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

[MichWolv]

Akerhus and the bakery....

Why retheme the bakery -- the place is always crowded as heck.

 

[FutureCEO]

Why retheme the bakery -- the place is always crowded as heck.

make it bigger

 

[wm49rs]

Why retheme the bakery -- the place is always crowded as heck.

I would imagine the bakery and seating area would be reconfigured (if they stay) to accommodate the M&G area....

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The M&G

Is the M&G going into an existing space or a new building? If it's a new building with CM break space that will eat up a lot of the budget.

 

[Mike S]

Why retheme the bakery -- the place is always crowded as heck.

The addition of minimal Frozen theming to go with the new selection of Frozen cupcakes.

 

[MichWolv]

make it bigger

Oh. Well, I actually like that. I prefer the Norway bakery to the France bakery.

 

[BigTxEars]

The creative culture of Disney has changed. The harmony of the attractions and the themed environments in which they sit are the reasons for Disney's success in theme parks. When the overarching theme is eroded, all you are left with is an upscale Six Flags. The current Disney leadership is either ignorant of that or just doesn't care, and I think decisions like these diminish the theme park experience.

In response to your second question, if Frozen has increased interest in the country of Norway, then it stands to reason that a cartoon-free Norway Pavilion would also be more popular post-Frozen. In a theme park setting, Disney has the luxury of being able to use technology to make a more authentic cultural experience that is uniquely engaging.

It very well may be more popular after the Frozen craze (even without a Frozen presence) as it currently stands. I would guess it is indeed more popular now, but it will not be as popular without a Frozen presence as it will be with one. My bold prediction is that Norway will be more popular a pavilion after the Frozen ride opens than it is currently, by a wide margin. I think that is a good thing for the pavilion, others disagree. No big surprise there.

 

[BigTxEars]

Are you kidding me? I cry at almost every Disney movie. During Frozen I might have teared up during Let It Go out of an artistic standpoint.. But not any other times.

But Wreck It Ralph, that movie hit very close to home. I was bullied really bad as a child (Like Vanellope..) and I always felt like I was the "Bad Guy" because I never seemed to agree. So to me WIR was more relateable and I cry at the end... Every.Single.Time.

Tangled is even better, I cried my eyes out at the end of that one. It's beautiful and I'd rather get a tattoo of the sun that Rapunzel paints then a Let it Go tattoo.

Now I shouldn't be judging a movie on how much I cry, but IMO it means that you relate to the movie and an emotional connection with the characters has surfaced in a hour and a half/two hours.

Not saying it was not a good movie, I just did not connect with it like I did with Frozen. I have seen it twice and really do not feel the need to see it again. I can understand your connection with it though

 

[twebber55]

As a dane, I support this post. The Scandinavian countries share a lot of both past, present and likely future as well. As we're currently independent nations, we are of course proud of our nation and don't like to be put into one bucket - e.g. quite a few danes disliked Stockholm for setting their slogan to be "The capital of Scandinavia" - and we're also semi-offended when foreigners confuse the countries, or e.g. think that Denmark is a city in Sweden. Or rather, we laugh about it.

But we don't and can't deny that we have a lot of shared cultural heritage. When I'm at Epcot, I only appreciate some of the danish "marks" already in the pavilion, and not something I see as incorrect or offensive. E.g. Norwegians also very much enjoy Aquavit. I would however raise an eyebrow if, say, the Little Mermaid statue suddenly appeared in a Norway pavilion, since it is clearly placed in Denmark. Aquavit can be found in Norway, the Little Mermaid statue cannot. So that's a core difference, I'd say. And stuff like Vikings were shared between all the Scandinavian countries, so that would also be a fine fit for a Norway pavilion.

In regards to the Frozen attraction, I once again have to say how I think it completely comes down to the execution of it. Disney can create a high-end, well-crafted and "elegant" attraction, both aimed at Frozen fans and fitting to the country it's in, enjoyed by kids and adults like. And they can completely screw it up, making a low-budget, outdated attraction that's too aimed at kids and doesn't respect the country it's in.

Why make hasty judgement and not give Disney the benefit of the doubt? Yes, their track record lately hasn't been awesome, but I'd say it's much more constructive to voice opinions urging decision to make a good job of this than simply dismiss the decision for this replacement without any other details or having even experienced the final attraction, implementation and experience.

so what you re saying is you re going to wait before you judge...interesting

 

[BigTxEars]

Crazy, obsessed, yet passionate Disneyland fans. I know DL fans who would rather see the whole place close than it be kept open with misguided direction (such as putting things in the park that don't belong).

The Lincoln/Muppet idea was scrapped. It could have been due to the outrage of the fans or maybe they decided to do away with the idea on their own. I posted this because I see a lot of the same passion in some of the WDW fans here. I can't blame people for wanting to see EPCOT kept wholly to its original concept, if not, as much as possible.

That's all I'm going to say in this thread.

I would call death threats over a ride/attraction a bit beyond passionate, that is deep into crazy land territory.

From the start Epcot was a steep deviation from it's original concept. Since we are speaking about WS on this thread was it even a part of the original concept of Epcot? Not from what I have read or seen.

 

[BigTxEars]

so what you re saying is you re going to wait before you judge...interesting

And down right un-internet forum like!

 

[pumpkin7]

Sooooo is this still happening or have they made an epic U turn due to disgruntled guests?

 

[Mike S]

$75 million spread across the ride, store, M&G and possibly the bakery and restaurant. I really don't see how anyone can be optimistic about the ride anymore.

 

[Wikkler]

Snow White, Aladdin and Mary Poppins are also not the number 5 movie in world in terms of box office receipts.

