Frozen Ever After opening day

[danlb_2000]

Just a little perturbed about how much has to be put into a queue nowadays instead of using that time, money and effort towards the ride itself. I guess it's part of the whole experience...

I expect a great attention to details in the design of the parks and the rides themselves, why not pay that same level of attention to the queue? In a lot of cases you are actually going to be spending more time in the queue then on the ride itself.

 

[ctxak98]

I'm actually slightly impressed with what they did here! The animatronics are great and the story is there. It's bright and colorful. The music is charming and the ride is full of characters we know and love now (even if they are everywhere!!!!)

But........it's still poor placement. This attraction is not meant for Epcot, or the space this area has in terms of capacity. It's poorly thought out in those terms. Epcot should really stick to unique and one of a kind attractions having to do with the culture of those distinct countries. What did else's castle have to do with Norway culture? Atleast the three caballeros fly around actual monuments and places in Mexico.

I get it's useless to complain now but I still will fight for my love of what Epcot use to be and will always be to me.

The ride is nice though, just still not located in the right area by any means. This truly belongs at magic kingdom.

 

[mickey v-neck]

Just a little perturbed about how much has to be put into a queue nowadays instead of using that time, money and effort towards the ride itself. I guess it's part of the whole experience...

I love the attention given to queues now. One of the more important criteria in judging an attraction for me.

 

[Andrew_Ryan]

So people didn't already go into this ride with assumptions and opinions formulated without seeing it first? If you answer yes to that then I have a bridge to sell you

Sorry, let me clarify. I agree that people are going into the ride with assumptions and opinions (some based on publicly known facts, like the extremely limited capacity, the unchanged track layout, the questionable placement in Norway, and Disney's established track record of recent, state-side dark ride design). I was responding to your comment that there is a large segment of the audience that wouldn't enjoy this ride regardless of how amazing it was.

If Frozen Ever After was the Pirates of the Caribbean of the 21st century, then I think it would win over even the most critical of us.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I'm not underestimating the IP or its staying power. I was responding to another user who was, saying the pre-opening crowds were indicative of the over-saturation killing interest in the ride.

Yes, I know... I was just adding to the discussion about the fact the Frozen is far from a dead franchise.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Nah, Epcot's blunder of the century will eternally be this.

Unless the capacity actually is 1500, Frozen Ever After will be the biggest mistake in the history of Walt Disney World.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Same sort of book report sing-a-long type ride we got with TLM. Nice AAs. I'll pass if the line is ever 20+.

Definitely not a book report ride. Now stop making me defend it.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

so how long was the highest wait time today ?

I saw it at 300 minutes, but the real problem has been that that is has been down like seven times today.

 

[hanwill]

So what were the waits at Soarin today?

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

Meh.

 

[flyerjab]

I haven't seen this posted in this thread but I also can't confess to having read every single post (shame on me, I know). However, this is interesting because it gives a side-by-side POV ride through of FEA and Maelstrom. It really shows the differences between the two. To me, it really proves how this is not a simple reskinning. I think that it is hilarious when that statement is uttered after seeing this.



FWIW, I think that at least on YouTube, this ride looks spectacular and I cannot wait to ride it in about 4 weeks. This is better than I thought that it would be. I feel bad for the EPCOT Center purists though, as I think this was what was needed to prove to Bob IP Iger and Co. that the time has come to redefine World Showcase. There has always been an argument that the larger majority of people do not want to go to theme parks to get educated or 'edutained'. Unfortunately, the demand to simply want to be wowed by a ride, be it either by visuals, audio, movement, or a combination of all 3 - produces a simpler but more enjoyable and repeatable experience for people. That is not to say, however, that this is a simple ride. I don't think that it is as the AAs and use of screen tech is impressive (on my computer screen). I read earlier in this thread that someone complained about the entire ride, but specifically called the AAs out as being flat and rather static. I laughed out loud at the ludicrous nature of that remark. That is being negative just to be negative which does not help that side of the argument. Anyway, if it is running in four weeks, I am hoping to enjoy it in person.

 

[Jones14]

It was fine. The first two scenes are A+. Olaf looks real. Like, jaw droppingly real. The life hill is way underutilized. Anna and Kristoff are not convincing at all, which isn't helped by the fact that they are just standing there. Elsa's scene is fine, but the entire backwards section is, again, underutilized. It suffers from the same problems as opening day Mermaid's, and objectively, I'd give Mermaid (in its current form) a slight edge.

 

[Kylo Ken]

Sorry, let me clarify. I agree that people are going into the ride with assumptions and opinions (some based on publicly known facts, like the extremely limited capacity, the unchanged track layout, the questionable placement in Norway, and Disney's established track record of recent, state-side dark ride design). I was responding to your comment that there is a large segment of the audience that wouldn't enjoy this ride regardless of how amazing it was.

