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

[danlb_2000]

Tower of Terror is in the Magic Kingdom?

Yeah, they moved it there the same time they move It's a Small World to Epcot.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Yeah, they moved it there the same time they move It's a Small World to Epcot.

How dare you.

 

[FigmentJedi]

With a bayou-themed slave-era flume stuck in place, based upon an incredibly unpopular film.

Correction: Bayou-themed reconstruction-era flume.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Correction: Bayou-themed reconstruction-era flume.

Sorry. Quite right. So timing isn't actually TOO far off but geography is about 2000 miles off.

 

[AEfx]

Indeed. Disney bastardizing reality is nothing new and is to be expected. These are amusement parks. How many offensive cliches can you find on "it's a small world"? It's when Disney bastardizes Disney that I take offense as it feels similar to a theme park in China making an awful version of the MK that is nonetheless clearly the MK.

I swear to Mickey I'm not saying this to be controversial...LOL...because it's really not meant to be. Just an honest opinion, I swear - but IASW and characters being brought up makes me think how cool Disneyland's version is since they added characters.

It sounds obscene - I thought it was when I heard about it - but when I saw it I thought it was really charming and well-done because they don't just stick characters in the middle of everything like we know them in a style that doesn't fit - they actually did them in the IASW-style.

I would totally see this as a plus at WDW:

 

[ToTBellHop]

I swear to Mickey I'm not saying this to be controversial...LOL...because it's really not meant to be. Just an honest opinion, I swear - but IASW and characters being brought up makes me think how cool Disneyland's version is since they added characters.

It sounds obscene - I thought it was when I heard about it - but when I saw it I thought it was really charming and well-done because they don't just stick characters in the middle of everything like we know them in a style that doesn't fit - they actually did them in the IASW-style.

I would totally see this as a plus at WDW:

I actually like them, too. They work with the ride.

 

[Mike S]

I swear to Mickey I'm not saying this to be controversial...LOL...because it's really not meant to be. Just an honest opinion, I swear - but IASW and characters being brought up makes me think how cool Disneyland's version is since they added characters.

It sounds obscene - I thought it was when I heard about it - but when I saw it I thought it was really charming and well-done because they don't just stick characters in the middle of everything like we know them in a style that doesn't fit - they actually did them in the IASW-style.

I would totally see this as a plus at WDW:

Count me in the camp that likes them as well.

 

[G00fyDad]

Not me. I have "disliked" this idea since they first did this years ago.

 

[Matt_Black]

Because of Splash Mountain. Approximately no one alive today has seen the film.

A) You're wrong about no one seeing it, because videos ripped from international releases make it onto youtube from time to time. B) Before Splash Mountain, the Br'er Rabbit portions were adapted into kids books, like the Golden Books and the ones that came with an audio cassette. I know, because I had one as a lad.

 

[Sped2424]

Three Caballeros was rooted in the notion of cultural exchange (motive and efficacy are a different matter) but none of that made it to the attraction. People swore up and down that this attraction would be some sort of guided tour, and it is not. The idea of characters driving something bigger just has not really been demonstrated by Disney.

Exactly, but if your film literally centers around one concept (Dia de Los Muertos) it's not that hard to translate that into the experience. I don't care if she goes to visit her dead abuelo and sings songs and that's a focus, the importance here is that the cultural event of Dia de los muertos is inevitable due to how pivotal it is to the films plot. And while the Caballeros were rooted in cultural exchange they are not rooted in one culture. More like a highlight reel of latin america. Which is why a film centered around a mexican holiday is most definitly a better fit for Mexico the pavilion than the Caballeros.

 

[Cesar R M]

Yes, it's been there a long time, but, as my close friends know, my memory is infallible.

The mere passage of time does not diminish a thematic breach. Frontierland, indeed the MK, has been toddler- and toonified the way WS Norway is toddler- and toonified currently. Just more stealthily, over a longer timespan.

Below the slow, painful transformation of the MK from adult into kiddie toonpark.
Bright colours and toons plastered all over a place that once wowed visitors with theme executed with such stubborn perfection and relentless craving for authenticity that 'Disneyfied' touched on sophisticated.

View attachment 98051 View attachment 98050

the actual logo could be fine without that toon face imho.

 

[Cesar R M]

A) You're wrong about no one seeing it, because videos ripped from international releases make it onto youtube from time to time. B) Before Splash Mountain, the Br'er Rabbit portions were adapted into kids books, like the Golden Books and the ones that came with an audio cassette. I know, because I had one as a lad.

