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Frozen at Disney's Hollywood Studios for the summer?
- Thread starter PhotoDave219
- Start date
I'm not saying kids (or adults) won't find the sing-a-long fun or magical. But I can't tell you how often I hear kids telling their parents they want to leave the parks and go back to the hotel so they can swim, either. In other words, kids are pretty much the easiest demographic to please.
What I am trying to say is that this show is far, far, far from Disney quality. No, it doesn't have to be sophisticated to be high quality; Disney does simple all the time and still makes it magical - hidden mickeys, park greeters waving at you with Mickey hands, crowd games during the wait for Fantasmic, pin trading, etc. These are all super simple things that serve as that little extra "something" that sets Disney apart. The sing-a-long, however, is Six Flags quality at best. Maybe some people like a show of which 80% is clips from the DVD most of them probably already own and have seen dozens of times. And that's totally okay if that's what floats your boat! BUT you cannot say that is Disney-level show. And the more people that are satisfied by the bare minimum that Disney offers, the more often Disney will offer the bare minimum. Why spend $100,000,000 and two years on building Everest when, I dunno...$300,000 (total guess, btw) and 10 days spent on the sing-a-long satisfies people just as much?
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Cosmic Commando
Well-Known Member
...because they have to have a Frozen-level hit to be able to cash in on a cheap attraction like this. People aren't rating the sing-along so highly because they love watching DVDs. It's because they love the movie.
For anyone who has seen both, how does the sing-along compare to the Princess Fantasy Faire shows at Disneyland? The concept certainly seems similar (no screens at DL though), and I thought the Tangled show there was great. I think a stage show like that is what needs the most practice, so I expect to see them get better as the summer goes on.
For anyone who has seen both, how does the sing-along compare to the Princess Fantasy Faire shows at Disneyland? The concept certainly seems similar (no screens at DL though), and I thought the Tangled show there was great. I think a stage show like that is what needs the most practice, so I expect to see them get better as the summer goes on.
71jason
Well-Known Member
Hearing it was actually 1.5 weeks, when the practicalities shook out. Fortunately DHS show head honcho Michael Roddy is a genius at this sort of thing. Halloween Horror Nights has never been quite as good since he left Universal; glad to see Disney step back and let him do his thing.
Now, TDO, just imagine what he could do with proper time to create a DHS Halloween event for 2015 ...
asianway
Well-Known Member
Is he in charge of the villain thing(last year and this)?
What are the odds they will force Frozen to be overly themed into Halloween events and Christmas? Not saying they shouldnt add it, just that they will go overboard with it. Heck I wouldnt be surprised if we see a Frozen themed "secretaries Day" or Frozen "national doughnut day" events
cw1982
Well-Known Member
71jason
Well-Known Member
AFAIK, 2013 Villain party was not him--he was busy creating the first-ever Halloween celebrations on the cruise ships. I assume he has at least an oversight role this year.
Don't know how Frozen fits into Halloween but definitely Christmas! Here's something interesting, next weekend, Disney Channel is having a Frozen Summer Weekend, with Olaf, singalong songs and DC Stars recording Do you want to build a Snowman
Don't know if was already planned, or building on the success of DHS.
As for the Disney quality, how is DHS Frozen different than what Aladdin and Toy Story Parades used to be? Aladdin/Toy Story weren't big parades, certainly didn't outshine MK, but MGM did a great job with them. Isn't DHS FROZEN kind of the same thing?
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Would he be your choice to design an actual Frozen attraction?
Kman101
Well-Known Member
With the sing-along ... the interaction with the 'characters' and 'story-tellers' seems to be the best part. I even chuckled at some of it, but when it turns into a movie sing-along ... blah. I get the idea but at the same time, a pure re-telling with the story-tellers and the actors on stage belting the songs and some choreography would have gone a long way. I like what I saw of the Tangled re-telling Disneyland does/did and it made me an even bigger fan of the movie. Personally, and not being in the demographic, Tangled and Princess and the Frog are far better movies. I'd rather they have taken off in popularity.
As my post clearly stated, Im not not saying they should not add it, I was simply posturing what the odds are of it being overdone.
As for Aladdin/Toy Story parades, yes, they were nice and also very subtle. There were not adverts and banners plastered all over the place and they were definitely not heavily based on ONE particular song. One style is tasteful while the other is crude.
disclaimer: I have nothing against the Frozen DHS offerings and am glad families are enjoying it, but as with most things lately, Disney could do better and hopefully they will.
flyerjab
Well-Known Member
Experienced Olafs Trading Post today. We went when everyone else was at the Frozen Parade so it wasn't that crowded. What I will say is that you can tell it was put together quickly. There are cardboard props, fake snow (bad fake snow) and lighted Christmas trees that look like they could have come from Home Depot. The snow play area was small but all 3 of our kids loved it (I did too 
). We did not skate but there were a fair number of people skating - we did not see the performers skate. We did download the app for the special pictures you can take that insert the trolls, Sven or of course Olaf. Again, the kids (and my wife) loved doing that. The food offerings were nice. We also went to the merch side and looked around but we are not merch people.
