Robert Niles
Editor
Robert Niles

2010 Best Theme Park Attraction nominee: Finding Nemo - The Musical at Disney's Animal Kingdom

December 28, 2009, 3:54 PM · We're back, profiling each of the 64 nominees in this year's Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament. Today, we're taking a look at the 14th seed in the Best Live Show bracket, Finding Nemo - The Musical from Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

Finding Nemo - The Musical at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Staged by Tony Award winners and featuring puppetry in the spirit of Disney's hyper-successful "The Lion King" musical, "Finding Nemo - The Musical" features an original song score from the composer of "Avenue Q," Robert Lopez, and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

Bruce and the Sharks

Clocking in at little over 35 minutes, the show recaps the plot of the Academy Award-winning Pixar animated feature, using lighting and props to create an "underwater" environment.

In the aquarium with Nemo

"Finding Nemo - The Musical" plays daily in the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Marlin and Dory with the Sea Turtles

Frankly, I am bit surprised to see Nemo in the lower half of the bracket, but the Best Live Show bracket is turning out to be quite a bit more competitive than I expected when I first started going through your collective reader ratings to seed the tournament. Will enough Disney/Pixar fans show up to propel Nemo to a first-round upset? We'll find out when voting begins in March for the Best Theme Park Attraction Tournament. In the meantime, please share your thoughts about Nemo, in the comments.

Replies (7)

timmerwoj
Tim W
December 28, 2009 at 4:35 PM · Finding Nemo should have been like number one. It is my favorite theme park show ever and is realy cool. The special effects and puppetry are spectacular!
Bigwig30
Writer
James Rao
December 28, 2009 at 5:28 PM · When I saw this show back in 2007 I rated it as outstanding and offered the following: "I loved the show, the puppets, the sets, and the music. Definitely a must see at DAK."

Now in late 2009, I stand by both my rating and my brief, but concise review.

coasterdude
Writer
Anthony Murphy
December 28, 2009 at 7:35 PM · Very suprised that its rated so low, but there is also Festival of the Lion King which is astronommicaly great show too.

I would give an award to AK for having the best shows.

Besides the stage being a little odd, I can only think of good things to say about this show!

JoshC.
Joshua Counsil
December 29, 2009 at 2:29 PM · Great aesthetics, but the music lacks the standard Disney memorability. "In the big, blue world"? Kinda lame.

Still, it's an underrated show and a worthy competitor.

coasterdude
Writer
Anthony Murphy
December 29, 2009 at 3:00 PM · "We're going to explore, In the big blue world, things that we've never seen before, whats waiting out theeeerre nobodddyy knnnooows,in a biiiig blue world, we're ready to gooooo....."

Love that song!

Like the "Go with the Flow as well!"

ynnam
Manny Barron
December 29, 2009 at 4:37 PM · Festival of the Lion King and Aladdin at DCA are two of my favorite shows anywhere so I was excited to see finding Nemo. I was a bit underwhelmed by Nemo. The songs aren't memorable and those benches are horrible to sit on. I mean the show is o.k. and I feel its rightfully ranked at 14. It shouldn't upset the 3 seed.
CoasterBeth
Beth Olliges
January 2, 2010 at 11:56 AM · I'm very surprised to see such a low seed for this show. My boyfriend and I both consider it an absolute must-see on every WDW trip! (If we could only do two things at Animal Kingdom, they would be riding Everest and seeing this show!) If this show were longer, I could easily see it being Disney's next Broadway hit!

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