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

[lazyboy97o]

Not mine, but, I found this online, and thought it was kind of interesting...

This bit of Armchair Imagineering is an even worse idea.

Being a good attraction and "fitting" are two separate arguments. But by all means, keep pontificating out your rear.

A theme park is about a bigger experience, the theme.

 

[GoofGoof]

This bit of Armchair Imagineering is an even worse idea.

Why? If you use all that space there is even room for a forced perspective ice castle in the back similar to the Beast's castle. It would look great from the other side of the lake. If you really want to dream big...frozen toilets would fit too.

 

[Monkee Girl]

Forgive me, but can we all stop calling it an 'overlay'? It's not an overlay (that's what happens when the Jungle Cruise becomes the Jingle Cruise). What we're talking about is a re-theme.

Having said that, I agree that a re-theme of the original maestrom attraction is likely the course to be taken here.... but how are they going to 'reverse' it without gutting/removing the climb mechanism and retrofitting it where the drop exists? At that point, it might serve to gut the whole ride system and start over. To me that seems like a great deal of work with very little actual benefit. You speak of cheap solutions, but a reversal of the track is anything but. Personally, I think that portion of the rumor has got about as much chance of happening as a 5th gate.

Having gotten that off my chest, I have to say a 'boat ride' themed to frozen makes stupid sense. In the movie, every single boat or ship got literally frozen in the fjord and/or crushed in the ice. So how is flowing water in the frozen land of Arendale going to make much sense in the story line of such an attraction. I don't get it.

I also agree that the potential increase in ride interest will turn the Norway pavilion into a veritable traffic ridden nightmare. I seriously hold out hope that they slap in a quick and dirty omnimover and increase the capacity of this attraction a bit....or else the east side of the WS is going to have to be avoided at all costs.

There goes my frequent tequila stops at La Cava

I don't know anything about the backstage/money/thought process. But if I were to guess, I don't see them changing the ride around. I see them using the track they already have and just redecorating. People are asking about how they can fit Frozen into a 2 minute ride. To me, since not much in the movie happened anyway, they can do it, no problem. They did it with Mermaid, cutting half her story, and Peter Pan. Peter Pan I wish were longer, but they get the essence and theme of the story well for as short as it it. Frozen (if it absolutely has to be done) can do the same.

My ideas:

1. The THEME of the ride is going to be the guests being invited to Elsa's coronation. So the loading dock can either be us already at the docks of Arendell taking a ride to the city...or maybe another Norwegian village on our way to the castle.

2. The track going up (with the Odin head) can be the trolls telling us of the profecy...if not retheaming this, they can keep the dark and use laser style moving troll heads or something like that. Weren't they neon colored and stuff? Anyway, they can yap on about and act of true love or whatever else.

3. then, we find our way into Arendelle already frozen and Elsa has run away. We have AAs of Anna runing off to find her...meeting Kristoff and Olaf.

4. The first troll drop would be replaces...perhaps with wolves and we are chased down the mountain cliff.

5. This would lead us to Anna and Elsa's big moment where Anna is hit with ice in the heart and Elsa unleashes her big ice beast. The ice beast would chase us down the second drop. I see them closing off the boat window so that the whole place is dark. That window wouldn't fit with the story.

6. This drops us down to Elsa going 'oh what have I done?!' and the finale of the movie.

7. The town where we unload at will be re-themed to look like Arendel and everyone is all happy.

Anyway, that's my idea of how to rework the ride. I probably would be too serious and they would need to rework it so that all the 'awesome songs' can fit into it. But that is at least an idea of how they can get the story to fit the track they already have. If they need a little more for the end, maybe they can get ride of the end dock and keep us going till we get back to the entrance. then the town room can become the 'everything is back to normal'/coronation scene. i dunno.

The old video room would then become the meet and greet.

so there's my input. And I still hate it

 

[UnhealthilyObsessed]

Over at the Disney Parks Blog, a bunch of comments critical of the Frozen attraction seem to have gotten through! Fancy that!

