Disney confirms 'Frozen' makeover coming to Epcot's Norway Pavilion

[lazyboy97o]

Walt Disney's world didn't have the same technology as today and you needed to have the World Showcase to show the world to people, I get it. You couldn't get close to the same thing back then. Today you are able to teach and show so much from your own computer. It does require significant effort, just as if I were doing so in Epcot. But I don't have to pay to see the history or culture that Disney wants me or my kids to see. I also don't have to limit it all to one day out of every several years.

The internet is not composed of built space. One of the biggest assets that World Showcase has beyond that is actual people to speak with face-to-face.

 

[EdC]

The internet is not composed of built space. One of the biggest assets that World Showcase has beyond that is actual people to speak with face-to-face.

I presume you've never heard of Skype? All joking aside, I believe I understand the point you're getting at. Sadly, you won't find the true cultural experience that you believe you're experiencing while visiting Epcot. You have to actually go to the places.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I presume you've never heard of Skype? All joking aside, I believe I understand the point you're getting at. Sadly, you won't find the true cultural experience that you believe you're experiencing while visiting Epcot. You have to actually go to the places.

I've been to all but three of the places represented in World Showcase. Nobody is saying it is a substitute for actual travel. It is its own worthy experience.

 

[GoofGoof]

IMO Test Track 2.0 looks pretty cheap. The old environmental rooms and the robots were much better than the empty scanning rooms there now. Also remember that part of Frozen's budget will be used on the M&G, store and maybe the bakery and restaurant as well. Plus unlike Test Track there will be animatronics so that will cut into even more of the budget. $75 million will go pretty fast and not all of it on the ride.

Some people like the look of the new Test Track and some hate it, but it's probably a good representation for the scope and scale of this project. Assuming $15M is set aside for a meet and greet area and some upgrades to the store it would have about the same budget.

Just for kicks:

2009 Space Mountain refurb: ~$12.3 million

2012 Test Track refurb: ~$60 million

2014 Malestrom and pavilion refurb: ~$75 million

If $75 million is for the ride and surrounding elements as rumored, I'd wadger that, maybe, $25-35 million of that will be used for the actual ride.

With that info, my new guess? Just like NFL it will look astethically pleasing, the area will be inviting, but the ride will lack in quality.

Bummer.

$50M of the budget for a meet and greet? Even Enchanted Tales was less than that and I wouldn't expect anything that elaborate. I would guess $50 to $60M goes to the ride.

 

[Dwarful]

We have been going with children for the past 18 years. Usually our two girls and multiple cousins. Epcot has always been a given. Even when they were small children...before the days of Kim Possible or Agent P Epcot was an enjoyable park. The rides, the shows, the food....as a family it was enjoyable and educational at times. Even all these years later we still have their stamped passports, their chefs hat from baking cookies with the 'magic cookie chef' in The Land, photos of them on stage with Off Kilter and dancing with daddy on the stage in Germany during dinner, selecting the just right painted animal in Mexico as a treasured souvenir, getting their kidcot masks stamped and signed in those foreign languages.....not to mention all the time we spent in the old Club Cool.

My husband and I have never felt the need to get drunk to enjoy EPCOT with our children. I'd like to say we never will...but with the loss of entertainment options and Frozen overload...I see less time at WDW in general.

 

[FutureCEO]

does anybody remember the days where the characters just walked around in their little area?

My dad has video of Mickey coming from backstage and taking my sisters (6 years old at the time) hand and walking with her around the American Adventure.

 

[spacemt354]

$50M of the budget for a meet and greet? Even Enchanted Tales was less than that and I wouldn't expect anything that elaborate. I would guess $50 to $60M goes to the ride.

I thought it was more than a meet and greet? I thought the budget was being spread to the store, extension of the queue, rebuilding the theater, I even heard possibly the restaurant too? All of that plus the meet and greet location.

What I was referring to was after all of the infrastructure has been adjusted and organized, what of the budget is left for possible ride enhancements in terms of better AAs/detailed show scenes?

Sure I guess you could say changing the attraction infrastructure and extending its queue is technically the "ride" budget, but I was talking about what goes on during the ride itself.

It's far away, but based on Disney's track record with these types of deals, they seem to give us very aesthetically pleasing exteriors and queue-lines, (even benches and bathrooms ) but the quality seems to lack in the rides themselves.

