Disney’s Worlds Collide Tour Hits All the Right Notes With ‘Descendants,’ ‘Zombies’ and ‘Camp Rock’ Stars

It’s safe to say there are a lot of tired — but really, really happy — kids in Los Angeles on Monday morning.

Crypto.com Arena was filled on Monday night with adults and kids — from toddlers to teens — for a jam-packed, fast-paced, high-energy show courtesy of Disney. Eight cast members from three of the company’s hit movie franchises — Descendants, Zombies and Camp Rock — performed a three-hour show (with a 20-minute intermission) featuring all the big songs from those movies and then some, with the whole thing ending around 10 p.m. This reporter’s own kids didn’t get to bed until close to midnight — but they will tell you it was definitely worth staying up late for.

The cheers were deafening inside the arena for the Worlds Collide tour, which features Malachi Barton (Zombies 4, Camp Rock 3), Liamani Segura (Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, Camp Rock 3), Dara Reneé (Descendants: The Rise of Red), Mekonnen Knife (Zombies 4), Hudson Stone (Camp Rock 3), Swayam Bhatia (Zombies 4), Kiara Romero (Descendants: Wicked Wonderland) and Alexandro Byrd (Descendants: Wicked Wonderland). Among the set list were such songs as “It’s On,” “One Beat Away,” “Play My Music” and “We Rock” from the Camp Rock movies; “Like the Zombies Do,” “The Place to Be,” “Ain’t No Doubt About It” and “Someday” from the Zombies franchise; and “Perfect Princess,” “Chillin’ Like a Villain,” “Rotten to the Core” and “Ways to Be Wicked” from the Descendants soundtracks.

Renée brought the house down with her powerful rendition of “Evil Like Me” from Descendants (sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Dove Cameron in the original), while Barton brought out his guitar for “Tomorrow” from Camp Rock 3, a song he said he’d begged to be allowed to perform. Stone, who also performed with his guitar, noted he’s the youngest on the tour, at 14 years old, but held his own with the rest of them. (The other performers range in age from 17-26.)

Even with numerous costume changes, the show moved quickly. Between the different songs, at times various cast members would come out and address the audience directly, giving words of encouragement and inspiration. For example, Romero and Byrd talked about embracing your cultural heritage, while Romero, Segura and Bhatia spoke about the importance of friendship.

Each of the actors got their time to address the crowd directly, and on big screens were shown images and videos of all the performers when they were younger. Many of them talked about their earlier ambitions to be professional singers, actors and/or dancers. A few of them, including Reneé, Barton, Segura and Stone, also got their chance in the spotlight to perform original solo songs, including “Never Waste a Heartbreak” (Reneé), “Stay for the Credits” (Barton), “Talk” (Stone) and “All the Things I’ve Learned So Far” (Segura). (In a nice touch, merchandise being sold in the lobby included not only shirts with all of the performers together but also tees featuring each person individually.)

Among the younger fanbase, Barton and Segura have emerged as big stars, and the crowd went wild for their duet of Camp Rock‘s iconic “This Is Me,” originally performed by Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas in the movie. In a surprise moment, Barton, who also stars alongside Bhatia in Disney’s upcoming series Coven Academy, brought out the stars of that show, which debuts Thursday.

The show included elaborate choreography and big numbers and set pieces along with quieter moments, including a medley around a faux campfire. Barton and Segura again dueted on a Camp Rock song, “Wouldn’t Change a Thing,” during that portion, which also featured Romero singing “If Only” (from Descendants), Reneé and Byrd singing “So This is Love” (from Cinderella and Descendants: The Rise of Red) and the entire group singing the Camp Rock chant.

So what did the younger attendees think about the show? Here are some reviews from two in the target demo:

Brianna, age 14: “It was really engaging. They really wanted you to stand up and dance and be part of it, like when they taught us all a dance. The music was really good. I liked how they sang songs from even the [previous] movies that a lot of them weren’t in, like ‘If Only’ and ‘Someday,’ which was my favorite Obviously, those songs are really good. I also liked how they brought out their own stuff, like Hudson Stone sang ‘Talk’ and ‘Stay for the Credits,’ which are both really good singles that they made.

“I liked how they showed videos of them when they were younger, so like I feel like it could have like inspired some kids to pursue what they want to do in their life. They also had a lot of messages about positivity. It was really nice because I feel like they were inspiring all the kids. I think it was a good length with an intermission.”

Brooklyn, age 11: “What I liked about the Worlds Collide tour is that I loved all their outfits, how they spread positivity to children and just telling you to be yourself, and I loved how they showed younger pictures of [the performers], and I thought that was really fun. I loved how they mixed the songs. They are really good singers and I loved it overall. They were just telling kids to be their self, and I thought that was really positive, and I really liked how they did that.

“I also thought the costumes were really good because they had a theme for everything, and they all had matching outfits, and I thought that was really cool. My favorite song, if I had to choose one, it would probably be ‘Wouldn’t Change a Thing’ from Camp Rock, because it’s a really good song. I also liked how they walked through the audience too. I really enjoyed it overall, and it was a really good show.”

The Worlds Collide tour hit the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday and next travels to the Honda Center in Anaheim on Thursday before leaving Southern California for stops around the U.S. and Canada. It’ll go global starting in December with stops in Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, France and more.