New Frozen Ride at Epcot Surprises Everyone No One
FTFY.
If Disney renamed themselves Frozen, Inc, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point, and the Norway Pavilion has been Frozen Land for quite a while now.
…particularly the people who were expecting it to move.
It’s a Small, Small, Frozen World.
No thanks.
Looks like some cool technology. But yeah, I don’t really get the logic of the argument.
A hugely successful Disney hit franchise? Featured in a Disney park? NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS
Does it still end with the “Norway” propaganda film that shows various scenes from Norway (both traditional and modern) while a voice solemnly intones “Norway”?
I always enjoyed the Maelstrom, although last time we went, the eye of Odin was broken. I guess at some point, those sorts of rides are attractive because they are air conditioned, and out of nostalgia.
I just hope that somewhere during the ride, someone still says, “Ye are not the first to pass this vay.”
That reminds me of a story of a woman who had a mini-breakdown in a bakery over Frozen. Let me see if I can find it…
There was this woman that wanted to place an order for a cake at the
bakery where I work. After a couple minutes of picking out a design she
was ready to place the order. I took down her information and the
details of the order. All was well until I asked her what theme she
wanted for her daughter’s cake. “Frozen, I guess.” And that is when she
started crying. “Everything is Frozen. Frozen shoes, Frozen nails,
Frozen yogurt. I can’t go anywhere without seeing something from Frozen!
I haven’t listened to my own music in over a year! If I hear "Let it
Go” one more time, I’m going to have an aneurysm. I lied to my
daughter. I told her they were out of Elsa Halloween costumes and that
she would have to be Tinkerbell instead. There were plenty of Elsa
costumes. I just needed a break. I LIED to a FIVE year old. I came in
today hoping that, by some chance, you wouldn’t have Frozen cakes. I’m
just so SICK of Frozen.“ By this point, she was openly weeping. She
cried like I told her that her dog had died. People were staring as I
awkwardly comforted a complete stranger. I honestly didn’t know what to
say to comfort her. Disney sure has one hell of a marketing team.
What’s surprising is not that Disney is exploiting “Frozen” in any way they can, but that they spent a lot of money on this new ride and did it right. It could have easily been a cheap redo of “Malestrom,” with static figures and little technology. But they’re using the latest technology they have to exceed expectations.
They tore out the old theater housing the movie that everyone walked past and added that area to the ride.
I’ve never seen “Frozen” and probably never will. But I will go on this ride, when the FIVE(!) hour long lines subside (or I’m willing to sacrifice a FastPass to Test Track). And I think I’ll enjoy it. It definitely adds a little excitement to World Showcase for many parkgoers, something that has been desperately needed for a long time.
[quote=“RichardKaufman, post:10, topic:80292”]
I’ve never seen “Frozen” and probably never will.
[/quote]Is this a point of pride or something?
Don’t forget to get a Fast Pass Plus BEFORE you go!
Booooo! Lines are perfect. You want to see something neat? You wait.
sounds horrible…
Wait - So in addition to Maelstrom the movie’s gone too? So in what way is this a Norway pavilion anymore?
Because Frozen takes place in fantasy-pseudo-Norway! Shouldn’t that be good enough?
I think what the article is saying is that most people cynically expected a very cheap, quick cash-in ride that tacked some quickie repurposed animatronics into the existing Norway ride and piped in “Let it Go”.
Instead, they dramatically overhauled the entire ride area, did a beautiful job of retheming it, and used some of the most lifelike & sophisticated effects used in a Disney ride to date. Surprising, and impressive.
The movie that nobody ever, ever watched. Ugh. It was SO DULL. And I love Norway.
The former movie theater is now part of the ride queue. The rest of the pavilion is very much still Norway, with several lovely Norway shops and the Norwegian restaurant, plus the cultural exhibits.
Hey, I liked that movie.
######Although the ride was better…
It was… pastoral! And relaxing! And air conditioned!
The last time I went on Maelstrom, right before it closed, the ride operators (from Norway) were having fun joking around. They’d say “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding Maelstrom! In just a few moments, the doors to the theater will open, and you can run quickly to escape watching our very boring tourism film.”
Another time that trip, they said “When the theater doors open, you can watch a movie showing what Norway was like in the late 80s!”
My family and I were on a flight to somewhere when they were distributing the iPads that you could rent to watch movies. The woman in the row in front of us inquired “Do they have Frozen on them? My daughter only watches Frozen.”
