Frozen Ever After in Epcot’s Norway pavilion is the newest ride available in Walt Disney World, which means it also has the longest lines. Here’s my review of the ride with photos and video as well as some tips you should consider for riding with the shortest waits.
First, let’s deal with the elephant (Roll Tide) in the room. Frozen Ever After is often referred to as a “re-skin” because it took the place of Maelstrom and uses the same boat course. Many see World Showcase as a place of educating the culture of a particular nation. They felt that Maelstrom’s overly simplistic scenes portrayed Norwegian culture well. It basically offered a cabin scene, a viking, a bright light, 3 trolls, a couple of polar bears, another large troll and an offshore oil platform.
My family and I found the ride boring and usually only visited if the wait time was low or during an ultimate tour. When my children were younger they enjoyed some of the shows in World Showcase, but never really liked the rides or movies. Some will see my thoughts as heresy, but I was glad they were doing something new.
I spoke to several Cast Members who are from Norway to ask their thoughts on the new attraction and they loved it and do feel that they new ride shows a bit of Norway culture and the original story the ride was based upon was popular in their childhood. I don’t see Frozen Ever After as a travelogue of Norway. You’re not going to see Samantha Brown or Anthony Bourdain visiting Arendelle, but the ride is fun and that’s the main reason we always brought our children to Walt Disney World. If you disagree, feel free to comment, but I don’t allow comments that attack or insult me or any other reader, so I’ll just press delete if you attack the person instead of address the point. If you feel the World Showcase should only be a grouping of educational, cultural attractions, feel free to share that.
My Facebook posting of my Frozen Ever After ride video below received more than 200,000 views! Many said it was the best version they saw. Thanks!
On to the review!
The ride load area begins with a sampling of the area Arendelle, then takes you on a 5.5 minute enjoyable adventure into the fictional land. The ride is actually about 1.5 minutes longer than Maelstrom was for those who feel it’s too short.
Here’s a few rides that Frozen Ever After is longer:
- Astro Orbitor
- Barnstormer
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Dinosaur
- Dumbo
- Expedition Everest
- Kali River Rapids
- Mad Tea Party
- Mission: Space
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Primeval Whirl
- Prince Charming Carousel
- Rock n Roller Coaster
- Seas with Nemo and Friends
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Soarin’
- Space Mountain
- Star Tours
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Toy Story Midway Mania
- Triceratop Spin
After passing through the snow curtain, you’ll see Olaf and Sven in a winter wonderland. The Olaf animatronic is very animated and fun to watch. Sven wasn’t moving on my first 2 rides, but on ride 3 on a different day he was moving.
No skull, no bones.
Another new scene area is the new trolls that resemble the ones from the movie. If you wish to see a hint of the previous troll occupants, take a walk through the new Royal Sommerhus Anna and Elsa meet and greet.
In Maelstrom you traveled up a hill here with a bright light in your face and a ominous voice that said, “You are not the first to pass this way, nor shall you be the last.” Now you’re heading toward Elsa’s ice palace.
After topping the hill you’ll see Olaf skating about. This was the scene that once had the Norwegian family and log home.
The next scene is Anna and Kristoff singing with Sven licking on ice. This used to be a single viking.
Sven is the best.
We are then invited in to see Elsa do her icy magic. For those wondering she is an animatronic, but like the others has a projected face. It can make photography a real challenge because it tends to make their faces pale, pink or purple. I bet you can guess the song.
This scene used to contain the 3 trolls who told you to “Disappear, disappear! Back, back, over the falls!”
This shot didn’t turn out too badly.
We used to see 3 polar bears along the left side of the ride as we went backwards. Now it’s a series of projected images. You then come to the waterfall area that used to be occupied by another large troll who had a small twitter following but loved to bash Disney bloggers frequently.
Now we see this fun scene of the snowgies and Marshmallow. Just before you go over the second small hill, he says, “I’m free!”
