Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!

Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!: show at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Walt Disney World — showtimes, live status, and planning data on MouseHub.

Visitor sentiment

4.6· 230 Google ratings

The MouseHub take

Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond! is a 25-minute stage show in the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and it does not replay the film. The Tank Gang from Dr. P. Sherman's office, rescued and living at the Marine Life Institute, narrate Marlin and Dory's search for Nemo instead. The score comes from the songwriters behind Frozen, with "In the Big Blue World" and "Go with the Flow" the two Disney puts forward. Puppeteers work the fish in the open against digital scenery, and the singing is live.

Plan it as an afternoon block rather than a headliner. The theater is enclosed, cold, and seats 1,500, so a standby line that looks hopeless usually empties into the next performance. Families with small kids come out happiest, since 25 minutes holds a toddler and still buys a parent a real sit. The ones who leave disappointed tend to be visitors who knew the 14-song musical this replaced, and anyone who spent the wait in unshaded sun for a show that ends soon after it starts.

At a glance

Best for
Families with young kids who want 25 cold, dark minutes off their feet and will take puppetry over another ride.
Skip if
You are working a tight ride plan, or you loved Finding Nemo - The Musical and would rather keep that memory intact.
Ride type
Indoor stage show with puppets and digital scenery
Intensity
Low. A dark house, loud music, and large video screens, with no motion and nothing that startles.

The good

  • The air conditioning is the real draw
    Disney calls it the cool confines of the Theater in the Wild, and that is why a lot of families are in the room. Animal Kingdom gives you few indoor places to sit out the worst of the afternoon.
  • The puppets carry the show
    Performers work large character puppets in full view rather than hiding the mechanism. The scale of them is what kids talk about on the way out, and adults tend to watch the operators as much as the fish.
  • The songs came from the Frozen team
    Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the score for this theater before either of them touched Frozen. The numbers are sung live on stage, which visitors single out ahead of anything else in the production.
  • A 1,500-seat house clears the line
    The theater seats 1,500 at a time, so a queue that looks hopeless normally goes in on the next performance. The wait is about catching the right showtime rather than standing for an hour.
  • Twenty-five minutes is a real sit
    The run is long enough to matter by mid-afternoon and short enough that nobody is trapped. Parents get their feet back without giving up half a touring plan.
  • The retelling keeps small kids watching
    Framing the story as the Tank Gang recounting it moves things along briskly. Toddlers who lose interest in longer shows generally stay with this one to the end.

The bad

  • The line bakes in the sun
    The standby queue runs outside with little overhead before you reach the building. On a July afternoon that wait is the hard part of the experience.
  • The benches give you nothing to lean on
    Seating is stadium-style bleachers with no backs. Guests with back trouble report the 25 minutes costing them more than it gives.
  • Returning fans miss the longer musical
    The production that ran here before carried a 14-song score and told the story straight. Visitors who knew that version treat this one as the short cut of it and say so.
  • The low rows sit too flat
    The bottom of the seating bank has little rake to it. A small child down there spends the show looking at the adults in front of them.
  • Everybody leaves at the same moment
    A full house empties in one wave onto a walkway that was not built for it. Strollers and crowds jam the exit path for several minutes after each performance.

Veteran tips

  • Plan around the showtimes on this page
    The show runs a set number of times a day and the schedule shifts with the season, so the showtimes listed on this page are the ones to build around. The first performance of the day draws the lightest crowd and the coolest queue.
  • Get in line 15 to 20 minutes early
    Turn up at the posted start time and you are usually waiting for the next performance instead. Fifteen to twenty minutes ahead is enough on a normal day.
  • Aim for the middle of the house
    The center rows line up with both the puppets and the screens. The front rows put you close enough that you spend the show tilting your head.
  • Use the restroom before you go in
    There is no restroom inside the theater, so anyone who needs one has to leave the building. Handle it while you are still in the queue.
  • Slide all the way down the row
    Cast members fill each bench from the far end. Stopping partway along holds up everyone behind you and gets you moved anyway.
  • Do not spend a Multi Pass pick here
    The show is on Lightning Lane Multi Pass, but Animal Kingdom has no tier split, so all three picks come off one list that also holds Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. A 1,500-seat theater does not need one.
  • Wheelchairs and ECVs stay put
    Disney lists this as May Remain in Wheelchair/ECV, so nobody in your party has to transfer. Assistive listening, sign language, and audio description are all listed for this show as well.
  • Park the stroller before the doors
    Strollers do not come into the seating area, so plan on leaving yours in the marked area outside. Take anything you need for the 25 minutes with you.

MouseHub editorial, written from visitor reports and official Disney sources. Last reviewed .

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