What’s Happening with KiteTails
If you’re visiting Walt Disney World on Memorial Day weekend, one of Disney’s newest presentations may not be an option.
What’s happening with Disney KiteTails? It’s a mystery, but the signs are looking bleak.
What We Know about KiteTails
Do you remember when Disney’s Animal Kingdom introduced a new and ballyhooed presentation, only to face lackluster reception from guests?
After a time, Disney tried to redesign the show to make it more accessible to guests. In fact, Imagineers attempted this multiple times.
Eventually, Disney killed off Rivers of Light in its final incarnation, We Are One, in 2020, barely three years after it debuted.
Technically, the pandemic proved the final ending, but let’s be honest. Its fate was sealed either way.
Now, history is potentially repeating itself with Disney KiteTails. This afternoon kite show debuted in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary.
Within a week, multiple snafus involving boat wrecks and deflated balloons had caused the kind of negative buzz that’s rare for Disney at the parks.
Now, after less than eight months in operation, Disney KiteTails faces a reboot of sorts.
On May 27th, this presentation will change at least somewhat. The human performers on the ground won’t participate.
Instead, the show will be all about the kites and accompanying boats. Also, Animal Kingdom won’t list KiteTails on the park schedule.
Instead, the event will occur at random times throughout the day. Disney apparently hopes that this show can behave like the boat cavalcades.
The belief is that more guests will express interest if they notice a show starting.
That’s the optimist’s perspective. A contrarian perspective is that Disney KiteTails is at the beginning of the end.
You should prioritize it during a summer park visit to be safe. Otherwise, there’s a legitimate chance you might miss out on the kite show.
Other Park Updates
Disney has made another strange decision at Animal Kingdom. Generally, the parks add more attractions and distractions during the summer.
In doing so, Disney can siphon traffic off the streets without increasing wait times at the most popular attractions.
For whatever reason, Animal Kingdom is going a different way with Festival of the Lion King. Currently, the show runs seven times a day (eight times on Saturday).
From June 27th through July 1st, the schedule lists only four daily shows. This change could possibly be a brief break before the increased July traffic.
Still, I want to make you aware that the Festival of the Lion King may offer fewer performances this summer, which isn’t great.
On the plus side, Kevin from Up has once again started roaming around the park. She had previously been a stationary character appearance.
Also, while we’re on the subject of breaks, Cirque du Soleil’s new Disney Springs show, Drawn to Life, is on hiatus until May 24th.
Disney had previously indicated that this presentation won’t operate every day of the year. Instead, it’ll have infrequent breaks.
One is happening now, while the next one will occur in September. So, you can plan your trip accordingly.
Oh, and the parking lot trams are finally back at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on May 27th, too!
Switching Coasts…
Disneyland fans have better Lion King-related news. Tale of the Lion King will finally reopen on May 28th, its first post-pandemic appearance.
Park officials have relocated the attraction to Fantasyland Theatre from its previous location at Paradise Gardens Park in Disney California Adventure.
You may recall that this presentation initially only operated as a limited engagement from June through September of 2019.
Now, Disney has shown signs of making it permanent, although nothing is guaranteed yet. However, we do know that Tale of the Lion King has undergone some changes, including new choreography.
The other new hotness at Disneyland Resort is taking place at Avengers Campus.
As usual, Disney has added characters from a current Marvel Cinematic Universe release.
You’ll now find America Chavez greeting guests throughout the day. However, that’s not all she does.
Chavez sometimes joins the fun during showings of Mysteries of the Mystic Arts, the Dr. Strange performance. That makes sense since they’re (mostly) besties in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
I must stress that Chavez isn’t appearing during every performance. If you want to catch her show, ask a cast member whether she’s in the upcoming one.
Also, we’ve got a new version of Wanda Maximoff roaming Avengers Campus at the moment. It’s the Scarlet Witch we see in Dr. Strange 2. Here’s a clip:
I’m not saying anything else about it for fear of spoilers, but that’s a phenomenal costume!
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