A new show has debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios themed to the villainous side of Disney storytelling. Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After is now showing daily at the Sunset Showcase theater just past the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster attraction at the end of Sunset Boulevard. We made it out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios yesterday to brave the large opening day crowds and watch two performances of Unfairly Ever After. In this article, we’ll not only share photos and a full video of the show but also give our Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After review of the show.
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After Review
Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After was first announced as a Villain-themed show back in September 2024. It wasn’t until December 2024 that the show received its official name. Along the way, Disney dripped new pieces of information such as new concept art and hints as to the plot of the show. To promote the new show, Disney even rolled out one-day-only meet and greets for “Villaintine’s Day” – the day after Valentine’s Day. Finally, in March 2025, Disney announced that Unfairly Ever After and The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure would debut at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on May 27th. We visited on opening day to check out both new shows!
We’ll start with the courtyard, which has been refreshed ever so slightly since Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy show utilized the Sunset Showcase theater. Of course, all of the Cars theming has been removed, leaving some empty space behind and a handful of posters. A backstage gate has been updated as a Villain-themed photo op.
A larger holding pen makes it easier to see if you’ll get into the show or not (anyone inside the holding pen is going to make it, outside the holding pen, and you’ll have to wait for the next show). The courtyard has a number of umbrellas, but it’s not enough to beat the Florida heat.
I think it’s clear with both The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure and Unfairly Ever After that Disney was going to use as much of its budget as possible for the show itself and interior theater upgrades versus spending anything more than the bare minimum for areas outside of the theater doors. I think I’m ok with that, but if the Villains show is going to be popular going forward, and Disney knew that, it would’ve been really nice if they would’ve built some sort of permanent cover.
As it stands, prepare for the heat and prepare for crowds. I think that crowds will normalize after a few days and you should only have to wait for one show cycle before you’re able to get inside the theater to enjoy the dark space and air conditioning.
Stepping inside, the theater is oriented differently than when the Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy called it home. Whereas Lightning McQueen could be found sort of diagonal to the left of the entry doors, the Unfairly Ever After stage is set directly to the left when you walk in. Maybe a 45-degree shift. This probably allows for a better use of the space, and some backstage areas for the (very) few actors in the show, versus the purely actor-free Racing Academy.
The space now features traditional theater seating, replacing the unforgiving benches that were formerly used for the Racing Academy. The area, while nice, still feels very temporary, but that’s more of a commentary on the intended use of the Sunset Showcase building and less of a predictor of how long the show will be presented here. That said, the Sunset Showcase has played host to several offerings over the years, and Unfairly Ever After will not be the last show to be presented in this space. While the show is here, the space is comfy enough.
Ok, so what is the premise of the show. If you couldn’t guess by the show title, we’re here to determine which villain has been treated the most unfairly of all. Here’s the description from Disney:
Enter the realm of the Magic Mirror—where dozens of villains are trapped! They want the Mirror to reveal the truth: which villain has been treated the most unfairly of them all?Watch as Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent present their cases on stage, persuading with wicked wisdom and wisecracks. Will you be swayed by their hijinks and humor?
It’s a spellbinding show with moving music and a most memorable finale—where you help decide who has been treated most unfairly.
Ok, let’s go beat-by-beat through the show, offering some thoughts along the way. The show begins with audio of the Evil Queen summoning the Magic Mirror, “Magic Mirror on the wall…”. Before she can finish her sentence, the Magic Mirror butts in “…oh for the days when that was all”. It’s a comedic start and an introduction to a character with the Magic Mirror that is just over it. He doesn’t want to be here, he’s overwhelmed by the villains, and he needs our help.
Mr. Mirror laments that it’s not just the Evil Queen who has access to him any longer. In fact, a number of villains can be seen peering through their own mirrors, flanking the stage, and digitally on a large video screen that acts as a backdrop throughout the show. It sounds like there’s a bunch of complaining as the Magic Mirror gets us caught up to speed by saying that villains these days are less interested in “who’s the fairest one of all”, and more preoccupied with who has been treated the most unfairly.
Before we know it, we’re in the middle of a catchy original song, sung by the Magic Mirror, and setting the stage for the show – with villains suggesting “they’re not bad apples, they just get bad press”.
In the song, Mirror lets us know that he has been enchanted to only answer to the Evil Queen, yet villains continue to hound him for answers. When the Evil Queen finds out that villains are trying to summon the Magic Mirror, she ends up smashing whatever looking glass they’re using to try and end the interaction.
Critically, Mirror “can’t judge, just reflect” when it comes to other villains. That means that it’s up to us to intervene, judging the villains on behalf of Mirror, hopefully answering the question of “who’s most misunderstood of all”, and sending them on their way to leave the Magic Mirror in peace.
The song is actually quite good, and it’s been stuck in my head all day. It’s an earworm for sure, and I hope that Disney makes it available for streaming shortly. As a matter of fact, I can’t even upload a full version of the show to YouTube without the video being banned worldwide, presumably due to a restriction on the use of the song, so something must be in the works. Other videos on YouTube skip over the opening number, which is a shame, but we’ll have the full show embedded below.
At the end of the song, we’re introduced to Cruella De Vil via one of the many magical frames found flanking the stage. She digitally walks from frame to frame as the Magic Mirror introduces her – “a cunning collector of unique fashion”. We see Cruella’s silhouette move from frame to frame before “walking” into a large mirror that she eventually physically walks out of from behind, and onto the stage.
