How a Florida Hotel Gets Spring Breakers Out of Bed

Partying into the wee hours, then sleeping past noon. That's the circle of life for college kids on spring break in Florida. Or it was, until a Holiday Inn Resort in Panama City Beach started blasting "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King each morning at 11am. A DJ started the daily "wake-up call" tradition in 2012, WJHG reports. Now, when the music sounds from the pool area's speakers, vacationers head out onto their highrise-hotel balconies, cheer, and sing along; some are said to hoist imaginary Simbas into the air.

The "loud beat" and "the message of the song" makes it the perfect wake-up call, says Philip Colvin, the Holiday Inn's marketing director. Plus, "for these kids, this would have been one of their first Disney movies." That's right: Al.com points out that the movie was released in 1994, when today's college kids just being born. He adds it's become so popular that "hundreds" have called to double-check that the wake-up call is still in force. (A naked spring breaker recently caused an uproar in Florida.)