Ever since last year’s D23 Expo, we have been anxiously awaiting the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s brand new show, Drawn to Life. 

©Disney

And today we were able to catch a sneak peek of the all-new performance which opens to the public on April 17, 2020!

Disney Springs’ longtime running show La Nouba gave its final performance waaaay back in 2017, meaning there hasn’t been a Cirque du Soleil show at Disney World since then! But all of that’s about to change, and we’re not the only ones excited about it!

Shortly after tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s’ all-new show Drawn to Life were announced, dates began SELLING OUT immediately! But is this show something worth adding to your Disney World travel plans? Come along with us as we take a closer look at this all-new show!

Drawn to Life

First of all, Drawn to Life is offering an experience unlike any other because Disney Springs is not simply hosting a Cirque show, but Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering teamed up with Cirque du Soleil to create it!

©Cirque Du Soleil

This unique collaboration incorporates Disney’s rich history and storytelling with Cirque’s musical and acrobatic artistry. We studied in the details of the new stage in awe as we awaited the performance to begin.

Drawn to Life Stage

A giant desk lamp with an articulated arm comprises a large portion of the stage. In fact, the design makes it seem like Drawn to Life is performed right on top of an animator’s desk!

Drawn to Life Stage

The stage is encircled by shelves of spiralbound sketch pads and loose pages with bits of animation and notes jotted down on them! The paper is discolored with age lending a feeling of nostalgia to the story that’s about to unfold!

Drawn to Life Stage

Drawn to Life is about a girl named Julie whose father, Tom, was a former Disney animator. She discovers an unfinished piece of animation and a letter left behind by her late father. Since she’s an imaginative and determined little girl, (thanks in large part to her father’s creativity and being surrounded by his artwork during her early childhood), she embarks on a magical journey to complete the drawing and finish what her father started.

Drawn to Life Stage

Julie’s guide into this imaginative world of boundless Cirque du Soleil’s signature whimsy is her father’s favorite green pencil! Throughout the show, Julie encounters a colorful cast of characters including a larger-than-life gloved hand as well as the story’s antagonist — Miss Hésitation! She’s the lady wearing the dress that looks like a crumpled piece of paper and represents an artist’s self-doubt!

Julie and Mr. Pencil with Cast

In the first act, four Disney animators begin drawing a team of acrobats, and the sketches begin to LITERALLY leap off the pages! During this Inner World of Animation segment, you’ll also see the silhouettes of some recognizable Disney characters including Mickey, Donald, and Goofy appear on the “pages” of the stage!

©Disney Drawn to Life

We also got to see a preview from the second act called the Aerial Pencil! The aerialist twists, turns, flips, and flies through the air and it’s one of the most insane things we’ve ever seen! As he’s lowered to the pages, his “sketches come to life and you’ll see drawings of Cinderella, Tarzan, and more of your favorite Disney characters rendered in stunning Cirque du Soleil-style!”

©Disney Drawn to Life

We have seen Cirque shows in the past, but Drawn to Life brings an extra layer of Disney magic to the stage that has truly left us mesmerized!

Drawn to Life Cast

You can catch a show in Disney Springs West Side at the iconic white tent (it’s hard to miss) when Drawn to Life officially premieres April 17th, 2020 (if you were lucky enough to already get your tickets!).

If you’re interested in seeing Drawn to Life, get your tickets online at Disneyworld.com!

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Are you interested in seeing Drawn to Life? Let us know in the comments below!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of Drawn to Life. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