I picture the CM who vets the comments cartoonishly snoozing with their feet on their desk, keys dangling out of their pocket, just within reach of a scrappy gang of disgruntled Maelstrom lovers.

 

[Monkee Girl]

Why? If you use all that space there is even room for a forced perspective ice castle in the back similar to the Beast's castle. It would look great from the other side of the lake. If you really want to dream big...frozen toilets would fit too.

well...if the restaurant is princess themed (how has Elsa and Anna NOT been in the rotation yet ), the ride is turning o Frozen....Frozen cupcakes in the bakery, frozen merch in the stores...heck...they might as well just change it to the Wandering Oaken thing, Stave is Frozen themed.....it's only right that the Bathrooms get Frozen themed too. Maybe they can hire Olaf to stand and dry your hands after you wash. He can get warm hugs for tips

 

[GoofGoof]

well...if the restaurant is princess themed (how has Elsa and Anna NOT been in the rotation yet ), the ride is turning o Frozen....Frozen cupcakes in the bakery, frozen merch in the stores...heck...they might as well just change it to the Wandering Oaken thing, Stave is Frozen themed.....it's only right that the Bathrooms get Frozen themed too. Maybe they can hire Olaf to stand and dry your hands after you wash. He can get warm hugs for tips

Frozen toilets would keep people from "sitting" too long. Keeps the line moving.

 

[misterID]

Over at the Disney Parks Blog, a bunch of comments critical of the Frozen attraction seem to have gotten through! Fancy that!

I picture the CM who vets the comments cartoonishly snoozing with their feet on their desk, keys dangling out of their pocket, just within reach of a scrappy gang of disgruntled Maelstrom lovers.

There's a point where they can't keep deleting negative posts because there would be so few posts listed it would look even worse...

 

[AEfx]

When announced.. per say... But the community apparently enjoy all of them at moment very much so.

What half wasn't?

Eh, not really from my observations. Not announcement vs. opening, but just in general - Everest is the subject of probably the second longest running joke on the site (I do believe the stalking of the Ladder is older), MILF (after we got done having supreme fun over the name) is largely seen as a video screen misstep and extremely out of place in Tomorrowland in particular (say what you will about SGE, but at least it has Sci Fi elements), etc.

I do think it's true in general, though, we do not accept change easily - particularly when it's change of ancient notions that Disney hasn't encouraged in decades.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Eh, not really from my observations. Not announcement vs. opening, but just in general - Everest is the subject of probably the second longest running joke on the site (I do believe the stalking of the Ladder is older), MILF (after we got done having supreme fun over the name) is largely seen as a video screen misstep and extremely out of place in Tomorrowland in particular (say what you will about SGE, but at least it has Sci Fi elements), etc.

I do think it's true in general, though, we do not accept change easily - particularly when it's change of ancient notions that Disney hasn't encouraged in decades.

Well said!

 

[AEfx]

It was there.. until they slowly chipped away at it and now you justify throwing away the rest. Hook line and sinker...

So much drama, I feel like I have wandered next door to Mexico and into a location taping of a Mexican soap opera.

The bottom line is, up until this week Maelstrom was easily in the running for the least-known moving attraction at WDW. Suddenly it's a travesty to lose it because of this on-going decades-running dissatisfaction that folks have about what they perceive the point of that section of the park is. I think that largely has been a built-up fan expectation, as Disney has done nothing to encourage that thought for decades - but then again, since the entire WS has been so completely stagnant except for restaurant-wars for decades as well, it's hard to tell what has been "lost".

In the end, a lot more folks are going to go to WS now. The only worry I agree with is the lines, it's going to be very busy over there. But there are certainly worse things than for a dank old esoteric at best ride that had very low guest satisfaction ratings to be replaced by a ride on the most popular Disney film since the era Maelstrom was built to begin with.

But I get it...it's about the principle, and it's Epcot, so folks are going to be especially passionate as they digest all this. I will miss Maelstrom, but I welcome a new experience that will appeal to far more folks - and isn't a "in five years" attraction like all we have to look forward to at the moment.

