Hey Kids... What Kind Of Sound Does A Bored Zebra Make?
Written: Mar 17 '01 (Updated Mar 17 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice constmes, Pleasant Theatre, Well made animals.
Cons: Heavily targeted at children without retaining any adult interest (Rare for Disney in my experience).
The Bottom Line: Probably good if you like live-action shows or have small children. Those after sophisticated adult-level entertainment should probably look elsewhere.
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| mickp's Full Review: Festival of the Lion King |
There is something about the bus-drivers, cash register operators and various other workers at Walt Disney World that makes them a lot easier to talk to than your normal, everyday grouchy person on the street and it was during some of these conversations that the topic turned to our impending debut at Disney's Animal Kingdom (A park that I liked very much - see my review).
The cast-members I spoke to listed off a few must-see's at Animal Kingdom and through them all the one common denominator was Festival of the Lion King - "You HAVE to see it! It is absolutely amazing!!!. With this good advice in hand, we headed for the "Camp Minnie-Mickey" area of A/K and took our place in the line to wait for the next show which was due to begin in around ten minutes time.
As with all of the attractions right at the beginning of Febuary, there was no real line to speak of so we were assured of a place in the next show. After a few minutes a cheerful cast member came to the front of the line and began to tell a series of jokes to amuse the crowd while the between-show preperations were made so it could all start again. The jokes were all along the lines of "Anyone here from [instert US state here]?... My best friends cousin once went to [insert same US state here] and [insert something which is apparently funny here]". Not being familiar with some of the US state-vs-state in-jokes I didn't get a single one of them, but the majority of the crowd laughed to one degree or other and I felt happy just being there. All good so far.
Eventually we were let in and instructed as usual to walk all the way to the end of our rows and as usual people just sat anywhere they wanted (usually right smack in the middle of a row). The show started and my mind was completely open. I was expecting to have at least a good time, at best an amazing time.
Now when I talk about my trip Walt Disney World to people they usually say something like "Isn't that just for kids???" At which point I have to inform them that in fact I think that adults probably get more out of most of the sophisticated attractions and for the Kid's it is just the joy of being there, seeing the characters and so forth. Festival of the Lion King could well be the exception that proves the rule.
The show was heavily aimed towards children, with about the only joy I could imagine an adult having is the pleasure of seeing their own children delighted by it all. I good-naturedly took part in the early assignments of different parts of the audience making different animal sounds to call the various animals which promptly rolled out on large floats to join the show.
About 10 minutes into the show I began to realise that I really wasn't enjoying Festival of the Lion King. The Pumba and (Whatever that little meerkat like character is called) characters just didn't translate well from cartoon format and I sat cringing waiting for the inevitable rendition of Hakuna Matada which arrived with very contrived feeling predictability.
I cannot deny that the show is quite well done, the dancers are good at what they do and the floats and characters are pleasant to look at, but I just couldn't get past the absurdity of it all - "Hi everyone, It's me, 'Simba!'" and lines of equal sophistication meant that by the 20 minute mark of the show I was aching to get out of there. Thankfully there was not much longer to wait and my girlfriend and I were able to escape, agreeing that we both love Disney World but that not everything is for us and that definitely not everyone likes the same thing.
I should point out that neither of us are big fans of "shows". We did Disney's MGM Studio's in about three hours, mainly taking the time to enjoy the themeing and a few of the non-show attractions but overall finding that park to be our least favourite, so this probably goes a long way to defining our reasons for disappointment with FOTLK.
Those with young children and young children themselves will absolutely adore Festival of the Lion King and perhaps those who are heavily into "shows" involving dancers and performers will like it too, but if you are like me and sitting around on a bench for 25 minutes, making animal noises and watching mechanical lions, giraffes and elephants bob their heads up and down to music while feather-clad people prance around the place, you might want to give Festival of the Lion King a big miss and head on over to something a little more your style.
In parting, I will point out that I respect Festival of the Lion King for what it is and understand it's appeal to some, so I cannot award it the one star which sums up my enjoyment of the whole experience. FOTLK gets two stars from me based on my own level of enjoyment. Others with different tastes will likely feel differently, but if you are like me you can now know you are not alone!
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Families
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mickp
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Member: Mike Price
Location: Aussie in Las Vegas, Nevada
Reviews written: 432
Trusted by: 270 members
About Me:
An Australian living in Vegas - Eating too much buffet and writing too many Epinions.
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