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

[Chip Chipperson]

If that were so, you would pronounce “recent” exactly the same as “resent” (as in sending something again, not feeling bitterness!). Try saying “I recently resent the email” and you’ll hear how distinct the second syllables of those two words are. Again, you don’t have to take my word for it: any transcription will tell you the same thing. Indeed (and to take us back to what sparked this tangent), it’s why Disney used “sint” rather than “sent” to represent the final syllable of “Maleficent” (@TheMaxRebo’s response to you suggests that Disney is not alone in using an I to represent that sound).


For what it’s worth, I think this is a distinction you yourself have developed. All dictionaries as far as I can tell show “compliment” and “complement” as homophones.

I pronounce "complement" as comple mint - as in, "The hotel has comple mintery brake fast!"

 

[Gusey]

Frozen Sing-Along is not temporary. It's an ongoing show. Kite Tails was definitely temporary.

Frozen Sing-Along was originally temporary in 2014 as part of Summer of Frozen, along with the ice rink and Frozen cavalcade. In 2015, it returned on a permanent basis to the Hyperion Theater

Villains definitely seems to be as temporary as Lightning McQueen's was, supposed to be permanent but the Sunset Showcase building is like a black box and able to have a quick turn around if need be. After all, it's only be a 7 month turnaround since Lightning McQueen closed

 

[UNCgolf]

Do you pronounce 'him' and 'hem' the same?

When people shift unstressed 'short' vowels to the schwa-E, then yes, they are homophones.

When you don't shift to the schwa-E, then they're not homophones.

But, even when they're pronounced differently, people will hear them the same. Just like people in the greater NYC area don't 'hear' that they're "dawg" and "cawfee" is pronounced differently by Middle America. They believe they're pronouncing it the same until you get them to try to rhyme 'dog' with 'log' or 'frog.'

Anyhoo, to bring this back to being on-topic. Note that many people misspell 'villains' as 'villians.' So, it'd be best if we all pronounce it "VIHL - lee - andz."

They're homophones in dictionary pronunciations, though (I just checked Cambridge). That's why I was curious; I've never heard anyone pronounce complement and compliment differently.

EDIT: Just saw this was already discussed above!

 

[doctornick]

If that were so, you would pronounce “recent” exactly the same as “resent” (as in sending something again, not feeling bitterness!). Try saying “I recently resent the email” and you’ll hear how distinct the second syllables of those two words are.

The stress is obviously different but I pronounce them largely the same in terms of the sounds: RE-sent vs re-SENT.

I will say that recent does have some variation with the second syllable whether it’s more like “sent” vs “sint” depending on the speaker. I tend to use the former.

 

[LittleBuford]

The stress is obviously different but I pronounce them largely the same in terms of the sounds: RE-sent vs re-SENT.

I will say that recent does have some variation with the second syllable whether it’s more like “sent” vs “sint” depending on the speaker. I tend to use the former.

Is your pronunciation of "recent" different from the following examples?

 

[doctornick]

Is your pronunciation of "recent" different from the following examples?

Well I certainly do NOT pronounce it the way the first video does. I would say my pronunciation is closest to the second video.

To me the way I pronounce cent (as in a penny) and the second syllable of recent is generally the same. The main difference is that I hold the “c” in cent longer where that sound is very brief in recent. But in both I’m using a soft e (“eh”) sound as the vowel of the syllable. It’s definitely not an “uh” or virtually non existent vowel sound.

But hey I’m originally from Philadelphia and I pronounce water like “wooder” so I’m not going to pretend that how I say things is necessarily correct.

 

[plutofan15]

Any ambiguity at all makes it bad show. The concept is serviceable but the execution (script) is crap. I don't need convincing of anything. I need a better show. THIS is supposed to whet our appetite for Villains land!?

Looking forward to seeing your script.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Looking forward to seeing your script.

I'll leave that up to the "creatives" at Imagineering... Well, so long as it isn't the same team or the morons that wrote the show script for Tiana's Bayou Adventure or the rough draft that was "UP! A Great Bird Adventure"

Look, this one needs more time to bake. It could use a rewrite. Another bite at the poisoned apple. It's objectively bad. Performances and spectacle aside. It's numbers will prove out.

Merch sales will keep it operational but I anticipate changes.

 

[Tha Realest]

Is this supposed to be a joke? If it isn’t color me surprised. I would never have thought it was hard to pronounce.

