Disney Villains go kiddie in new show at Hollywood Studios | Review
The new “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios near Orlando, Fla. skews too kiddie, but might be fun for character superfans.
The Disney World production — performed inside Sunset Showcase next door to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster — contains a cast of just three live actors. They portray Cruella de Vil from “One Hundred and One Dalmatians,” Captain Hook from “Peter Pan,” and Maleficent from “Sleeping Beauty.” They each compete for the audience’s vote of most misunderstood villain, making their case by half-singing/half-speaking a song from their respective film. The crowd’s applause at the end determines the winner. (Both times I saw the show, Maleficent won.)
The proceedings feel like a Disney Junior take on the bad guys, an experience not unlike the short-lived “Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow” of Hollywood Studios history. (In that attraction, guests stomped their feet to scare away Davy Jones.) Maleficent singing is borderline out-of-character for the self-proclaimed “mistress of all evil,” and the show’s version of Captain Hook is giddy and kooky (a bit Mad Hatter-esque) in a way the character never was in his movies. To their credit, the actors perform these roles with total commitment; what’s puzzling is the tone they’re assigned to commit to.
Over 50 other Disney Villains appear fleetingly via screens throughout the 18-minute show. The audience makes a fun game of identifying the characters, some of which are quite deep cuts (like Clayton from “Tarzan” and King Candy from “Wreck-It Ralph”). Most of these video villains appear in recycled animation from their source material and silently appear onscreen for barely a few seconds. The outliers to this approach are Hades from “Hercules” and Jafar from “Aladdin,” who appear in new footage utilizing their theme park character likenesses rather than recycled animation. Their theatrical makeup might work for a traditional stage appearance, but for the camera, it comes across crude.
On the upside, the costumes on the three live actors are spectacular. Cruella, Hook, and Maleficent wear their recognizable wardrobe from their film appearances, but the specific designs seem to be new for this show, and each is a work of art. Also a plus, the theater now has real seats rather than the venue’s former bleacher seating.
Within the parameters of what it is, “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” works its limitations, and perhaps will be enjoyed by character superfans with appropriate expectations. Those anticipating a Broadway-caliber show that leans into the Disney Villains’ macabre nature should instead make plans to see “Fantasmic!” in the evening. Yes, this is family-friendly Disney World, and it’s understood the villains will never be as downright terrifying as Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, for example. experimenting with a slightly more mature tone. All the same, hopefully the kiddie tone of “Unfairly Ever After” isn’t a sign of things to come at Magic Kingdom’s Villains Land, opening in the coming years.
Tips & trivia
“Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” performs several times daily. Consult the My Disney Experience app for showtimes.
While the show is still new, we recommend arriving early and seeing a showtime in the morning. In our experience, the last showtime of the day was especially busy as locals got off work and headed over to Hollywood Studios.
“Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” opened on May 27, 2025, the same day as “The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure.”
The show’s venue, Sunset Showcase, was formerly home to Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, which operated from 2019-2024.
If you’re a fan of the villains, snap a pic at the photo-op walls outside of Sunset Showcase. A nearby cart also sells “Unfairly Ever After” merchandise.
Full video of Disney Villains show at Hollywood Studios
To watch the entirety of “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” from home, check out our video:
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