No Lightning Lane Yet for New The Little Mermaid Show at Disney's Hollywood Studios as Wait Times Hit 85 Minutes

May 27, 2025 in "The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure"

The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure Opening Day
Posted: Tuesday May 27, 2025 11:21am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Although The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure was previously listed with the Lightning Lane logo on Disney’s official attraction page, as of today, the My Disney Experience app is not offering Lightning Lane access for the new show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.


The attraction’s physical queue is fully equipped with Lightning Lane entry points and scanners, suggesting that the show is set up to support Lightning Lane in the future. However, for now, guests can only experience the show via the standby line.

Standby Only — With Long Waits on Opening Day

Guests planning to attend should note that there are no set showtimes. Instead, The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure operates on a continuous performance schedule from 9:15 am to 7:15 pm each day, allowing guests to enter throughout the day rather than queuing for specific scheduled showtimes.

On opening day, wait times have hovered around 80 minutes, with the line extending outside of the covered area into an overflow queue.

It’s not yet clear when Lightning Lane access will officially launch, but given the infrastructure already in place, it’s reasonable to expect that the show will eventually be included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Premier Pass selections.

For now, if you want to experience Ariel’s reimagined adventure, be prepared for moderate standby waits and consider visiting earlier in the day or later in the afternoon when crowds may ease.

This reimagined production features live actors, large-scale puppetry, and layered digital projections that bring Ariel’s story to life in a new way. You’ll see characters including Ariel, Prince Eric, Ursula, Sebastian, and more — plus fan-favorite musical numbers like Part of Your World, Kiss the Girl, and Poor Unfortunate Souls.

Watch the full show video below:

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MisterPenguinJun 13, 2025

Sometimes, the body wants to burp and you can't do anything about it.

Mr. SullivanJun 13, 2025

I have directed a few musicals now where my leads can get through a show without a single bum note. Some people can just do it. I don’t know why that’s so difficult to believe.

YodaManJun 13, 2025

Voyage of the Little Mermaid was able to run every 25 minutes before it closed. The new show has to be 40 minutes apart because of all the new tech that simply takes longer to reset between performances. So unfortunately less showtimes and therefore less capacity per day.

SteveAZeeJun 13, 2025

MisterPenguinJun 13, 2025

So, they *do* have plastic fish glued to a wall!!! ;)

gerararJun 12, 2025

wdwmagicJun 11, 2025

There is an A-Frame up with showtimes now.

The UnderminerJun 11, 2025

I miss the water :(

dmc493Jun 11, 2025

Show was an absolute delight, I really hope we see more of the transparent screen projections in the future because it offers some incredible depth to a stage show

ToTBellHopJun 10, 2025

Just talented.

peter11435Jun 10, 2025

They are singing live without the use of electronic correction.

The ColonelJun 10, 2025

No they are absolutley perfect. Its magical.

MisterPenguinJun 10, 2025

Then again, few live Disney shows expect a performer to belt out a 10-minute show-stopper with a three octave range.

The ColonelJun 10, 2025

You here vocal flubs, sharps and flats on Broadway all the time. Never at a Disney stage performance.