Norway Pavilion Frozen construction - Frozen Ever After ride

[ChrisFL]

I think I'd like to shed some light on what this "is". This attraction is cheap by normal standards. Could they mitigate by adding money? Sure. Money equals being able to do whatever we want to do. Could they blow out a wall and add a building and double the ride length? Sure. But it would be tons more money, and adds months to the schedule. This attraction is a very specific enterprise: it is a limited budget redo on a tight schedule in order to take quick advantage of an IP that has a shelf life. It's just not the same as building a new capital budget allocated attraction from scratch, nor is it intended to be. Will it be cute? Sure. Will it be short? Yes, hence scene one in the queue. Will it have some cool new effects and be fun? Yes, absolutely. Will it have lines for hours for the first year? Yep. Then what happens when Frozen thaws? No capacity issues any longer.

While I don't disagree, I find it ironic that WDW just opened rides based on movies that came out in 1939 and 1989

 

[RSoxNo1]

They're keeping the comments on their... I added mine:

A Frozen ride absolutely makes sense in WDW. I just strongly dislike it's placement in World Showcase. World Showcase deserves more, and the Frozen franchise deserves more.

What's even more puzzling is that the capacity increases at Soarin' and Toy Story Mania solve a problem that is going to be recreated in spades at this new attraction. Maelstrom was a low capacity boat ride and Kathy Mangum indicated in the corresponding Wall Street Journal article that there would be few track changes. It doesn't sound like there will be a capacity increase over Maelstrom which means waits at the Frozen Ever After are going to be ridiculous.

I really wish they had incorporated this into Fantasyland, or even Hollywood Studios. Give it a high capacity attraction that will drive attendance as opposed to a low capacity attraction that will drive complaints of long standby lines at guest relations.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Arrendelle in DHS could have been DHS' Cars Land.

 

[AEfx]

This thread is specifically for construction information at Norway as part of the Frozen makeover.

Please keep any discussion about the merits of the change to the original Frozen at Norway thread which you can find here - Disney confirms 'Frozen' makeover coming to Epcot's Norway Pavilion.

Any posts that do not follow this guideline will be deleted.

Might need some cleanup in here then.

 

[Mike S]

I am enjoying the fact the poor polar bear is being replaced by a giant snowman creature named Marshmallow.

Whoever made this was right on the money I guess.

Now I just need to find out who and get some lottery numbers........

 

[PhotoDave219]

I am enjoying the fact the poor polar bear is being replaced by a giant snowman creature named Marshmallow.

Your polar bear, yes. My favorite polar bear has become the King of Orlando.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Arrendelle in DHS could have been DHS' Cars Land.

Which frankly would have made more sense. You wanna do cars land? Go to DCA. You wanna do Frozen? Go to WDW.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here's some of my thoughts....
They were Viking ships, and from the art it looks like they're still Viking ships. Why can't they ever get their facts straight?

Jaws closure: January 2nd, 2012
Diagon Alley opening: July 8th, 2014
Time: 2 years, 6 months, 6 days (thanks Siri)

Maelstrom closure: October 5th, 2014
Frostrom opening: Possibly May 1st, 2016 based on recent info
Time: 1 year, 6 months, 26 days (thanks again Siri)

So, 20 days shy of a full year taken off or 345 days. This is for a makeover of a ride the size of Maelstrom compared to a whole land that includes incredible detail, a big headliner, and a train to the other park. Doesn't seem like they're in that much of a rush even with a makeover. How long did the Mine Train or Mermaid take as brand new rides?

Comparison of Disney Projects:

• Star Tours (September 2010) to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (May 2011) - 8 Months
  
• Test Track (April 2012) to Test Track 2.0 (December 2012) - 8 Months
  
• El Rio Del Tiempo (January 2007) to Gran Fiesta Tour (April 2007) - 3 Months
  
• Alien Encounter (October 2003) to Stitch’s Great Escape (November 2004) - 13 Months
  
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play it (August 2006) to Toy Story Mania (May 2008) 1 Year, 9 Months

I don't get people poo-pooing the ride layout itself. If that was going into Fantasyland we'd all be fine with it. It's not ambitious, but it's also not a book report. The issues are it's placement in World Showcase in the fear of really low capacity.

 

[hopemax]

We couldn't put a shop in a queue. Can you imagine how that would (not) work? People would stop causing traffic flow nightmares and fights if people think other people are skipping, items would get stolen...plus guests would have to store bags before getting on the ride and would leave them afterwards...would be a terrible guest experience.

Dumbo pagers. You are allowed to leave the shop when your pager goes off, and you can enter the final section. While you're waiting, feel free to give us all your money. The more you spend, maybe the sooner your pager goes off.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I have a question for @Lee @marni1971 @WDW1974

Was the Meet and Greet planned before or after the ride?

I'm still trying to wrap around in my head if the brass thought that would eat up some of the capacity from the ride.

It just seems like the idiotic way of thinking we've become used to...

Meet and Greet was the first of this rumor reported originally be WDW1974:

November 15, 2013: WDWMagic.com user WDW1974 has reported that the expansion pad between Norway and Mexico is a landing spot for a potential Princess Meet and Greet led by the characters from Frozen.

