With just a few more weeks until we close the page on 2024, Disney is looking ahead to next year. A lot of big and exciting announcements have been made over the past couple of months and Disney World's four theme parks are each slated to receive something new next year.
For Hollywood Studios, we can look forward to two new shows arriving. The first is the previously teased villain stage show, which now has an official title: "Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After." The second is the long-awaited return of The Little Mermaid musical stage show, which is now called "The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure."
Here's the latest update on both of these projects as we close in on 2025.
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After
Announced in September, the now officially titled Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After Details is a live production starring your favorite Disney Villains. The new show will transform Sunset Showcase on Sunset Boulevard -- the previous home of Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy -- into "the mysterious, reflective realm of the Magic Mirror."
Disney has shared an all new teaser description for the highly anticipated show:
"This delightfully wicked live show will keep you on your toes when the most fiendish of foes, Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent, break through the glass to take center stage and captivate you with performances full of witty humor and mischievous charm. You may even get a glimpse of a few more of your favorites through the magical mirrors as dozens of the most infamous evildoers try to join in the delightfully diabolical fun."
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After was somewhat of a surprise announcement, especially has Disney revealed plans for a future Villains-themed land at Magic Kingdom. It's unclear if this will somehow tie into that new land, or why Disney chose to locate it at Hollywood Studios. Regardless, it's one of hte most anticipated projects for 2025.
The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure
Remember Voyage of the Little Mermaid? The live musical stage show offered an abridged version of the 1989 animated movie The Little Mermaid, mixing live actors and puppets with laser projections and lights.
The show was closed in March 2020 due to COVID-19, but never reopened. Its replacement The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure was announced in December 2023. Originally set to open in Fall 2024, the show's opening was delayed and now it it will finally debut in Summer 2025.
Disney's description confirms "all-new sets, a vibrant cast of puppets, live performers, and stunning visuals coming together to take us under the sea." It sounds like the show will once again tell an abridged version of The Little Mermaid featuring beloved songs "Under the Sea" and "Part of Your World," plus two "new-to-this-theater musical numbers, "Daughters of Triton" and "Kiss the Girl."
What it means for Hollywood Studios in 2025?
Big changes are coming to Hollywood Studios. Disney has announced that Muppets Courtyard, including MuppetVision 3D, will be closing to make room for the new Monsters, Inc. Land.
The Muppets will be moving to a new attraction, taking over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster by replacing Aerosmith.
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After Details will hopefully give us a taste of what we can expect from the new Disney Villains Land expansion at Magic Kingdom. Perhaps it will serve as a backstory for how the villains wound up getting their own land.
As for The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure, it brings some much needed entertainment to the park, especially over at Animation Courtyard. As a stage show, it probably won't be open late though, which means that area of the park will remain dead at night — a wasted opportunity, in my opinion.