Timon & Pumbaa's Vacation Safari is a humorous short nature documentary included within the 2012 and 2017 home video releases of The Lion King 1½, serving as the film's spin-off. The short combines animation as well as live-action footage of animals - specifically focusing on animals representing African fauna.
The short was first included in the 2012 DVD, Blu-ray and digital releases of The Lion King 1½ where it was released on March 6, 2012 prior to the Diamond Edition of The Lion King returning to the Disney Vault on April 30, 2013. When The Lion King 1½ was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 29, 2017 along with The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the short was included exclusively on the Blu-ray and digital formats of the home video's release, as the 2017 DVD edition has completely removed all bonus features.
Plot[]
Timon and Pumbaa are watching a movie via projector screen at the jungle waiting for everyone to watch. Soon as the movie starts, they see footage of live-action animals - specifically animals representing African fauna just as Pumbaa explains to Timon that there are many animals like the ones in the video seen in the Pride Lands and throughout the montage, Timon tells him that he is ruining the script he made. The scene loops into a hippopotamus swimming underwater, where Timon explains to Pumbaa that hippos can be extremely aggressive creatures, followed by Timon looking at a crocodile (whom he thinks it is an alligator) which Pumbaa tells Timon the difference between alligators and crocodiles. The next animal the two seen is the rhinoceros which Pumbaa explains to Timon that the rhinoceros' name originates from the Greek words for "horn" and "nose", explaining to him that despite their weak eyesight, rhinos have a great sense of hearing and scent.
After this, Pumbaa and Timon are commenting on the footage of warthogs and meerkats like their own species, showing the differences of what makes these species unique. After Pumbaa tells Timon that meerkats like him are immune to venom from scorpions, the former tells Timon that he has a scorpion on him which Timon overreacts, interrupting the movie for a bit, figuring out that Timon is safe after all. As Timon and Pumbaa continue watching the movie, they see footage of African elephants, with Timon explaining that elephants can drink over forty gallons of water a day and communicate through bellowing. Pumbaa suddenly hears an overlapping stampede, which Timon mistakes them for their guests to which as the stampede arrives, the animals pass through the projector screen, causing Timon and Pumbaa's movie to become ruined. Pumbaa asks Timon if he can finish the hors d'oeuvres which Timon tells him to do so.
Voice Cast[]
- Kevin Schon as Timon
- Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa
Trivia[]
- On the start of the short, the projector screen features the opening credits on Timon and Pumbaa's "movie" where Timon is the only one "credited" on making this "movie" - hinting that Timon was the only one who "made" the "movie".
- Footage from Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort was used in the short - specifically focusing on animals from the Africa section of the park as confirmed by the short's ending.