Then a month later, Jim Hill first mentions publicly the Frozen characters going to Maelstrom:

December 23, 2013: At the end of episode 52 of the Unofficial Guide's Disney Dish podcast, Jim Hill mentions that Disney is considering adding characters from Frozen to Maelstrom.

However, I believe @lentesta mentioned that Jim gave him similar info about Frozen characters being considered for Maelstrom for the 2014 edition of the guide, and that would have pre-dated the Meet and Greet info.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think I'd like to shed some light on what this "is". This attraction is cheap by normal standards. Could they mitigate by adding money? Sure. Money equals being able to do whatever we want to do. Could they blow out a wall and add a building and double the ride length? Sure. But it would be tons more money, and adds months to the schedule. This attraction is a very specific enterprise: it is a limited budget redo on a tight schedule in order to take quick advantage of an IP that has a shelf life. It's just not the same as building a new capital budget allocated attraction from scratch, nor is it intended to be. Will it be cute? Sure. Will it be short? Yes, hence scene one in the queue. Will it have some cool new effects and be fun? Yes, absolutely. Will it have lines for hours for the first year? Yep. Then what happens when Frozen thaws? No capacity issues any longer.

I think you're underestimating the future demand for Frozen. Sure it's not going to be the same as the first 6 months, but if this ride is there for 20 years, I would guess it would continue to have longer waits than any current Epcot attraction.

 

[Mike S]

I think you're underestimating the future demand for Frozen. Sure it's not going to be the same as the first 6 months, but if this ride is there for 20 years, I would guess it would continue to have longer waits than any current Epcot attraction.

Especially if the current crop of Epcot attractions are allowed to continue to stagnate, and they most likely will.

 

[FettFan]

I am enjoying the fact the poor polar bear is being replaced by a giant snowman creature named Marshmallow.

Universal already did a giant monster Marshmallow.

 

[FettFan]

Comparison of Disney Projects:

• Star Tours (September 2010) to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (May 2011) - 8 Months
  
• Test Track (April 2012) to Test Track 2.0 (December 2012) - 8 Months
  
• El Rio Del Tiempo (January 2007) to Gran Fiesta Tour (April 2007) - 3 Months
  
• Alien Encounter (October 2003) to Stitch’s Great Escape (November 2004) - 13 Months
  
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play it (August 2006) to Toy Story Mania (May 2008) 1 Year, 9 Months

In all fairness, the only one of those that required copious amounts of actual onsite work building a brand new something out of nothing was Millionaire to Midway Mania....and even then it helped that the use of 3D video screens meant they could get away with fewer actual props and set design.

 

[marni1971]

In all fairness, the only one of those that required copious amounts of actual onsite work building a brand new something out of nothing was Millionaire to Midway Mania....and even then it helped that the use of 3D video screens meant they could get away with fewer actual props and set design.

And the fact it was a ready built, climate controlled single span building with a level floor. The hardest part aside from software was adding the frontage.

 

[articos]

I think you're underestimating the future demand for Frozen. Sure it's not going to be the same as the first 6 months, but if this ride is there for 20 years, I would guess it would continue to have longer waits than any current Epcot attraction.

Might be, but I'm not sure. As soon as another animated feature comes out that pulls attention, Frozen will die down. It will still draw, but I think the m&g will be busier than the ride will in 5 years. I think the ride will be insane for 1-3 years during peaks, then the crowds will level out to no more than the normal busy season during Norway's early-mid years. But I really think in a few years, the numbers won't be too much for the building. Even in the slower times during the first couple years, I don't think it will be too terrible. Could be wrong - we'll see.

 

[articos]

Dumbo pagers. You are allowed to leave the shop when your pager goes off, and you can enter the final section. While you're waiting, feel free to give us all your money. The more you spend, maybe the sooner your pager goes off.

Don't give ideas!

 

[Sped2424]

Might be, but I'm not sure. As soon as another animated feature comes out that pulls attention, Frozen will die down. It will still draw, but I think the m&g will be busier than the ride will in 5 years. I think the ride will be insane for 1-3 years during peaks, then the crowds will level out to no more than the normal busy season during Norway's early-mid years. But I really think in a few years, the numbers won't be too much for the building. Even in the slower times during the first couple years, I don't think it will be too terrible. Could be wrong - we'll see.

I just came back from the future. Elsa is CEO, Epcot is now Arendelle fully in order to meet the demand and DHS has finally started construction on Star Wars, but we are only getting the cantina restaurant gotta get those ADR's in advance for that one. Shame about avatar land being cancelled halfway through it's just 1 waterfall and 2 glowing plants serving as placeholders for what could have been. The festival of zootopia sure is cool though, oh I forgot the area is now called camp Donald-Daisy.

 

[AEfx]

Universal already did a giant monster Marshmallow.

LOL, I wish I could find a good video of that. Have never been able to. I remember it being fun but I don't remember much about it...which is surprising since like 3 attractions were open that day and everything else was closed.

 

[AEfx]

And the fact it was a ready built, climate controlled single span building with a level floor. The hardest part aside from software was adding the frontage.

I've always said that I could pretty accurately set up a good-enough facsimile of the ride with two HDTV's, two Wii's, and a rolling office chair...and I'm not entirely kidding, LOL.