Attraction Spotlight: Epcot’s Frozen Ever After

Frozen Ever After, a boat ride within Epcot’s Norwegian pavilion at Disney World, has been transporting guests to the fictional town of Arendelle since the summer of 2016. Just temporarily of course. Everybody made it back okay, although a few were a tad damp. A magical journey to the song-filled world of Frozen sounds better than what I’ve got lined up for Tuesday. How about you? Today’s post takes a (splash-free!) look at Epcot’s Frozen Ever After.

History

Disney opened Frozen Ever After at Epcot less than three years after Frozen debuted in theaters and enthusiastically encouraged the world to Let it Go. The movie was a smash hit, as you may recall, and Disney scrambled to generate Frozen-branded merchandise for its millions of new fans. The company also looked for ways to bring the characters of the film to life at Disney parks.

In early 2014, Anna and Elsa started greeting guests at a temporary location within Magic Kingdom. The lines were ridiculously long, regularly surpassing the 5 hour mark. Fortunately, the famous sisters and their helpful friends also debuted in the Festival of Fantasy parade that year. Millions of fans (like me!) treated themselves to Frozen via parade instead.

In October 2014 Disney closed the Maelstrom attraction in Epcot’s World Showplace to make way for a new Frozen-themed ride. Not surprisingly, some Disney fans complained. Malestrom was a sentimental, albeit quirky, fan-favorite. Guests boarded Viking longboats that time-traveled to early Norwegian days where they encountered an eclectic group of scenes involving trolls, polar bears and oil rigs just to name three.

Yes, really.

After completing the boat ride, guests funneled through a screening room where they could choose to watch a short film on the beauty of modern day (1988!) Norway.

Frozen Ever After would essentially become an elaborate overlay of Maelstrom, utilizing the same boats and track system. Disney had already done something similar in the nearby Mexican pavilion by adding the Three Caballeros characters to an existing water attraction in 2007. Still the speed in which Disney developed an attraction based on a new film was somewhat unprecedented. It also signaled an increasing pace of adding more character attractions to Epcot’s World Showplace. A new Beauty and the Beast sing-a-long show opens this week (January 17) in the French pavilion. New Ratatouille and Mary Poppins-themed attractions are also in development.

Ride

Despite the quick timeline and ride overlay status, the resulting Frozen Ever After attraction is pretty impressive. Guests still board Viking longboats, which now magically transport them to beautiful Arendelle. There’s music, naturally, as well as a few different scenes from the original Frozen and the Frozen Fever short that premiered with the live-action Cinderella in 2015.

The highlight of the scenes are the all-electronic animatronics within them. Frozen Ever After was the first attraction at Disney World to utilize the technology, which offers more fluidity and natural movement than its predecessors.

The track itself is fun too, gliding guests forward, backwards and forward again. There’s a small incline, but nothing like Splash Mountain. Still it adds a little kick to an otherwise calm ride.

Queue

The queue space is well done too, at least in terms of theming. Stone walls, ornate carvings, royal flags and subtle nods to the film are everywhere.

Although Disney did their best to work within the existing Maelstrom space, the resulting queue feels a bit tight. Guests wind back and forth in almost a spiral pattern, making it difficult to gauge your progress.

That just means it’s better to look up, figuratively and literally, to catch the lovely design details closer to the ceiling.

The best part of the queue, in my opinion, is the quick trip through Oaken’s Tokens. Although technically not the same store as the one in the first film, the Frozen Ever After version still features the fun “Yoo Hoo!” calling proprietor. Oaken periodically appears in animated form peering through a sauna window as guests travel through his space.

You’ll skip this portion of the line if you get a FastPass for Frozen Ever After. That’s okay though, because you’ll probably save more than an hour in line too. It’s still one of the best uses of a FastPass at Epcot in 2020, perhaps even more so due to the recent release of Frozen 2.

Fortunately, both types of riders still have access to the on-ride photography which captures your personal trip to Arendelle for years to come. Or you can pick up another memento in the fully-stocked gift shop at the end of ride too.

Closing Thoughts

Almost four years after opening, Frozen Ever After is still delighting fans at Disney World. It’s also still the only ride attraction based on the popular franchise in Disney parks, at least until a similar one opens in Disneyland Hong Kong in 2021. If you’re planning a trip to Epcot, it’s definitely worth a spot on your consideration list. While in Norway, you also have the option to met Anna and Elsa nearby (in much less than 5 hours!). If singing is more your jam, you could also check out the Frozen Sing-A-Long show at nearby Hollywood Studios.

If a Disney World trip is not in the works for you, then I hope this post brought back some good memories or at least added a little fun to whatever else you’re doing today.

Add a little (Frozen) magic to your world!