The point was the possibility existed. Reusing the existing building and ride system limited the end result from day one.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Frozen in Norway: Am I the only one who doesn't mind?
- Thread starter mharrington
- Start date
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I like to jump from suggested to reality. They were not going to invest more in a straight up Norway pavilion and you know it. What MIGHT have been done amounts to millions of things. What was a way to get traffic to the Pavilion is the way they were always going to do it no matter how many ideas were flashed in front of them. So why even spend a moment with what ifs. I like to enjoy what is there or not, but I don't want to ever just sit here and be all upset by things that never were and were never even close. By close I mean anything that was even close to having the ability to be greenlit.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
The amount of possibly is never ending. What is the purpose of even wasting a moment of time being upset because one of the billions of possibilities was used, but as an individual you didn't care for the decision. But, whatever floats one's boat, I guess.
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
Well said, old timer!
And I would have to ask if Martin can divulge just how close it got to being greenlit.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
It doesn't matter. It is what it is and the decision they made has been accomplished, why sweat it? It didn't happen, it in all probability wasn't ever going to happen. To throw in yet another one... It's a done deal. Time to move on from what may or may not have been to what Disney is today and either accept it or reject it in a meaningful way. If not it's just a lot of loose speculation with no meaning. Even if something was the 2nd choice, it didn't happen and its existence is fantasy.
Heppenheimer
Well-Known Member
In retrospect, I should have realized that the original intent of the World Showcase pavilions was doomed.
Circa the late 80s, the meal I ate at the Akershus was probably one of the culinary highlights of my childhood. I discovered that I actually loved gravlax and other smoked fish, and the cheeses and venison were outstanding. It really expanded my palate like no other one meal had accomplished. (Oddly enough, having visited all four Nordic countries, Norway actually has the least interesting food, at least as of my last visit in 2014... Denmark, surprisingly, has really upped their food game in the past 15 years).
Fast-forward to around 2010... I treated my two nieces to a meal at Akershus. I guess the appeal of unfamiliar but potentially delicious food was lost to their generation, because the only selling point for them were the princesses. And the meal was... meh, not bad, but nothing like what I remembered from all those years ago. They had considerably Americanized (ie, made bland and textureless) what was once far more bold and memorable.
Forgive me for making a rather broad generational observation, but perhaps young people just aren't as interested in exploring what the outside world has to offer anymore? So, maybe you can't blame Disney for giving up on the original mission of World Showcase.
Circa the late 80s, the meal I ate at the Akershus was probably one of the culinary highlights of my childhood. I discovered that I actually loved gravlax and other smoked fish, and the cheeses and venison were outstanding. It really expanded my palate like no other one meal had accomplished. (Oddly enough, having visited all four Nordic countries, Norway actually has the least interesting food, at least as of my last visit in 2014... Denmark, surprisingly, has really upped their food game in the past 15 years).
Fast-forward to around 2010... I treated my two nieces to a meal at Akershus. I guess the appeal of unfamiliar but potentially delicious food was lost to their generation, because the only selling point for them were the princesses. And the meal was... meh, not bad, but nothing like what I remembered from all those years ago. They had considerably Americanized (ie, made bland and textureless) what was once far more bold and memorable.
Forgive me for making a rather broad generational observation, but perhaps young people just aren't as interested in exploring what the outside world has to offer anymore? So, maybe you can't blame Disney for giving up on the original mission of World Showcase.
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
I think the percentage of young people that want to explore the outside world is roughly the same today as it was then. People always said EPCOT was the park that kids hated because there was nothing interesting for them there -- but that was never true for ALL children. Many kids (including me) loved EPCOT, even if they weren't the majority.
Last edited:
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I am in that camp, I just feel that I understand that the "minority" does not pay the bills. In any business that is what is used as a measurement. Sad, yes, but one of the many "unfair" things that life throws our way. It still does a good job of showing some of the charm of other nations and the addition of some entertaining IP will and does help put something for the whole family in there. That's World Showcase. Once countries and companies started to feel the pressure to not spend public money to create a United States theme park the ability to make everything updated became cost prohibitive.
The same thing happened to Future World. When created they could keep up at least enough to update and still make it exciting. The along came the technological explosion and the Internet. That left no surprises for EPCOT to display.
Am I the only one who thinks that the ride can be thematically appropriate in the Norway pavilion if you don't overthink it too much?
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
I think it could fit well in Norway if they actually included real parts of Norway in there and actually made the ride scenes & “plot” flow nicely. The problem is it’s just “ride past a bunch of your favorite characters singing songs from the movie (out of context I might add)” & “we’re gonna see Elsa in her ice castle” and what does Elsa sing to us when we get there? “Let it Go” while pushing us away? Could’ve sworn we were invited to visit Elsa at her ice castle right? So how does that song nor her action there make sense in that context?? Then basically we end it with Olaf singing “In Summer”.. for what reason exactly? Are we celebrating how summer feels in Arendelle, in Norway?? What am I really supposed to take from that experience? If it’s only “see & hear your favorite characters & songs from Frozen”, I call that a really poor excuse for not only an EPCOT World Showcase attraction that’s supposed to remind me of Norway, but as a Frozen ride on it’s own. Great Spfx & animatronics don’t make the ride. (They did fine in that regard). The execution of the subject or concept at hand does.
I’d say, if they wanted to invest to make it actually relevant to the theme of Norway & Norwegian culture at hand, taking inspiration from Frozen 2 (which is much more culture focused, thrilling in story regarding its action & plot and actually fits the nature of a flume ride) and having the flow, action, & songs make sense in regards to the context of the ride. That’d be great.. but as it stands, Under Chapek I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
I’d say, if they wanted to invest to make it actually relevant to the theme of Norway & Norwegian culture at hand, taking inspiration from Frozen 2 (which is much more culture focused, thrilling in story regarding its action & plot and actually fits the nature of a flume ride) and having the flow, action, & songs make sense in regards to the context of the ride. That’d be great.. but as it stands, Under Chapek I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Last edited:
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
Now personally, I think it would’ve been better to simply improve & add to what worked with Malestrom, added Frozen meet n greets if need be in the pavilion, and kept the integrity of Norway intact otherwise.. but oh well, what’s happened happened.
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
The problem is that the Imagineers are ‘supposed’ to think about & really pay close attention to & add enough detail to make it feel like it fits authentically & flawlessly… not anymore though I’m afraid.. but I put that blame more on upper management’s demands and not respecting EPCOT’s integrity & vision than the imagineers below.
Last edited:
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
They aren't allowing that to happen, they are DEMANDING that it happen. There is a huge difference. If your employer tells you to paint a wall red and you think it would look better yellow, what color do you think it is going to end up being.
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
FEA turned out much better than I expected, but it's still stupid that a worldwide hit/phenomenon like Frozen got shoved into a little dinky ride in Norway instead of a new build or even its own land, as is happening in Tokyo. But that's the mentality at TDO right now. Real Disney gets short shrift (roughly shoehorned into existing areas, including bathrooms for god's sake), while Iger's stupid acquisitions get top dollar/their own lands. Barf!
Oh yes.. this was just an observation.
I think you’re wrong. You think I’m wrong. And nothing will change that.
Last edited:
