5 Changes We Hope Disney Makes to the NEW 'Little Mermaid' Stage Show

In December 2023, we heard that Disney was permanently closing the Voyage of the Little Mermaid at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

We haven’t seen the show performed since 2020 when the parks closed due to the pandemic. Since then, we have been waiting with bated breath for it to reopen. However, Disney announced that the show was going to be closing permanently to make way for something brand new — “The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure”. Disney’s Live Entertainment team has been working on the show for over a year now, so consider this our open letter to them about what we would like to see in the new show.

While we’re excited for this show to be brought to life, we can’t help but think back to the original show. We look back on those memories with love, but we can think of a large list of things we would like to see improved or added to the newest version of the show — which is set to debut in late 2024.

Ariel in Disney World

Better Effects

We get it, the original show opened in 1992. We know that the expectations of practical effects are a lot higher now than it was back then — which is why it is the top thing on our list. Not only do we look at those memories with love, but we also look back at them and smell the fog effects that the show used to have. Not only that, but we can also remember choking on it and coughing for what felt like days (that is dramatic, but you get it). We’re hoping to see some improved fog effects if they’re planning on incorporating those into the show — and we also hope that we don’t remember them this way 20 years from now.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid billboard

Now that we’ve cleared up our feelings on the fog, let’s talk about the lighting. In the old show, Disney utilized lazers and lights to simulate waves on the sides of the room during the fight with Ursula scene, and we wished they worked a little better. With today’s technology, we’re hoping that they can bring that back in an improved way.

Let’s go for a swim!

Something that isn’t as pressing (but we really want to see) is the rain effect working more consistently if they bring it back. We don’t need a downpour — we can go outside for that. However, we remember it from the original and remember wanting it to be more consistent… so we had to mention it.

The Size of Max

We love Max! He is such an adorable part of the film. However, in the original show, he was… larger… than we expected.

Under The Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom!

Honestly, he was the size of a human, and it was mildly offputting. If he is involved with the show at all, we’re hoping to see him at a size that is less jarring and unrealistic. We’ve seen that Disney has the technology to do it based off of things built for the Zootopia Land at Shanghai Disneyland, so we are hoping they can bring a little bit of that technology over to us in Orlando.

Better Transitions

We don’t know about you, but we remember some interesting transitions taking place in the original show.

Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom!

The first one that comes to mind is the transition Ariel makes when she is turning into a human. We know that it is a hard transition to do live, but we feel like they can do better than Ariel standing up from a stationary tail. We’re not expecting anything groundbreaking here, but we think some changes to this integral moment would be really cool to see.

The Pre-show Area

We know they’re retheming the show, but getting the queue and holding area rethemed would be the icing on top of the cake.

Voyage of The Little Mermaid Queue with Social Distancing Markers

The old holding area gave us 20,000 leagues under the sea vibes — and that just is not what the little mermaid needs. So, we’re hoping that this area gets some love too — how cool would it be if they themed it to Ariel’s Secret Grotto, the place she stored all of her gadgets, gizmos, whoosits, whatsits, and thingamabobs.

Adding Music from The Broadway Production

Since a big part of this show is music, we’re hoping to see some songs from the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid. We already know about some musical numbers we can expect, like “Part of Your World,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and “Kiss the Girl,” but we’re hoping that we can get something from the Broadway musical to change it up a little bit. We know it isn’t likely, but we can dream.

Voyage of The Little Mermaid

We know that all of our wishes won’t come true, but we’re hoping that these are some of the changes we will find once the show opens in late 2024. We’re keeping our eyes out for updates about this show, so we’ll be sure to update you as we find out some new information! Keep checking in with us to see what we find next!