The one two new sights opening in 2025 at Walt Disney World each debuted immediately (Might 27) to large crowds and excessive wait instances. This covers the lengthy strains you must count on to come across for the Little Mermaid Musical Journey and Villains Unfairly Ever After, though with short-term technique for incorporating these stage reveals into your DHS itinerary.
Earlier than we dig into opening day of those two new sights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, let’s discuss greater image crowds. This has been a scorching matter of late, as coated in Epic Universe is Useless. That coated how Common Orlando’s new park was seeing COVID-era attendance over the weekend, with walk-on wait instances and crowd ranges that’ll barely crack 1/10 as soon as there’s extra information within the system.
This submit has not been effectively acquired on social media, presumably amongst Common stans who don’t know learn how to learn past headlines (you made it to paragraph three, in order that fortunately isn’t you!). That’s as a result of bolded as the primary sentence within the second paragraph is a “large kudos” to Common Orlando for selecting low crowds. In any case, the UOR diehards have countered this commentary by stating that crowds have been additionally low at Walt Disney World over the weekend. And you realize what: they’re not unsuitable!
This additionally isn’t precisely stop-the-presses information. By vacation weekend requirements, Memorial Day weekend shouldn’t be a ‘pink flag’ vacation. Despite the fact that it’s the unofficial begin of summer season, most college districts in Florida and different states are out till a number of days to a couple weeks after Memorial Day.
Even for these districts which can be out, Memorial Day is normally too early for large summer season holidays–these normally happen a bit later into the summer season, with Memorial Day being extra of a fast weekend getaway or grilling at dwelling. Memorial Day is in no man’s land, considerably much like Martin Luther King Day (between New Yr’s and winter break) or Labor Day (between summer season trip and fall break). Crowd ranges are comparable because of this, as the first draw is locals.
Suffice to say, Memorial Day tends to be proper on par with Labor Day because the least-busy “main” vacation of the 12 months. Independence Day is definitely turning into a darkish horse candidate to surpass each, however that’s an issue of Disney’s personal making–and never resulting from a scarcity of natural demand primarily based on journey tendencies.
The necessary level is that Memorial Day weekend is much less busy than lower-profile holidays like Presidents’ Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day, in addition to the massive ones which can be normally week-long breaks. Memorial Day Weekend is common, at finest, by regular requirements and sluggish by vacation requirements.
As an instance, let’s have a look at previous crowd ranges with wait time information and graphs courtesy of Thrill-Information.com:
Above is a graph of crowd ranges and common every day wait instances throughout all of Walt Disney World for everything of the final 12 months. On the far left aspect, you’ll see final summer season. These are weekly crowd ranges averaging 3/10 to five/10 for the tip of Might by means of the tip of June.
On the far proper aspect of the graph is Might 2025. It’s a really comparable story there, with principally 3/10 crowd ranges (if we appeared again at crowd ranges for mid-Might final 12 months, crowds can be pretty comparable). June 2025 hasn’t began but, so we clearly wouldn’t have that information.
Now let’s check out Memorial Day, particularly, on a year-over-year foundation:
In case you need extra comparisons, above is a graph of Memorial Day wait instances for the final a number of years. (The colour-coding is relative to different Memorial Days, not annually as a complete.)
The busiest Memorial Days have been 2019 and 2022, when the common wait time was 41 minutes. To place that into perspective, that’s about on par with MLK Day (the complete week), which averaged 40 minutes and effectively above final Labor Day, which averaged 33 minutes. Towards the final 12 months, 41 minutes can be the decrease finish of an 8/10 crowd stage.
It’s additionally honest to level out that 2019 and 2022 are anomalies. The previous was a record-setting 12 months for Walt Disney World attendance that has but to be surpassed (and doubtless gained’t till the 2030s when Villains Land opens), and the latter was the height of pent-up demand. Memorial Days since have been coming again to actuality, with the 2025 Memorial Day Weekend having 2/10 to five/10 crowd ranges. That’s barely beneath expectations, however nothing stunning.
From my perspective, that’s the largest distinction between this weekend’s crowds at Epic Universe and Walt Disney World–expectations vs. actuality. And we truly didn’t have that prime of expectations for Epic Universe’s opening weekend.
Based mostly on recognized capability caps, we have been anticipating one thing on par with later paid previews. As an alternative, common posted wait instances have been round one-third the ultimate week of previews. On-the-ground studies prompt even decrease ranges–that almost all posted wait instances have been inflated, and all the things however Battle on the Ministry and Toothless was a walk-on or near it for a lot of the weekend. (Price noting that now that the weekend is over, Epic Universe wait instances have already elevated to paid preview ranges.)
No cheap particular person with any data of crowd patterns or real looking expectations would’ve forecast dramatically completely different crowd ranges at Walt Disney World. If something, the protected wager would’ve been that Common would win the weekend, with locals and vacationers alike pulled away from WDW and to UOR. This remaining conclusion truly is right. Common did “win” the weekend…by advantage of upper crowd ranges at Islands of Journey and Common Studios Florida.
Anyway, on with the evaluation of the brand new sights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios…
Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After has set showtimes, which means it doesn’t at the moment submit a wait time. That might change if excessive demand proves to be enduring, however within the meantime, the present is offered on the hour within the morning and night, and each half-hour in the course of the center of the day and afternoon.
The Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey, in contrast, operates on a steady efficiency schedule from 9:15 am to 7:15 pm every day. That is much like another attraction, which means visitors can queue up all through the day somewhat than arriving for scheduled showtimes. It additionally means the Little Mermaid present has a posted wait time.
