The Circle of Life A Nighttime Spectacular

Located in the Discovery River Amphitheaters is the newest nighttime spectacular at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, The Circle of Life: A Nighttime Spectacular. This new show utilizes the lotus blossom fountains and mist screens from Rivers of Life, in addition to this three new performance barges will be utilized during the show to house dancers, puppeteers and singers. The premise of the new nighttime show will be following the Circle of Life through five segments: The Beginning, The Being, The Hunt, The Fall and The Rebirth. The show will incorporate real life footage pulled from various DisneyNature and Natural Geographic documentaries and The Lion King (2019).

The Beginning

The lotus barges appear as they swirl around the lagoon faintly glowing to the preshow music. A soft drum beat begins as the first performance barge appears, and the dream beat increases into thunderous beats until the performance barge reaches the center of the lake. The drum beats stop as Shaman Roho opens her mouth.

Shaman Roho: Welcome all to...

The mist screens open up ready for the show, and the lotus barge reach their final spot as they begin to glow orange.

Shaman Roho: The Circle of Life!

The lotuses shoot out a huge burst of water as the screens show the sun rising over the African savanna. Shaman Roho begins to perform Circle of Life, and perfectly in sync the fountains match her voice and points of the song. The giant water screen shows clips of Circle of Life from the Lion King while the mist screens that are created by the lotuses show clips of animals running in herds, swimming in pods, flying in squads, and other majestic actions. As Baby Simba is shown being held by Rafiki on the main mist screen, the smaller mist screen shows various baby animals stumbling around as they find their own footing. Shaman Roho stops singing and holds her hand up in the air, and closes her palm causing all the music and water to stop.

Shaman Roho: Oh mighty spirits who are here tonight, take us through this wondrous circle of life!

The Being

In the darkness between the scenes the other two performance barges have been able to silently sneak into the lake. The lotus barges change color from orange to green as the mist screens begin once again. The beginning strums of an orchestral version of The Morning Report plays. As the performance barge with Shaman Roho disappears the other two performance barges light up. Guests can now see that on the barges are groups of dancers clad in African animal inspired dance outfits, these dancers will perform interpretative dances that evoke a youthfulness found in young animals. On the main mist screen guests will see clips of young and juvenile Simba and Nala playing around in the Pridelands. On the mini mist screens created by the lotuses will be clips of young animals playing, falling, and just being cute. The fountains dance to the jovial and upbeat nature of The Morning Report, while the scenes playing out on the various mist screens show the young animals being well young! The scene ends with Simba and Nala ending up in the Elephant Grave Yard on the main mist screen, and on the mini mist screens the silhouettes of hyenas creeping out of the shadows cackling. The lighting in the area beats red with every laugh as the lotus. Suddenly it gets very quite as the hyenas jump forward and all that is shown on the mini mist screens is large teeth taking a bite. All of the performers do a death drop right when the hyenas take a bite, and the lights go out.

The Hunt

The beginnings of the score work known as Stampede from The Lion King begins to play in the darkness as the two performance barges quickly exit the lake. The giant mist screen shows a stampede of wildebeest become to come down the gorge. The lotus barges shoot bursts of water matching the intensity of the scene, and to add to the immersion the mini mist screens the stampede is also projected here. Quickly on the main mist screen guests well see Mufasa hunting for Simba in the stampede trying to save his scene. The stampede kicks up lots of dust taking guests into the next portion of the hunt.

The lotuses turn green as they continue to burst out water in sync with the music, but now they mini mist screens show predators hunting, stalking, and chasing their prey in the wild. On the main mist screen Nala chasing and hunting Timon and Pumba is shown. Simba and Nala crash into each other and tumble into a portion of the scene from Can You Feel the Love tonight as the music changes slightly to include those notes as the two have successfully hunted for love. The lotuses turn pink as they weave their fountains around slowly almost creating hearts from their water. As the two fall in love on the main mist screen through their hunt for love, animal couples in the wild are shown on the mini mist screen just not mating, just being cute with each other. Simba and Nala splash into water, and the splash transforms into embers.

The embers turn into an inferno as Simba and Scar are shown fighting on Pride Rock signifying the hunt for dominance in species. The lotuses have returned to glowing a dangerous red but now have orange spots representing the flames of fire. The water and scenes are now synced to the score work known as Battle for Pride Rock from The Lion King. On the mini mist screens various hunts for dominance are shown taking place between elephants, rams, etc. The hunt comes to an end as Scar is shown falling down into the flames, and as the flames engulf him they turn to dust now showing Mufasa being thrown into the stampede from earlier. The dust from the stampede clouds the screen as all is dark and quiet.

The Fall

As the dust finishes settling the score work known as Mufasa’s Reflection from The Lion King begins to play. The lotuses turn blue as the main mist screen shows a cloud that forms into the spirit of Mufasa, and on the mini mist screens various animal spirits in the same cloud spirt appear alongside him.

Mufasa: We've never left, and we never will. Remember who we are, remember

The main mist screen disappears as the giant lotus barge begins to make its appearance. As it gets into place the mini lotus barges swirl their fountains around to the music as their mini mist screens show various animal spirits running around and bowing to the guests.

Mufasa: Look at the stars...the great animals of the past will always be there to guide you.

With that line millions of stars are projected all over the trees in the background and onto the Tree of Life creating a beautiful starlit moment before the finale of the show.

The Rebirth

From the back guests can make out two performance barges reentering the lake, but it will be hard to tell what or who is on them due to the lack of lighting directed on them. All of the lotus barges turn gold as the Shaman barge begins to come out from the center entrance of the lake. Shaman Roho sings the opening chant of He Lives in You. The Shaman sings steadily louder and louder until their barge stops right in front of the giant lotus barge. Shaman Roho begins to sing the English portion of the song as the giant mist screen finally comes back to life depicting different scenes of Simba's life, and the mini mist screens show various animals in different life stages. The other performance barges are lit up once more, and the barges travel around the lake allowing guests to get a better view of their dancing to the song being sung. Shaman Roho changes from He Live in You to the last few lines of Circle of Life as the show comes to an end with the fire tower extending out of the giant lotus and igniting in light, and the giant mist screen showing Simba's child now being held up on Pride Rock.

The show comes to a close as the postshow music consisting of Spirit, Never Too Late, and Mbube playing throughout the amphitheaters as the guests exit the show area.