Festival of the Lion King to begin Cast Member previews this week

May 28, 2014 in "Festival of the Lion King"

Posted: Wednesday May 28, 2014 9:40am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Festival of the Lion King looks set to be nearing a reopening in its new home in the Harambe Theater.

Cast Member previews will be taking place later this week, which is typically a good indicator that an opening to guests will occur in the near future.

Festival of the Lion King closed in its original Camp Minnie-Mickey home back in early January 2014, and will be reopening in a brand new theater in the Africa section of Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Disney has not yet given any reopening date other than "summer 2014".

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RteetzFeb 18, 2019

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/lion-king-dark-ride-dak.953200/

Next Big ThingFeb 18, 2019

Any validity to this @marni1971 @MansionButler84 @articos? https://orlandoparkstop.com/news/rumors/rumor-the-lion-king-ride-coming-to-disneys-animal-kingdom/ The article does credit Martin’s old 2014 rumor which can be found earlier in this thread. That never came to pass. With the new LK movie coming out, any chance this happens?

CrazydisneyfanlukeJun 03, 2014

I noticed on the elephants float that the waterfall was working and it had LED lighting

Simba062711Jun 03, 2014

Looks like the floats had some refurbishment done. Simba looks great. Does anyone know if there was major work done to the floats

RSoxNo1Jun 03, 2014

Any of the same performers seen?

goodolgmJun 02, 2014

Attended the 1pm show today in the new theater and here were my quick observations: It felt like they took the old theater (on the inside, anyway), picked it up and dropped it in its new place. Appeared to be the same bleachers, seating capacity appears unchanged. Floats looked great. Simba's front feet weren't getting the motion they did in video I had seen from yesterday, but all the floats as a whole looked tremendous. Nice to see the waterfall effect on the Elephant float working. The pyro cue in "Be Prepared" has returned. Looks like a lot of, if not all of, the intelligent lighting has been converted to LED. Some of the lighting was noticeably different from the old show, but nothing bad at all. If anything, colors were more vibrant and brought out the costumes and set pieces a lot more. As mentioned in earlier posts, there was a HORRIBLE smell when the ground fog was used. Not sure if it's new machines, new fluid, etc. But the smell was AWFUL and nothing like anything I've ever smelled from any fog effects in any show or atmospheric use. Actually one show effect I wouldn't mind see going extinct if it's going to leave a sour taste (smell?) in the minds of the viewers. Performers did stellar...great to see no cuts in levels or energy of the show. Glad to see a longtime favorite return!

rangerbobJun 02, 2014

I didn't. I do have some breathing problems and over sensitized due to a mold exposure. I didn't have any problems, it just wasn't a pleasant smell. During the aerial section they used a hazer that kept the fog laying low to the ground, that didn't have the smell but the other fog that they used during different parts of the show was the problem.

note2001Jun 02, 2014

:joyfull: Did you notice if the smell was causing anyone breathing problems, or was it just an irritating stench? Curious as I react to chemicals in the air. Traditional theater style fog usually does not cause issues. There are newer air fresheners out there that do (febreeze, some sprays & candles etc)

CrazydisneyfanlukeJun 02, 2014

:eek:

HRHPrincessArielJun 02, 2014

I was going to say something similar!

themonkeyisthesultanJun 02, 2014

I believe it's not only the exact same amount of seating, it's also the exact same seats.

CrazydisneyfanlukeJun 02, 2014

The lighting looks amazing and the finale was spectacular! Cant wait to see it in a couple years! (Not spending 100 bucks for half a day park) Question for the people who have been in the new theater, is there more seating?

rangerbobJun 01, 2014

It isn't the normal smell of the fog. They added a scent to it.

drew81Jun 01, 2014

Might be a Le Maitre fog/haze system. Could be a DF-50 diffuser hazer. Lots of possibilities.