After a prolonged shutdown, Walt Disney World re-opened in July 2020 without much entertainment beyond the basic rides, and a modified version of meet and greets and cavalcades and flotillas instead of full parades.

Most the entertainment that remained at Disney World had to take into account physical distancing and other health and safety measures, but Disney has finally announced that more entertainment options will reopen this summer.

Specifically Disney has started the process of bringing back furloughed singers, dances, technicians and other cast members from “Festival of the Lion King” which is one of my favorite shows, and a favorite to many others as well.

We are thrilled to be starting the process of bringing back to work more singers, dancers, technicians and other cast members, from one of the most popular shows at Walt Disney World Resort.

The returning show is a modified format to be mindful of the current environment. The adjustments will be both on stage and backstage including updates to the choreography to allow for appropriate physical distancing, audience seating in the theater.

If you don’t know of Festival of the Lion King and wish to learn more about it, or want to remember it better, I’m embedding a video I took on my Honeymoon (Disneymoon) with my wife Amy in 2017. I wasn’t able to record the whole show due to over-heating issues with my camera, but I got a large majority of it, including the Tumble Monkeys.

As a side note, the featured image on this post was from a recent trip (2019) when we were given the chance to go back-stage and meet the cast. My guess would be that this is an experience that won’t make it back with the new showings.

Festival of the Lion King – Tales from the DisneyMoon – November 2017 via RaisingNinjaBaby – YouTube