Theme park live adaptations of The Lion King

Festival of the Lion King
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Area	Camp Minnie Mickey (1998-2013) Africa (2014-present)
Status	Operating
Opening date	April 22, 1998 2014 (reopening)
Closing date	2013
Hong Kong Disneyland
Area	Adventureland
Status	Operating
Opening date	September 12, 2005

Festival of the Lion King, an original interpretation of the Disney animated film The Lion King, is a live stage musical performed in Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Florida and in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland. The show uses songs, dance, puppetry and visual effects to portray a tribal celebration in an African savanna setting filled with lions, elephants, giraffes, birds, zebras and gazelles. In this theater environment, Festival of the Lion King is a traveling celebration presented by Simba and his friends (including a band of four human singers). The show is in the form of a revue, and not a condensed version of either the film or Broadway show. The show features Elton John and Tim Rice's award-winning music from the movie.

Disney's Animal Kingdom version

An actress in the Warthog section of the performance at the Animal Kingdom.

The show is presented inside an enclosed theater in Camp Minnie Mickey. Guests sit in four sections, each designated with an animal name: Warthog, Elephant, Giraffe and Lion. These animals are represented by large puppets on four parade-style floats, which were originally built for Disneyland's The Lion King Celebration parade. 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 (meaning "masculine and strong"), Nakawa (meaning "good-looking"), Kibibi (meaning "princess"), and Zawadi (meaning "the gift").

The story of the movie is not followed, being replaced instead 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. 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 ABC.

Walt Disney World is preparing for the arrival of Pandora. Today Disney confirmed the relocation of the popular “Festival of the Lion King” stage show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom from its longtime Camp Minnie-Mickey home to a new theater in the Africa section of the park, set to open in 2014.

The show has been a staple of Disney’s Animal Kingdom since it opened 15 years ago and Disney has no plans of closing it any time soon. But with a themed land devoted to James Cameron’s soon-to-be “Avatar” series of films on the way, Disney is moving a few things around in the park to get ready for groundbreaking.

Recently the new Adventurers Outpost meet-and-greet opened, moving Mickey and Minnie Mouse away from their namesake Camp Minnie-Mickey, where they have been meeting guests for years. Now, with the area’s only big attraction on its way out, Camp Minnie-Mickey is ready to be taken over by the colorful forest world of Pandora.

Few details are known about what Disney is planning with its upcoming Avatar Land, still several years away from opening. They’ve promised to tease a bit about the project at the upcoming D23 Expo next week, but no major announcements are expected there.

With James Cameron continuing to push back the expected release dates for sequels to “Avatar,” Disney is also hesitant to commit even to an opening time frame for Pandora, not likely to be seen until around 2016 or 2017. But there’s no doubt it is happening, with Walt Disney World president George Kalogridis recently confirming they are “committed” to the project.

Hong Kong Disneyland version

The show is featured in the "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 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 Rafiki's lines into Cantonese in order to accommodate guests who do not speak English. Simplified Chinese subtitles, for Mainland Chinese visitors, are also projected onto the screens above each seating section. The show is presented to Simba by Rafiki (portrayed by a female actress, as in the Broadway musical) 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 the puppet in this production wears red and black tribal bracelets and has braids in his mane.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack CD was released in 2001, titled "Festival of The Lion King (Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World)"

Tracklisting:

1. Circle of Life - 1:40
2. I Just Can't Wait to Be King - 2:40
3. Hakuna Matata - 2:04
4. Tumble Monkeys (Sing, Sing, Sing/Playmates/Snake Charmer/Caravan/Hakuna Matata/Yes! We Have No Bananas/Hawaiian War Chant) - 3:56
5. Be Prepared - 3:00
6. Can You Feel the Love Tonight/Circle of Life (Medley) - 4:45
7. The Lion Sleeps Tonight - 2:28
8. Celebration Finale (Hakuna Matata/Can You Feel the Love Tonight/Be Prepared/I Just Can't Wait to Be King/Circle of Life) - 3:45
9. Circle of Life (Bows) - 0:34
10. I Just Can't Wait to Be King (Instrumental Reprise) - 2:34

See also

• Disney's Animal Kingdom attraction and entertainment history

External links

• Walt Disney World Resort - Festival of the Lion King