Festival of the Lion King

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What It Is
Theater-in-the-round Stage Show
Our Rating

Today's Showtimes
Park is closed

Times are updated nightly

but may change at anytime.

Appeal By Age
Based our reader surveys. See our Ratings and Research page for details.
Preschool
Grade School
Teens
Young Adults
Over 30
Seniors

General Info
Location	Africa
Opening Date	April 22, 1998
Duration	30 minutes
Scope and Scale	Major Attraction
Closures / Refurbishments

Inaccurate/stale data?
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Description And Comments

Inspired by the Disney animated feature, Festival of the Lion King is part stage show and part parade; the theater is behind and to the left of Tusker House restaurant. Guests sit in four sets of bleachers surrounding the stage and organized into cheering sections, which are called on to make elephant, warthog, giraffe, and lion noises. (You won’t be alone if you don’t know what a giraffe or warthog sounds like.) There’s a great deal of strutting around and a lot of singing and dancing. By our count, every tune from The Lion King is belted out— some more than once. If you didn’t know the words to the songs before the show, you definitely will after.

Festival of the Lion King is one of the few stage shows Disney has restarted during the pandemic. In order to get it to run safely, Festival had to cut its audience participation, acrobats, and some special effects. While the remaining singers and dancers are absolute professionals, they can’t make up for a show that’s now too small and too slow for its stage.

Touring Plans users are almost unanimous in their praise of Festival of the Lion King. This letter from a Naples, Florida, mom is typical:

Festival of the Lion King was the best thing we experienced at Animal Kingdom. The singers, dancers, fire twirlers, acrobats, and sets were spectacular.

Touring Tips

This attraction offers Lightning Lane via Genie+.

Festival of the Lion King is still a big draw, so try to see the first show in the morning or one of the last two shows at night. For midday performances, you’ll need to queue up at least 35–45 minutes before showtime; to minimize waiting in the hot sun, don’t hop in line until cast members give the word. The bleachers can make viewing difficult for the height-deficient—if you have small children or short adults in your party, snag a seat higher up.

Festival of the Lion King Wait Times

This chart shows you roughly how long you'll wait for Festival of the Lion King when you visit on a day with a given Disney's Animal Kingdom Crowd Level. The blue bars represent the average "peak" wait time (that is, how long the line will be at its busiest). The bottom and top black lines represent the range of peak wait times to expect (for you fellow nerds out there: it's the 5th percentile and 95th percentile of peak wait times). Please note that these are estimates, and for a better forecast for your travel dates, see Festival of the Lion King Wait Times.