If Frozen Ever After was the Pirates of the Caribbean of the 21st century, then I think it would win over even the most critical of us.

But that's where I was heading with my comment. There IS a segment of Disney fans that don't like it for the reasons you stated. So in essence it was never given a fair shot. Granted that what I've seen I liked but it did underwhelm for me a bit. I guess I was expecting more

 

[Texas84]

I've only seen videos, but as a middle-aged male Epcot festival addict, I thought it was pretty amazing. Exceeded my expectations which were basically "meh."

 

[Clamman73]

I expect a great attention to details in the design of the parks and the rides themselves, why not pay that same level of attention to the queue? In a lot of cases you are actually going to be spending more time in the queue then on the ride itself.

Granted those queue details are cool to have and I appreciate the attention to detail, but if there is a budget allocation for a ride and you see a lot of detail that went into the queue itself and there are still parts of the ride that could have used more, then that's what just makes me question it a bit. This is because a person's attention is 100% on what the ride consists of, vs while standing in the queue, a small percentage of the person's attention is focused to what the queue consists of...for example these screenshots from today in the queue.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Mainly the large blank spaces... the wasted backwards section..

The AAs are amazing, and a good # of them.. instead of being some good, mixed in a bunch of bleh like TLM.. but can't help but think they blew their wad on them and ran out of money. I mean look at the set where anna and kristoff are... its basically just a blank blue twinkle background and empty spance. Look at some of the hallway sequences... just the blue projection panels showing busy work.

There is something to be set about setting things up a on pedestal and not allowing things to detract from your main focus.. but many scenes are just really BARE.

The AAs tho certainly bring the 'movie as the ride' experience to a new level tho.

That's keeping with the source material. As far as set design goes, Frozen's a very sparse movie. The Ice Palace interior is basically just a staircase, a fancy chandelier and a balcony. One of the reasons why people call Frozen one of Disney's more Broadway-ish movies, it lends itself to stage perfectly.

 

[-em]

We timed it good/bad today with our FP.. Good as there was no outdoor queue and we made it about half way through before the ride shut down. Was down 45-50 min and enough people left we made it to about 20 people from merge when it came up. Everyone appeared to be working perfect and I enjoyed it much more than expected. I liked how merchandise passed out snacks through the queue after about the 30 min mark. Plenty of water outside. Really think they are handling the lines due to down times as good as I could expect..

 

[ChrisFL]

I don't think we can judge the overall popularity by the first day's opening, especially with so many lifestylers/mommy bloggers in the area.

I'd be interested to see the wait times after the first week or so and if anyone can pin down the actual capacity now.

 

[Figments Friend]

Thoughts based solely on photos and previous knowledge....

The design of the queue interior is quite appealing to me.
Really like what was done design wise with that space.
Looks beautiful and detailed....i will enjoy seeing this in person when the time comes eventually.

I have peeked at WDWMagic's POV video and have to say the colors and settings used for the first two scenes look quite nice.
The AAs are very welcome to see and the Olafs look great.
Difficult to see in photos, but if you look closely at stills you can see he appears to actually look like he is made out of 'snow'.
A nice touch...similar to the Olaf AA used at Disneyland for a short time above the entrance to their original Anna & Else M&G location in Fantasyland.

For me, i would say the two standout features are the handsome queue 'village' setting and the AAs.
I'm not a 'Frozen' fan by any stretch of the word, but i am a big Animatronics enthusiast and do so love me some nice design work.
The queue and AAs are what i find to be the two highlights for me.


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[Yankee Mouse]

I haven't seen this posted in this thread but I also can't confess to having read every single post (shame on me, I know). However, this is interesting because it gives a side-by-side POV ride through of FEA and Maelstrom. It really shows the differences between the two. To me, it really proves how this is not a simple reskinning. I think that it is hilarious when that statement is uttered after seeing this.

Interesting video. To me though it gives the opposite impression and shows how it looks like a reskinning, with one new show scene. It also makes me miss malestrom even more.

On placement, I'm torn. Would have been a great addition to NFL, but I'm happy to see World Showcase get some love.

I don't really understand the thought that frozen "deserved" a bigger and more ambitious attraction. How would that have worked? Something like Mystic Manor or Shanghai Pirates? I'd prefer for something that huge to not be wasted on content like Frozen.

Wasn't it the highest grossing animated film of all time? If any movie deserved something big and ambitious it was Frozen. One could even argue it deserved more than Beauty and the Beast or the Little Mermaid. And I am not even a big fan of the movie. It deserved more than getting shoehorned into an existing 5 minute ride in an area where it destroys any sense of theme and immersion that Disney was known for. The animatronics look great, I like the moving Olaf and Elsa swinging her arms looks very lifelike. I love how far they have come. I wonder how much more they could have done if starting from scratch though. To me it is a missed opportunity to really do something special with something very popular.