HOT TIP: The Lion King Show

[Bilboo]

Hi Everyone,

Just returned from a 5 day break in DLP and thought I'd pass on a tip about the new Lion King show for anyone travelling in the near future.

The park guide states there are 5 showings a day as follows:-

- 1.15pm English
- 2.15pm French
- 3.15pm English
- 5.45pm English
- 6.45pm French

Basically the 1.15pm showing was cancelled everyday we were there, but more importantly all the remaining shows are TICKET ONLY!

The tickets for the Wednesday showings were available from a ticket 'cart' outside Le Visionarium from noon for the 2.15pm and 3.15 showings, and 4.00pm for the 5.45pm and 6.45 showings.

As you might expect (!) this had changed by Thursday to collecting the tickets from the main enterance to the Videopolis (not the food part) and the time for collecting tickets for the two earlier showings had changed to 12.30pm - not sure about the later showings I'm afraid.

The reason I've posted this is that there is no indications in the park or guide that the show is ticket only and it's only when you arrive for a showing that you find out, there was plenty of unhappy people around as you might expect.

One last warning, the queue for the tickets builds up early and you need your park passes to get them, plus it's the usual DLP queuing system i.e. a mad scrum with people cutting in front of you anywhere, so be prepared to fight for your tickets.

On the plus side the show is fantastic and easily compares with anything else I've seen in Disney.

Hope this helps and any other questions please shout.

Thanks.

 

[DisneyRGB]

Thanks for the tip, it's really useful to know things like this before we go, especially since they don't put it in the park guide. Sounds like the organisation of the whole thing has been a bit of a shambles (they really don't believe in queues do they?!), although glad to hear the show makes up for it.

 

[Dead-metal]

We just got back from DLP, and we tried three days in a row to get tickets for both showings. No luck!

I was told at City Hall to be at Videopolis at 1.30 to get tickets for the 3.15 showing. When I got there at 1.15, they had all gone, so goodness knows what time you had to start queuing!!

In the end, I figured it wasn't worth standing in line while I could be doing other things!

 

[disneydavey]

or even easier as id mentioned in my trip report, go watch it in the dining area behind videopolis rather than queue up outside, just go the fast food bit then go upstairs to the seating area 10-15mins before the start of the show, loads of seats and no messing with queueing

 

[Freyja]

I´m getting a bit confused about this whole ticket thing. Do you have to pay seperately for the Lion King Show or is it just a matter of having tickets so you don´t have to queue before the show starts?

Love
Freyja

 

[Bilboo]

Hi again,

Freyja, there is no additional cost for the tickets other than what you've already paid for your park tickets. Don't forget you need a valid park ticket for every Lion King ticket, so if your collecting for a group get all their tickets.

Another point I would make is that the tickets say to arrive 30 minutes before the showing begins, and to guarantee a good seat I'd say add another 15 minutes on top of that.

Also the 'queueing point' (I use the term lightly, read on) for the tickets; on Thursday anyway; and to enter the theatre is the main Videopolis enterance (opposite the Space Mountain FastPass enterance).

The queue head is a rope across both sides of the front of the theatre to the flower beds directly in front, this means there are two queue lines with about 10 to 15 people at the head of each queue with a massed throng behind them. As you can imagine once they start handing out tickets or letting people in it becomes chaos in seconds with people pushing and shoving everywhere.

Cheers

 

[jodyb]

Okay, the more I read the more confused I get. Can someone clarify? Can you just go into the fast food area of Videopolis without a ticket for the show and then just walk into the seating area without a ticket???
Thanks,

 

[diberry]

Yes - it's incredibly easy and we can't figure out why people queue up for tickets and then queue up again to get in to the theatre at show time when you can just walk into the cafe area less than half an hour before the show and get great seats with absolutely no queueing. We were there 2 weeks ago and did that - got front row seats in the cafe part with a fantastic view of the stage while everyone else was standing in line!! No tickets necessary either.

 

[DisneyRGB]

Just to clarify though, if you go into the cafe part, you can't then go into the seating area for the show if you don't have a ticket, you have to sit in the seating/table area. But it's definitely worth just going into the cafe seating area - no queuing and the view is just as good if you're on the front row.

 

[Disney owl]

In October there were 4 shows a day 12.15, 2.15 &5.45 in english
4.45 in French

Times are in your park map.

We've never seen a show in Videopolis from the front seating. We always watch & eat . it saves loads of time.

 

[jodyb]

I just changed our reservations (we were supposed to go in December) and we are now arriving on Jan. 9 - the last day for Lion King before they go on hiatus! Thank goodness we arrive early in the day - I'm hoping we might even see it twice..

 

[Tony Toon]

Just back from DLP for the first time having read earlier threads. In my opinion it is worth queing for tickets to see the show at least once from the official audience seating area rather than the cafeteria.

It really is a great show, and we saw it for the first time from the cafe before deciding to do it "properly". There is a huge difference in the enjoyment factor in the theatre seats, and we went on to see it a further three times from the cafe (sad eh) just to enjoy it again - and again. An added difficulty in the cafeteria is that good viewing seats tend to go very quickly, so that unless you're very quick or very lucky you will have a restricted view.