Welcome To Hollywood! What's Your Favorite Stage Show?

Heather
22 minutes ago
3 min read

With so many great entertainment options, which Hollywood Studios stage show is your favorite?

Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Villains, Little Mermaid, or Indiana Jones? All of these shows have their own uniqueness. Join me as I break down the different shows offered to those spending a day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. For this review, I'm leaving out Fantasmic!, since that performance is on a whole other level!

What Shows Are Offered At Hollywood Studios:

For The First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration is a stage show sing along where Arendelle Historians tell the original Frozen story. I love the bits of humor the Historians sneak in. It’s an entertaining air conditioned break with comfy theater seats.
Beauty and the Beast - Live On Stage is a musical stage show with dancing characters from the story. This is in an open air covered stadium with bleachers.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is a stunt show in an open air covered stadium with bleachers and back support. This show makes you feel like you are part of a movie set. They give brief information on how they create scenes and make stunts look real in a movie.
The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure is a musical telling of this animated classic. This is a mix of live actors, animation, and your imagination. It's an air conditioned theater style show. This is also one of two new shows at the park, having opened May of 2025.
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After is a musically driven performance with a mix of live action and digitally enhanced fun. It's an air conditioned theater where you decide which villain is most misunderstood. The magic mirror tells his tale trying to keep the villains happy. This was the second new show to open at the park in May of 2025. You can learn even more about this show from WDWAO Blogger Stephanie: Reimagining Disney Villains: Unraveling Their Unfairly Ever After Stories.

Ranking these shows is my own opinion. As yours may vary, I’d love to hear your thoughts. For me it’s:

Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
The Little Mermaid - A Musical Adventure
Beauty and the Beast - Live On Stage
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

I choose this order based on what I enjoy watching. With Villains, I found the music as well as how the show is presented and done, fun and entertaining. The comfy seats and air conditioning is a bonus. I think the live characters and technology are a great mix. With Frozen, it’s the comedic inserts, comfy seats, and air conditioning. I never know what to expect from the Historians and it’s just a fun time. The stage show and screen story telling is a nice break.

A man and woman sit in a boat holding hands, surrounded by colorful creatures and plants. A large moon glows in the background. — The Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Little Mermaid is a story I am not overly into but this show is well done, in my opinion. The mix of live actors, technology and imagination is fascinating to me. I like the show and how it’s done, I hope Disney does more shows this way. It makes what you imagine feel real.

Beauty and the Beast, a tale as old as time, is filled with great stage talents of live people, some in costumes, singing and dancing. The talents are good but the benches kill me. I think I have sat through the show once or twice. Indiana Jones is bottom of my list. Maybe it's because I have seen shows like this in other parks. It’s good, but I am not rushing back. I have seen documentaries on how they make movies and such and while it’s neat to feel like you are part of a set, I feel it's overhyped.