns for CMs who have to handle them. I expect less of it in the future.
I can't think of any other Disney night time show that doesn't have some sort of pyro. Can you?
Zero pyro, you're correct, however Fantasmic has minimal pyro and SWaGS has so little high altitude fire works that if it was omitted completely, most people wouldn't miss it if they hadn't already seen the show.
And it makes it challenging to stir up the emotions you typically get from pyro.
For me, and especially because I see all the shows so frequently, I want to be entertained. Stirring up my emotions is secondary. RoL's slower pace, visuals and sounds does entertain while fitting in with the AK theme, but it is a departure from the other shows.

Love it or hate it, it's here to stay for a long time, but small adjustments will continue to be made in order to make it a better overall experience.
 
I've read lots of reviews if RoL and am having a hard time determining if this show is worth it for my family.

Some information: we will be traveling with myself 34, DH35, DM61, DS4 and DS10 months. On our previous trip 1st DS was 15 months and night shows were difficult. We will absolutely doing HEA, F!, Illuminations and SW fireworks. I don't want to use one of our 3 initial FP+ on RoL as I hope to get 4,5, and maybe more throughout the day. We may or may not take nap breaks. Previously I found it hard to leave park and make it back in a timely manner.

So what do you think? RoL, skip it or must do? I know this is subjective, but I'd love opinions! If we do it would you suggest a dinner package? Try for same day FP+? Line up early? How early?

Thanks Dissers!
We had a dining package via our breakfast at Tusker House and really enjoyed River of Lights.
 
I know folks often recommend watching ROL on YouTube, but in my experience it really doesn't translate at all. I very much enjoyed ROL on our last trip, but every time I've seen it on YouTube since then I find myself saying, "That's not what it was like at all!"

So I'm glad I didn't watch it on YouTube before our trip. It's probably be different for others, but for me, I think it would have had me walking into the show already prepared to be disappointed. And I know, for me, that can sometimes be a self fulfilling prophecy.

I'm glad I went in with an open mind, because I thought the show was beautiful.
 


I know folks often recommend watching ROL on YouTube, but in my experience it really doesn't translate at all. I very much enjoyed ROL on our last trip, but every time I've seen it on YouTube since then I find myself saying, "That's not what it was like at all!"

So I'm glad I didn't watch it on YouTube before our trip. It's probably be different for others, but for me, I think it would have had me walking into the show already prepared to be disappointed. And I know, for me, that can sometimes be a self fulfilling prophecy.

I'm glad I went in with an open mind, because I thought the show was beautiful.

I'm with you! I purposely avoid spoilers. I love reading trip reports, but any report that has photos of RoL or Pandora (which I haven't seen yet) I scroll through very quickly! I've read enough to know some basic tips, but I really do prefer to see things for myself vs. viewing them on YouTube before hand.
 
We saw it last December, it was OK. I was a little disappointed that all the "floats" weren't working correctly. Overall we were underwhelmed, we wished we had spent the time in Pandora actually.
 
I have done it twice, once this year and once last year. We enjoyed it both times. We went during presidents week, there were no late day fast passes available for it this year. Surprisingly there were last year, or we didn't use all our FP that day and used it on this.

We enjoyed it more than the Epcot show and we had great seats for Illuminations as we had a dinner reservation at Rose and Crown.

Its not fireworks, its a very zen like vibe. I could see it being lackluster depending on your mood and expectations if you're looking for bangs and fireworks so to speak.

We sort of saw the Magic Kingdom show, we were in front of the beast castle and heard the music, and saw the fireworks both in front and behind us. That was pretty cool even if we didn't see it the right way. Never have seen star wars. I want to, but my wife is anti hollywood studios and we're normally done by the middle of the afternoon.
 
I personally loved ROL. I thought it was beautiful. :)

I had a FP+....but I still had to wait in a long line to get in. So I honestly dont think its worth getting FP+ since I had to wait in a huuuuge line anyway. And this was roughly 30min (maybe 45min) before the show!
 
Zero pyro, you're correct, however Fantasmic has minimal pyro and SWaGS has so little high altitude fire works that if it was omitted completely, most people wouldn't miss it if they hadn't already seen the show.

Thanks for the research project. I thought I knew many of the abbreviations, but you got me on that one, I had to look. ;)

SWaGS was one of the few things we missed. I'll have to check it out on YouTube! or during our next visit to WDW.

We'll see about the general trend of pyro in shows. AK is a unique place that has unique limitations. Perhaps a better indicator will be when it comes time to re-work Illuminations!? I doubt we'll see the removal of fireworks from MK (and other Disneyland-like) parks during our lifetime. The iconic display of fireworks behind a castle is too ingrained in the culture to see them take it away.

As a DLR AP, I was surprised that WDW hasn't gone to the pneumatically launched pyro. It is more environmentally friendly, it allows for more accurate shell placement and lack of smoke from the rocket motor keeps the "sky palate" cleaner for the fireworks. I wonder if there is some other limitation at WDW that prevents them from using it out there?
 
World of Color didn't always have pyro and has been loved since it debuted.

I am well aware of the technical issues the show faced....

I was pretty liberal with my use of "pyro", I didn't mean just fireworks. Check out the video of the WoC debut. If you don't want to check out the entire show, queue it up to ~20min into the recording. Lots of propane.

I wasn't trying to be condescending about the technical issues. There are folks with a variety of Disney experience and knowledge (heck, I've been going to DLR for 20 years, just got back from WDW and SWaGS was new to me). I thought some folks with less experience that you may appreciate the read.
 
Just did it for first time and glad I did. It not my favorite of night shows but if you have time and not giving up something else you really want to do, go watch it. (Especially since the tree awakenings and pandora at night are also worth seeing).
 
Our party was split. My DD24 and I loved it, thought it was beautiful and relaxing ( but very short) DS 10 and DS19( and GF) was bored. Seating was nice and there was plenty of stand by seating for the 2nd show. I may not do it again ( we are morning people) but I’m glad we saw it. Definitely better than illuminations IMO
 
Our party was split. My DD24 and I loved it, thought it was beautiful and relaxing ( but very short) DS 10 and DS19( and GF) was bored. Seating was nice and there was plenty of stand by seating for the 2nd show. I may not do it again ( we are morning people) but I’m glad we saw it. Definitely better than illuminations IMO

I love Illuminations! Maybe I'll love this one too!
 
As previously stated, you can watch HD videos of any of the shows on Youtube, check it out and if it's something you think your family will enjoy, then add it to your list. We are giving it a pass after I had DH and DD watch online and neither said they were interested (i think they would rather be on rides) This is also how I get my dd prepared for rides, have her watch them ahead of time so she can see they aren't scary.
 

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