Since Disney World’s reopening, there have been a lot of changes happening at the parks, especially with entertainment.
A Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
Although some shows still haven’t returned to the parks (with some others that are set to return this year), those that have come back were usually modified in some way. And now the same staffing problems that are currently affecting many U.S. businesses are also affecting at least one show at Disney World.
When we looked at the Disney World website for showtimes of A Celebration of The Festival of the Lion King at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we noticed that today’s performance schedule had gone down to four scheduled performances.
©Disney
We stopped by the Harambe Theater, where performances take place, and noticed the same thing. Performances for today are at 1PM, 2PM, 4PM, and 5PM.
Today’s performance times
It seems that this will be the case over the next few days, according to the Disney World website: only five performance times are showing for tomorrow, January 16th, at 10AM, 11AM, 12PM, 1PM, and 2PM.
©Disney
The number of performances is even less on January 18th — only three performances are scheduled at 10AM, 11AM, and 12PM.
©Disney
We spoke to two different Cast Members to see if there was a reason for this and were told it was due to “staffing issues.” So it’s good to keep in mind that these issues are affecting Disney World. We recommend that you always check performance times for any entertainment on the My Disney Experience app or Disney World website so you don’t miss your must-see shows.
A Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King
The Festival of the Lion isn’t the only show seeing the effects of the current staffing shortage. A Cast Member told us that there weren’t enough Indys for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and although there were a normal amount of shows today, some showtimes were removed earlier this week.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
We’ve seen other spots in Disney World close due to staffing shortages including Cheshire Cafe in Magic Kingdom.
Cheshire Cafe Closed
And as always, if we notice any other changes like this, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Why Some Spots May Be Closed in Disney World
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Hi I see that some shows will continue to return. I read almost all your emails but have seen very little about the Polynesian spirit of aloha dinner show returning or being totally canceled
Can you up date this info for us.
Hi Jim! As of right now, Disney has not released that information, but we’ll update as soon as they do!