Frozen Ever After
Hoist the sails in Arendelle aboard an ancient Norwegian vessel as you set out into the wondrous wintery world of Frozen!
“We’re going up to Elsa’s ice palace. You and you and you…”
Frozen Ever After is another controversial attraction because it is based on a Disney Intellectual Property (IP) and was foisted upon the sacred grounds of the park that was supposedly against that tactic. While The Seas with Nemo and Friends was an entire pavilion that succumbed to the IP strategy, it really didn’t have the frosty response that Frozen Ever After did, perhaps due to the complete replacement of the Norway pavilion’s standout ride, Maelstrom. Yes, the loss of that ride was heartbreaking, but in this case, Disney knew what they were doing and replaced it with something comparable, if not slightly better.
The queue winds through a gorgeous fairy tale version of Scandinavian architecture that forms the village of Arendelle before guests finally reach the loading zone. The boat ride takes guests past Olaf and Sven and a scene full of trolls before ascending to the upper level and eventually reaching Elsa’s ice palace where she serenades guests and sends them hurtling backward at the perfect moment during the Oscar-winning tune “Let It Go” while ice seems to appear out of nowhere and surround the boat. After passing the Snowgies, boats are returned to their forward movement and descend a small drop as guests return to the village where they began.
Behind the Schemes:
As mentioned previously, the removal of Maelstrom caused much consternation among Disneyphiles for a multitude of reasons: another massive IP was moving into EPCOT and diluting the original vision for the park and a great love for the lovely, but outdated, Maelstrom and its exit film, The Spirit of Norway. After the massive success of Frozen in theaters, the writing was on the wall that Disney had rolled the dice and were going to win bigly.
The inside of the attraction was removed, and only minor changes were made to the track design to accommodate the new load/unload zone as well as the first scene with Olaf. Gone was the massive mural featuring what seemed to be random visions of Norwegians over hundreds, if not thousands, of years, including everyone’s favorite oil rigger affectionately known as Red Beard. The exit was redesigned too and almost gives guests too easy of a way out to avoid the inevitable gift show showcasing $500 sweaters and a plethora of Helly Hansen gear and perfumes.
At one point, the boats from Maelstrom were spotted on the back of a flatbed trailer as it cruised down Florida highways; however, the boats appear to have simply been restored and tweaked before being returned to their home.
Reality Check:
Frozen Ever After is one of those odd attractions that has a queue that seems to fluctuate throughout the day. While Lightning Lane is still your best option, it’s not always necessary and guests can peruse their My Disney Experience app to watch the queue ebb and flow as the day moves into evening. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to this phenomenon, but paying attention to the app’s information can save guests a lot of time (as well as money) for getting a faster queue as crowds fully spread out.
The soundtrack for The Spirit of Norway was created by the late French composer Michael Colombier, who died of cancer in 2004. It is nearly impossible to easily find a clean version of the music that contains no dialogue.
As fanciful as it may appear, snowmen do not ice skate.
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