I always thought it was pronounced:

Mal - if - uhh - cent

 

[LittleBuford]

Well I certainly do NOT pronounce it the way the first video does. I would say my pronunciation is closest to the second video.

It's interesting that you draw such a disctinction between the two videos, because the pronunciations they offer both correspond to what in the International Phonetic Alphabet would be transcribed as ˈriːsənt (the upside-down E representing the schwa sound). Indeed, the second woman's pronunciation accompanies the Collins Dictionary entry for "recent", which is transcribed with a schwa.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/recent

But hey I’m originally from Philadelphia and I pronounce water like “wooder” so I’m not going to pretend that how I say things is necessarily correct.

I should make clear that I'm not framing any of this in terms of "correctness"; I'm very much a descriptivist rather than a prescriptivist. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to learn that there are some speakers for whom, and perhaps even some accents in which, the pronunciation of "cent" (as in penny) has merged with that of the final syllable of words like "Maleficent", "recent", "decent", "Vincent", and "innocent". But for most Americans (and other speakers of English), there is a difference, as articulated in the first video I shared (especially at the 54-second mark):



ETA: A question for you (and anyone else who wants to answer): Do you pronounce the "ant" of "elephant" differently from the "ent" of "recent", "innocent", "Maleficent", etc.?

 

[LittleBuford]

I always thought it was pronounced:

Mal - if - uhh - cent

You're not alone in pronouncing the second syllable that way. I sometimes watch Disney merch videos on YouTube, and many collectors do the same thing:

 

[danlb_2000]

It's hard not compare this to what Universal has put out (although there is no comparison)

 

[solidyne]

YOU'RE OFF TOPIC! THIS IS NOT THE PHONEMES THREAD!

Oh, wait... you're talking about pronouncing the name one of the villains? Nice loophole. Wake me when it's over, will ya?

 

[solidyne]

Any ambiguity at all makes it bad show. The concept is serviceable but the execution (script) is crap. I don't need convincing of anything. I need a better show. THIS is supposed to whet our appetite for Villains land!?

Looking forward to seeing your script.

I was going to say that one not need be a practitioner himself to criticize the work of others (though I wouldn't mind if music critics were permanently banished).

Instead I'll just say that I'd rather hear the work of any randomly selected poster than have to suffer this script once again.

To be fair, much of the dialogue is garbled in the videos I've seen.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Cruella: All the backup dancers were sick, so the union sent me.

Magic Mirror: ...the dancers were sick, so *throat clear*...

 

[UNCgolf]

It's hard not compare this to what Universal has put out (although there is no comparison)

While I think the Villains show looks terrible, I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. The Universal HP show (as well as the HTTYD show) seems like it was designed as a relatively major attraction that will likely run for a long time, whereas Villains is a minor addition for extra (and needed) park capacity. It's a bit like comparing an E (or maybe D) ticket attraction to a C ticket.

Not that that means Villains shouldn't be better than it is, though.

 

[Agent H]

While I think the Villains show looks terrible, I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. The Universal HP show (and the HTTYD show too) seems like it was designed as a relatively major attraction that will likely run for a long time, whereas Villains is a minor addition to just add some additional park capacity. I think it's a bit like comparing an E (or maybe D) ticket attraction to a C ticket.

Not that that means Villains shouldn't be better than it is, though.

Not to mention they are entirely different concepts. So mark this down as the 4000th random epic universe comment.

 

[Andrew C]

Not to mention they are entirely different concepts. So mark this down as the 4000th random epic universe comment.

That’s what happens when someone opens a new theme park in orlando. Which hasn’t happened in decades. People gonna talk.

 

[Disney Analyst]

While I think the Villains show looks terrible, I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. The Universal HP show (and the HTTYD show too) seems like it was designed as a relatively major attraction that will likely run for a long time, whereas Villains is a minor addition to just add some additional park capacity. I think it's a bit like comparing an E (or maybe D) ticket attraction to a C ticket.

Not that that means Villains shouldn't be better than it is, though.

Yeah, both shows are meant to be major attractions for their respective lands. Heck, Le Cirque Arcanus is the ONLY attraction in the land when Ministry is having issues. Which is... not ideal, for such a big grand land.

 

[eddie104]

Not to mention they are entirely different concepts. So mark this down as the 4000th random epic universe comment.

This board is notorious for grasping at straws to make a point.

If you don’t like the Villains show or think it should be better that’s fine.

But don’t start throwing out random examples to prove something when it’s not that deep.