A new show at the Disney Adventure World theme park in Paris has made good on a promise originally made a decade ago as Disney prepared to debut the Rivers of Light show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The new Disney Cascade of Lights features the debut of “aquatic drones” to expand the canvas of the nighttime spectacular to the waters of Adventure Bay.
Aquatic Drones Debut in Disney Cascade of Lights
The new Cascade of Lights nighttime spectacular at Disney Adventure World officially debuts on March 29th, but the show has been presented during early previews. One of the show elements highlighted by Walt Disney Imagineering is the new “aquatic drones”. The aquatic drones move along the surface of the water during the show, adding lighting and pyrotechnics throughout the show.
Pushing the boundaries of innovation, the production features the world’s first integration of an aquatic drone system along with next-generation aerial drones, creating breathtaking choreography that unfold simultaneously across the sky and the water.
The new aquatic drones sound very similar to what was planned for the Rivers of Light show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom a decade ago. As described by Disney, there were “magical floating lanterns” planned for the show, and featured in a couple of pieces of concept art, including the artwork seen below.
Ultimately, the magical floating lanterns didn’t make it into the final version of the show. Here’s the description from Disney, emphasis added:
Taking place on Discovery River, the show employs state-of-the-art projection effects, water screens, magical floating lanterns, live performance, music and shadow puppetry. It begins with two pairs of mystical hosts making their way to the river offering the gift of light.
Lotus lanterns open to transform into beautiful fountains. Four huge, amazing animal figures—an owl, tiger, turtle and elephant—appear and morph as their animal spirits awaken and come to life on the water screens. The hosts, the embodiment of fire and water, return and the dramatic finish includes the animals flying out and literally painting the aurora all around you in an almost dreamlike panorama.
While the “magical floating lanterns” in the text could refer to the large lotus flowers, smaller floating lanterns absolutely were in multiple pieces of concept art, including the updated artwork seen below.
All-new entertainment experiences, including a new nighttime spectacular, are among the exciting projects coming in the years ahead as Disney’s Animal Kingdom begins the largest expansion in park history. ‘Rivers of Light’ promises to be an innovative show unlike anything ever seen in Disney Parks, combining live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery. The show will magically come to life on the broad, natural stage of the Discovery River, between Discovery Island and Expedition Everest.
Speaking of the Rivers of Light, we can’t help but wonder what Disney has planned for the Discovery River amphitheater in the coming years. Following the unceremonious end of the latest version of Rivers of Light in 2020, Disney tried a daytime show called Disney KiteTails. KiteTails ran from October 2021 until September 2022.
Now, as Imagineers work hard to transform DinoLand USA into a Tropical Americas-themed land, we have to wonder if something is planned for the Discovery River Amphitheater. When Pandora – The World of Avatar opened, attendance at Disney’s Animal Kingdom surged, and Rivers of Light offered even more reason for guests to make Animal Kingdom a full-day park.
With an all-new Encanto attraction and an all-new Indiana Jones adventure coming to the park, we hope that Disney has something planned for nighttime entertainment just steps away from the Tropical Americas land.
For everything you need to know about the Tropical Americas retheme project for DinoLand USA, check out our article below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
A person who says they worked at AK entertainment said that the waterways were wide enough to safely have drones away from guest areas. And that it was the reason why we’ve never had any type of drone show at AK. I pushed back, suggesting that if DLP can have drones around/above a castle with guest areas surrounding then why couldnt the AK amphitheater. Can anyone confirm why we never got this?
They claimed the waterways were *NOT wide enough