simba

As for going back onstage, Brantley Gilbert said they “didn’t really think in a million years it would happen during the show” but had joked about him returning to his fans with the baby in tow, presenting the child to the audience like Simba in Disney’s “The Lion King.”

This happened long before “Star Wars” changed how a generation saw him, before “The Lion King” introduced him to Millennials as Mufasa, Simba's father and the rightful and just ruler of the African savannah.

Actor Matthew Broderick, who voiced Simba in the Lion King, told People magazine: "I’m so lucky to have had a chance to work with James Earl Jones. To have had him play my father, my king! And to get to know him a little bit."

But now that the Mexico-born, Kenya-raised actor is giving voice to an animated character who actually does wash ashore on a remote island, it’s possible that Simba, Timon, Pumbaa and company may have some competition.

Visitors will go "on a journey through the African savanna" alongside iconic characters from Mufasa and Simba to Timon and Pumbaa, theme parks chief Josh D’Amaro said on Saturday.