EPCOT Anna, Elsa and Kristoff Audio-Animatronics refresh coming to Frozen Ever After in EPCOT

[HauntedPirate]

A must needed change and just in time for the ride ten year anniversary of being open.

What a perfect way to celebrate that by giving it some new updates.

WDW has been on a roll lately with these announcements lately.

Celebrating? On a roll?? I'm getting dizzy from the spin...

 

[bmr1591]

I'm happy Disney is refreshing here... It was kind of a double take to realize it's been 10yrs already for FEA.

The projection faces always get a lot of flack online.. and I think it's because they look so much worse on camera than they do in person. The projections allowed them to have a natural movement (even if the tone was lost sometimes) that the physical stuff just didn't allow. And more human faces have always been harder than more stylized or character faces. If they can pull it out in physical form now.. just nice to see refreshes happening.

Stale is the biggest enemy - so nice to see such efforts happening without some obscene initiative thrown on top.

I disagree here. The projection faces are even worse in person. The skin clashes so badly.

 

[James Alucobond]

I disagree here. The projection faces are even worse in person. The skin clashes so badly.

It's definitely worse in photos, IMO. Also, it's one of those things that you can't really unsee once someone's called your attention to it but that the average guest may not notice. Still, this is a welcome change.

 

[mattpeto]

Also worth pointing out, the Clawhauser AA coming to DAK got its eyes updated to physical as well, compared to the projection eyes from the SDL version.

This seems to mark the end of projection faces at Disney

They belong in this one...

 

[BrianLo]

Wow, a welcome and unexpected change. More proactive enhancement in the future, please. I'd love to see similar attention to the obvious design mistakes in Under the Sea, for instance.

They are up to something with Paris’ Ratatouille that slipped under the radar here. That’s another one to keep an eye out for medium term.

I know everyone is screaming from the rooftops about expansion, but I’d be equally happy with a half dozen projects like these instead (Buzz, Bug Thunder, Country Bears, RnRC, COP etc) and am happy the company is ramping up spending by filling in the cracks of their five year plan.

 

[BrianLo]

Maybe there's a reason there are more negative comments in the past few years than a decade ago?

Generally because a collective broke their pixie duster phase by over-imbibing a decade ago. Because the hard product sure wasn’t better a decade ago (pre-Springs). Soft product, perhaps.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Epcot, in particular, has received a lot of improvements to its classics recently.

This is a welcome change, but I'm not willing to call Frozen Ever After a classic attraction.

 

[JohnD]

I don't disagree. It was happening regardless of the timing. I do think the timing is odd, though, considering how few people will likely want to ride a water ride (with apparently at least a 25% chance of getting soaked) in mid-January.

True. But I think you already know the reason. One less ride down in January when DINOSAUR gets taken down to be rethemed into Indy.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Has it already been announced whether or not the Buzz Lightyear figure will receive the same treatment as part of that upgrade?

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Fair enough. But to complain about an annual refurbishment? Come on.

The gist of what I read on the topic was more about the timing being unusual. Most of us know that Kali has annual refurbs every winter.

The other, IMO valid discussion topic is the impact concurrent closures have on the current state of park touring. If WDW has a total of about 53 LL attractions, each closure of a major attraction is going to have some impact on park touring and the value of the product we are buying.

It is especially pertinent to discuss the impact of in-park closures when WDW concurrently has non-park construction, like pool closures.

Every closure has a property-wide impact.

Personally, I want my visits to occur at a time when I will receive the most bang for my buck.

Or- alternately, I may visit when prices are lowest while understanding the trade-off of closures. January closures of Kali and hotel feature pools have less impact than Easter-week closures, for example.

The value of this forum is the information, but the discussion often adds valuable details. I opened this thread to learn when the update will occur.

 

[Gusey]

Has it already been announced whether or not the Buzz Lightyear figure will receive the same treatment as part of that upgrade?

No, and this press release about the new animatronics coming to WDW in 2025/6 didn't mention the new animatronic coming to Buzz either

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I’m just shocked it’s been 10 years, in my mind FEA is still a “new” ride.

 

[Agent H]

Has it already been announced whether or not the Buzz Lightyear figure will receive the same treatment as part of that upgrade?

I was wondering if anyone else was thinking about this! Buzz is debatably rougher looking than the frozen ones. Yet he seems like he hardly ever gets talked about. Maybe because he’s the oldest? In any case I hope he gets updated too.

 

[James Alucobond]

Due to the nature of Buzz’s cowl, he’s actually way better suited to the projection faces.

 

[UNCgolf]

I've always thought FEA is a badly designed ride that needs some major changes, but this is a great start. Not sure why anyone would be unhappy that they're replacing the projections with physical faces.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Due to the nature of Buzz’s cowl, he’s actually way better suited to the projection faces.

For the purpose of that ride is he supposed to be like the actual Buzz or a Toy/robot? Think the projections work better for non-humans as well in general

 

[JohnD]

The gist of what I read on the topic was more about the timing being unusual. Most of us know that Kali has annual refurbs every winter.

The other, IMO valid discussion topic is the impact concurrent closures have on the current state of park touring. If WDW has a total of about 53 LL attractions, each closure of a major attraction is going to have some impact on park touring and the value of the product we are buying.

It is especially pertinent to discuss the impact of in-park closures when WDW concurrently has non-park construction, like pool closures.

Every closure has a property-wide impact.

Personally, I want my visits to occur at a time when I will receive the most bang for my buck.

Or- alternately, I may visit when prices are lowest while understanding the trade-off of closures. January closures of Kali and hotel feature pools have less impact than Easter-week closures, for example.

The value of this forum is the information, but the discussion often adds valuable details. I opened this thread to learn when the update will occur.

@wdwmagic has already discussed the "unusual" timing. The fact that a normal refurb would be when DINOSAUR goes down to be rethemed to Indy. So the refurb was moved up so its back open in January. Yes, the offset is that it's open in the height of winter. Otherwise, two existing attractions down rather than just one.

 

[KDM31091]

Guess it will be closing for 6 months for this lol

 

[KDM31091]

@wdwmagic has already discussed the "unusual" timing. The fact that a normal refurb would be when DINOSAUR goes down to be rethemed to Indy. So the refurb was moved up so its back open in January. Yes, the offset is that it's open in the height of winter. Otherwise, two existing attractions down rather than just one.

But it being open in the height of winter really makes no sense either. I guess there was no good option.

 

[JohnD]

But it being open in the height of winter really makes no sense either. I guess there was no good option.

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. I'm sure the Tropical Americas project is on a tight schedule so DINO has to go down in January. Kali will be up as much as possible. Obviously, they'll have to close it in very freezing weather and especially if there is rain combined with very cold weather where the rain could turn to ice. Florida does have cold snaps but most of the time, Florida winters are relatively mild.