Halle Bailey surprises two aspiring teen filmmakers at EPCOT with an invitation to be the star's personal guests at Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' live-action movie world premiere

Mar 24, 2023 in "Disney Dreamers Academy"

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Halle Bailey surprises Disney Dreamers Academy students at Walt Disney World Resort

Posted: Friday March 24, 2023 7:50pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Grammy-nominated singer Halle Bailey, who will play the lead role of Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid,' surprised two aspiring teen filmmakers Friday during Disney Dreamers Academy at Walt Disney World Resort with a personal invitation to join her on the red carpet at the movie’s world premiere in Hollywood.

Halle Bailey surprises Disney Dreamers Academy students at Walt Disney World Resort

Dylan Jones of Atlanta and Madison Henderson of Los Angeles were in the middle of a movie production training session at EPCOT's The Sea's with Nemo and Friends pavilion Friday morning during Disney Dreamers Academy when Bailey, the program's celebrity ambassador, made a surprise appearance and delivered the personal invitation to come to Hollywood.

Halle Bailey surprises Disney Dreamers Academy students at Walt Disney World Resort

The movie’s world premiere takes place just before the film officially hits theaters nationwide on May 26.

This is the 16th year of Disney Dreamers Academy, a four-day, transformational, mentoring program designed to broaden career awareness and create opportunities for 100 Black high school students and teens from underrepresented communities across America each year.

Watch the video below to see the surprise moment.

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Sirwalterraleigh3 hours ago

I thought we already moved on hours ago when I didn’t call it a failure or didn’t refuse to see it?🤔

Sirwalterraleigh3 hours ago

That sounds like a similar assumption/complaint when any Tentpole/IP isn’t a big success…the old “audience sabotage” Usually it’s just cause it’s not very good and/or not wanted… But I Can’t think of anything that qualifies…

Sirwalterraleigh3 hours ago

Reviews are off the charts and it should way overperform And I bet part of that is due to Disney

Sirwalterraleigh3 hours ago

People have been fired…but there’s some big fish still in the pond that need “hooked” 🎣

BuddyThomas4 hours ago

When I came home from seeing this last Thursday, I decided to watch the original on Disney +. I was as surprised at how many shots were replicated directly from the original, but I was also surprised at some of the animation. I had not seen the original in maybe ten years and I remember loving every minute of it. However, a lot of the animation seems a bit wonky today - on the level of Saturday morning cartoons of that period, including “zany” background music every time a character does a pratfall. It is not how I remembered it and in my opinion, this new film is an improvement in terms of character development and many other areas as well, including the song Wild Uncharted Waters, which is absolutely gorgeous. The old one is still great, but I can see why it got an update. Many are here to just trash a film they have not even seen. I get it. They want to crap all over things that others enjoy just to make them feel good about themselves and their beliefs that nothing should EVER change, EVER, for any reason. It’s getting tired. How many times do we have to go through this with you supposed Disney fans????

BuddyThomas5 hours ago

I didn’t even notice her. I heard she was in it but I had no idea where to look for her.

BuddyThomas5 hours ago

That doesn’t take away from the fact that Mermaid is a freaking hit.

MisterPenguin5 hours ago

Can't compare to the classic (not safe for work language)...

BuddyThomas5 hours ago

I’m glad you are so concerned. 👍👍

Chi845 hours ago

They are all fantasy, and the racial politics don’t make sense to me either. Who cares about the race of people cast to play fantasy creatures? It’s the filmmakers’ decision. Are there no longer any real problems in this world?

DKampy7 hours ago

I don’t really consider the cameo a spoiler…it does not relate to the plot or story at all…just an Easter egg for fans

EPCOT-O.G.7 hours ago

Meanwhile, the new Spider-Man film, which had 1/3 the production budget of TLM (2023), is set to make $115M in the US this weekend ($20M more than TLM’s three day total)