Transport your kids to the plains of Africa with a lively and colourful adventure to see Disney's The Lion King this Easter.

After months and months of closures London's West End is now full of life again and nothing is more lively when it comes to a musical for all the family than this smash hit spectacle.

Based on the hit film about the coming of age of a young lion cub called Simba - the show is far more than just a movie brought to the stage to tell the story of the circle of life.

The Lion King first opened in London in 1999 and since then has played to sell-out audiences who return time and time again to marvel at the costumes, enjoy the soothing beat of the African music and nod along in their seats to a sensational soundtrack so familiar to many - not least because of its music and lyrics by a certain Elton John and fellow award-winning creator Tim Rice.

Your journey through the pridelands will be mesmerising, enthralling in fact, with the show's incredibly creative team using masks, puppets, intricately sculptured costumes, stunning tribal make-up and South African choral music played from around the theatre to bring the animal kingdom truly to life.

And if you're not sure the gradual rising of the morning sun over the savannah can be suitably replicated inside a historical theatre in the heart of London's own concrete jungle then fear not. As much as the show's human cast bring the African landscape to life, so does its set designers and backstage teams.

Lighting, music, movement and a changing stage that walks you from the vast savannah to the green waterfalls of the forest, via the smokey grey of an elephant's graveyard will leave you feeling like you're a million miles from home and problem free - rather like the lyrics of Hakuna Matata intended.

You really will feel the warmth of an African sun, the rumbling ground will give you all the feels of being caught up in a wilderbeast stampede and your kids absolutely will grimace at the grossness of Timone and Pumba's much-loved diet of bugs and grubs.

And despite it's deep-rooted message about the passing of time and the transfer of leadership from one generation to another, that risks leaving you contemplating your own place in humanity, this musical is all about entertainment and it will whisk you off on a fast-paced, funny, full of life adventure that only a long flight to the African grasslands itself can compete with.

There are six African languages used in the show and dancing from townships brings the culture alive while percussionists sat among audience members create a drum beat synonymous with the vibrant continent.

You might not be able to whisk the family as far away as Africa this April - but a rich cultural journey is actually not that far away.

Simba - he just can't wait to be king - but what are you waiting for? Tickets to Disney's The Lion King are available from £23.50 and can be booked here