Simba’s Climactic Confrontation with Scar Revealed for New Lion King Ride: Concept Art, Details & Model Photos

During the 2026 D23 Expo, Disney pulled back the curtain on the first-ever Lion King attraction and Pride Rock land coming to the reimagined second gate at Disneyland Paris. This shares new concept art, details & model photos of the log flume ride at the reimagined Disney Adventure World, and everything we know about the area.

After originally announcing the Lion King Pride Lands two years ago at the last D23 Expo and trickling out new details since, we got our first major update at the 2026 D23, with updates coming both via the “Imagineering: Horizons” pavilion on the show floor and the Parks Panel presentation.

Construction began in Fall 2025, with foundation work completed next to the banks of Adventure Bay, near World of Frozen. Designed to transport guests into the heart of the African savanna, the area is already beginning to take shape, with its first building structures now rising from the ground.

At the heart of this Pride Lands area is a new water-based attraction that will invite families on a thrilling journey through iconic scenes from The Lion King. The attraction will be brought to life through state-of-the-art visual effects and Audio-Animatronics figures that include Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Scar and more.

The untitled Lion King ride will also feature the film’s beloved soundtrack while the adventure navigates an exciting path with three exhilarating drops, including an impressive 16-meter-high descent from the iconic Pride Rock. The water attraction will follow Simba on his journey from cub to king, in a retelling of the story from the classic animated feature film.

During the Parks Panel presentation, host Neil Patrick Harris once again reiterated that the attraction is based on the original animated version of The Lion King, before proceeding to share new concept art and details.

The big news is that a brand-new Audio-Animatronics figure of Scar will debut in the upcoming attraction. Disneyland Paris unveiled concept art featuring a new climactic confrontation scene in the attraction, with the treacherous villain standing in Simba’s path to become king of the Pride Lands. This scene is directly inspired by the iconic climax of the 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios classic.

Here’s a closer look at the concept art:

This is either expected or exciting, depending upon your perspective. We already knew that this attraction would be a retelling of the 1994 animated film. Given that, it stands to reason that there would be the finale would feature an encounter with Scar, literally standing in the path of Simba (and guests). This was a safe bet for the scene immediately before the Pride Rock drop.

At the same time, we’ve seen several recent attractions that omit villains and eschew confrontation in favor of “joyful celebrations” or whatever. The most obvious example here is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which could’ve served as the template for the Lion King attraction given their parallels. But it’s far from the only ones, and there has seemingly been a concerted effort to make attractions less scary and more friendly towards young families. Even ones with scary drops and height requirements.

In fairness, the approach does work on some attractions, and there’s a lot of great music from the Lion King. It wouldn’t have been a complete shock to see Disney go this route, and they possibly could’ve pulled off a good attraction with just music, the good guys, and vibes.

However, it also would’ve required leaving out a lot of great characters and moody, atmospheric scenes that would really lend themselves well to a boat ride. Thankfully, that is not what’s happening here. Conflict is back. Let’s hope this continues, and Disney gives the zero-stakes, joyful celebrations a rest for a bit.

The entire Lion King Pride Lands area, once completed, will cover more than 30,000 square meters, including the attraction, a boutique, a dining location and, of course, unforgettable character appearances.

Creating an authentic African savanna in France comes with unique challenges for Imagineers: from pruning and sculpting European trees to recreate the iconic flat-topped silhouettes of acacias that cannot grow in the French climate, to embedding animal paw prints into the sunbaked savanna earth, making it feel as if wildlife had wandered through the land long before guests arrived.

Disneyland Paris also shared a new piece of concept art showing an aerial overview of the Pride Lands:

As vertical construction progresses, more details will be revealed on the Lion King Pride Lands project. In the meantime, guests can look forward to Wilderness Explorers Sky Swings opening in 2027. (No new details on that at the 2026 D23, but I’m honestly not sure what else there really is to say.) The first-ever attraction at Disneyland Paris inspired by Disney and Pixar’s Up, this charming family experience will take flight on Adventure Way, just across from the recently opened Raiponce Tangled Spin.

