The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure

The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure: show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World — showtimes, live status, and planning data on MouseHub.

Visitor sentiment

4.4· 783 Google ratings

People say this show is a charming and nostalgic musical adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" movie, featuring impressive CGI figures and live performers. They also highlight the show's improvements and its ability to provide a welcome break from the heat. Some reviews mention there can be long wait times.

Summarized with Gemini · Report summary

The MouseHub take

The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure opened in Animation Courtyard at Disney's Hollywood Studios on May 27, 2025, and runs 20 minutes. Live performers share the stage with puppets and with digital animation projected behind them. Blacklight puppets are back, and show director James Silson's team paired them with motion capture, where a performer in a sensor suit drives a digital character on screen. The score carries "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," "Poor Unfortunate Souls," and "Kiss the Girl," and Disney names "Daughters of Triton" and "Kiss the Girl" as new to this theater. Ariel's story arrives in the beats you expect, King Triton and Ursula included.

Most trips use it as an afternoon breather. The theater is indoors and air conditioned, which on a July afternoon does as much for the group as the show does, and nobody gets measured at the door. Popular showtimes fill, so the party at the back of the line watches the doors close and waits for the next one. Returning fans are the ones most likely to walk out unconvinced. The projected 3D look sits at a distance from the hand-drawn film, and a plain lobby is a common complaint from people who remember the old one.

At a glance

Best for
Families with small kids who want twenty minutes seated in the cold air, and anyone who wants to hear the songs sung live.
Skip if
You have one day at Hollywood Studios with headliners still to get through, or you came for rides rather than stage musicals.
Ride type
Indoor stage musical with puppets and projected animation
Intensity
Gentle. A seated indoor show with no motion. The theater goes dark, and Ursula is the scene that gets to younger kids.

The good

  • The live singing carries it
    Visitors come out talking about the voices before anything else, and Ariel draws most of that praise. The comic timing lands too.
  • Blacklight puppets share the stage with screens
    Disney brought the blacklight puppets back and added motion capture, so a performer in a sensor suit drives the digital characters projected behind the stage. The illusion of Ariel swimming is the bit visitors single out.
  • Twenty minutes of cold air changes the afternoon
    The theater is indoors and dark, which is worth more in August than the running time suggests. Plenty of parties go in for the break and stay for the show.
  • Under the Sea is still the number people talk about
    The big musical set piece is where the color and the puppets do their loudest work. It is the part small kids point at afterwards.
  • The Ursula showdown lands
    Guests report being caught off guard by the final confrontation. The slow-motion staging is the image people carry out of the theater.
  • Kiss the Girl is new to this theater
    Disney lists it and "Daughters of Triton" as numbers making their debut in this production. It gives Prince Eric something to do and rounds out the romance.

The bad

  • Popular showtimes fill before the doors close
    Guests near the back of the line get turned away and sent to the next performance. It happens often enough that turning up at the posted time is a gamble.
  • The digital look divides returning fans
    The projected animation reads as 3D against a film people remember as hand-drawn. Some viewers find the contrast jarring and say so.
  • The lobby is plainer than fans remember
    Visitors who saw the old waiting area describe the current one as bare by comparison. The wait before the doors open is not part of the show here.
  • Animation Courtyard is easy to walk past
    The theater sits in a corner of the park that Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge crowds do not pass through. Families report forgetting it existed until the trip was over.

Veteran tips

  • Check today's showtimes before you plan around it
    Performances run on a schedule with gaps between them, and the times move. The showtimes on this page tell you what is playing today.
  • Spend the Lightning Lane somewhere else
    This sits in the second Multi Pass group at Hollywood Studios, competing with the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, and Star Tours for the same two picks. Those three save you more standing than a reserved seat at a fixed showtime does.
  • Get in line before the posted time, not at it
    The theater seats a fixed number and the line keeps forming after it is full. Arriving while the previous audience is still filing out is the reliable way in.
  • Wheelchair and ECV users stay in their device
    Disney's accessibility listing for this show reads "May Remain in Wheelchair/ECV", so there is no transfer to plan for.
  • Watch the screens behind the puppets
    The digital animation and the physical puppetry are meant to read as one thing. Tracking the handoff between them is the most interesting part of the staging.
  • Bring the toddlers, nobody gets measured
    There is no height requirement, so the whole party goes in together. Rider Switch is not offered here and does not need to be.
  • Twenty minutes is the whole commitment
    Disney lists the show at 20 minutes, so it drops into the gap between two headliners without reshaping the afternoon. Add the wait for the doors and it is still a short stop.

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

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