Should You Actually Use Disney World's Newest Lightning Lane?

There are TWO new shows coming to Hollywood Studios, and they’re opening NEXT WEEK!

The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure and Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After are both opening on May 27th in the park. While the Little Mermaid show is a revamp of its predecessor, the Disney Villains show is an all-new concept. A week before its opening, one of the shows just showed up as an option for Lightning Lane Multi Pass…but should you book it?

The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure is now available to book through Lightning Lane Multi Pass. You can book the show up to 7 days out from your trip if you’re staying on Disney World property, up to 3 days out from your visit if you’re not staying at a Disney World hotel, or on the day of your visit if there’s availability.

According to the Disney World website, the show will run throughout the day from 9:15AM to 7:15PM, so you’ll likely have plenty of opportunities to see it during your visit, as long as you make sure to stop by before that last show of the night. Will it be a priority for booking through Lightning Lane Multi Pass? Should it change your strategy for Hollywood Studios? Probably not. Allow me to explain.

Hollywood Studios is full of some really heavy hitters, and Lightning Lane Multi Pass bookings are fairly competitive there. With hot rides like Slinky Dog Dash, Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, you see some fairly long wait times and pretty limited Lightning Lane availability on busy days.

Because of this, the Lightning Lanes for shows tend to be a much lower priority in this park. Getting a Lightning Lane for a show doesn’t really decrease your wait time either; it’s more of a way to get prioritized seating. If you don’t mind sitting anywhere, you can usually get into all the theater shows by arriving at the theater early enough.

Now, if you’re heading to watch the show in the first few days or weeks that it’s open, you may find that it’s a good idea to book the Lightning Lane for The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure. That’ll all depend on how heavy the crowds are. But since this is mostly an updated version of The Little Mermaid show that was here previously, we’re not expecting it to be as popular as the Villains show down the street.

At this time, Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After is NOT available to book through Lightning Lane Multi Pass — it seems as though it will be a regular standby queue only for its initial operation. We’re expecting it will be the more popular of the two new shows, so if you’re trying to fit both of them in during the same visit, that may be another reason to use a Lightning Lane for The Little Mermaid — to save time.

But ultimately, you’re probably not going to NEED a Lightning Lane to experience the new show. So for now, you can likely go ahead with booking Slinky Dog Dash and your other high-priority rides. Those Lightning Lanes book up quick!

We’ll make sure to keep you updated with crowds and tips when the new entertainment options open. To learn more Lightning Lane strategies for Hollywood Studios, check out the video below.