On May 27, the new Tree of Life nighttime project show will debut at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and the original "Over California" version of Soarin' will return at Epcot for a limited run.
On May 28, The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic, the replacement show for Rivers of Light, will begin its run on the Discovery River at Animal Kingdom.
On June 17, Soarin' Around the World will debut at Epcot, replacing the original version, the Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire show will debut on the Magic Kingdom castle stage, and the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular fireworks and projection light show will open at Disney's Hollywood Studios
And on June 21, the Frozen Ever After ride and the adjacent Royal Sommerhus meet-and-greet with Anna & Elsa will open at Epcot. To accommodate the expected crowds, the Norway (Arendelle) pavilion will open at 9am instead with the rest of the World Showcase pavilions at 11am. Disney will offer Fastpass+ for the ride (an overlay of the old Maelstrom attraction), but not for the meet and greet.
To help you plan your late-spring trips, here's what else is opening at major theme parks around the world in the next month or so:
May 26 (Media preview) - Cobra's Curse, Busch Gardens Tampa
May 27 - Frozen – Live at the Hyperion, Disney California Adventure
June 10 - Mako, SeaWorld Orlando
June 11 - GhostRider, Knott's Berry Farm
June 16 - Shanghai Disneyland
June 23 (Media preview) - Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Universal's Islands of Adventure
For more attraction opening dates (and links to reviews):
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As we've seen with the 7 Dwarfs Mine, Disney can do some pretty amazing things these days. It'll be interesting to see how much they invest in this one.
Then we just have to wait for the overlay of Zootopia onto the Italy exhibit.
I agree with another previous anonymous poster who said that Little Mermaid isn't underwhelming. I grew up watching The Little Mermaid, and always wanted it to become a Fantasyland-style dark ride like Snow White, Peter Pan or Mr. Toad. And I ended up getting exactly what I wanted! (Well, not exactly, I did want a bigger climax with Ursula, but everything else is pretty much how I wanted it.) I really don't understand why people talk about it like it was supposed to be this big E-ticket. I don't remember it being advertised that way; if memory serves correct, the marketing for this ride was more along the lines of "hey, we made a Little Mermaid ride that follows the same story from the movie and we think you'll like it!" I also find it kind of weird that we praise the three aforementioned Fantasyland dark rides despite the fact that they have the same concept and style of Little Mermaid, but with inferior special effects. I still love those rides and hope they will be around for all eternity, but you can't deny that their effects are very outdated (Mr. Toad didn't even have the decency to put in actual AAs). Little Mermaid, on the other hand, has some of the best special effects I've ever seen on a theme park attraction. Is the ride perfect? No. Is it one of my personal favorites? No. Do I still enjoy it every time I ride it? Absolutely. Do I think it deserves a lot more love than it gets? Absolutely.
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