Underneath this big top, towering over the West Side of Downtown Disney, lies a unique performance event that savvy tourist say is a must see while in Orlando. Cirque du Soleil's various incarnations have traveled the globe, garnering rave reviews from U.S. and international audiences alike. Each Cirque production is specially created, both for the audience and for the venue. The huge exterior of Cirque du Soleil's big top belies its intimate, theater setting. The hall seats 1,671 people, and has a huge oval stage with a circus-like trampoline stretching across it.
Visitors climb to the mezzanine level and enter the theater from the top.
Intricate details abound throughout the big top's 70,000 square feet of interior space, from the painted acrobat carvings holding up signs that indicate seating areas, to the colorful costumes of the cast members who direct you. The venue's box office and gift shop, located on the ground level, are designed to blend in with the theme of the big top. Disney Co. Cirque's big top casts an umbrella of light from the far West Side of Downtown Disney. The show at Downtown Disney features more than 70 actors, dancers, jugglers and acrobats from around the world. Each performer goes through training at the Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal, Canada, where the shows are created.