But, nevertheless, I'm sure in the next few months more details will emerge and the truth will be seen how much effort they really put into the ride. I'm hoping for the best, but after waiting 2 years in hope for 7DMT, I was really disappointed and I'd rather not set my expectations too high.

 

[Mike S]

Some people like the look of the new Test Track and some hate it, but it's probably a good representation for the scope and scale of this project. Assuming $15M is set aside for a meet and greet area and some upgrades to the store it would have about the same budget.

$50M of the budget for a meet and greet? Even Enchanted Tales was less than that and I wouldn't expect anything that elaborate. I would guess $50 to $60M goes to the ride.

I don't hate the new Test Track, it just looks kind of cheap in areas imo (especially the example I gave).

does anybody remember the days where the characters just walked around in their little area?

My dad has video of Mickey coming from backstage and taking my sisters (6 years old at the time) hand and walking with her around the American Adventure.

My favorite experience with a character at Epcot was when they had Crash Test Dummies at the exit of Test Track after viewing your photos. It was standing completely still and my mom went close to look at it. When it finally moved and got in her face she freaked out

 

[misterID]

I've spent plenty a "whole day" in Future World, except for dinner and Illuminations. Want the rundown? OK.

Arrive at opening. Get Test Track FP. Ride Soarin'. Bathroom break (happens a lot). Coffee at Fountain View. Flying pigs in Innoventions. Grab Mission Space FP. See Jammitors (they really are very good). Use Test Track FP. Look at cars post ride (my kids love climbing in them, don't know why). Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions. Bathroom break. Spaceship Earth. Sunshine Seasons for lunch. Living with the Land and Circle of LIfe. Grab Soarin' FPs. Living Seas with Nemo. Turtle Talk. Get in trouble for splashing when trying to touch stingrays. Lots of quizzes and playing on computers in Seas exhibits. Watch dolphin window show. Laugh at manatees (I just think they're funny). Bathroom break. Imagination. Captain EO. Whine about when imagination was better. Bathroom break (why didn't you go 45 minutes ago when the rest of us did? I didn't have to go then.). Use Mission Space FP. Ellen's Energy Adventure. Test lab in Innoventions. Use Soarin' FP. Dinner reservation at 7:30, then illuminations.

I finally found the guest who could appreciate new themed bathrooms. Your trip sounds like mine, except Innovations, M:S, SOAT, Turtle Talk... and the tiny bladder.

I'll make this simple. If I'm giving Disney a couple grand, I'm not going to do what I do in my own community and online. My kids sow the ground with the vegetables that they eat and care for the chickens that the eggs they eat come from. We are not going for the purpose of seeing the over idealized versions of these countries.

Walt Disney's world didn't have the same technology as today and you needed to have the World Showcase to show the world to people, I get it. You couldn't get close to the same thing back then. Today you are able to teach and show so much from your own computer. It does require significant effort, just as if I were doing so in Epcot. But I don't have to pay to see the history or culture that Disney wants me or my kids to see. I also don't have to limit it all to one day out of every several years.

So folks, it's not you, it's me. And I'm fine with that.

And WS was always supposed to be just a taste of foreign culture, to inspire the average guest to visit those nations, and open up some minds about how cool other cultures are outside of our own. I would be okay with Frozen in WS if they made an effort to build a sophisticated attraction that reflected the real cultural themes of a WS country (like Japan). I mean, the fact your kids grow their own vegetables is weird justification for ruining a cohesive theme in WS. Again, it's not so much about educating yourself with a foreign nation, it's about getting a taste of that culture that most people will never visit. A real living breathing experience, that you can touch and smell... that's up close in front of you, not being read from a computer. It defeats the whole purpose and totally out of touch with what WS is. The whole 'technology has made cultural experience obsolete" is not only sad... but a little scary.

 

[EdC]

And WS was always supposed to be just a taste of foreign culture, to inspire the average guest to visit those nations, and open up some minds about how cool other cultures are outside of our own. I would be okay with Frozen in WS if they made an effort to build a sophisticated attraction that reflected the real cultural themes of a WS country (like Japan). I mean, the fact your kids grow their own vegetables is weird justification for ruining a cohesive theme in WS. Again, it's not so much about educating yourself with a foreign nation, it's about getting a taste of that culture that most people will never visit. A real living breathing experience, that you can touch and smell... that's up close in front of you, not being read from a computer. It defeats the whole purpose and totally out of touch with what WS is. The whole 'technology has made cultural experience obsolete" is not only sad... but a little scary.

