Florida hotel wakes up spring breakers with 'Lion King' song

Sleeping until 2 in the afternoon is a thing of the past for spring breakers coming to Florida.

The Holiday Inn in Panama City Beach started a tradition in 2012 to blast "The Circle of Life," from the Disney film "The Lion King," at 11 a.m. each morning during spring break. They say it's their way to wake up sleepy, hung over hotel guests so that they can begin another day of partying. The musical wake-up call gets people out of their beds and onto the balconies where they raise their hands and cheer.

"It's the best thing ever," Holiday Inn guest Jessica Young told  WJHG. "Every morning when we wake up, we look forward to it. It's like an entire Panama City Beach Holiday Inn family just singing together."

Other guests say the throwback gets them emotional.

"I think it's awesome," said spring breaker, Mary Waller. "I cried the first day because I was so happy. I thought it was so cool."

The hotel says they've tried to switch up the songs in the past but didn't get as positive of a response as "The Circle of Life" does. 

"None of the songs that we ever played really compared to "The Circle of Life,'" says Philip Corvin, director of marketing for the Holiday Inn. "It actually invokes all sorts of emotions in these kids. You'll see them, they're up there waving flags. We actually had kids that after the first couple days they showed up and they had stuffed 'Lion King' dolls doing the whole pose at the top of the mountain with Simba."