In December of 2018, Disney’s Hollywood Studios debuted their new show geared toward younger kids, called the Disney Junior Dance Party. We happened to be in Hollywood Studios on the show’s opening day, so we made a point to swing by and check it out.
In case you weren’t aware, Disney World had a long running show called Disney Junior – Live On Stage! Disney announced that the show was closing in late 2018, however it would be replaced by a new show.
Many of us who had kids that were a perfect demographic for the stage show were sad to hear of its closing. Since they were born, we’ve tried to take Anna and Elsa to the show each time we’ve been to Disney World. Now the girls are starting to age out of the target audience here, so it isn’t the end of the world.
We will also say that based upon the lower attendance we have seen the last several times we’ve been to the show, it wasn’t a surprising change as that Disney Junior “generation” of shows has mostly stopped airing and their previous audience is outgrowing the show.
The following is our thoughts and review of the new Disney Junior Dance Party. We also have a video with highlights of the show at the end of the post!
Location
The Disney Junior Dance Party is located in the same place that the old stage show was. You can find it in Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
While not location related, you should note that FastPass+ reservations are available for this attraction. In case you are looking for showtimes, see the picture below.
Target Audience
While the show is different, the target audience is relatively unchanged. Given the nature of the characters, the show is squarely targeted at kids from 1 year old up to about 7 years old. The upper bound of that range may vary depending on your kids own preference.
The Show
As the name implies, this is a dance party. Whereas the prior show was pretty low key, with puppets and the like, the new Disney Junior Dance Party is going to get your blood pumping.
The show begins with one of your two hosts (DJ Deejay) coming out and introducing herself. And yes, you read her name right. The purple and blue hair she sports is very interesting. I’m sure there was some reason they felt that she would appeal to younger kids, but I can’t put my finger on it at the moment. I’m sure some Imagineer could explain it…
She quickly introduces another host by the name of Finn Fiesta and the show is ready to begin. However, Finn realizes that he forgot to invite Mickey and the Roadster Racer Friends. So Deejay and Finn call up Mickey and ask him if he and the Roadster Racers can make it over quickly, which of course they are happy to do. But they need some time. So, naturally the rest of the show turns into a bit of a time kill so that Mickey can get there.
The show goes for a newer and trendy character to start with Vampirina. She makes her way to the stage and is joined on the theater’s screens by some other characters from her show. They strike up a tune that is familiar to followers of her show. They dance a little number and her part of the show is over.
I could repeat this same theme for each of the next two parts of this article about the Disney Junior Dance Party, however, I’ll spare you. Suffice it to say, Doc McStuffins makes an appearance, followed by Timon representing The Lion Guard.
Timon is an interesting choice for the Disney Junior Dance Party, given he isn’t really as direct of a link to the Disney Junior slate of shows. They play it as him being related to the Lion Guard show. Which, yeah he does make a few appearances in that show, but it feels like a stretch to us. Why Disney couldn’t spring for a new costume and have Kion be part of the show is beyond us. I don’t think the kids really minded. Old man dad complaint, I guess.
Finally, Mickey arrives with his Roadster Racer friends and does his own little number to close down the show. Unfortunately, Mickey is the only character that shows up to dance. The other characters of the Fab Five plus Daisy only show up on the theater screens.
A Worthy Refresh of the Disney Junior Show
All in all, I’d say this is a worthy refresh of what was starting to feel like a stale show. The characters are highly relevant to kids today (sorry Jake and Sofia) and the tunes they sing and dance to should be known to the kids in the audience. It’s also much more lively and energetic, which the old show seemed to be missing.
The kids there all seemed to really enjoy the singing and dancing. My only critique would be that maybe they could have brought all the characters out to actually dance with the kids. I know there are a host of issues with doing this, but Disney seems to make it happen for some of their parades, Halloween and Christmas parties. Why not here?
In spite of that, the new Disney Junior Dance Party gives young kids a better opportunity to have something all their own. Their familiar songs, their characters, and plenty of fun.
Wrapping Up
That wraps up our review of the new Disney Junior Dance Party review. We hope you found it useful. If you did, we’d appreciate it if you would share this on social media with other you think would find it helpful. We also love to see the sharing because it helps us know we are doing something right. Just use the social sharing buttons on this page!