The Festival of the Lion King is a high energy interpretation of the mega-hit movie called, oddly enough, “The Lion King.” As a member of the audience you even get to participate. Join a team and sing along.
Listen while Dad sings.
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Doesn’t Dad sing good? Ever wondered what that means? Here, let Dad tell you.
There comes a lion
Oh, yes, it’s a lion
There comes a lion
Oh, yes it’s a lion
It’s the Circle of Life, I Just can’t wait to be King, Hakuna Matata, Can You Feel the Love Tonight?, these are some of the great songs you here when you visit this attraction.
Opening of the Lion King Show
Photo by Don Sullivan
Location
The Festival of the Lion King is in Animal Kingdom. It’s right where you’d expect to be (finally) in the all new Harambe Theater in the Africa section.
The Preshow
Photo by Samantha Decker
Disney has great preshows and this one is the most interactive in all of Walt Disney World. When you arrive in the theater, you are seated in a section of bleachers. Each section is assigned an animal.
There are 4 sections. The sections are Warthog, Elephant, Giraffe, and Lion. For each section there is a noise and a movement that looks and sounds like the animal from that section. (Don’t know what a Warthog sounds like? They will teach you.).
A contest ensues to choose the mightiest section. As the show begins you make your noise and do your movement at selected times. It’s fun to see how everyone gets involved.
The Attraction
This is a big show that tells the story of The Lion King in song, dance and acrobatics. The show starts out with a procession of performers, along with the king himself, who come in to the theater and actually put together the stage. Once the stage is set, the big show begins. It’s almost like an old three ring circus.
Through music featured in the film, high-energy dances, and even fire juggling, Disney characters Timon, Simba, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, Mufasa and more team up with a traveling band of “African tribal performers” to tell the tale of a lion cub who can’t wait to be king.
Video
Here’s a video from the closing of the show
The Princess calls Festival of the Lion King her favorite show
Dad’s Ride Information Table
Festival of the Lion King |
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| Description: A high-energy Broadway musical-like show taken from the popular movie. | ||||||||||||
| Height Requirement – none | FASTPASS: no | Length of Ride: 30 minutes | ||||||||||
| Type of ride: Musical show | ||||||||||||
Dad’s Ratings
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This isn’t the story of the movie. There is no bad uncle but there is a lot of energy, great singing and fun.
Dad’s Bottom Line
This is a very good show. The monkeys are fun to watch (the Man-Child looks just like one of them). The singing is very good and you can join right in (Dad always does).
You don’t want to miss this one.