In accordance with the information, the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey posted wait time peaked at 110 minutes round 10:45 am. Earlier than and after that, it hovered round 85 minutes. All through the day, it has been one of many highest–if not the best–posted wait instances in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and all of Walt Disney World. As I sort this simply after 4 pm Japanese, the wait time remains to be holding agency at 80 minutes, whilst Slinky Canine Sprint and all the things else is at or beneath an hour!
As might be apparent, this gained’t final. The Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey shouldn’t be going to be a prime 5 wait time in all of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Its predecessor wasn’t, and though this seems to be like a beautiful glow-up, the brand new model is not going to be that widespread over time.
Something new at Walt Disney World has an preliminary rush. That is unsurprisingly true of headliner sights, but it surely occurs with the smaller-scale stuff, too. Moana’s Journey of Water opened with a digital queue and 5+ hour wait! Heck, in the event that they introduced Sew’s Nice Escape again immediately, it will have the best wait time in Magic Kingdom. (Most likely not one of the best instance given the field workplace efficiency of the remake.)
Level being, it’s going to take a number of days or even weeks earlier than the mud settles and the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey falls into predictable patterns. Within the meantime, there’s the preliminary rush of locals, Annual Passholders, vloggers, bloggers, and so on. all who want to be first to see this.
June 2025 and past, my expectation is that the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey can have a wait time roughly on par with Alien Swirling Saucers. I think it’s going to be pretty widespread to have a measurable wait time, which means you won’t be capable of see the instantly upcoming efficiency.
The explanations for this are pretty easy. The present does seem like a significant reimagining and enchancment of its predecessor, and it’s the largest ‘new’ attraction for 2025 at Walt Disney World. On prime of that, it’ll fill the void left by MuppetVision because the “simpler” high-quality counterprogramming to the headliner sights. It’s additionally indoors, air-conditioned, and with an honest period.
All of this strikes me as a recipe for a somewhat-elevated wait time into 2026 as vacationers and non-local Walt Disney World regulars are drawn to the attraction. It’s not going to be routinely eclipsing an hour, however waits of round half-hour wouldn’t be in the slightest degree shocking.
The Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey shall be a Lightning Lane Multi-Move attraction considerably soon-ish. It’s not but clear when that’ll launch, however the touchpoints and Lightning Lane queue are already in place. Our assumption is that Lightning Lane Multi Move and Premier Move will roll out earlier than June 2025 is over.
As soon as the Lightning Lane is launched, the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey will truly be an honest same-day choice. Assuming our evaluation of ~30 minute wait instances is correct, line-skipping might be the distinction between making the present showtime or the subsequent one. Which means the time-savings of the Lightning Lane vs. standby line of this stage present might truly exceed that of some rides–no less than within the quick time period.
A method or one other, this may make Lightning Lane Multi-Move extra beneficial at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Both to scale back your watch for this attraction, or a unique experience as a way to slot in all the things else. Disney’s Hollywood Studios has overtaken Magic Kingdom because the #1 park at Walt Disney World for LLMP, so you must’ve been buying paid FastPass even earlier than this.
As for tentative touring technique, our recommendation is just slotting within the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey and/or Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After within the late morning, early afternoon or early night. Disregard the opening day wait instances, as even within the short-term, these are not sights which can be going to have peak wait instances earlier than midday.
Throughout an excellent day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we at the moment suggest penciling in MuppetVision 3D for late morning, in equal half as a result of it has showtimes earlier than the massive stage reveals, and since it’s taking part in to packed homes to say farewell–and that’s a option to beat these crowds. Comparable thought right here with both of those new reveals.
Watching round 10 or 11 am will allow you to ‘experience the wave’ of crowds for Early Entry and cord drop, after which see the reveals earlier than their rushes begin. My expectation is that that is not all that tentative, and can show to be one of the best technique as soon as the mud settles.
Earlier than lunch would be the candy spot, particularly as experience wait instances peak and the opposite counterprogramming of the ‘huge’ stage reveals don’t but have conflicting showtimes. Similar goes for the late afternoon or early night, after the massive reveals wrap their every day performances. Simply be carried out earlier than experience wait instances begin dropping.
The largest problem goes to be becoming the park’s half-dozen reveals (5 as soon as MuppetVision closes) right into a single day. Our greatest guess is that almost all visitors is not going to do that, and we’ll see barely decrease crowds on the Frozen Sing-Alongside and Magnificence and the Beast: Stay on Stage because of this. Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular will most likely see much less of an influence given how dissimilar it’s to the 2 new productions.
The opposite oblique consequence of those two new stage reveals might be visitors extending their days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. One of many dynamics we’ve written about loads is wait instances peaking early at DHS, visitors “hitting a wall” and heading for the exits early. That pacing your self to outlast the crowds–and even taking a noon break–is the savviest technique, because the final 2-3 hours of the night are wonderful, with the bottom wait instances of the day.
These two new reveals might assist offset the highest heavy experience roster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and bridge the noon for extra visitors, which means increased wait instances into the night time. We doubt that’ll occur. It’s not like we’re on utterly untrodden floor right here. Up till March 2020, each of those venues had comparable reveals and MuppetVision was operating. The dynamic was no completely different then, and ought to be no completely different now.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider these wait instances and crowd ranges? Wanting ahead to the Little Mermaid – A Musical Journey or Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After? Will these be must-dos for you? Pondering the Mermaid Musical shall be a superb use of a Lightning Lane as soon as the mud settles? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
