One of the Walt Disney World Resort's more popular live shows will return this summer.
Disney announced today that Festival of the Lion King will return to Disney's Animal Kingdom this summer. Walt Disney World had kept its major live entertainment productions closed even as it reopened the parks last summer, due to ongoing capacity restrictions to promote safe physical distancing.
To that end, when Festival of the Lion King reopens, it will be in a modified format, "including updates to choreography to allow for appropriate physical distancing," Disney said in its press release. In addition, audience seating will be modified to support distancing between parties.
But the return of this Animal Kingdom favorite means that dozens of performers will be coming back to work and visitors to the resort again will be able to enjoy one its most popular attractions. Festival of the Lion King ranked third among the world's top 25 theme park shows, from our annual survey of newsletter subscribers last year.
Disney said that it is beginning the cast recall process for Festival of the Lion King but has not announced a specific reopening date.
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This makes me extremely happy. This is an outstanding show, even better than the old Lion King Celebration at Disneyland (Disneyland released a VHS of that show and I made the cover, which used an image from a photo shoot that cast members and their families were invited to before the show opened to the public), and I adored that show. This one is better.
If any of you have that VHS, I'm the guy in the baseball cap and the red shirt with the big Mickey hand "thumbs up" pretending to eat popcorn (it was an empty box that they gave me as a prop) behind the main crowd, but before the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
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Glad to hear it...Easily one of the best shows in Disney’s lineup...