As fashionable designs fill the frames around the stage, the classic Cruella De Vil song is played in an upbeat, rock version that reminds us of something that we’d encounter at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
Cruella walks around the stage, performing a few costume changes as she makes her case for how unfairly she has been treated. Some in-theater effects such as smoke-filled bubbles fall from the ceiling. The writing here is really poor, leading Cruella to mainly prance around the stage striking poses while her theme song plays. There isn’t much meat on the bone with this appearance, with Cruella sort of blaming her sense of fashion as the reason for her villainous ways as it relates to the 101 Dalmatians – “great artists are always misunderstood”.
The costume changes are impressive, but the writing is bad. Woof.
Next up, the Magic Mirror returns, shocked that a villain has made it through the glass. We start to hear The Elegant Captain Hook play in the background. Captain Hook sings along, making his case as a benevolent leader. The energy from Hook is unmatched and really makes the performance. We also like the arrangement of the song.
A really cool moment happens at the end of Hook’s segment as a frame with Tick-Tock the Crocodile starts to literally chase Captain Hook around the stage as the Crocodile Song plays in the background.
The Magic Mirror, now thoroughly exhausted, leads the next transition into “the fairy godmother that no one wants” – introducing Maleficent to a grand version of Once Upon a Dream. Maleficent makes a grand entrance, before making perhaps the most compelling argument yet about how she has been mistreated. She turns to the audience, connecting with them as she asks if they’ve ever been left out before as she was. She tells us it has been soul-crushing to be so misinterpreted. She then argues that it was her curse that led to true love’s kiss and a happily ever after for Princess Aurora. It’s a compelling case and a well-written portion of the show.
While it has been nice to see some characters in person, it’s time for a digital segment of the show predominantly featuring Hades and Jafar as they try to break through mirrors and get included in the vote for who has been the most mistreated of all. Eventually, we start to see more characters, typically in their animated form, also complaining about their own situations. I think that the video clips of the characters are from their respective movies.
Eventually, the Evil Queen appears in pre-recorded, live-action form. She breaks the mirrors surrounding the stage, and the Magic Mirror finally seeks to put an end to his misery by asking us to vote by applause for who we think is the most misunderstood.
The three villains then return to the stage for a final vote. During the two shows that we watched, Maleficent received the loudest cheers…and it wasn’t even close. If anything comes from this show, it should be the realization that Maleficent was a phenomenal choice by Disney to anchor the new Villains-themed land.
The winning villain then gets their own small segment. The vote really is live, and the ending is determined by the audience. In fact, we even saw Cast Members in the tech booth cheering loudest for Captain Hook, trying to influence the audience to pick him. Ultimately, it really is up to the audience to determine the dynamic ending.
Check out our video below for the full version of Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After, now playing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
DISNEY VILLAINS: UNFAIRLY EVER AFTER FULL SHOW VIDEO
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As we close out this Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After review, I wanted to offer some thoughts on the show. First, Disney has done a good job with the space. Not outstanding, but surely good enough for a few years. The stage is mostly screens, but they look great and are implemented really well into the show. I’m not sure what else Disney could’ve done with the space in terms of physical sets that would allow for a quick cadence of showtimes.
That said, the villains do deserve better, and they will be getting their own land at Magic Kingdom sometime in the next decade. Speaking of Villains Land, I have found it interesting that many fans have already written this show off as something that will be replaced when Villains Land opens. While I think that’s a possibility, I find it fascinating that over the past many months, the fandom has sort of moved on from a show that hadn’t yet debuted.
I also find it interesting that fans assume that this is a test for something coming to Villains Land. I hope that isn’t the case. I think the only thing that Disney should take away from the show is that Maleficent is the quintessential Disney villain and wholly deserving of anchoring the new land. At the risk of being too harsh toward Unfairly Ever After, everything else about this show can go. Oh wait, the music can stay. It’s great.
I do like the premise of the mirror realm and using it to bring the villains to us without having to somehow step into their worlds. When the concept of the mirror realm is paired with a stage that is 90% screens, guests are transported with some wonderful visuals. The stage is super dynamic.
Another complaint that I have about the show is that you only get to see three villains on stage. When they’re on stage, they do a wonderful job, but I want more live entertainment in my live entertainment. As much as I really love the music, clapping for a recording of a song during a live theater production is just kind of sad. In addition, I would’ve loved to have seen the pre-recorded segments with Hades, Jafar, and the Evil Queen performed live. Even if that means reworking the show a bit to get them involved. At the end of the day, maybe Unfairly Ever After really is a temporary show – it sure feels like it.
In terms of working Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After into your next visit, we wouldn’t wait too long for the show, but you might not have a choice. This is the only year-round representation for the Villains, outside of maybe Fantasmic, but that’s more of a mishmash of scenes than a true Villains show. As expected, opening day is popular. I’ll try to make it a point to go out to Hollywood Studios sometime next week to check on crowds again and see if it remains a two-show wait or if things moderate a bit.
Even if the show wasn’t fully up to par, it’s got some catchy tunes, comfortable seats, and air conditioning. Unfairly Ever After is not necessarily skippable, but I wouldn’t prioritize it over some other great attractions, and even some other great shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s probably last on my list of stage shows in the park right now.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
