Disney's Animal Kingdom

The Festival of the Lion King is a live-musical production at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The show opened with the park on April 22, 1998 and inspired a show of the same name at Hong Kong Disneyland. Show Details Festival of the Lion King is housed in the Harambe Theatre, the fictional customs and warehouse area of Harambe Fort which has now been converted into an artist’s market and theater as evidenced by signs and displays along the queue. A plaque found along the queue declares the theater as an Official Harambe Heritage Site as of April 22, 1998. This date holds significance as the opening date of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. While this version of the show features live vocalists singing songs from the animated film, it differs from it’s Broadway counterpart as the show itself is in the form of a musical revue and not a re-telling of the story from the film. Disney released an album featuring the source audio and musical arrangement from this show which can be found on iTunes and Spotify. This show is mentioned in our blog post: Every Disney Musical Currently Playing Official Information: WaltDisneyWorld.com

Finding Nemo – The Musical is a live-musical, Broadway-style production at Disney’s Animal Kingdom based on the 2003 Disney/Pixar film, Finding Nemo. It’s the first time a non-musical Disney animated film has been developed into a musical production. Show Details The theater that houses Finding Nemo – The Musical here is named Theater in the Wild, the same name as the theater that houses Festival of the Lion King at Hong Kong Disneyland. The production designer for this show was Michael Curry, who made a name for himself for his work on the design of Broadway’s The Lion King as well as a number of other Disney projects thereafter. The 40-minute show features 14 new songs developed for this show by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the team behind the memorable songs from Frozen and Coco. Disney released an album featuring a cast recording from this show which can be found on iTunes and Spotify. This show is mentioned in our blog post: Every Disney Musical Currently Playing Official Information: WaltDisneyWorld.com

Kilimanjaro Safaris is one of the opening day attractions in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The name Kilimanjaro is believed to mean The Mountain of Caravans in Swahili, referring to Africa’s highest peak: Mount Kilimanjaro. Here in Disney’s version the name holds up as you ride through the park in a caravan of off-road vehicles. Queue Details The attraction’s standby queue takes you through Harambe’s Safari Booking Office. A sign on the desk of the office lets you know that your safari vehicle is named Simba 1, a name given to the ride vehicle (and mentioned numerous times) in the original version of the attraction which included a storyline involving poachers in the reserve. The name Simba is not only the main character fromThe Lion King, but is an actual swahili word meaning Lion. The fictional Harambe Wildlife Reserve’s Warden Wilson is played by actor Abdoulayed N’Gom. This isn’t Abdoulayed’s first role as an African guide: he also played the character of Kip in Disney’s live-action adaptation of George of the Jungle (1997). While the Warden is no longer a part of the ride’s story-line, he can still be found in the video introduction seen along the queue. Ride Details There is a […]

Rainforest Cafe is a chain of rainforest themed restaurants owned by Landry’s, Inc., the same company that operates T-Rex Cafe and Yak & Yeti. Rainforest Cafe is synonymous with Disney as you can find four restaurants at Disney Resorts around the world: one in Disney Springs, one in Disneyland Village, one in Tokyo Disney’s Ikspiari, and one here just outside the gates of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Visitor Information: Rainforest Cafe

Yak & Yeti is an Asian themed restaurant inside Disney’s Animal Kingdom owned by Landry’s, Inc., the same company that operates Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe. Visitor Information: Yak & Yeti Restaurant