Festival of the Lion King

Festival of the Lion King, an original interpretation of the classic tale ''The Lion King'', is a ''Broadway-caliber short-form'' stage musical performance in a live theatrical show, applied the concept of the tribal celebration in combination with the idea from Disney's Electrical Parade, which is performed in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Florida and in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland.

All About the Details

The show uses songs, dances, puppetries and visual effects to create an African savanna setting filled with lions, elephants, giraffes, birds, zebras and gazelles. In this theater environment, ''Festival of the Lion King'' retells the story of the lion king Simba, from the Disney animated feature film ''The Lion King'', and his struggle against to regain , his kingdom. The show features the from the movie, written by Elton John and Tim Rice.





*In Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World

The show is presented inside an enclosed theater in . Guests sit in four sections, each designated with an animal name: Warthog, Elephant, Giraffe and Lion. Guests are asked to make a noise corresponding to their animal at certain times during the show, and children are sometimes pulled out of the audience to dance.



The show is hosted by four performers dressed in costumes inspired by traditional African dress. Each has a Swahili name: Kiume, Nakawa, Kibibi and Zawadi.



The story of the movie is not followed, being replaced with a show of songs from the movie and other sources. This is combined with aerobatics performed by the Tumble Monkeys, a group of performers dressed in orange monkey costumes, a Samoan fireknife performance, and a ballet and aerial segment with performers dressed as colorful birds.



The Cast also performs annually for the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, which is filmed at the Magic Kingdom and is broadcast on Christmas Day on .





*In Adventureland, Hong Kong Disneyland

''Festival of the Lion King'' is featured in the 2,200-seat "Theater in the Wild" in Adventureland. Similar to the theater setting in Disney's Animal Kingdom, guests sit in four different sections, each with an animal name: Warthog, Elephant, Giraffe and Lion.



The show in Hong Kong has been arranged to tell a simplified version of the story of ''The Lion King'' along with the songs in the movie. The performance is mainly in English, but two actors dressed as monkeys summarize and translate the storyteller's lines into Cantonese in order to accommodate guests who do not speak English. subtitles, for Mainland Chinese visitors, are also projected to the screens above each seating section.



The show is presented to Simba by Rafiki as a re-telling of Simba's life. Simba is represented by a large, elaborate puppet on a parade-style float decorated as a tribal-styled Pride Rock. In contrast to the Simba of the Animal Kingdom production, he wears red and black tribal bracelets and has braids in his mane.