On...But Disney, I Love It: The New Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Bit of a longer post this week, but if you know me,  you know that The Little Mermaid has always been one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. Tiny Me was the target audience for its original release, and whatever the online discourse about it, I have continued to love it. 

Is it a perfect movie? No, and I'd be the first to admit that. But I fear it has a chokehold on me that will never let up. 

Luckily, there's always been a lot of Little Mermaid representation in the parks: 

• at the Art of Animation hotel, the standard rooms have Little Mermaid theming 
• you can meet Ariel at various character dining throughout the parks -- including Akershus in the Norway pavilion at Epcot, Cinderella Royal's Table in Magic Kingdom, and formerly at Trattoria al Forno at the Boardwalk 
• at Magic Kingdom, you can meet Ariel in her grotto and go 'under the sea' on the Journey of the Little Mermaid ride (also at Disneyland) 
• and at Hollywood Studios you can meet 2023 Ariel at Walt Disney Presents and see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid musical experience

Opened in 1992 at MGM-Studios park, The Voyage of the Little Mermaid closed with the rest of Disney World in March of 2020 due to Covid. Over the next few years, there were reports of mold infestations and rumors that the show would be going away completely. Then, around the time of the live-action release in 2023, Disney announced that they were bringing back a refreshed version of the show -- and I have been counting down the days until I had a chance to go and see it. 

Luckily, I had that opportunity this summer -- and I kid you not, I saw this show 3 times in one afternoon. Was it because this offered an air-conditioned respite from the Florida heat & humidity? Maybe. 
But did I also love it? Yes. 

New Disney YAH Starbucks Mugs

DAMMIT DISNEY. JUST TAKE ALL MY MONEY ALREADY.

Okay. If you know me at all, you know that two of my favoritest things in the world are Starbucks & Disney. (Coincidence that both Magic Kingdom and Starbucks opened in 1971?! Yeah, probably. But still. These are two companies that would basically become the pinnacle of customer service and I like to think that that's kismet.)

Anyway. We all know my heart exploded the day Disney & Starbucks announced their partnership -- for the obvious reason ("these are a few of my favorite things") but also because there would finally be good coffee in the Disney parks.

And, like the good little Disney consumer that I am, the Disney YAH Starbucks mugs are the perfect souvenir, and we proudly own all of them. (Except the discontinued EPCOT mug. That was, perhaps, a bit of an overreaction -- it was just a mug -- but it's become a hot collector's item, so yay consumerism.)


I mean, yes. I freely admit that I'm a sucker for Disney merchandise -- and, now that I'm #adulting, I lost most of my self-consciousness about it. If I want to wear a Magic Kingdom 40th Anniversary track jacket out to Target, I'll do it thankyouverymuch.

But, some context: before I ever met my husband, I collected Starbucks mugs. They made a nice souvenir, and a practical one at that. Then, after my husband and I had our first date in a Starbucks, bonding over our mutual love of hand-crafted espresso beverages, expanding that collection became a nice way to remember our adventures. (Most of our mugs come from places we've been; but one of my best friends, who travels far more extensively than I will ever get the chance to do, has brought us back some amazing ones.)

I freely admit I'm not the biggest fan of the You Are Here mugs; I much prefer the older style. But I don't mind them for Disney mugs. Their bright colors and cartoonish look "fit" the Disney aesthetic much more than they do the mugs of big, urban metropolises.

Of course, now that Disney has released a new set of YAH mugs for each of the parks, I have to find a way to somehow get my hands on them. *sigh* Why are they so pretty?!

📷: Starbucks-Mugs

Rumored Name Change for Hollywood Studios

Okay, so all of this is largely unconfirmed rumors at the moment, but with Disney, most rumors turn out to be at least somewhat true in the end so...I'm going to go ahead and vent about this.

With all the changes/renovations/closures going on at Hollywood Studios (Star Wars Land, Toy Story Land, the closing of the Great Movie Ride -- I'm still not ready to talk about that last one *sob*), Disney is apparently considering one more: a name change to the park.

[Sidebar: it's also, according to this article from Madison.com, the least visited park which...hurts my heart. Granted, the article doesn't include any actual numbers or cite any data, so it's not the most credible source, but it claims that Hollywood Studios has been "the place that has been dead-last in attendance among Disney World's four theme parks for the past few years" and that "it will no longer be ridiculed as a half-day park." I had no idea that it was either "ridiculed" or "considered a half-day park." Of the four, I definitely consider Animal Kingdom to be the half-day park, at least for adults, because until recently, there hadn't been a night-time show, so we always left around lunchtime. Of course, I'm the person who could ride Tower of Terror 20 times in a row and I also love all the shows at Hollywood Studios, so clearly I'm a bit biased. Plus, having Fantasmic there ensures we stay there most of the day. Ugh.]

ANYWAY. I digress.

The point is, now they want to change the name. Which...okay. I get. (Although, I still call it MGM because that was the name when I was little, and that's what it will forever be in my heart.) They're completely overhauling the park (*sob*) and changing it's "function." From what I understand, the park was opened in the early 1990s mainly to compete with Universal Studios, offering a "behind-the-scenes look" at movies/film/Hollywood. That's why you had attractions like The Great Movie Ride (*sob*) and the Stunt Show (my little brother's favorite because "cars") and The Backlot Tour. (I still remember thinking the Golden Girls house was a real house. Nope.) But even Universal has changed now (Hi, Wizarding World of Harry Potter) and the schtick doesn't work. They even used to do some animation at Hollywood Studios, and I remember taking the animator tour where you could watch the animators at work.

But these alleged names? Are HORRIBLE.

This will be the retheming of Hollywood Studios and possibly new name, via Disney Parks survey. pic.twitter.com/4ENXr72tPs

— DisCounselor Dan (@DisCounselor) August 26, 2017

According to ThemePark Insider, the full list of potential names includes:

• Disney Kaleidoscope Park
• Disney Storyverse Park
• Disney Hyperia Park
• Disney Beyond Park
• Disney Cinemagic Park
• Disney Legends Park
• Disney XL Park
• Disney Cinemagine Park

Granted, this hasn't been verified -- and I'm pretty sure these types of surveys usually ask/tell/warn you not to share the information, probably for the reason that you'll piss off a lot of people -- but still. I can't imagine taking my kids to Disney's Kaleidoscope Park or Hyperia Park. What does Hyperia even mean? Autocorrect keeps changing it to "Hyper" so there's that. None of them flow well, like "Let's go to Magic Kingdom today!" And XL? That just seems lazy.

Just no, Disney. Just no.