Robert Niles
Editor
Robert Niles

2010 Best Theme Park Live Show in America: Fantasmic! vs. Festival of the Lion King

April 1, 2010, 9:59 AM · You've voted in the 2010 Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament, and now it's time to pick the Best Theme Park Live Show in America.

Fantasmic! at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland

Fantasmic!

Playing at Disney's Hollywood Studios, with the original at California's Disneyland, Fantasmic! draws packed houses almost every night. That popularity's been shown in tournament results to date, with Fantasmic! winning each round with a minimum of 78% of the vote.

Festival of the Lion King at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Festival of the Lion King

Unlike many other Disney theme park shows, Festival of the Lion King makes no attempt to retell the story of the Lion King (Disney had a rather successful Broadway show which did that just fine, thank you.) Instead, Animal Kingdom's Festival celebrates the characters and songs from the hit animated movie with this musical review in the round.


Please tell us in the comments why you voted the way you did.

Next up: Best Themed Ride in America: Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean vs. Disneyland's Haunted Mansion

Replies (7)

Squid
Squid McGlamery
April 1, 2010 at 10:07 AM · The spectacle and breadth of Fantasmic gets my vote over the beautiful stage show that is Festival of the Lion King.
Bigwig30
Writer
James Rao
April 1, 2010 at 10:08 AM · Arrrgh! I can't choose...!
strykr927
Don Neal
April 1, 2010 at 10:22 AM · Fantasmic goes beyond the standard for a live show. It's almost unfair. Well deserving of the top spot!
schwarj1
Joe Schwartz
April 1, 2010 at 10:47 AM · Real tough vote. I took the Air conditioned theator and comfortable seats. Over the outside theator and bench seats. Plus The Lion kings music has the edge.
ynnam
Manny Barron
April 1, 2010 at 11:52 AM · Surprised LMA didn't make it to the final considering how unstoppable it looked in the first two rounds against superior opponents. Lion king is fun, but Fantasmic is just the best. Wonder how World of Color will compare once it opens this summer at DCA.
coasterdude
Writer
Anthony Murphy
April 1, 2010 at 1:01 PM · Festival of the Lion King has live singing. It got my vote!
tstover
Tyler Stover
April 1, 2010 at 3:34 PM · Tough call. It was only because California's version of Fantasmic was acknowledged that I gave it my vote. Otherwise, Festival of the Lion King would have trumped Florida's inferior Fantasmic. I appreciate FOTLK's energy and emphasis on putting on a good show rather than simply retelling the story, but the transformation of the Rivers of America to tell the epic story of Mickey's imagination's battle of good versus evil is just too grand to lose.

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