Adjusted for inflation, Snow White grossed higher than Frozen.

 

[BigTxEars]

Seriously? You don't see the educational value of recreating world cultures?

I took French in high school for four years. We took a field trip to the local 5-star French restaurant La Maisonette. That was an educational experience. The teacher brought in a crepe maker and we had authentic crepes. I had couscous for the first time in that class. Yes, we were eating. And it was educational.

You shouldn't need the educational aspects of a world showcase explained to you. It is right there in the name of the place. You completely loose that when it stops being about real culture and becomes about cartoons. I really shouldn't have to explain that.



Wow. No idea what point you were trying to make. Who was talking about borders? I wasn't. I was talking about genuine Norwegian culture vs. a ride based on an American cartoon based on a Danish fairy tale.



I have yet to see one person argue that WDW should be a museum. That's the argument you and several other Disney apologists would like to have. Most of us would welcome change in Epcot. Update Maelstrom? Yes, please! Put a Frozen ride in Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios? What's taking so long? It's a no brainer. Yes, Disney World should change. So you can put that tired argument in a box until someone makes the ridiculous claim that Disney World should be a museum - something no one will ever say.

Is there a demand for Frozen? D'uh. Disney has been embarrassingly slow to address the demand for Frozen. Yes, there should be a Frozen attraction at Disney World. Yes, Maelstrom and the World Showcase should be updated over time. But this is not the way to do those things.

Recreating world cultures? What has been recreated is retail and food spaces, to sell me stuff...I see limited educational potential it that at best. But I guess I do now know what kind of crap people buy all over the world in their stores so I can compare it to the crap I buy in American stores

If eating is that educational then I should have about 14 degrees in the study of Mexico with the amount of Mexican food I eat And I plan to earn more...many more....

This entire silly debate over the Norwegianess (yep that's a word I think!) of Frozen is just silly. The culture that inspired the movie is clearly Scandinavian, at that culture was and is prevalent in countries like Denmark and Norway, borders are not the way to measure culture. Culture does not stop at border crossing

Here is WS as it currently stands in a nutshell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retailtainment

it might not be the way we would like it, the way it was intended or the way it should be but it is the way it is IMO. Jamming Olaf in a ride in Norway is not going to upset some delicate balance IMO.

And I am glad we agree that WS is not a museum and thus does not need to be as historically accurate as a museum when presenting something like Frozen as being Norwegian. I knew we would agree upon at least one thing.

Either way 102 pages and Olaf is still rolling into WS, it's not something that is going to make my day but it is not going to ruin it either. I will give the little white cold guy a chance and see what he can bring to the table.

 

[Haymarket2008]

Sorry if this has been discussed, but I've come across many people, on twitter and the like, talking about how Norway is completely going away to make room for an Arandelle pavilion. I was always under the impression, even from the press release, that Norway is basically staying the same apart from the attraction and a M&G. In the emails they are sending people it even says that all the "architecture, exhibits, and food" will remain. It STILL will be Norway, correct?

 

[BigTxEars]

So previous mistakes justifies more mistakes? Tell me, if a kid was failing in school would it be ok for them to continue down that path or fix those grades? Epcot is failing its theme right now. Disney should fix it, not worsen it further.

A kid failing is not a subjective issue. The direction of Epcot is, as I would imagine it always has been. I really don't see a strong correlation between the two myself.

Like I posted early on I can live with the current Norway or the Frozen Norway. If I had to choose I would vote for the Frozen Norway as I think the current one is a bit stale. But I am not passionate about it either way. I will without a doubt look forward to seeing what Disney does with it

 

[MarkTwain]

What point are you making? Because the point that I made was that if a country (or company from within the host country) is not willing to fund updated for a World Showcase pavilion, Disney will do whatever it wants with it...and in this case it's to add a ride based on a movie that is set in the host country. Why would Disney spend money to promote Norway if Norway isn't willing to spend the money? Instead Disney will promote it's own property while sticking with the pavilion's theme. It may stink from an "Epcot Purist" point of view, but it makes pretty good business sense. The parks are supposed to be used as co-marketing opportunities after all.

Fun fact: The Canada pavilion was built without a Canadian sponsor.

None of the states in the American West sponsor Frontierland.

Neither Nepal nor Tibet sponsor Expedition Everest, or the village of Anandapur. No one in Africa sponsors Harambe.


Disney traditionally built themed environments because they wanted to, because there was a story there that they felt ought to be told, and because the presence of that land/environment/pavilion added something to the park. World Showcase became a hugely popular part of the WDW experience simply by what it offered: a physical travelogue, a trip around the world in an afternoon. It has never needed a marketing tie-in or a sponsor to be hugely profitable, especially since Disney discovered and expanded the lucrative sales from food and drink. To suggest that an unsponsored Norway is of little value to Disney, or to Epcot, is a misguided argument.

 

[Mike S]

A kid failing is not a subjective issue. The direction of Epcot is, as I would imagine it always has been. I really don't see a strong correlation between the two myself.

Like I posted early on I can live with the current Norway or the Frozen Norway. If I had to choose I would vote for the Frozen Norway as I think the current one is a bit stale. But I am not passionate about it either way. I will without a doubt look forward to seeing what Disney does with it

Read up on the most recent posts in this thread, specifically Lee's, and tell me if it's still something to look forward to. It screams of cheapness.

 

[BigTxEars]

Read up on the most recent posts in this thread, specifically Lee's, and tell me if it's still something to look forward too. It screams of cheapness.

I am looking forward to it, if your not that is fine. No harm no foul, but if your want me to save you a spot in line just let me know. But if I do you have to bring me a giant pretzel from Germany