6. Festival of the Lion King

Where: Disney’s Animal Kingdom

When Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened, it was famously short on things to do. A proposed expansion of the park called Beastly Kingdom was expected to begin construction soon after opening day, but in the meantime a “temporary” land called Camp Minnie-Mickey would be added in its place. That land would have only a few character greeting huts and a “temporary” theatre to host a Lion King show that mostly reused old Disneyland parade floats.

Few could’ve guessed that Festival of the Lion King would be the runaway success of the park, packing the house with every performance. Camp Minnie-Mickey stuck around until the announcement of PANDORA – The World of Avatar, at which point it was moved to a beautiful, permanent theater in the park’s Africa section. As it is, the rousing sing-along show of acrobatics and storytellers remains as one of Animal Kingdom’s main draws.

7. CinéMagique

Where: Walt Disney Studios Paris

Like Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney Studios – the second park at the Disneyland Paris Resort – just didn’t have a whole lot to do. It DOES have one particular stand-out show, though, with CineMagique (which is on the borderline between being purely a movie and being a Terminator 2: 3-D-style hybrid movie/show).

Compensating for the multiple languages that Disneyland Paris must account for, the show is mostly told through visuals. That’s one of it’s strengths, though, as in each performance, a Cast Member is literally absorbed into the screen where the history of cinema is relived from the early days of black-and-white to modern classics. It’s a unique way to present the story of film and a really outstanding Disney show.

8. Royal Theatre at Fantasy Faire

Where: Disneyland Park

A hidden gem of Disneyland Park, the Royal Theatre in the brand new Fantasy Faire section of Fantasyland is pretty unassuming. Re-using the carnival tent that had been part of the park’s Main Street Carnation Gardens for decades, the theatre is small, simple, and open-air with guests sitting on a few rows of wooden benches and children invited to sit on the floor.

With a live pianist and two Vaudevillian actors, the theatre hosts charming live performances of Tangled and Beauty and the Beast in the morning and afternoon, respectively. Filled with the delightful gasps and hisses of Medieval Vaudeville, the show is lavishly quaint and perfectly melodramatic – a very fun take on the genre and a really understated experience.

9. Celtic Fyre

Where: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg works diligently to recreate the timeless, historical hamlets of European countries in the park's themed lands. The incredible crumbled castles of the Killarney hamlet are a fanciful recreation of Ireland, and it's there that yellow bricked paths lead to the old abbey, housing the outstanding Celtic Fyre show. Busch Gardens live entertainment has always been one of the park's main draws with authentic Oktoberfest shows in the park's Das Festhaus and a brass-band show in Italy. But Ireland's musical takes the cake.

The mostly-plotless show takes place in the Celtic Fyre Inn on the eve of a wedding celebration with the new bride and groom and their friends gathering in celebration and recounting Irish folk tales as they dance. The show has run for many consecutive years and continues to sell out most days, with the crowd getting completely absorbed into the high-energy musical treat. Probably among the show's highlights is when two Americans swagger in and propose an all-in-good-fun dance-off with the rigid Irish dancing juxtaposed against a loose jazz-and-tap style. 

10. Finding Nemo: The Musical

Where: Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Prestigiously, Finding Nemo: The Musical represents the first non-musical Disney film to be adapted into a musical for a stage show. (By the way, it was the songwriting duo of Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who wrote the songs… They’d go on to write the songs forFrozen.) Originally an open-air amphitheatre in Animal Kingdom’s Dinoland, the Theater in the Wild showed a roller-skating version of Tarzan early on. In 2007, Finding Nemo: The Musical debuted in the newly-enclosed and upgraded venue where puppets and massive sets help tell the story of the delightful clown fish. Like Aladdin, this is a high-caliber show running 40 minutes and featuring tremendous scenery.