Frozen Ever After Opens at Epcot

Frozen Ever After is Finally Open but The Wait Time is 300 Minutes

Growing up in Southern California I was fortunate enough to ride many Disneyland attractions on opening day including Finding Nemo Submarine voyage, The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. While riding an attraction the day it opens is exciting, it also requires extreme patience as you wait in long lines.

It took me three hours before I was able to board my sea shell for The Little Mermaid ride, and three and a half hours before I boarded my submarine for Nemo. I wondered what the wait time would be for Frozen Ever After as I passed by its construction site earlier this month, but 300 minutes (5 hours) is a surprise.

Frozen Ever After

After the success of Frozen, Disney imagineers got to work on creating an attraction that would transport guests to the mythical land of Arendelle. Epcot provided a perfect location, with its Norway pavilion, and need for innovation. As I peeked over the fence I could see architecture similar to the troll scenes in the movie.

Frozen Ever After replaces the Maelstrom attraction in Epcot’s Norway pavilion. The former attraction was a boat ride that introduced guests to Nordic mythology and culture. The new attraction follows the same path, but takes guests through some of their favorite Frozen scenes.

Oaken plays the part of ride host, speaking to guests as they wait to board the attraction. Guests first meet Olaf and Sven on their journey. The Sven animatronic, and all others, have amazing movement. Expect to hear all your favorite songs with a new spin as you glide down the waterway.

Hopes for Epcot

Epcot’s attendance increased 3% in 2015, but analysts are concerned that the lack of innovation and competition from Universal and its Harry Potter themed lands will hurt Epcot’s future attendance. Disney hopes that the new Frozen themed attraction and Soarin’ Over the World will be enough to entice visitors.

Epcot should recover with the new attractions. It’s been quiet at the futuristic theme park as imagineers went to work making several updates to older rides.

Freeze Out

Some guests got freezed-out when it came to riding the new attraction. By mid-afternoon the ride had reached capacity. Epcot closes earlier than other theme parks, so the 300 minute wait made it so that no other guests could get in line once it hit the 300 min wait time.

If you’re curious about what it was like to ride Maelstrom, here’s video posted by Inside the Magic

Will you buy a ticket just to experience Frozen Ever After?