Well, I’ll be the first to admit we were wrong (maybe I should claim April Fool’s joke on it), but it seems Disney admitted it first…
With the expansion of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we’re excited to give Guests even more opportunities to celebrate the magic of animals and nature as day turns into night. While we’d hoped to debut these offerings on April 22, unfortunately, they will not open as planned on that date as we give the team more time to bring these innovative experiences to life in a way we know will exceed our guests’ expectations.
We’ll share more information about timing by mid- to late May.
So, in short, Disney will not even share a start date until mid-to-late-May. Basically, the show is WAY behind schedule.
To tide you over until the new nighttime offerings are actually running, Disney did share this video of the Tree of Life testing out its new nighttime lighting effects:
This going to be a spectacular show, but Disney get your act together! Disney fails to deliver on anything they say is going to happen. We’ll be lucky if this opened by the summer. That is why Universal is starting to gain more attendance, they deliver when they say they are.
Universal always delivers. Period.
It’s not a contest and the show looks like it will be amazing. I’d rather they delay it than debut with half a show!
Disney continues to lag behind Universal in terms of getting a stellar product to market. Universal gets just as good, if not better, a product to market in half to a third of what it takes Disney. Universal took less than a year to get their second Harry Potter land to market and it is nothing short of spectacular. We are two years in and still seeing metal for Avatar, and still two years from opening.
Now ik you’re trolling because Avatar is opening next year and will be amazing, get ur head out of Universal’s butt. Disney has parks all over the world
We spoke with some of the animal caretaker Cast Members who said they are seeing some potential impact to the animals. Disney is very likely continuing to make sure the animals will not be impacted.
Also, maybe Universal should take longer since their ultimate execution isn’t great. I mean Harry Potter World is cool, but it is tight and confining even when the Park is no where near capacity. The locker areas and shops are impossible to navigate. Their magic wand activities are disruptive and impede movement.
I could go on, but a delay does not mean Disney has messed up.
Just got back late last night from our most recent trip to WDW and we spoke with one of the parks Managers who was out walking around checking in on guests (which I love that Disney still does this). In Speaking with her she was extremely excited about the Night Time Offerings, spoke to us about the Screens that will be used to create the eternal sunset and the thing she was most excited about was the Tree of Life Awakening, she said it will be the crown jewel of the park and has been extremely down played.
Anyway she was very open until I made a comment about being excited to see the show when we come back the first week of May, now reading this I can see why her demeanor changed. I think she must have known it was going to be delayed but wasn’t at liberty to say.
Tree of Life Awakening so is this the name of the tree of life projection show?
I rearranged my whole vacation to accommodate 4-22-16 at Animal K. I switched and cancelled hard to get reservations for nothing. I would never expect this from WDW that is just not acceptable. I wish I could cancel my trip but the kids are already dreaming about getting there. plus my tickets are non refundable .this just sucks
I feel for you Leo, I hope they have some extra special touches to make up for those who have made arrangements to be there just for the initial show opening and late evenings in the park. Disney used to be very good about that.