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

18 days ago 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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    MisterPenguin1 day ago

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

    Mr. Sullivan1 day ago

    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.

    YodaMan1 day ago

    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.

    SteveAZee1 day ago

    MisterPenguin1 day ago

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

    gerarar2 days ago

    wdwmagic3 days ago

    There is an A-Frame up with showtimes now.

    The Underminer3 days ago

    I miss the water :(

    dmc4933 days ago

    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

    ToTBellHop4 days ago

    Just talented.

    peter114354 days ago

    They are singing live without the use of electronic correction.

    The Colonel4 days ago

    No they are absolutley perfect. Its magical.

    MisterPenguin4 days ago

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

    The Colonel4 days ago

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