Lion King show for sensible 4 year old?

[Fjrmum2]

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone with experience of going to the theatre with children. I am thinking about taking my son to see a matinee of the Lion King in London. He's just turned 4 (but he's extremely well behaved and sensible for a four year old I think! - though I'm sure I'm somewhat biased!). I wanted to do something special with him as with the arrival of his baby sister we have had very few opportunities to spend any time just the two of us recently. He loves music, dancing, singing, theatre etc and I have taken him to see a couple of shows before - though nothing quite as long or expensive - and he loved it and behaved very well. My question is has anyone else taken their 4 year old to see the Lion King show and if so how did they get on with a)the length of the show and b)the sad/scary bits! I have seen the show myself a few years ago and thought it was fantastic but I do remember crying at one point! 😬 Any advice/experience much appreciated.

It’s not a toddler appropriate show; maybe look for one of the Julia Donaldson etc shows which are much shorter and will have an audience who may get a little more “involved” (a 4 year old won’t be able to concentrate for the duration of The Lion King and it’s pretty awful for the rest of the audience to be disturbed at the price of those tickets). Even a kids film at one of the Leicester Square cinemas would be a treat for a 4 year old

(The Unicorn or Polka theatres are worth a look)

Has he been to the theatre before, and how is he with loud noises?

My 6 year old hated his first ever panto at 3/4 which was Snow White, the loud noises plus the witch was very scary to a child. We had to leave early.

He has since been to Lion King (some very loud parts!) but enjoyed the singing and puppets.

I would be most concerned with the loud noises and also keeping disturbance to a minimum of people around you. During one show (I think Lion King when it was on tour), when he would ask me or DH questions he was talking very loudly above the music. I've obviously told him to be quiet when he is in the theatre : )

I took my then five year old to see The Lion King. He watched the first five minutes then fell asleep for the entirety of the rest of the show.

I would, took mine to see Les mis at 4&6, but they had been to concerts, musicals and church since birth - our local theatre had a booth at the back with glass for families

We Took 4 yr old as his DSis had a birthday... he enjoyed it. He had been to other productions and concerts before. His DB would have fallen asleep the second the lights went down at the same age. None of them expected to chat , walk about or eat at the theatre/ cinema etc.

I think it’s all dependent on the child. I took DD to see Frozen when she had not long turned 4 and she was better behaved than children as old as 10. Unfortunately it’s been years since I saw Lion King so can’t comment on it specifically, but I think some children absolutely can sit through a long show at that age, enjoy it and not ruin it for anyone else.

My daughter used to work there.

People did take 4 year olds but it is a long show and can get a bit scary at times (the stampede). Tickets are also very expensive and others will not appreciate it if you disturb them.

Lion King was the first show I ever took dd to see when she was 6 which was a good age. I think for a younger child I would try Frozen first.

I'd agree that it depends on the child. I think ds enjoyed it at 4 or 5, but he was used to shows (had been in panto).
Dd1 would have been fine, but I'm not sure dd2 would have been. She was a bit of a wriggler, plus got easily scared.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would agree with another pp about taking him to a more child friendly show first. There are lots of 1-1.5 hour shows based on tv shows/book characters around that he will love and you can take him to the Lion King when he’ll appreciate all of it a lot more.

It's recommended for 6+ and I'd say that's about right. It's longer than the film and a bit darker in places. My (admittedly very sensitive) 8 year old found a couple of bits scary. Also while both my kids have been to lots of shows they don't actually remember anything they saw before about age 6.

I took my Lion obsessed DC for their 4th birthday. Booked in a box to ensure they wouldn’t disturb anyone else, it was amazing. She did stand during some of it (but the box meant this was fine) and was utterly engrossed.

Lion king was the worst show I've seen with children! The broom sticks and animal cardboard head cut outs are bad (the one in London west end)

Maybe buy cheaper seats and if you're not enjoying it you can leave early

I think he'll enjoy it and appreciate it much more when he's a bit older. Go somewhere where it doesn't matter how well behaved he is! You can spend your money on a toddler theatre, trampoline centre or sensory experience like Euphoria in London (not been so can't vouch for it but something on those lines. Or a child centred museum like the Postal Museum or London Transport. Enjoy!

It's really long.

Why not go during Kids week (the whole of August) when children go free to West End shows? I started taking DD at 4 and she sat through every show just fine as a young child - apart from Wicked where out of character she kept fidgeting, it turned out the seat material was really itchy on her bare legs so we managed to sort it for the second act.

Lots of young children don't like Panto, DD hated them I think because of the booing but she was fine with everything else.

Lion King is a good shout but if they have any Dinosaur Zoo shows with puppet dinosaurs go to that instead they are phenomenal and really are realistic (in a non-scary way) for young children and leave Lion King for later.

That's pretty much what I did when I saw it in my 30s.
After the initial parade(which is fabulous) it's not a particularly interesting show.

Our children were 5 and 7 and absolutely loved it. We took our granddaughter to Frozen on her 4 th Birthday and she was absolutely enchanted. It was actually the adults close to us who were badly behaved ! Pissed and disruptive TBH !

Dinosaur Live looks like they are on a world tour, although there is a section for a UK tour but with no confirmed dates

If I was you I'd look at what shows are available now that he will only enjoy and be magical at a young age like Paw Patrol or Dinosaurs, compared to what he will still enjoy as he gets older like Lion King / Matilda etc

I took my newly 3 year old to lion king, he already loved the movie and we had done some small shows.
We had great seats to keep him engaged and some quiet snacks, but he loved it. It is very long though, with the first half being the longest.
We got a program and he had a teddy and he still talks about the show to this day. Everyone around was amazed but he will sit and watch movies and TV all day!

I took a 10, 8 and 6 year old a couple of years ago and it’s long and full of badly behaved adults and children. Given the expense of theatre it really wasn’t an enjoyable experience. My 6 year old was enchanted but the older two struggled because it was so long. They are used to theatre and enjoyed other west end shows but this just never seemed to end.

I took my six year old to see the Lion King, and she was pretty scared at times.

The next week I got called into school as she had told the teacher she had been attacked by a dog in London while Mummy just sat watching.......

It’s an amazing show - my children were older when we went , but did take them to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when the youngest was 5 but young for his age .

They were entranced by both .

You know your son so go with your instinct . Matinee and Snacks are key and don’t try and fit anything else into the day .

My 4 year old (I think at the time) loved the lion king, we went to see it in the lyceum in london....

She went on to have a short career in musical theatre and entertainment before covid killed the entertainment industry abroad.

Absolutely bonkers that she's now 23, 5 weeks away from having her own daughter, and the show is still touring.

I took my 3 year old to see it at the hippodrome in Bristol, she was fine and really enjoyed it. Just recently taken her to frozen, she's 4 now and was fine again. I think it depends on the child though, some can focus for a long time on one thing and others can't. I was fairly confident she would be ok as she could sit through a film at the cinema. I do try to take her to a play area first, so she's burnt off a bit of energy!