I remember once seeing the song of the south (full video with the black gentleman telling the story) in the disney channel like 5 or so years ago.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Exactly, but if your film literally centers around one concept (Dia de Los Muertos) it's not that hard to translate that into the experience. I don't care if she goes to visit her dead abuelo and sings songs and that's a focus, the importance here is that the cultural event of Dia de los muertos is inevitable due to how pivotal it is to the films plot. And while the Caballeros were rooted in cultural exchange they are not rooted in one culture. More like a highlight reel of latin america. Which is why a film centered around a mexican holiday is most definitly a better fit for Mexico the pavilion than the Caballeros.

Nothing requires an attraction to focus on that cultural connection. Even after it was stated otherwise on the DisneyParks Blog, people were convinced the Frozen ride would be a tour of Norway.

 

[xdan0920]

IS FROZEN REPLACING SPLASH MOUNTAIN?!?!? MY TRIP TO DIZZY WRLD IS RUINED!!!!!

 

[Kman101]

I swear to Mickey I'm not saying this to be controversial...LOL...because it's really not meant to be. Just an honest opinion, I swear - but IASW and characters being brought up makes me think how cool Disneyland's version is since they added characters.

It sounds obscene - I thought it was when I heard about it - but when I saw it I thought it was really charming and well-done because they don't just stick characters in the middle of everything like we know them in a style that doesn't fit - they actually did them in the IASW-style.

I would totally see this as a plus at WDW:

The purist (I know ....) in me is meh on the characters (they're growing on me, lol) but I'm sort of surprised they didn't add them to the MK one and leave Disneyland's alone. MK is the kiddy park now, unfortunately.

 

[Sped2424]

Nothing requires an attraction to focus on that cultural connection. Even after it was stated otherwise on the DisneyParks Blog, people were convinced the Frozen ride would be a tour of Norway.

I understand nothing requires it but you keep missing my point here. Again when your film is literally centered around a real cultural event it's almost impossible to not have that be in the experience. Frozen was "inspired" by norway and it's traditions. But if the Dia de los muertos film has that event as the setting then viewers are going to learn something about a real tradition. So if an attraction was built about a film that is literally centered around the day of the dead It's going to have something very real and relevant to Mexico's real traditions be apart of the experience. I would give you this if the story was "An upcoming Pixar film about a princess who lives in aldania (inspired by mexico and it's traditions) learns of a scary secret that sends her to the underworld!" but that is not what's happening. We have a film that was going to be called Dia de Los Muertos, not to much they can do to take the culture out of that.

 

[AEfx]

I remember once seeing the song of the south (full video with the black gentleman telling the story) in the disney channel like 5 or so years ago.

That's really interesting - I'm a bit surprised they show it on TV anywhere, especially on the Disney Channel (though I knew about the international home video releases). In the US it's a whole different story - it hasn't been shown theatrically in 30 years, and it has never been out on video in it's entirety.

As much as I don't think there should be a problem with releasing it for historical purposes, it would be such a crapshow in the US - particularly in this "click to protest" Internet age. People that don't even know what it is, or have any idea what it's actually about, or any historical perspective, won't care - they'd see "Disney Racist!" headline and "click click click/send".

At this point, we are lucky that they haven't gotten rid of "Gone With The Wind" and "My Fair Lady", too.

But where this is Disney, it wouldn't matter what disclaimers, warnings, etc. they used - just making it available would make enough people complain (still relatively a small amount, but loud trumps numerous) that it would be a PR nightmare for Disney. Even folks like me, who understand how to put it in it's historical place, would be in the minority of the minority because most people just wouldn't want to touch the topic with a ten-foot-pole, even if they agree with it being available, for fear of being labeled racist.

In the end, it's just not the greatest film to begin with, which also hurts the case against it (which is something GWTW and MFL at least have going for them).

 

[AEfx]

So if an attraction was built about a film that is literally centered around the day of the dead It's going to have something very real and relevant to Mexico's real traditions be apart of the experience.

Are you just throwing it out there as an example for discussion, or is this something you really think could/should happen?

 

[Sped2424]

Are you just throwing it out there as an example for discussion, or is this something you really think could/should happen?

Just for discussion, but it's a point I agree with however. I am just saying that if pixar creates the dia de los muertos film and it is popular I could easily see the characters taking over the grand fiesta tour indefinitely.

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Warner Brothers released all their old WWII propaganda cartoons in a dvd set with intros discussing the history and context that lead to their creation. I'd be thrilled if Disney did something similar with all the shorts and movies they've swept under the rug.