The revamped “Finding Nemo” show will debut at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park June 13.
“Finding Nemo: The Big Blue … and Beyond!” takes the place of “Finding Nemo: The Musical,” which closed with the resort as a pandemic precaution in March 2020. In 2021, Disney said it was ending that show, which debuted in 2007.
Disney creators have said some elements from the first “Nemo” show, including some music and puppetry, will be seen in “The Big Blue.” The production has new staging, lighting package, video presentations and set pieces, including a 15-foot fish tank volcano and a 32-foot submarine. “Nemo” will remain in the theme park’s Theater in the Wild, a part of Dinoland U.S.A.
The new show clocks in at 25 minutes, Disney says, as opposed to the 40-minute original. The story will begin at Marine Life Institute, as seen in “Finding Dory.”
Showtimes have not been posted yet on the Disney World website.
[ Disney: Hoop-Dee-Doo returns in June ]
Disney has gradually rerolled out its live entertainment options at the resort in the two years since reopening to the public. Upcoming additions include the returns of “Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue” at Fort Wilderness on June 23 and “Fantasmic,” a nighttime spectacular at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. An exact date has not been announced.
“Fantasmic” will have a sequence featuring new stunts and characters, Disney says.
“We’re tapping into Disney heroes that we have grown to know and love — some classics and some new. So you’re going to see ‘Frozen,’ you’re going to see a little bit of ‘Moana,’ you’re going to see the classics like Aladdin and Mulan and still Pocahontas as well,” Matthew Hamel, show director, told the Orlando Sentinel last month.
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