Earlier this year, Disney announced that fan favorite show Festival of the Lion King would be coming back to Disney’s Animal Kingdom this summer, with a few changes in an effort to continue to maintain social distancing safety protocols. And though nothing has been announced officially, some recent permit filings seem to indicate that a number of shows, including the Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular, could be returning to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
According to permits uncovered by a well-known user on the WDWMagic forums permits have been filed for work at several locations, including the Fantasmic! performance stage and backstage areas, the Theater of the Stars, and at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Show theater. The permits do not suggest any significant work, but could indicate that minor changes are being made to the theaters and stages to allow for social distancing both in the audience and behind the scenes areas.
Though this is a rumor for now, earlier this year, Disney released a statement saying that they were committed to “bringing back even more entertainment with a responsible and thoughtful approach”, and with these new permit filings, it seems safe to assume that these shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be part of the returning entertainment at the resort in the coming months.
While some aspects of the Walt Disney World experience, (like mandatory masks, social distancing in queues, etc.) will be sticking around until at least the end of 2021, it looks like Disney is ready to get things a bit more “back to normal” when it comes to entertainment with the re-introduction of shows across the resort, and hopefully we’ll hear official confirmation about these new shows in the near future! What shows would you like to see brought back to the resort?
