The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure Review

We’ll start this review by acknowledging that this isn’t a purely new show. Prior to the COVID-19 shutdowns, a show was performed in this space called Voyage of the Little Mermaid. While we’ll certainly discover that A Musical Adventure is substantially different than the previous show, the new show does benefit from the reuse of a space that was previously purpose-built for a Little Mermaid production.

Like Unfairly Ever After, it is clear that Walt Disney World tried to save as much budget for what was behind the theater doors versus in front of the theater doors. However, a name change necessitated a new sign, which is the first hint that the show is something different than before. Gone are the characters, replaced by something that is certainly less charming, but something that gets the job done.

The queue is unremarkable. There is an interior waiting room that has been stripped of all theming, but that may make a comeback at some point. For now, it’s actually worse than what was there before, which isn’t a great look at all.

Entering the theater, there are portions that feel the same as before such as the rocky walls, and then there are things that are brand new such as the seating and completely new proscenium. Once the show begins, we’ll see just how substantial of a change occurred. For now, here’s a quick look at the interior of the theater.

The show opens with an introduction to King Triton and Sebastian, both GCI and on a screen. Triton says that he is looking forward to the Daughters of Triton performance, and as he leaves the screen, Sebastian quips, “if only she’d show up for practice every once in a while”.

We then launch into the fully digital performance of the Daughters of Triton, offering some screentime to Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana in a musical number that appears to be composed for the show, but follows the same plot as the movie. Just like the movie, Ariel is nowhere to be found in A Musical Adventure during this opening number too.

That said, we don’t have to wait long to see Ariel. In fact, she shows up in A Musical Adventure quicker than she did in Voyage. With the Daughters of Triton performance now in shambles without Ariel, the screen cuts to black. Suddenly, Ariel is swimming through the blackness of the screen in the first high-tech upgrade to the show.

While in Voyage, Ariel spent a lot of time sitting on a rock, A Musical Adventure lets her flip her fins a bit! It’s a stunning moment that begins to lay the groundwork for just how big of an upgrade the 2025 version of this show is. As Ariel moves across the stage, it’s clear that the effect isn’t produced by wires or a bulky stagehand pushing her around – it’s more high-tech than that. We’ll suspend disbelief for now, and it’s easy to do so while seated in the theater as Ariel floats across the stage before sitting on a rock similar to the old version of the show.

As Ariel floats to sit on the rock, the first puppet of the day appears as Flounder pops up nearby. The scene comes into focus around them and we’re in Ariel’s grotto full of her collection of human things that she’s found swimming across the sea. As Ariel proudly shows off her collection to Flouder, King Triton appears and he is not in a good mood.

As a quick aside, it’s worth noting that while Triton, some appearances of Ursula, and the Daughters of Triton are all CGI, they were built using cutting-edge tools like motion capture technology. That means that while the character in the theater is fully digital, the “acting” of the character was done by a real person over the course of a weeklong motion capture session. More on that later.

Triton says his peace, forbidding Ariel from ever returning to the surface again. After he leaves, we enter our first musical number performed live as Ariel launches into Part of Your World. The number is every bit as magical as you remember from the film, and from the previous version of the show.

Whereas the old version of this song played with movie clips behind Ariel, A Musical Adventure seems determined to not become a clip show. It’s clear that Disney is striving for something far more theatrical. While we’ll have to wait a while for our favorite highly theatrical moment of the show, we get a glimpse of this new direction with a more subtle foreshadowing sequence that includes the silhouettes of Ariel and Eric dancing next to Ariel. It’s a beautiful moment that does so much more in its simplicity than the old movie clip sequence did. It enhances the live performance of Ariel rather than distract.

Another wonderful new moment in the show happens mid-song, as Prince Eric shows up with a puppeteered Max. The spotlight on Ariel dims as it rises on Prince Eric. At the same moment that Ariel is singing about wanting to become part of the human world, Eric is dreaming about the right girl. As Eric chases Max off the stage, the light dims on him, returning to Ariel to allow her to finish Part of Your World.

We watched three different shows on opening day, and each time, the performers absolutely nailed it! Kudos to the entire team!

