'A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King' at Disney's Animal Kingdom significantly impacted as staffing levels remain challenging

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A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King

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Posted: Saturday January 15, 2022 10:22am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

'A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King' is facing significant staffing issues as the current surge of COVID-19 continues to force some Walt Disney World Cast Members to remain home.

A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King

Today, there are only four shows scheduled according to My Disney Experience, at 1pm, 2pm, 4pm and 5pm. There usually are eight shows on a Saturday.

A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King

Tomorrow also sees a significant decrease, with only five shows scheduled instead of eight.

Tuesday January 18 appears to be the hardest hit, with just three shows scheduled, at 10am, 11am, and 12pm.

A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King

Check My Disney Experience for the latest showtimes and changes.

Disney recently adjusted its COVID quarantine guidelines for cast members at Walt Disney World to follow the latest guidelines from the CDC which reduces isolation from 10 to 5 days, and requires the use of a mask for 5 days on return to work. However, even with this change, keeping enough cast available to operate the parks at current capacity is difficult.

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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.