The Lion King zone at Disneyland Paris is taking shape! And with good reason: now that the building permit has been granted and officially published (and therefore accessible), along with the plans that go with it, the editors of Sortiraparis take a look at what's new about the future zone, on which work is due to start this autumn.
So what do these plans tell us? In addition to what we already know, namely that the area will include an attraction, a food kiosk, sanitary facilities with seating, a meet & greet area and a store, we've also discovered some technical information on the dimensions of the various buildings and the composition of the attraction. As explained by our DLP Works colleagues, who had access to the plans, the attraction and the store, which will be hidden behind an artificial mountain, will have a footprint of 13,775 m2. The store alone will cover an area of 299 m2.
The attraction will be on two levels, with a queue that will be partly outdoor and partly indoor, also on several levels. The height of the mountain backdrop will reach a maximum of 37m. In terms of vegetation, a total of 297 trees will be planted, and a waterstorage basin will be created for the attraction, "with rainwater collection via infiltration drains", again according to our colleagues at DLP Works. Finally,the total surface area of the project is 30,368.64 m², "with a gross floor area of 11,392 m²".
A zone that also provided news at a round table organized by the destination (and to which the editorial staff was invited) on April 11, 2025. The company with the big ears took the opportunity to provide some information on its future zone inspired by Disney Studios' masterpiece, including two pieces of concept art, but that's not all...
We learned that work is officially due to start by autumn 2025 (planning permission was submitted on April 14 and granted on August 14). The centerpiece of this zone will be Pride Rock, a familiar sight to all fans. On the attraction side, "visitors will embark on a poetic, touching and sensational journey to the heart of the iconic scenes and landscapes seen in the animated film, along a course made up of several surprising descents, the most vertiginous of which will culminate at a height of 16 meters", explains a press release. "It will be one of the biggest attractions at Disneyland Paris," it added.
During the round-table discussion, the Imagineers also discussed the reason for the switch between a Star Wars zone and a Lion King zone: "What's really great is that this is the first time we're doing a Lion King attraction, believe it or not. One of our most beloved films of the last 30 years, and Disneyland Paris will be the first to have this zone," explains the team.
He continues: "We've been developing this project for a long time, and a lot of ideas were on the table as to what we could build.As time went on, we realized that the uniqueness and popularity of The Lion King was so strong in Europe that we kind of changed and made it a priority for the time being".
Michel Den Dulk, Vice President and Portfolio Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering Paris, also informed us that the attraction will be adjustable for splash level, having taken the Parisian climate into account: "You know that in Europe, there are parks everywhere, and they all offer water rides," he declared.
He continues:"Some of them close in winter, but the water attractions are very popular. As our park operates 365 days a year, we plan to run the attraction all year round. That's how we plan it, that's how we design it".
He concludes:"We're making sure that, in our design, we mitigate some of the elements associated with our water attractions, namely, of course, splash. So you can expect us to be thinking about ideas and engineering that might give us the opportunity to give... a sort of summer and winter experience. Climate is taken into account when designing this project."
As a reminder, there will be an attraction, and more specifically a boat ride, based on the Disney classic, with animatronics and all the rest. As far as the boat ride is concerned, according to the model unveiled at D23, it's possible that the boats will have a larger capacity than expected, similar to the attraction in the Snow Queen zone. But it could be that the model is only there to illustrate this zone, and that what appears on it is not what will actually be set up. Stores, a restaurant and a Meet & Greet are also planned.
We also learned that the attraction's animatronics will be state-of-the-art,"plunging visitors into the heart of the Land of Lions to follow Simba's adventures, to the rhythm of the iconic songs from the 1994 animated masterpiece", as explained in a press release. And finally, the attraction will be 37m high (the height of the building originally planned for the Star Wars attraction), for a (final?) 60m-long drop!
In short, we can't wait to find out more!
