The Animation Courtyard reimagining at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will include the retro Walt Disney Studios billboard. Crews are preparing to paint the design directly on the theater housing “The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure.”

Retro Walt Disney Studios Billboard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

There’s a big white rectangle on the side of the theater, which will be renamed the Studio Theater as part of the courtyard’s reimagining. There was once a “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” billboard on this wall. It was torn down before “The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure” opened.

If you look close at the white rectangle, you’ll see the beginnings of “Walt Disney Studios – Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony Sound Cartoons.” The design is straight from Disney’s Hyperion Studio, where production took place from 1926 to 1940. See the original billboard in the picture below.

The concept art for the reimagined Animation Courtyard, below, showed a billboard in this space but it didn’t have a clear design.

Animation Courtyard will reopen as the Walt Disney Studios Courtyard this summer. It will have more green space and pavement featuring character autographs and handprints. Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! will open on May 26 while The Magic of Disney Animation will open at a later date.

Inside The Magic of Disney Animation, guests will meet characters, learn to draw with Olaf (instead of live artists), and play on an Alice in Wonderland playground.

“The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure” continues performances as normal.

What are you most excited to experience in the reimagined courtyard? Let us know on social media.

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