 

[Mike S]

I don't know anything about the backstage/money/thought process. But if I were to guess, I don't see them changing the ride around. I see them using the track they already have and just redecorating. People are asking about how they can fit Frozen into a 2 minute ride. To me, since not much in the movie happened anyway, they can do it, no problem. They did it with Mermaid, cutting half her story, and Peter Pan. Peter Pan I wish were longer, but they get the essence and theme of the story well for as short as it it. Frozen (if it absolutely has to be done) can do the same.

My ideas:

1. The THEME of the ride is going to be the guests being invited to Elsa's coronation. So the loading dock can either be us already at the docks of Arendell taking a ride to the city...or maybe another Norwegian village on our way to the castle.

2. The track going up (with the Odin head) can be the trolls telling us of the profecy...if not retheaming this, they can keep the dark and use laser style moving troll heads or something like that. Weren't they neon colored and stuff? Anyway, they can yap on about and act of true love or whatever else.

3. then, we find our way into Arendelle already frozen and Elsa has run away. We have AAs of Anna runing off to find her...meeting Kristoff and Olaf.

4. The first troll drop would be replaces...perhaps with wolves and we are chased down the mountain cliff.

5. This would lead us to Anna and Elsa's big moment where Anna is hit with ice in the heart and Elsa unleashes her big ice beast. The ice beast would chase us down the second drop. I see them closing off the boat window so that the whole place is dark. That window wouldn't fit with the story.

6. This drops us down to Elsa going 'oh what have I done?!' and the finale of the movie.

7. The town where we unload at will be re-themed to look like Arendel and everyone is all happy.

Anyway, that's my idea of how to rework the ride. I probably would be too serious and they would need to rework it so that all the 'awesome songs' can fit into it. But that is at least an idea of how they can get the story to fit the track they already have. If they need a little more for the end, maybe they can get ride of the end dock and keep us going till we get back to the entrance. then the town room can become the 'everything is back to normal'/coronation scene. i dunno.

The old video room would then become the meet and greet.

so there's my input. And I still hate it

The best I've thought of is having the snow monster Marshmallow replace the three headed troll and screaming "DON'T COME BACK"!!!!!!!!! before you go backwards but other than that I've got nothing that would make sense in the rides current layout, especially if they want to include the songs.

 

[flynnibus]

So much drama, I feel like I have wandered next door to Mexico and into a location taping of a Mexican soap opera.

The bottom line is, up until this week Maelstrom was easily in the running for the least-known moving attraction at WDW

Yeah, so let's replace it with X2.. that will fix the problem. And why doesn't that work?? because no matter how bad maelstrom is.. it doesn't justify replacing it with 'anything'.

Suddenly it's a travesty to lose it because of this on-going decades-running dissatisfaction that folks have about what they perceive the point of that section of the park is.

No it's a travesty to let Disney ruin stuff.. then say 'well they already ruined it.. so why not let them do more of it'. That's the travesty. I've not replied to your earlier posts about your theory of what people miscontrued WS to be because it's crap and not worth the effort. You're wrong.. deplorably wrong.

Every circlevision film.. and nearly every original pavilion proves you so wrong.. it's not even worth pointing out.

 

[lentesta]

First mentioned by Jim Hill in December. And possibly in earlier additions of the Unofficial Guide, @lentesta was this in the 2014 guide?

Funny story. According to my notes, Jim proposed the Frozen-for-Maelstrom story idea for the Guide on October 15, 2013, and I chose not to run it.

 

[JordanNite]

Take away the Viking animatronics. Take away the cardboard Norwegan background sea's ... replace with Else animoatronic. Replace cardboard with Frozen drawings.

Same ride. No investment. cue idiotic punters falling for the trap, because they believe Disney is still the same Disney that was producing ground breaking attractions like it was decades ago.

I've seen this theme continue. Disney in Paris did a horrific Nemo attraction in the Studios - Turtle Crush i think it's called. Awful ride, you tend to find it in travelling fairs, never mind a world class theme park. Yet a lick of paint, put the Nemo brand on it, and idiotic punters would willingly que for 3 hours for it.

