The Villains Badly Always After stage show at Hollywood Studios will debut in Summer 2025, according to Walt Disney World. This stock the album time and fresh details, plus predictions about gentle opportunities &, previews, Lightning Lanes vs. backup lines, crowds, and more! Disney Monsters: Badly Always After is a stage present coming to Hollywood Studios back in the corner of Sunset Boulevard behind Rock’n ‘ Roller Coaster in case you’re not familiar with it. The Magic Mirror has summoned evil guests to learn each of them speak and assess who has been treated most badly over the years during this life amusement production. Not ones to allow a remarkable efficiency pass them by, devilish foes Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent may tear through the glass and manifest their cases on stage, persuading with cruel wisdom and wisecracks. Does their wits and laughter conjure you up? A haunting show with moving music and a spectacular finale is Villains Badly Ever After. In the end, customers make the final call on who has been treated most badly (unfairliest? ) in a beautifully cruel episode with dozens of the most notorious evildoers waiting for your choice from within the Magic Mirror’s realm. ( Horrible fans: You can choose your own ending now! ) Fans won’t have to wait very much longer, or for all of the building walls to come down in order to experience the new investigation road! Villains Unfairly Ever After will officially launch on May 27, 2025, according to Walt Disney World. The official opening of Villains Unfairly Ever After on the Tuesday following Memorial Day weekend might be worthwhile. The timing is a bit odd, and not what we’d normally expect to see from summer offerings. As discussed below, this could lead to soft openings and previews, or it could be a wise choice because Walt Disney World anticipates a busy holiday weekend, so they do not “need” to offer anything new, whereas the following week could use a boost. Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy closed permanently in October to allow these evil fiends to take the spotlight at Sunset Showcase. Villains Unfairly Ever After is the direct replacement for this stage show, which is in its own little courtyard that’s somewhat detached from the rest of the park and almost feels backstage. We speculate that Disney wants to test some concepts, technologies, and characters while creating Villains Unfairly Ever After in an indirect manner in place of Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. This stage show may best be seen as a stop-gap that won’t last for a further 5 years ( roughly how long Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy ran ) as a result. Now, let’s turn to questions about Villains Unfairly Ever After’s Lightning Lane status, potential soft openings, AP/DVC previews, and more…Soft OpeningsSoft openings are also known as trial operations or technical rehearsals, and are basically an unannounced and controlled test period. They give theme parks the chance to open an attraction before its official opening and conduct operations and Cast Member training in a more accepting and stress-free environment. These are typically not made public via official sources, such as park maps, the official Disney Parks Blog, obnoxious TikTok videos, wait time boards, or even the My Disney Experience app. As a result, they always draw significantly fewer crowds than official openings. They’re a nice benefit for visitors who are already in the park and the most devoted devotees of Walt Disney World. Before moving away from soft openings with TRON Lightcycle Run two years ago, Walt Disney World had abandoned them. That was the last big brand-new attraction to debut, before Tiana’s Bayou Adventure last summer, which did not have soft openings. Our general guess is that Villains Unfairly Ever After won’t typically have soft openings. On the basis of previous precedent, that would be the safest bet. In digging back through the DTB Archives, I can’t find a single instance of a stage show having a soft opening before its general public debut. However, it’s still possible given that the opening date is being determined a few months in advance. Walt Disney World might lift the curtain earlier to accommodate summer crowds if the show is scheduled to begin running earlier. Memorial Day weekend is not typically one of the busier holidays, so that probably won’t be “necessary” from May 22-26, 2025–but it’s possible. Another possibility is that Walt Disney World’s Epic Universe is altering this opening day and the start of” Cool Kid Summer” as a whole. It’s possible ( if not probable ) that Walt Disney World’s ultimate goal is to release Villains Unfairly Ever After on May 22 or 23, which would be the most logical and typical launch date for summer entertainment. However, they might dislike the optics of having two stage shows be Walt Disney World’s so-called “answer” to Epic Universe. Or they might not want that brand-new park to dominate the show’s official opening, which would undoubtedly happen if it were to debut over the holiday weekend. The new character experiences and all the other Cool Kid Summer activities are also in the same league. There’s really no good precedent for this type of dynamic, but it passes the smell test for me. On this ground, I actually believe there is a strong case to be made for the release of Villains Unfairly Ever After and/or The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure with short openings a few days a full week in advance. For the most part, Walt Disney World has avoided soft openings in favor of more controlled previews for some affiliation groups, including members of the Disney Vacation Club, Annual Passholders, Golden Oak Residents, and Club 33 Members. Affiliation previews are possible for Villains Unfairly Ever After, but they’re far from guaranteed. When it first appeared a little over five years ago, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, its immediate rival, did not have soft openings. Even though it was only 2019, things have changed since then and it was only a new era. