DHS New Villains Show Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Summer 2025

[dennis-in-ct]

I believe Hunchback at MGM was 32 Min....

Great. Now I miss Hunchback.
Another show that was a must see. Why? The live singing was phenomenal. Felt like Broadway. Sooooo good.

Back on Villains, can we have the Villains’s candy shop back? I broke my “Evil Queen” mug. Need another one ️

 

[Jedi14]

To test what though?

Probably overall tone and mood for Villains land. Possibly to also decide which villains are more in the forefront of the land and which are more background.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Probably overall tone and mood for Villains land. Possibly to also decide which villains are more in the forefront of the land and which are more background.

That should have already been established as part of the concept design that got the project approved. They should also already have such data from all of the other things they’ve done in the past. It would be a huge problem if this something they were testing. It would mean they committed to a massive project without knowing the very basics.

 

[gerarar]

40 minutes-ish shows used to be the norm at WDW. Those days are long gone. They’ve started to become shorter over the last 10-15 years. If this turns out to be even 30 mins, I’ll be shocked. 20-25 mins would be my guess, but even 25 mins seems like wishful thinking. We shall see.

The most recent show Disney Live Entertainment produced was the Holidays in Hollywood show for Jollywood Nights next door at the Theater of the Stars.

When it first debuted it was at 27 mins. The following year they cleaned things up and cut out fluff bringing the time down to 25 mins, which did make the show flow smoother & overall better.

I'd imagine the new Villians show would be around that of 25 mins, especially since there's probably gonna be 5-6 showings per day with the equity cast. It's also probably gonna stack on top of the existing BATB and Indiana Jones shows.
Currently the first show of the day for both start at the same time, but then after that IJ starts 15-30 mins after a BATB show starts. Add Villians to that mix and they will all stack and rotate to help ease and pull guests.

 

[Gusey]

Just noticed in this video that the Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy logo and the Cruz Ramirez meet and greet are still there

 

[Villains0501]

That should have already been established as part of the concept design that got the project approved. They should also already have such data from all of the other things they’ve done in the past. It would be a huge problem if this something they were testing. It would mean they committed to a massive project without knowing the very basics.

I'm sure from past merch sales they have a firm grasp on which Villains are the most popular already, otherwise they would not have made two Maleficent films and Cruella. It's generally the same smattering of characters they use, over and over, with the female Villains generally being a little more visible than the male.

I see this as possibly doing some tonal testing for what might work in the land, but more likely just a way of leveraging this IP now while they can, quickly and easily, while they concurrently prep the land. I think Disney's shown they already have a good grasp on how to play around with this IP.

 

[discos]

The most recent show Disney Live Entertainment produced was the Holidays in Hollywood show for Jollywood Nights next door at the Theater of the Stars.

When it first debuted it was at 27 mins. The following year they cleaned things up and cut out fluff bringing the time down to 25 mins, which did make the show flow smoother & overall better.

I'd imagine the new Villians show would be around that of 25 mins, especially since there's probably gonna be 5-6 showings per day with the equity cast. It's also probably gonna stack on top of the existing BATB and Indiana Jones shows.
Currently the first show of the day for both start at the same time, but then after that IJ starts 15-30 mins after a BATB show starts. Add Villians to that mix and they will all stack and rotate to help ease and pull guests.

I wouldn't be surprised if they go the route of Festival of the Lion King and do a show every hour. Right now Lion King does 7-9 performances a day. There would be more than enough demand for the show. This would allow for two separate sets of Equity cast per day.

 

[gerarar]

I wouldn't be surprised if they go the route of Festival of the Lion King and do a show every hour. Right now Lion King does 7-9 performances a day. There would be more than enough demand for the show. This would allow for two separate sets of Equity cast per day.

I'd be surprised if they do that many.

BATB has 4 Belle's and 3 Gaston's (currently) with 1 or 2 on deck each day.
Lion King has 2 for each singer, which is surprising tbh. They may have stand ins but I only ever see the same 2 actors rotate.

Villians would probably have at minimum 2 per role. If it is 7-9 showings, that would be nice and similar to the Frozen sing-a-long of every hour and no lunch break/gap.

 

[discos]

I'd be surprised if they do that many.

BATB has 4 Belle's and 3 Gaston's (currently) with 1 or 2 on deck each day.
Lion King has 2 for each singer, which is surprising tbh. They may have stand ins but I only ever see the same 2 actors rotate.

Villians would probably have at minimum 2 per role. If it is 7-9 showings, that would be nice and similar to the Frozen sing-a-long of every hour and no lunch break/gap.