This will be the same here ... Disney's past successess is what lures customers in. But soon the fascade of cheap and nasty additions will put punters off.

 

[Monkee Girl]

The best I've thought of is having the snow monster Marshmallow replace the three headed troll and screaming "DON'T COME BACK"!!!!!!!!! before you go backwards but other than that I've got nothing that would make sense in the rides current layout, especially if they want to include the songs.

Yea, the songs I can't fit because the way I have it (the way the ride is built) is for adventure and action. So there is no time for 'do you want to build a snowman', first time, open door..let it go...or the troll song. If they want those songs then I see the ride turning into the 'princess song ride'. I think I prefer how Peter Pan does it....they don't use all the songs; just the one main theme (you can fly) throughout the ride. I don't think let it go would work but 'first time' or any of the instrumentals would be good to use.

I was thinking of using the snow monster (Marshmallow....I GUESS I will call him...though I think it's a STUPID name and wasn't even used in the film ) in the same place you are talking about...but it just comes too soon into the ride story..so I used the wolves.

 

[AEfx]

Doesn't change anything? Please point to another pavilion showcasing the people and culture of a fictional country.

As I explained had you read on, Maelstrom was already considered by many to already be what folks are accusing this of being...just sans characters. Trolls and Nordic Gods? You do realize they are fantasy, right? So one fantasy ride inspired by things not even specific to Norway (trolls and nordic gods are inspired by countries in that entire region, Norway just put up the dough), being replaced by a fantasy ride inspired by the actual country in particular.

I just don't think it's much different, except that folks see "character" and go EW! Which is their prerogative, but I think folks are missing the similarities aside from that.

You Disney apologists are breath taking in your Cirque-esque mental gymnastics to rationalize the moves of the omnipotent "Disney".

This is the funniest thing I have ever read on this forum. Ever. And that's saying a lot - so kudos to you!

The fact that anyone would ever call me an "apologist" is such an absurd notion that you might as well call @PhotoDave219 a monk or @marni1971 the slow kid in class who doesn't remember anything.

I'm a realist. I accept that since the beginning, WS really has been a really well-themed shopping mall. If it ever was this bastion of cultural experience that folks think it was, there would have been extensive walk-throughs in every one, and far more specific detail/information included. It wasn't. If you really go back and read what folks have said about it over the years that was "culturally enriching" it was conversations with the folks who work in the pavilions.

Disney put a grand show on - convincing folks that it was some cultural masterpiece where one went to have deep experiences, but like the best of Disney - it was an illusion.

So coherent themeing isn't important to theme parks. Rip out the Bijutsu-kan Gallery and replace it with a Big Hero 6 M&G. San Fransokyo is as real as Arendelle

And "people aren't interested in history and culture. They just want to be entertained. Well **** might as well bulldoze the Smithsonian. History and culture aren't important. Well, at least the history and culture of Norway.

Guys, I'm going to mark this post to refer back to whenever someone says people aren't going off the absolute deep end about this...

 

[Mammymouse]

I haven't read all the 1500 + posts so if this has been asked already I apologize, but my question is how does the real Country of Norway fit into this refurb? Do the countries in WS have to foot the bill for the renovations and their upgrades? And what input do they have on any projects?

 

[wdwmagic]

I haven't read all the 1500 + posts so if this has been asked already I apologize, but my question is how does the real Country of Norway fit into this refurb? Do the countries in WS have to foot the bill for the renovations and their upgrades? And what input do they have on any projects?

I believe Norway has pulled out of the pavilion.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Funny story. According to my notes, Jim proposed the Frozen-for-Maelstrom story idea for the Guide on October 15, 2013, and I chose not to run it.

Good for you. Such appalling ideas shouldn't be encouraged, even if they turn out to be true...

 

[DisneyJunkie]

Over at the Disney Parks Blog, a bunch of comments critical of the Frozen attraction seem to have gotten through! Fancy that!

Someone must be asleep at the switch. I posted there multiple times, each time about my disappointment with this "Frozen" makeover of Maelstrom. Not one got posted, and not one was against their comment policy.