I'm just tired of people pretending epcot is something that it's not. Perhaps with the change to frozen more people will visit the WS and be inspired to visit and experience the real thing.

After some research, yep sure seems bookings are up because of frozen. http://m.travelweekly.com/3_article?guid=260698&t=1&s=1&from=1_tab1

 

[GoofGoof]

I thought it was more than a meet and greet? I thought the budget was being spread to the store, extension of the queue, rebuilding the theater, I even heard possibly the restaurant too? All of that plus the meet and greet location.

What I was referring to was after all of the infrastructure has been adjusted and organized, what of the budget is left for possible ride enhancements in terms of better AAs/detailed show scenes?

Sure I guess you could say changing the attraction infrastructure and extending its queue is technically the "ride" budget, but I was talking about what goes on during the ride itself.

It's far away, but based on Disney's track record with these types of deals, they seem to give us very aesthetically pleasing exteriors and queue-lines, (even benches and bathrooms ) but the quality seems to lack in the rides themselves.

But, nevertheless, I'm sure in the next few months more details will emerge and the truth will be seen how much effort they really put into the ride. I'm hoping for the best, but after waiting 2 years in hope for 7DMT, I was really disappointed and I'd rather not set my expectations too high.

A chunk of the Test Track money was spent on the queue.

Details for Frozen are pretty limited at this point so this is all speculation on my part based on what some of the more knowledgeable people here have posted and the timeline/budget.

The biggest change is likely going to be to the load/unload area and queue. The going rumor is they will make the load and unload the same area adding an additional show scene to the end of the ride. That will require a reworking of the queue (which is too small anyway). My guess is the queue will most likely need to absorb the current theater where the movie is shown after you get off the ride. If not they would have to use some backstage areas to expand but I'm not sure if that space exists and is usable.

I'm sure they will repurpose part or all of the existing store (I forget the name - the one with the giant troll statue). They could build another structure to house a Frozen gift shop, but I think it's more likely they just repurpose the existing store. The restaurant is already a princess meal so it makes sense they add Anna and Elsa to it. It's possible they could add some theming to the restaurant itself to make it look more like the ballroom from the movie (similar to BOG) but I don't think it would need a major rework.

The meet and greet itself has to be part of a new structure. There just isn't anywhere in the existing pavilion where it could fit properly. The church was a train wreck so I hope they don't try that again. This could be elaborate like Fairytale hall or Enchanted Tails or more of a side "pavilion" area like Ariel's Grotto. I'm thinking they probably go with a smaller scale option like the Grotto.

That leaves changes to the actual ride. It seems unlikely that they are going to change out the ride system or expand the ride much (besides the change to the unload). The bulk of the money will likely be spent on scenery and AAs. It's still going to be really hard to cram the whole story into this short of a ride, but it will likely have 5 or 6 "show scenes".

The changes to the gift shop and potential changes to the restaurant should be minimal in cost. Changing the queue and load/unload may be a little more expensive. I think how much money is left for the ride is really dependant on how elaborate the meet and greet building is. If they blow through $25 to $30M on that then it will leave a more limited budget for the ride. I'm hoping that the ride budget is mostly spent on decent AAs and proper scenery. No repeat of the issues at LM.

 

[GoofGoof]

So instead, just make all new ones!

I hope this means the ride won't have the glaring show problems that LM has.

 

[spacemt354]

A chunk of the Test Track money was spent on the queue.

Details for Frozen are pretty limited at this point so this is all speculation on my part based on what some of the more knowledgeable people here have posted and the timeline/budget.

The biggest change is likely going to be to the load/unload area and queue. The going rumor is they will make the load and unload the same area adding an additional show scene to the end of the ride. That will require a reworking of the queue (which is too small anyway). My guess is the queue will most likely need to absorb the current theater where the movie is shown after you get off the ride. If not they would have to use some backstage areas to expand but I'm not sure if that space exists and is usable.

I'm sure they will repurpose part or all of the existing store (I forget the name - the one with the giant troll statue). They could build another structure to house a Frozen gift shop, but I think it's more likely they just repurpose the existing store. The restaurant is already a princess meal so it makes sense they add Anna and Elsa to it. It's possible they could add some theming to the restaurant itself to make it look more like the ballroom from the movie (similar to BOG) but I don't think it would need a major rework.