With Part of Your World complete, Sebastian returns, this time swimming digitally across the large screen behind Ariel still showing the grotto scenery. A digital Sebastian appears, ready to give Ariel a talking-to over her collection of human things “have you lost your mind!”. A blink and you’ll miss it moment masterfully brings Flounder from the digital screen to a physical puppet again as the music starts to swell for the Under the Sea number. Sebastian also eventually transforms from digital to a physical puppet for the song.

Unlike Voyage, A Musical Adventure puts Under the Sea back in the proper sequence for the movie retelling. In Voyage, the show opened musically with Sebastian and the Under the Sea sequence before we even get to see Ariel. In A Musical Adventure, Ariel is already on the stage, allowing her to participate in Under the Sea. She is present during this musical number in the movie, but A Musical Adventure takes things a step forward, giving Ariel a few lines in the stage adaptation of the song as well!

If giving Ariel even more opportunity to sing isn’t enough, she also begins to swim again using the high-tech maneuvering that we saw earlier in the show. Generally speaking, the teams at A Musical Adventure have done a masterful job of controlling the lighting in the theater. That not only allows for hiding things that they don’t want guests to see but also to crank up the vibrance of a show that is meant to be colorful and fantastical. Again, kudos to the team for creating a stage show that could be considered the most visually stunning show on Walt Disney World property right now.

Adding to the stunning visuals is a wonderful projection system that is crisp, vibrant, and bright. A scrim is a constant presence during the show, acting as a projection surface just feet in front of Ariel and other puppeteered characters. In fact, the entire stage was built sort of like the old-fashioned multi-plane camera system, allowing layers of flat surfaces to add depth to a scene. To that end, we often see freshly animated characters throughout the show dancing and playing along as puppeteered, physical characters dance and play behind them – all properly lighted and working together to create a beautiful effect that can only be fully experienced in the theater.

The nature of a review written on the internet demands that I produce photos and video to supplement the words, but nothing will truly convey what this all looks like in person – and I don’t say that often.

Following the Under the Sea segment, it’s time to introduce the big bad villain here – Ursula. Disney, once again, uses motion capture technology here to create a CGI Ursula that is just slightly to fluid and fast to be convincingly puppeteered. That said, we don’t spend too much time digitally before we’re back to a live performance of Ariel, Flotsam & Jetsam, and (now) a fully physical version of Ursula.

We’re in Ursula’s lair as she outlines the rules of her curse to make Ariel a human. The physical Ursula puppet looks pretty great and moves quickly across the stage as she convinces Ariel to sign away her voice through the Poor Unfortunate Souls song.

Ariel signs away her voice, and as Ursula performs the curse, we see yet another example of the team going the extra mile to create something unexpected from a story that everyone knows well. As Ariel begins singing her voice away, there is a wonderful lighting effect that shows her losing her voice as it is transferred to Ursula’s possession.

Just like the Daughters of Triton segment was new, we have another entirely new segment up next with the Kiss the Girl segment. It’s actually quite surprising that this wasn’t a part of the old show given how iconic it is, but it’s part of A Musical Adventure, and it’s pretty well done. Whereas the old show went straight into the battle sequence, complete with an impressive water screen and lasers, the new show dedicates 2.5 minutes to the Kiss the Girl sequence before the battle. The Kiss the Girl scene has eight puppet animals in play, along with some projected elements on the front scrim that add a nice depth to the end of the scene.

Up next is my favorite segment of the show, and one of the best moments from any live stage show at Walt Disney World. The battle between Ariel, Prince Eric, and Ursula is unbelievably well done. It’s surprisingly theatrical, with slow-motion segments that look straight out of a movie – not something that you’d even think was possible on stage. The choreography here is impressive, moving not only actors around the stage in a way that seems nearly superhuman but also set pieces that interact with the digital Ursula.

Simply put, it’s beautiful.

Following the battle, we see Prince Eric washed up on the shore, and Ariel singing the reprise of Part of Your World. It’s at this time that King Triton appears again, this time understanding how much Ariel loves Prince Eric. His magical trident allows Ariel to break free of her fins and live as a human alongside Prince Eric.

While the entire show is built around the 1989 animated version of The Little Mermaid, there are parts that draw inspiration from the 2023 live-action version of the tale. Certainly the best line of this show, and maybe any show at Walt Disney World is delivered by King Triton, and inspired by the live-action movie. As he turns to Ariel, he says “I’m sorry you had to lose your voice, in order for me to hear you”. What a line!

A final embrace between Ariel and Prince Eric concludes the show.