We avoided the parade because we have heard the most negative reviews about that. We are, however, anxiously awaiting the fireworks show as we have heard mostly all positive things about that.
All in all, considering it was put together in 2 weeks, I say great job for all of the hard work in so short of a time. The CMs were all great and were very helpful.
I am glad that at the least, Staggs ordered that something be done to grab some of the Frozen fervor that exists. I just think to myself what a shame it is that he didn't order this up months ago. This could have been so much better and they wouldn't have had to kill the CMs to make it happen.
). We did not skate but there were a fair number of people skating - we did not see the performers skate. We did download the app for the special pictures you can take that insert the trolls, Sven or of course Olaf. Again, the kids (and my wife) loved doing that. The food offerings were nice. We also went to the merch side and looked around but we are not merch people.We avoided the parade because we have heard the most negative reviews about that. We are, however, anxiously awaiting the fireworks show as we have heard mostly all positive things about that.
All in all, considering it was put together in 2 weeks, I say great job for all of the hard work in so short of a time. The CMs were all great and were very helpful.
I am glad that at the least, Staggs ordered that something be done to grab some of the Frozen fervor that exists. I just think to myself what a shame it is that he didn't order this up months ago. This could have been so much better and they wouldn't have had to kill the CMs to make it happen.
Violiav
Active Member
We didn't make it to Oakens last Thursday night, but we did catch the fireworks (I pushed myself hard for my girls). They were pretty outstanding. The little preshow was cute. J, who'd dipped and dodged her way to the front shriked when Kristoff came on stage. That was just great. Her reaction to that was worth it.
Meanwhile the boys had gone back to the resort and saw some of the show from the pool at AoA. It was pretty awesome.
Meanwhile the boys had gone back to the resort and saw some of the show from the pool at AoA. It was pretty awesome.
We went Thursday evening after purchasing APs (we just moved to FL from SoCal). The rain was insane that evening - everyone going into the 7pm sing-along got soaked - but it was fun.
Oaken's Funland was pretty nice for being thrown together so quickly, and the shop was insane. No wonder all the stores are sold out of Frozen merch - it's all at DHS! The racks would be full of Elsa dresses, they're gone a minute later, and then someone came out with more. The shop required separate entry from the Funland, and we had to enter the Funland from the backstage side, which was weird. I didn't know if that's how they've been doing it or not. We didn't get to see the front of the Trading Post.
I thought the show was well done for what it was too. The Arendelle historians did a good job for having to get all this down so quickly. The Anna and Kristoff characters were perfect, too, but Elsa was not on point at all. I'm not sure why they can't find people that better fit her look and voice.
We didn't stay for the fireworks because of the rain. We saw the Guardians preview at 8, and it still hadn't let up after we got out, so we left. I hope to make it back before the event ends to catch those fireworks, though.
Oaken's Funland was pretty nice for being thrown together so quickly, and the shop was insane. No wonder all the stores are sold out of Frozen merch - it's all at DHS! The racks would be full of Elsa dresses, they're gone a minute later, and then someone came out with more. The shop required separate entry from the Funland, and we had to enter the Funland from the backstage side, which was weird. I didn't know if that's how they've been doing it or not. We didn't get to see the front of the Trading Post.
I thought the show was well done for what it was too. The Arendelle historians did a good job for having to get all this down so quickly. The Anna and Kristoff characters were perfect, too, but Elsa was not on point at all. I'm not sure why they can't find people that better fit her look and voice.
We didn't stay for the fireworks because of the rain. We saw the Guardians preview at 8, and it still hadn't let up after we got out, so we left. I hope to make it back before the event ends to catch those fireworks, though.
Yeah, it had slowed down as we left the park and waited at Guest Relations for a parking refund. The lady at the window next to us was asking for a refund because of the rain. She had been there since 12:30 and wasn't able to "ride the roller coaster" or any other rides, and they weren't able to see Fantasmic. The CM kindly let her know that the roller coaster was actually indoors, and pretty much everything in the park is indoors, and that Fantasmic often goes on through the rain.
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EvilQueen-T
Well-Known Member
I was at DHS Saturday inside the frozen funland area while my granddaughter was ice skating. Around 7pm they called an evacuation of the building and had all cm hands on deck getting people out of their skates and out the building as fast as they could. Couldn't tell anything was wrong from inside and of course they wouldn't comment so I was wondering if anyone knew for certain what was up? The Oaken store next door stayed open.
A sing-along is fine for a one-off temporary event, but I certainly don't want to see them become their new "go to" space filler. I don't need to cusit a theme park to watch and sing along to a DVD. I think they can do much better.