| Many years later, in a jungle oasis where
everything is problem-free, we join Simba with his new friends Timon and
Pumbaa as Simba confesses that he still misses Pride Rock. Hakuna Matata!
Timon and Pumbaa work their friendship magic and with their problem-free
philosophy they cheer Simba up as Pumbaa swings through the trees and
reminisces about his upsetting childhood. As Simba
returns to his normal cheerful self, his world is once again turned upside down
as Nala arrives. A historic reunion of the two childhood friends takes place as
the moonlight and stars add a beautiful touch of romance to the scene. She
thought he was no longer alive… he though she would never forgive him. Their
love brings them back together and they realise what they most want is each
other. The other animals around them form couple and dance in the moonlight as
two beautiful birds glide in from opposite sides of the stage, to later leave
together in the bond of love whilst Simba and Nala lie together under the stars. The mysterious sounds of wise African chanting break the romance as Rafiki runs
on stage to get Simba’s attention. Simba stands up and looks around curiously to
try and see where the strange noises are coming from, before he sees Rafiki and
she tells him to listen to wise words of his father – King Mufasa! “Look inside
yourself Simba. Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true King. You
must take your place in the Circle of Life…” The misty formation of Mufasa’s
face fades away and Simba announces to Nala that he will return to Pride Rock… The True King Has Returned! The stage suddenly glows
orange as blasts of flames shoot up all around and the hyenas jump around in
triumph. Scar parts the flames at the back of the stage to appear victorious in
a reprise of his “Be Prepared” master plan. Before he can finish, however, Simba
arrives back at Pride Rock and Scar reveals that it was him who killed Mufasa.
“Hyenas – kill him!”, Scar shouts, as the grand battle begins and flames lick
the edges of the stage. With the Hyenas out of the way, Simba confronts Scar and
a purple glow takes over the scene as a final slow-motion battle begins between
the two lions. Simba slashes Scar’s face and picks him up off the ground, before
Scar retaliates with a quick swipe of his claws across Simba’s body. Simba
eventually manages to hit back at Scar and knows him over backwards – down into
the fiery hell below. The fight is over – Simba, the
true King, has returned. He is initiated into the great Circle of Life by Rafiki
and the legend is complete! The real Simba, at the edge of the stage, then
invites everyone to join in a final celebration. All the singers and performers
from the show return to the stage in a fantastic encore medley of the show’s
songs. “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King”, “Be Prepared”, “Can You Feel The Love
Tonight” and “Circle of Life” give the show a spectacular finale and allow the
performers to take your breath away with their unbelievable singing talent. An epic legend is complete – a legend of responsibility, of fear, of joy, of
love. It’s the Circle of Life, and it truly moves us all.
 Reservation Tickets Due to high demand, free
reservation tickets are required to see this show. Reservation tickets are
distributed in the late morning for earlier performances and mid-afternoon for
the last performances in the area to the side of Videopolis Theatre, next to the
Star Tours and Disneyland Railroad queue lines. See above for the exact times,
as they change throughout the year. Reservation tickets give you a guaranteed
place inside the theatre (not an exact seat) at the time specified on the ticket
and are limited to the number of seats available. It
is recommended that you start queuing to collect your tickets at least 30
minutes in advance, though on busy days this can increase dramatically. It could
be a good idea to get a drink and a snack from Caf� Hyperion in Videopolis and
then taking this into the queue with you. To collect
tickets, you need the park passport (entry ticket) of everyone who wants to see
the show. This means that just one person could queue to get tickets for the
whole group, perfect if that person doesn’t want to ride Space Mountain: Mission
2 just yet! If you get to the front of the queue and
all the English show tickets are gone, then just ask for French ones instead.
The French version of the show features only the dialogue in French – all the
musical numbers are still presented in English! Getting a Seat It is recommended that you arrive back
at the theatre at least 20 minutes before your scheduled showtime. Doors open
around 15 minutes before showtime. There are many
excellent seats in the theatre. Just try to sit as close to the middle as
possible, with a seat that isn’t too close to the stage (unless the front
row is still available!). During the “Final Celebration Medley”
sequence, some of the cast come off the stage and dance in the aisles, so try to
sit here if you want to get even closer to the action. Caf� Hyperion If you don’t want to queue for
Reservation Tickets, get something to eat from Caf� Hyperion and sit in the
restaurant area at the back of the theatre. Here you can get a fairly average
view of the show. There are, however, large projection screens above you showing
the action on stage.
  The incredible music of The Legend Of The Lion King originates from the music of
Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Festival of The Lion King show, but has been reworked
and added to to give the show its distinctly musical-stage-show feel. The brand
new “Prologue” and “Mufasa” sections of the soundtrack create a dramatic
atmosphere for the water curtain effects, whilst the new “Welcome To Our World”
section after the initial “Circle Of Life” gives the show a unique feeling and a
good way to welcome Simba – and the audience – into their world. Towards the end
of the show, another new addition is the “Circle of Life” reprise, which
features an excellent slow rhythm to allow Rafiki to show off her talent and to
contrast with the high-energy finale which follows. Vasile Sirli, musical director for Disneyland Resort Paris, was responsible for
adapting the music for this new production, whilst the original songs from the
film featured music by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice and the Festival of
The Lion King music was produced by Dan Stamper. At the time of The Legend Of
The Lion King’s premiere, Vasile Sirli said “It might seem difficult [to create
a new variation of the music] given that the music has been released in a wide
variety of forms – the musical and a variety of video releases, for example –
since the original film�s appearance 10 years ago. The repertoire, however, is
so rich that there is always room to adapt it.”
 The Legend Of The Lion King was produced by Walt Disney Entertainment Paris and
creatively developed in collaboration with Walt Disney Creative Entertainment
California, taking its inspiration from both the “Festival of the Lion King”
show in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Florida and the Broadway/West End musical.
It opened with a glamorous premiere evening event on 26th June 2004. The show replaced the musical medley show “Mickey’s ShowTime”, and brought a
complete redesign of the Videopolis Theatre stage with it. A whole new stage was
put in place with incorporates the thousands of fibre optic endings aswell as
the numerous other effects, such as a giant “water curtain” and faux fire
effects, all designed and put together by Bernard Arnould (Scenic Designer) and
Fabrice Kebour (Lighting and Projection Designer). The “FauxFire” flame effects
during the Simba and Scar fight are obtained by back-lighted vapour jets
streaming out from various places on stage. The effect is enhanced by
projections of fire on the water curtain and images of fire on the video screens
next to the stage. The costumes in the show were
designed primarily by Sue Lecash, who studied African costumes and traditions in
great depth to achieve the correct look for each of the characters. Each season,
when new performers join the talented team, many small alterations are made to
the costumes to make them easier to work with as well as newer and fresher for
the performers. 118 animal headdresses were created for the show. Great effort was put into differentiating the show from earlier presentations of
Disney’s The Lion King. The result is an exciting, lively and spectacular stage
musical that is fresh and new but still close to the great legend it celebrates. | 
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