'A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King' to open May 2021 at Disney's Animal Kingdom

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Festival of the Lion King rehearsals

Posted: Monday April 19, 2021 12:10pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle has today announced that 'A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King' will open in mid-May 2021 at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Disney announced back in January that live entertainment will resume at Walt Disney World this summer starting with 'A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King.'

Festival of the Lion King overview

Although we don't yet have a specific start date, the mid-May timeframe continues to support Disney's move to increasing capacity at Walt Disney World theme parks for the summer season.

Festival of the Lion King rehearsals

Jeff posted pictures inside the theater where preparations are underway for the return of the show. As you can see from his photos above, rehearsals are underway, and Cast Members are training to operate the theater under COVID-19 restrictions. As we have seen elsewhere, expect to see significantly reduced capacity, along with physical distancing between rows and groups.

The show itself will also see some modifications to assist with performer safety and will be reduced in length.

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gerararSep 28, 2024

Big thread bump! I recently noticed that the last of the Covid-era physical distancing choreography has been removed from the show, restoring the original choreography. This is mainly noticeable in the finale during the first Can You Feel The Love Tonight reprise – the animal dancers are now touching hands and close with one another again. This removed the (imo) awkward moves, especially during the "The world for once in perfect harmony" part when they weren't touching hands lol. This change happened sometime in the past 2 weeks, judging from multiple livestreams of the show. Best guess is the week of 9/15. Before: After: Livestream of new choreography (9/23): Livestream of old distanced choreography (8/8): I would say the show is now pretty much restored back to its original show. Only thing is that there are still 2 dancers missing, but this seems to be a permanent cut from the show, now 3 years later.

SirwalterraleighApr 20, 2023

…only took 3 years…they’re cranking now

JohnDApr 20, 2023

Bumping again. So I saw it today. The entire show appears to be back including stilt walkers and children marching around the theater with a narrative change. After the children dance around the theater, singling out one child with Timon saying and pointing, "You were perfect, especially you!" was removed. This was not related to health but was clearly a narrative change. I get the impression what was done previously is not coming back.

mm52200Dec 16, 2022

Stilt walkers being there some days and missing others is due to staffing. No crowd interaction still.

RSoxNo1Dec 16, 2022

Sorry to thread bump but wanted to update people here. I could be mistaken but in late November the stilt walkers weren't part of the show, but they were definitely there a week later. They are also not doing the animal sections or having kids come around as part of the finale as of early December.

RSoxNo1Jul 21, 2022

Love to see this show back to it's former glory.

Figments FriendJul 17, 2022

Great to have the entire Show back! ✨ -

SplashJacketJul 16, 2022

Absolutely fantastic show. The enthusiasm by the performers and guests was extremely evident. The tumble monkey segment is fantastic. Way better than I remember and I have always loved it. Returns the show to its full glory. Acrobatic can you feel the love tonight is equally amazing. The sign language interpreters did an amazing job. Phenomenally talent and animated!

UnbansheeJul 16, 2022

Beauty and the Beast dropped physical distancing some time ago https://blogmickey.com/2022/04/beauty-and-the-beast-live-on-stage-begins-return-to-new-normal-removes-physical-distancing-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/

jrhwdwJul 16, 2022

Another First Day, another Standing Ovation!!! GREAT JOB AK/TDO!!!! Now all we need is the normal BATB & F!

wdwmagicJul 16, 2022

'Festival of the Lion King' back at Disney's Animal Kingdom complete with Tumble Monkeys and Flying Bird https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/festival-of-the-lion-king/news/16jul2022-festival-of-the-lion-king-back-at-disneys-animal-kingdom-complete-with-tumble-monkeys-and-flying-bird.htm

wdwmagicMay 25, 2022

That was my thought exactly.

Zummi GummiMay 25, 2022

I really hope it’s not because they don’t want to pay the cast the overnight “premium” for those rehearsals, but it wouldn’t shock me if that were the reason.