Sunset Showcase Gets Fresh Paint Ahead of 'Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After' Debut at Hollywood Studios

7 days ago in "Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After"

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Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After construction - May 8, 2025

Posted: Thursday May 8, 2025 10:20am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In preparation for the debut of Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After on May 27, Disney has begun repainting the exterior of the Sunset Showcase theater at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The refresh comes as part of a broader transformation of the venue to support the upcoming villains-themed live show.

Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After construction - May 8, 2025

Crews are currently working on updating the facade of the building, which previously housed Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.

Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After construction - May 8, 2025

The repainting is the latest visible step in the lead-up to the show’s debut. In recent weeks, Disney has installed scrims around the courtyard, shared concept art and the attraction poster, released behind-the-scenes videos, and offered a first listen to an original song from the show’s soundtrack.

Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After Poster

Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After will transport guests into the realm of the Magic Mirror, where villains like Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent will make their case for being the most misunderstood. The live stage production will feature original music, elaborate staging, and an audience-driven finale.

Villains Show concept art

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rd8053 days ago

Was thinking that! They could have really stopped running relatively early and I wouldn't have been surprised -- this is cool.

ToTBellHop4 days ago

It’s not a huge space. I presume they committed to this many shows to ensure adequate daily capacity until they see how much demand this show receives.

ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ4 days ago

Hmm, I think they'd be better off with shows on the hour, with a runtime in the 30-35 min range to ease the turnaround time. Pad-out the current runtime with lesser Villains heckling the audience or acting out skits while glancing often at a big clock counting down to the main "gathering" of villains in keeping the concept in-theme. Have the Mirror tell jokes submitted by the audience via their own magic mirrors aka phones using the Play Disney Parks mobile app. Or just show a refresher 10 min video montage. From an operations standpoint the added runtime and downtime would allow them to up-charge with concessions. (to test the waters for use in the MK land) and better prep for the next showing.

Tori5 days ago

Gonna be a tight turnaround that’s for sure. Nice to see a couple showtimes after 5pm.

Agent H5 days ago

Personally I think it’s all about how people want to spend their time. In a park with 9 rides meet and greets and other shows of course no one is going to want to watch a forty minute show. It makes for an interesting comparison to Disney cruise line where people have a lot more time and generally less things to do on the ship (unless you really like restaurants and bars which if that’s the case you won’t be hearing any shaming from me)

TheMaxRebo5 days ago

Long shows are good in theory but they can muck up the plans for days as you really have to allot a good chunk of time for them (getting there early, filling the theater, emptying the theater, etc) and make sure you make one of the shows as there aren't many and if you just miss one it throws everything off. Even like Indy can have that impact Personally I would rather have an 18 min show that runs every 30 mins and they get 15 shows a day in than be 40 mins and only get in 5 shows or so (like Indy is)

eddie1045 days ago

I personally think a 40 min show might be a tad bit overkill in this day and age. Depending on the content and if it holds my interest a longer show is fine. 20-25 minutes is the sweet spot in my opinion.

Figments Friend5 days ago

Guests in general have shorter attention spans then ever before it seems. The decision to have the show be shorter then originally pitched makes sense from that perspective. It also helps insure they will be able to provide multiple showings per day. Looking forward to seeing this once it opens. -

Comped5 days ago

I remain unconvinced the 40 min show ever existed except as a concept (certainly have never had its existance confirmed by anyone I've talked to). DLE hasn't made show that long for Orlando since Frozen (Nemo since it was cut doesn't count), with original Nemo being the last one before that anytime close. (And even Nemo was cut down from a full length show after previews.) Disappointing to say the least.

ToTBellHop5 days ago

It’ll be a tight turnaround but doable. 3D shows unload and reload pretty quickly. Unfortunate that this was trimmed down. Hopefully, it still works. This combined with Mermaid are a nice capacity boost to the park.

Comped5 days ago

18 is right. Very annoyingly.

Jedi145 days ago

I’m guessing the show is about 18 to 20 minutes if they can run it every 30.

TheMaxRebo5 days ago

Glad to see so many shows - some at DHS don't have many and can restrict the flow of your day Though do worry if they will be able to get the theater turned over in time when the showtimes are only 30mins apart if the run time is the reported 17-20 mins

Gusey5 days ago

I'm glad they're having so many shows. Since Lightning McQueen ran every 10 minutes, it meant it was always operational. With live stage shows, the more shows the better as more opportunities to watch