Unless equity rules have changed, Lion King would have more than 2 actors per role since they can only perform 4 shows a day with a max of 20 per week. Next week for instance there are 53 performances so that's at least 3 full casts of singers needed. There are probably 4 performers who do the role regularly plus other actors on property who sub/understudy each role for emergencies.

In Beauty and the Beast & Frozen, actors can do 5 performances a day with 25 performances a week. So whether it's 4 or 5 shows per day for Villains, we'd still be looking at a minimum of 3-4 equity performers per role if they schedule shows every hour. These extra 3 equity roles will definitely help more actors on property get full-time hours, especially if some split their time between two different shows. Plus there are two more equity roles for Mermaid that are being added into the mix. It might be only 5 new equity roles but that's about 20 different performers! So lets hope both new shows run a substantial amount of performances per day.

 

[Agent H]

The other site has already posted about the run time wonder how long until they fix it EDIT they still haven’t fixed it it made its way to the YouTube video

Here’s them responding to getting it wrong in the comment section of the video still no retraction on the main site

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Here’s them responding to getting it wrong in the comment section of the video still no retraction on the main site

Why are we tracking their response to this?

 

[Agent H]

Why are we tracking their response to this?

No real reason just for fun

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

They may have stand ins but I only ever see the same 2 actors rotate.

Not that this confirms or denies that they have stand ins, but I have seen the show run with only three singers multiple times, which leads me to believe there aren’t many, if any, extras.

 

[gerarar]

Not that this confirms or denies that they have stand ins, but I have seen the show run with only three singers multiple times, which leads me to believe there aren’t many, if any, extras.

I’ve only ever seen that recorded on video once! The girl singer was missing so the Can You Feel The Love segment was only done and sung by the one guy singer, so it makes for an interesting B-mode alt sequence.

Also in the finale that same guy singer sings the parts for the missing one.

 

[DisneyFanatic12]

I’ve only ever seen that recorded on video once! The girl singer was missing so the Can You Feel The Love segment was only done and sung by the one guy singer, so it makes for an interesting B-mode alt sequence.

Also in the finale that same guy singer sings the parts for the missing one.

(My apologies for not knowing their stage names, if they have any. I’ll refer to them by the section they lead)

Twice when the Warthog section leader was missing, the giraffe section leader took over her songs (notably Circle of Life). Can You Feel The Love Tonight was a solo by the lion section leader, which was interesting because the Giraffe section leader was still there who usually does the duet to my knowledge. Was interesting to hear the Giraffe section leader sing the Circle of Life, as she seemed to try and sing it low(er) the first time and then sang in a higher pitch the second time which seemed more natural and comfortable for her.

Once I saw the Giraffe section leader missing, which was just as you mentioned. Can You Feel The Love Tonight became a solo with the guy covering.

As for sections when the Warthog section leader was missing, once I think I saw the Lion section leader lead both the lions and the warthogs, with a similar spiel at the beginning. The other time I saw the elephant section leader lead both the elephants and the warthogs. Could have also been the Elephant section leader leading both times, don’t remember super well.

I believe when the giraffe section leader was missing the giraffe section was lead by the lion section leader.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling, but the “B-mode” is pretty interesting to see, especially considering how rare it is to see.

 

[gerarar]

(My apologies for not knowing their stage names, if they have any. I’ll refer to them by the section they lead)

Twice when the Warthog section leader was missing, the giraffe section leader took over her songs (notably Circle of Life). Can You Feel The Love Tonight was a solo by the lion section leader, which was interesting because the Giraffe section leader was still there who usually does the duet to my knowledge. Was interesting to hear the Giraffe section leader sing the Circle of Life, as she seemed to try and sing it low(er) the first time and then sang in a higher pitch the second time which seemed more natural and comfortable for her.

Once I saw the Giraffe section leader missing, which was just as you mentioned. Can You Feel The Love Tonight became a solo with the guy covering.

As for sections when the Warthog section leader was missing, once I think I saw the Lion section leader lead both the lions and the warthogs, with a similar spiel at the beginning. The other time I saw the elephant section leader lead both the elephants and the warthogs. Could have also been the Elephant section leader leading both times, don’t remember super well.

I believe when the giraffe section leader was missing the giraffe section was lead by the lion section leader.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling, but the “B-mode” is pretty interesting to see, especially considering how rare it is to see.

This is gold! Thank you.

One day I hope to see one of these rare B-mode shows live haha.