Large scale live entertainment is back at Walt Disney World today as Disney’s Animal Kingdom resumes live shows at the Harambe Theatre.
“A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King” is a modified version of the hugely popular Festival of the Lion King that has performed at Disney's Animal Kingdom for many years.
Here is a look at the very first performance from earlier today.
To accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, the theatre’s capacity has been greatly reduced to approximately a third of its maximum.
Empty rows provide physical distancing between groups, and parties are seated in groups of 4. If you are a group larger than 4 you will be split up.
No virtual queue or FastPass+ is in operation, but the standby line has capacity to snake throughout Africa from the bridge to Pandora, all the way back to the main bridge into Africa.
The show itself has been modified to allow for physical distancing of the performers.
This means the show is about 5 minutes shorter, and we unfortunately lose the tumble monkeys and the flying bird segments of the show.
These modifications are temporary during the pandemic, and the expectation is that the full show will return when conditions allow.
Guest participation on the stage has been eliminated, so don’t expect kids to be able to take to the stage for the finale parade.
The show is in unannounced previews now, with an official debut on May 15 2021. Today's first show began at 12:20pm.
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