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/* Attraction History */
==Attraction History==
Although currently the longest running show in Disney's Animal Kingdom(a distinction it shares with [[It's Tough to be a Bug]]), Festival of the Lion King was originally planned as a temporary attraction. When Imagineers designed Animal Kingdom, the plan called for Beastly Kingdom to be one of the park’s main lands. Due to budget constraints however, Beastly Kingdom was pushed back to a later time and a temporary land called Camp Minnie-Mickey was created in order to draw guests to this new land.
At the same time Imagineers were working on Camp Minnie-Mickey, Disneyland’s "Lion King Celebration" parade was ending its three year run. Eventually, it was decided that Imagineers could rescue many of the puppets and floats from the parade and create a new stage show for Animal Kingdom. The show that they created was housed in a temporary theater which was not enclosed. The show was called Festival of the Lion King and was ready in time for Animal Kingdom's opening day.
Festival of the Lion King, as well as the rest of Camp Minnie Mickey, proved to be so successful that it eventually became one of the parks most popular attractions. The show's theater was finally enclosed in 2003, along with air conditioning being added. Outside of changes to the show's theater, Festival of the Lion King has not seen any major changes, although a new Timon costume that allowed the meerkat to move his mouth and blink his eyes was added to the show in 2009.
==Show Plot==
The festival of the Lion King begins with the shows four hosts singing "Welcome to Our World". The four hosts are Kiume (meaning "masculine and strong" in Swahili), Nakawa (meaning "good-looking"), Kibibi (meaning "princess"), and Zawadi (meaning "the gift"). After the four hosts introduce themselves, they tell the audience that Simba and his guests will be there any minute, but first the hosts need the audiences' help. In order to greet Simba and his friends, the hosts decide to divide the audience into four groups, who will greet the animals by making animal noises. The first sound guests make is that of a warthog. To do this, one guest is chosen to lead the audience as they make tusks with their fingers and make a snorting noise. Next up is the lions. Another guest is chosen to imitate a lion by putting their paws up and roaring. After the lions are done, it's time for the elephants. The section that is assigned elephants put their hands up and trumpet like an elephant. Finally, the last group, the giraffes, whose noise, sounds like a sheep.