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was the big thing on the horizon then, and the stage show was a gap-filler to add capacity. Since then, there are more local Walt Disney World fans and Annual Passholders as well as people who are willing to travel. AP and DVC previews of Moana’s Journey of Water at that point attracted a lot of attention. Whether Villains Unfairly Ever After has AP/DVC previews is probably about 50/50 at this point. If it does, anticipate that everything will operate almost exactly like the previews for the past few years, right down to the fact that all eligible APs didn’t receive the email before the slots started to fill up. ( I wouldn’t expect Disney to follow Moana’s Journey of Water’s” no registration” route because it is a walkthrough and this venue has much more limited space with showtimes. ) In any case, receiving the email for preview registration does not matter! The key is the link inside, and anyone who is eligible can use that. In the upcoming weeks, both of us will be watching our emails like hawks and will give you a heads-up right away if/when preview registration goes live. You can subscribe to our free email newsletter for instant alerts. Status on Lighting LaneDon’t roll your eyes or laugh. On the positive side, I believe there isn’t much chance that Villains Unfairly Ever After will become a Lightning Lane attraction. Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy was not a Lightning Lane attraction, so the infrastructure is not there for it. To add a separate queue at Walt Disney World, they would have to make an extra effort. Hopefully they’ve learned something from Red Carpet Dreams and other smaller-than-life character experiences at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, all of which have since abandoned their Lightning Lanes due to the difficulties they’ve encountered both operationally and logistically. However, those are character meet &, greets, so not exactly the same. On the other hand, money. Being a member of the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Premier Pass would “allow” Walt Disney World to raise the LLMP at DHS, and it would help sell the service. It would also add capacity to the paid Lightning Lane services, enabling Disney to raise the threshold for a sell-out. Having said that, Villains Unfairly Ever After probably won’t provide a Lightning Lane. Yes, Walt Disney World is a big fan of money, but this won’t significantly affect sales and will cause logistical problems given the low seat count ( compared to other large-scale stage shows at DHS). Given that they removed Lightning Lanes from other character experiences, I think the operational and capacity counterpoints are more compelling. Sometimes Disney just makes a buck when it comes at the expense of the experience for the guests. That’s what happens here, I’d wager. Ultimately, I’m excited for Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After. Walt Disney World is probably aware of the potential of the concept if it is going to increase attendance and become a significant draw for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Additionally, there is the impressive track record of Disney Live Entertainment in recent years. Walt Disney World hasn’t seen this as frequently as literally any of the other parks, but Disney has gotten quite good at stage shows, including the montage medley variety. For that matter, they are also very good at making evil entertainment. All of the villainous TV shows I’ve seen in the last ten or so years have been pretty good, aside from World of Color’s odd world. This includes gone-too-soon productions at Walt Disney World hard ticket events and more. With that said, Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After will not compete with Universal’s Epic Universe, even to the risk of blaming the obvious. I can already anticipate the social media posts making unfavorable comparisons between this stage show as Walt Disney World’s “answer” to all of that and the crowd-pushing attractions in Dark Universe. It should go without saying, but this isn’t on the same level. When Villains Land opens in Magic Kingdom, we’ll have to wait another five years for Disney’s actual Dark Universe. planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. Read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews for recommendations for dining. Read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post to learn how to save money on purchasing new tickets or determine which kind to purchase. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will be helpful for deciding what to do and when to do it. The best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide, which contains all the necessary information. Your ThoughtsWhat do you think of Villains Unfairly Ever After? Are you excited to go to Walt Disney World during the summer and experience this? Will you make an effort right away or wait until the demand is low so that you can experience the stage show without lengthy waits? Think it’ll have a Lightning Lane or be standby-only? What about pre-registered previews versus soft openings? Do you concur or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Please share your thoughts below in the comments section so that we can learn from your feedback, even if you disagree with us.
