https://disneyonbroadway.com/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

It’s lion in wait there for you sundowners and Disney buffs… no worries, it’s Hakuna Matata on Kenya’s Pride Rock.

Bet you didn’t even know you knew Swahili (until Signature Experiences alerted me).

But then again we’re all polyglots aren’t we with those couple of words we learn for our summer holidays.

Now few things conjure up Africa more than The Lion King.

And Kenya in central/east Africa is at the heart of it.

Which is probably why Disney chose it for the inspiration of The Lion King’s Pride Rock.

Simba’s scene

The Borana Conservancy in Northern Kenya is where you’ll find Rafiki holding up Simba for the whole savanna to see.

And Elton John belting out The Circle of Life.

While the Rekero camp in the south-west’s Masai Mara right in the middle of the Great Migration Country replicates the lions’ stalking grounds.

Now we’ve all heard tales of the mark the traditional tribesmen people, the Masai Mara, can leave on western visitors.

And read or watched programmes where Westerners marry a warrior and move over to Kenya.

But it has been known to sometimes work the other way.

Masai Marry

Out of Africa: Kyoso Leerat and Ethiopia’s finest Meseret Tekalign

Like when my old friend Adams & Butler’s Siobhan Byrne Learat returned from her trip to Kenya with the best souvenir, her very own Masai Mara warrior Kasao Leerat.

And much like those of us kilted variety, Kasao rightly and proudly dons his African robes to promote his country and his and Siobhan’s brand.

All of which only piques the interest to visit the land of Leerat and Lions.

Elsa’s land

Where you can also visit that other well, lion, of cinema, Elsa, popularised in the Oscar-winning Born Free.

And see her graveyard in the Meru Game Reserve Joy and George Adamson set up.

So whether it’s Hakuna Matata on Kenya’s Pride Rock.

Elsa the lioness or the Masai Mara then magical Kenya, as they brand themselves, will surely cast a spell.

And if you want to get a flavour before hotfooting it out to Africa…

Disney on stage

Then take in a production of Disney’s The Lion King wherever you find out.

And for me that was Disney on Broadway’s visit to Anaheim.

Hakuna Matata all you cool cats.

The City of Skyscrapers aims high, and 20 years since 9/11 New York is rebuilding again.

This time it’s a virus rather than a violence that has shaken America’s largest, most vibrant city.

But this week Mayor Bill de Blasio and his team launched New York‘s fightback.

There’s a $30m injection of cash into international tourism.

Now the first thing we’ll notice if we come through LaGuardia Airport is well, that it’s new, a veritable crystal palace of an airport.

A new New York

Things have changed since we were there last.

And NY now boasts a new train hall, Moynihan Train Hall, an expansion of Penn Station.

Moyni-who? They must be Irish, right?

Well, yes, it was the pet project of former NY Senator Pat Moynihan.

From the right side of the tracks to treading the boards.

NYC & Company treated us to a cast preview of the musical Girl from the North Country.

The musical celebrates the music of Bob Dylan and of course NY shaped America’s Poet Laureate of the Sixties.

Musical New York

Another arts giant to leave a lasting mark on Broadway and New York is Lin/Manuel Miranda.

And his much anticipated musical In The Heights will be out in July.

Miranda, of course, brought us the phenomenon that is Hamilton.

The movie version of which was released to stream on Disney+ last year.

Now I’ve been treated to Disney on Broadway in Anaheim at the last American Travel Fair in 2019.

And I can’t wait to walk down Broadway, or more likely skip after enjoying another of their musicals.

New York is rebuilding again, and is on the up and up once more.

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Hakuna Matata on Kenya’s Pride Rock