“The teams at Walt Disney Imagineering, Disneyland Paris and Disney Animation are hard at work bringing to life the beloved world of The Lion King, which has captivated audiences for more than three decades. We believe this epic story was also embraced thanks to its unforgettable villain, so we are excited to lift the curtain on Scar’s presence in this major attraction. Thanks to an extraordinary level of detail, our guests will experience the very heart of the film’s story, its emotion and thrills, in an entirely new way,” said Michel den Dulk, Vice President Portfolio Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering Paris.

We had the chance to chat with Michel den Dulk as he roamed around the show floor following a presentation on Space Mountain – De la Terre à la Lune (a potentially even more exciting announcement for a separate post). Among other things, Michel shared that they felt it was important to include the climactic confrontation between Simba and Scar to tonally differentiate it from Frozen Ever After. The Imagineers didn’t want two headliner attractions in close proximity that offered overly similar storytelling or experiences. Conflict was a good way of distinguishing the experiences.

There are also new models revealed on the D23 show floor in the Imagineering booth.

The first of these is a scale model of Rafiki’s Tree, which will be a giant baobab tree in the land. There will be a small stage directly in front of the tree for character interactions and smaller-scale atmospheric entertainment.

The Imagineering pavilion also displayed a Lion King attraction ride vehicle model, complete with wooden log texture and a small Simba carved into its front.

The ride vehicles are similar to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World. The Lion King model features four rows of seats, just like the version at Magic Kingdom. The difference is that this has small dividers that separate the rows into three seats in each row, making for a wider ride vehicle.

This is as contrasted with the Disneyland version of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which has single file seating with guests sitting one behind the other. This is somewhat notable, as the original concept art released two years ago seemed to show single-file seating for the Lion King attraction at Disneyland Paris. (We’re now increasingly confident that was just old, recycled concept art for a rejected reimagining of Splash Mountain at Disneyland.)

The booth also featured a model of the “Hakuna Matata” show scene that was previously unveiled via concept art:

As you might notice in comparing the original concept art to the model, the staging has changed slightly.

Or perhaps more accurately, the concept art was a tad fanciful and took artistic liberties, and this simplified layout was the intended presentation all along. Either way, the scene looks great.

The Lion King should really lend itself to a dark ride. There are so many scenes in the film with vibrant colors, moody lighting and atmospheric environments. And of course, iconic music. The scenes of the attraction should be more captivating than the landscape of the Pride Lands as a whole. Not that the area itself will be bad, but there’s just so much more the Imagineers can do within the wholly controlled and constrained conditions of single show scenes. We can’t wait!

We were on hand for the relaunch of the second gate at Disneyland Paris, and while it’s a marked improvement (see our Review: Disney Adventure World is a Disney Park), it’s also just a start. The park would really benefit from another anchor area and attraction opposite World of Frozen.

It’s unfortunate that the Lion King Pride Lands expansion wasn’t fast-tracked. Keep in mind that this plot of land was originally announced as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge back in 2018, and that land should’ve already opened by now. Of course, all construction projects are behind as a result of the COVID closures, but nothing has moved as glacially slow as the ones at Disneyland Paris.

The good news is that there does seem to be a new sense of urgency after the smash success of the Disney Adventure World relaunch, and our expectation is that the Lion King Pride Lands is a Summer 2028 opening. That might be an ambitious timeline, though, and we wouldn’t expect this to have a fall or winter opening, so it seems like either a fast-tracked Summer 2028 debut or a late Spring 2029 opening is most likely.

I cannot wait for the Pride Rock area of Disney Adventure World. As an elder Millennial who grew up during the Disney Animation Renaissance, I feel like my childhood dreams are finally being fulfilled. It only took three decades, but they’re giving The Lion King its own attraction and area.

The ride is also a matter of wish fulfillment. Splash Mountain was one of my favorite rides as a kid, and I can only imagine how much more I would’ve loved that, but with Lion King characters. The Legend of The Lion King at Magic Kingdom (for fellow old-timers) was awesome, and expect this to be so much better.

First Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland, now this! What’s next, an Aladdin ‘Cave of Wonders’ attraction featuring the Shanghai Pirates or Fantasy Springs Peter Pan ride systems?! No, seriously. Based on the Disney Adventure World model, that seems like an actual possibility. There are still several expansion pads, and the park will still need more help even after this.

