Denise's Corner

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park to Add “Harambe Nights”, An After-Hours Show & Dinner Experience This Summer

Denise

Hi everyone!

Walt Disney World announced a special event this summer, Harambe Nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has rarely been an evening experience, and this ticketed event offers guests a way to see the park in a new way.

I’ve long said that it’d be nice if Disney offered a dinner package with a show in the evening, as Disney’s Animal Kingdom really is beautiful at night. I was thinking more of dining at an existing restaurant and enjoying the The Festival of the Lion King – but this is similar. Each Saturday from June 7th through August 9th, 2014, between 7:00 p.m – 10:30 p.m., the new Harambe Theater will be the setting for The Lion King, Concert in the Wild theatrical presentation inspired by the 20th Anniversary of The Lion King. There will be a different celebrity narrator along with a live orchestra for every performance, and each evening begins with a Welcome Reception that includes appetizers with African-inspired beer and wine. After the performance, dinner is provided, along with a street party with characters. According to the Disney, dinner will be ” all-inclusive buffet of sophisticated and flavorful African cuisine and gourmet desserts”, along with “Disney characters showing off their wild sides”.

Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis said that the event “concludes with the special sort of farewell to an evening that only Disney can do”.

Prices are $119 for adults and $79 for kids ages 3-9, plus tax. Premium floor seats are $134 for adults and $94 for kids ages 3-9, plus tax. It would be $126.74 for one $119 adult ticket once tax is added.

The one downside? As per the Walt Disney World website, the tickets are non-refundable. That kept us from booking it at this time. As the date nears, we will see if it is still available. Tickets are also non-transferable.

Disney has been adding quite a few add-on experiences around the parks lately, from the Epcot Sparkling Dessert Party to the Star Wars dining events during Star Wars Weekends.

Celebrity narrators for The Lion King, Concert in the Wild are:

  • June 7 – Viola Davis: “The Help,” “Ender’s Game”
  • June 14 – TBD
  • June 21 – Montego Glover: “The Following,” “Memphis”
  • June 28 – David Alan Grier: “Porgy & Bess,” “In Living Color”
  • July 5 – Michael Beach: “ER,” “Third Watch,” “Sons of Anarchy”
  • July 12 – Harry Lennix: “The Blacklist,” “The Five Heartbeats”
  • July 19 – Joe Morton: “Scandal,” “American Gangster,” “The Good Wife”
  • July 26 – Alfre Woodard: “Desperate Housewives,” “Miss Evers Boys”
  • August 2 – Brian Stokes Mitchell: “Ragtime,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” “Glee”
  • August 9 – Patina Miller: “Pippin,” “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”

For anyone wishing to see the extremely popular  The Festival of the Lion King, that also will begin again in the Harambe Theater for guests as part of daytime admission.

Guests can purchase tickets to Harambe Nights here.