The meet and greet itself has to be part of a new structure. There just isn't anywhere in the existing pavilion where it could fit properly. The church was a train wreck so I hope they don't try that again. This could be elaborate like Fairytale hall or Enchanted Tails or more of a side "pavilion" area like Ariel's Grotto. I'm thinking they probably go with a smaller scale option like the Grotto.

That leaves changes to the actual ride. It seems unlikely that they are going to change out the ride system or expand the ride much (besides the change to the unload). The bulk of the money will likely be spent on scenery and AAs. It's still going to be really hard to cram the whole story into this short of a ride, but it will likely have 5 or 6 "show scenes".

The changes to the gift shop and potential changes to the restaurant should be minimal in cost. Changing the queue and load/unload may be a little more expensive. I think how much money is left for the ride is really dependant on how elaborate the meet and greet building is. If they blow through $25 to $30M on that then it will leave a more limited budget for the ride. I'm hoping that the ride budget is mostly spent on decent AAs and proper scenery. No repeat of the issues at LM.

I would hope so. I would want a majority of that $75 million to be spent on improving the quality of the ride and making it more than just short ride through Frozen. I'm much more interested into how the ride experience will change than anything else that's coming.

And in regards to that...if they are changing the load/unload, does that mean the ride will go in reverse? Or will they just have a very long load/unload path similar to test track? Because according to the article you had posted, it seemed like the ride will remain the same, so I'm curious how that plays into all of this.

 

[misterID]

I'm just tired of people pretending epcot is something that it's not. Perhaps with the change to frozen more people will visit the WS and be inspired to visit and experience the real thing.

After some research, yep sure seems bookings are up because of frozen. http://m.travelweekly.com/3_article?guid=260698&t=1&s=1&from=1_tab1

There's no doubt more people will visit and that's going to cause all kinds of problems in WS. It's not equipped to handle the types of crowds that are coming. You treat it like a mall for so long with no attractions there's nothing else to help eat up the crowds.

 

[Mike S]

I'm just tired of people pretending epcot is something that it's not. Perhaps with the change to frozen more people will visit the WS and be inspired to visit and experience the real thing.

After some research, yep sure seems bookings are up because of frozen. http://m.travelweekly.com/3_article?guid=260698&t=1&s=1&from=1_tab1

And I'm tired of people saying it's ok for Epcot to further become something it was never supposed to be. Magic Kingdom is the place for Disney fairytales.

 

[GoofGoof]

I would hope so. I would want a majority of that $75 million to be spent on improving the quality of the ride and making it more than just short ride through Frozen. I'm much more interested into how the ride experience will change than anything else that's coming.

And in regards to that...if they are changing the load/unload, does that mean the ride will go in reverse? Or will they just have a very long load/unload path similar to test track? Because according to the article you had posted, it seemed like the ride will remain the same, so I'm curious how that plays into all of this.

I'm curious to know that too. Someone earlier posted that they thought the ride might go in reverse, but I'm not sure how that would work with the hills. I was speculating that they could replace the whole ride system and remove the boats completely, but nobody with any actual knowledge has posted anything like that.

If they wanted to do it right (and wanted it in the Maelstrom location) they would expand the show building out into the expansion area and double the ride length. An 8 minute boat ride with good AAs and show scenes could actually be a true E-ticket, but they aren't going to do that for $75M or in 18 months. I'm guessing we get something in between the potential E-ticket and an actual overlay.

 

[EdC]

And I'm tired of people saying it's ok for Epcot to further become something it was never supposed to be. Magic Kingdom is the place for Disney fairytales.

That's fine. Half of Epcot was supposed to be an inhabited community, but that never got built. Disney wants people through the turnstiles. Walt wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It's going to be interesting to see how WS handles the influx of traffic.

 

[Aquira]

I love Frozen, but am disappointed. I was planning on going to Epcot this May. I've never ridden Maelstorm. I feel like I've lost something because now I'll never be able to see it. Honestly, I'm pretty bummed about it. I might not even go to Epcot now, since one more ride being eliminated is a big deal when there are so few to begin with.

 

[BigTxEars]

The crowds are my biggest "concern" about this new attraction, but if anybody can handle crowds it's Disney. They really are incredible at it. I have had some professional crowd training, have some more soon. They do it extremely well.

 

[Mike S]

Disney has officially revealed the most advanced animatronic in the ride.