The timing is also right for a Lion King ride. Even though it has flashes of brilliance, the Little Mermaid dark ride came too early. Same goes for Frozen Ever After at EPCOT. The technology wasn’t quite there to bring those to life properly, but it is now. Audio Animatronics are next-level, and shouldn’t run the risk of looking dated a decade from now.

It’s also already clear that Imagineering has learned lessons from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. That’s an apples to oranges comparison since it was a retrofit, but it’s still fair to be concerned about dead space in the Pride Lands similar to all of the empty grass in the bayou. Hopefully Imagineering realizes what went wrong with that, and undertakes world-building and show design and doesn’t just have clusters of marquee Audio Animatronics without much in between. I’m confident that they’ll get it right.

The Pride Lands area itself looks interesting, but it’s somewhat difficult to ascertain what’s what in the model. And as someone who has visited Animal Kingdom since opening, I’m admittedly less impressed by this since I have a hard time imagining it’ll surpass what Disney Legend Joe Rohde and his team of Imagineers accomplished there. Nevertheless, it should be a strong addition to Disney Adventure World. The back half of that park will definitely benefit from having its own, original attraction and area.

Speaking of both Walt Disney World and parks that could use about a half-dozen more attractions, we’d really love to see this Lion King attraction come to Animal Kingdom. Not necessarily as a log flume ride, since Animal Kingdom already has a water ride, but replicating the show scenes as a dark ride.

Animal Kingdom could badly use another family-friendly attraction that’s indoors and doesn’t have a height requirement, and there’s an expansion pad over by Harambe. Cloning some of the assets but not the attraction as a whole could reduce development costs, and give Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris their own unique twists on Lion King rides.

Perhaps we’re biased as children of the 1990s who grew up on the animated classic, but a Lion King ride would be fantastic at Walt Disney World. My sincere hope is that we’re done with Marvel and Star Wars stuff for a while, and Imagineering will focus on the animated classics that are more quintessentially Disney.

Here are more photos of the Lion King Pride Lands model that was on display at the 2024 D23 Expo in case you want to see more of what this area looks like:

That last look at the model is what excites me the most. This park is essentially going from being the size of Future World at EPCOT to adding its own World Showcase, albeit the animated world. Frozen and Lion King are superlative starts–I’m so happy it didn’t end up getting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Even after all of this, there are still a good 3-4 major expansion pads left in Disney Adventure World. This park has already improved by leaps and bounds with the relaunch, and it still has a tremendous amount of untapped potential even after Lion King comes online.

It really could get an Aladdin area (continuing the animated worlds trend) and maybe even Beauty and the Beast (although two France lands in the Parisian park might be excessive). I just hope the previous Pandora tease was incorrect, and assume it was given box office results, and that Disney and James Cameron are both seemingly losing interest in the franchise.

Ultimately, we enjoyed the reimagined and expanded Disney Adventure World much more than we expected. It actually feels like a Disney park now, albeit an incomplete and imbalanced one. The front half is very ride dense, but thematically underwhelming. The back half is beautiful, but with a lot of empty space. It’ll feel less that way after the Lion King Pride Lands opens, but it sure would be nice to have a third themed area back there.

The possibilities truly are endless for Disney Adventure World. That’s not something I ever thought I’d say about the theme park that I once described as Disney setting up shop on a Walmart parking lot. The second gate at Disneyland Paris has a bright future, and I’m really looking forward to it coming into its own!

For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Find the best place to stay in Disneyland Paris Hotel Reviews. Check out 101 Disneyland Paris Tips for some (101, to be exact) of our best random tips for doing DLP like a pro. See Disney Park Tickets Tips & Tricks for ways to save on tickets. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. Finally, for advice beyond Disney, check out our Ultimate Travel Guide to Paris, France.

Your Thoughts

Are you excited for the Lion King Pride Lands or any other upcoming additions to the second gate at Disneyland Paris? Pleased to see a climactic confrontation between Scar and Simba? Happy to have villains back in rides, or do you prefer family-friendly joyful celebrations? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!