''Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari'' is a series of interactive 3D virtual games that were included as bonus-features within several of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...

''-related

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

releases throughout the 2000's, starting in 2003. The series of games centers on

Timon and Pumbaa Timon and Pumbaa are an animated meerkat and warthog duo introduced in Disney's 1994 animated feature film ''The Lion King'' and its franchise. Timon was played through his many appearances by Nathan Lane (in all three films and early episodes ...

going on a variety of

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

adventures. The Virtual Safari games are a cross between the ''

Jungle Cruise Jungle Cruise, formally named Jungle River Cruise, and currently named Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions, is a riverboat amusement ride located in the Adventureland themed section at various Disney theme parks worldwide. The attraction is a ...

'' and ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

-related'' Disney theme park rides along with '' Kilimanjaro Safaris''. Players press the left or right arrow buttons on their DVD player's remote at decision making points to decide which way the vehicle travels.

Overview

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough, and all of Atlantic County, is part of South Jersey and the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan statistical area, which in turn is included in the Ph ...

, Disney Feature Animation, and

DisneyToon Studios Disneytoon Studios (DTS), originally named Disney MovieToons and also formerly Walt Disney Video Premieres, was an American animation studio which created direct-to-video and occasional theatrical animated feature films. The studio was a division ...

produced four Virtual Safari games, including: *''Timon And Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari Boat Tour,'' Included within Disney's 2003 DVD release of ''

'' *''Timon And Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari Jeep Tour,'' Included within Disney's 2003 DVD release of ''

'' * ''Timon And Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari 1.5: The Lion King Prideland Adventure,'' Included within Disney's 2004 DVD release of ''

The Lion King 1½ ''The Lion King 1½'' (known internationally as ''The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata'') is a 2004 American animated direct-to-video musical comedy film directed by Bradley Raymond, produced by Disneytoon Studios and released on February 10, 2004. T ...

'' *''Timon And Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari 2.0: Prideland Pachiderm Safari,'' Included within Disney's 2004 DVD release of '' The Lion King II: Simba's Pride''

Production

This series marked the first time that

collaborated with Disney Feature Animation and

to create a game of this type. Andy Siditsky, Disney's Senior VP of Worldwide DVD production and Creative Services, explained that he wanted set a higher benchmark with what could be done within a DVD set top experience: "We started thinking about various theme park rides land Timon and Pumbaa were our natural hosts. That led to different ways of doing it and different pieces and wondering where would you go?" Siditsky brainstormed ideas with a small team including re-recording mixer Terry Porter, discussing different types of tours. They worked closely with the Feature Animation team to develop the animation and assets for the game. As part of the research, the team traveled to Walt Disney World, hung around The Jungle Cruise and read some of scripts of the rides, using them as a guide. There was some trepidation over whether the team could successfully complete the project as it had never been done before. Describing it as an "experiment", Siditsky noted that it opened up the door to create virtual safari type of experiences down the line. Part of the challenge was in making it an engaging theme park ride while being relevant to The Lion King franchise and including some adult humour. An additional challenge was in making the animation quality up to the level of the film, considering time and budget constraints. Around 20% of ''The Lion King'' was repurposed for ''Virtual Safari''. The first Virtual Safari game was released on The ''Lion King'' special edition after six months of work, which combined traditional and CG elements.

Ernie Sabella Ernest Sabella (born September 19, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Pumbaa from '' The Lion King'' franchise, voicing the character in all media except the 2019 and 2024 films. Sabella's TV roles include Mr. Donald ...

reprised the voice of Pumbaa and

Kevin Schon Kevin Schon is an American voice actor who is known for his voice-over work in video games, movies and television shows. He is best known as a voice double for Nathan Lane for animated media, most notably as Timon in the '' Timon & Pumbaa'' tel ...

voiced Timon in both ''1.0'' and ''2.0''.

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been Nathan Lane on screen and stage, on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Na ...

returned to voice Timon for the ''1.5'' installment. ''1.5'' also featured the returning voices of

Julie Kavner Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Before becoming well known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, ...

and

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 20 ...

as Ma and Uncle Max respectively.

Critical reception

The Digital Bits felt the game would be appealing to young children, but noted that as someone who buys DVD out of a love of film, "interactive games don't particularly do anything for me". Sound and Vision felt it was one of the few aspects of the DVD specifically aimed at children. DVDCC said it was "Worth checking out". When speaking about how a

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

about the lost attraction The Little Mermaid Under the Sea Adventure was to be featured on The Little Mermaid 2-Disc DVD, DLP Today commented "they’ve taken the “Virtual Safari” idea from The Lion King’s DVDs and transferred the concept to a real Disney theme park attraction". DVD Mag said they "didn't expect a lot from Virtual Safari 1.5 but had it offered a very fun experience." IGN felt it was "definitely not as traumatic as the original virtual safari on ''The Lion King".'' MousePlanet noted there is "plenty of humor and adventure mixed in" to Virtual Safari 2.0. AnimatedViews felt the game was impressing but lacked replay value due to not having much gameplay.

References

{{The Lion King The Lion King (franchise) video games