Review: 3 shows for families in Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Finding Nemo-The Musical
In Finding Nemo-The Musical in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, visitors are seated in a 1500-seat theatre and transported to a colourful undersea world with beautiful puppetry and projections. Favourite characters Marlin, Nemo and Dory are represented by live performers operating animated puppets, and there are also some larger-than-life puppets, such as the funny turtle Crush (see photo above). For us, Finding Nemo-The Musical, which is the first original musical production of a Pixar film, stood out as a first-class musical production with impressive puppetry and music. With a running time of around 40 minutes, I think it makes for a wonderful family show, and when friends have asked, I’ve recommended this as the top priority for a show in Animal Kingdom.

If your child likes this, you might also want to try: the 25-minute long musical Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, which is the biggest production in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Park-goers are taken on a whirlwind tour of the much-loved story, and can expect creative costumes, a beautiful set, and several of the classic songs from the Disney animation.

Festival of the Lion King
Festival of the Lion King is a 30-minute long interactive, family-friendly, music and dance production with floats. Unlike the park’s Finding Nemo and Disney Hollywood Studios’ Beauty and the Beast, this show does not tell the story of Lion King. Instead, it’s a lively celebration of music and dance with audience participation. Audiences sit in four sections surrounding the stage, and I would recommend this production to families with children who are likely to enjoy getting involved, making animal sounds and taking part on stage.

If your child likes this, you might also want to try: meeting Timon and Rafiki at Discovery Island, and visit Rafiki’s Planet Watch where there’s a new animation class that might suit families with older children. At the Animation Experience, families can learn more about animation and drawing characters, and the character to draw changes regularly, but online reports suggest the focus initially has been on characters from Lion King.

Up! A Great Big Bird Adventure
Likeable Wilderness Explorer Russell, his furry dog Dug and the funny bird Kevin from Disney and Pixar’s animation Up charm audiences in Up! A Great Bird Adventure, which in true Disney Park fashion is more than a display of birds and also has a storyline about Russell trying to earn his bird badge while in Anandapur in India. Unlike Disney Animal Kingdom’s other shows, this one is in an outdoor theatre and birds are flying around above your heads. The highlight for us was making a tunnel with our arms and watching a bird zoom through.

If your child likes this, you might also want to try: meeting Russell and Dug at Discovery Island and spending time to earn Wilderness Explorer badges around the park. Grab a complimentary Wilderness Explorer handbook from headquarters at Discovery Island and locate the stations to learn about nature and wildlife in between rides.

There’s also a fourth show in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, It’s Tough to be a Bug–which is a 3D film and live show inspired by Disney and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life and hosted by the ant Flik.

Tags: Beauty and the Beast, Disney, Finding Nemo, Lion King, Travel, Walt Disney World