The area that used to be a big ugly oil platform on the North Sea now has the Arendelle castle on the left and some Puffins along the right side.
This final scene area was an open area that had a sailboat in it. It now has Anna and Elsa holding hands and singing along with Olaf.
Kewt
I really enjoy the ride, even though it seems like Frozen stuff pops up almost daily at Walt Disney World. It’s fun, whimsical and uses music that is identifiable from the film. Children will enjoy the ride and the hills are very small, so anyone can ride. There’s no height restriction. If you wish to engage your kids into the culture of Norway, have them engage with the Cast who work in the pavilion who would love to tell their stories.
How to experience this ride:
- Arrive 90 minutes before park opening and power walk for 5.5 minutes to the Mexico pavilion bridge, then stand around there for an additional 30 minutes. WDW tends to open the main gates at 8:30, but doesn’t start up the rides until 9am. Thus the term “rope drop.” Don’t try to take the shortcuts across the Future World bridges. Go straight up the main promenade and turn left at the end. Try to be among the first ones in line or you’ll be facing waits up to 3 hours! Do understand that a thousand other people want to do this and they will push, shove and hit you with strollers. I still have a bruise from day one on my heel.
- Use Fastpass+. The absolute best and easiest way to experience this ride is to use Fastpass+. If you are staying offsite, book those Fastpass+ 60 days in advance. I like to choose a time from 10am to 11am. I tend to head to Soarin’ first, then use Single Rider for Test Track, then use my Fastpass for Frozen Ever After. If the ride breaks down, you can use your Fastpass+ all day, but I’ve not had any problems using mine early in the day.
This ride has a really low capacity and is apt to break down frequently throughout the day, so Fastpass+ will alleviate your pain. I haven’t tested either Extra Magic Hours yet, but posted waits during Late Extra Magic Hours tend to be 45 to 60 minutes, but you won’t be in the sun!
Feel free to SHARE!
Hi Kenny. We are heading to epcot presidents day. Couldn’t get FP for frozen. We are staying off site . Any advice on how to ge to get there first thing? I have heard you are forced to go counter clockwise or a cast member escorts you. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated .
Arrive 45-60 minutes early and head there at rope drop. You go straight up the center of the park and turn left.
Hi Kenny! We have an 8:10am breakfast reservation at Akershus on Friday March 2nd. We are really hoping to get on Frozen Ever After right after breakfast, without a Fastpass. How early could we arrive for breakfast? We are staying at Beach Club and will be walking in through the International Gateway. If we arrived to the attraction right at 9 or 9:10am, will there likely already be a massive crowd in standby? What time will the rope drop folks be lining up at the ride?
They usually begin letting breakfast guests into the park at 7:45-8:00am. If you don’t get out before the crowd arrives, your wait will easily be 45-60 minutes.
Thanks for the prompt response! What time would you approximate the crowd arriving, based on rope drop, etc? The park opens that day at 9am. Trying to decide what time we would need to be done with our breakfast. Is there a time you recommend being done and walking over to be in front of the crowds?
Hello Kenny,
We are going to Epcot for the first time in March. So far, I was able to secure a breakfast reservation at the Garden Grill at 8h10 (nothing available at Akershus that early). We were planning to arrive early, get breakfast and walk to Norway to stand in the FEA line, would that be a good plan? My daughter is too short for Soarin’, so FEA is really our #1 priority. I am still hoping for a FP but I know that are hard to get at the 30-day mark. thank you!
You’ll be a long way from Frozen with that meal. You’ll likely do just as well visiting by arriving 45 minutes early and rope dropping
My husband and I have early reservations (7:45) at Minnie’s Beach Bash. Do you think we could eat and make it early enough through the International entrance and on to FEA to make it and still have a reasonably short standby time? Is there a single rider line? I don’t think my husband even cares to ride anyway and he’d be happy sitting on a bench eating school bread while I ride. (Leaving the kids behind for a birthday trip for us to W&D ;) )
I would use Fastpass for Frozen and not hurry my expensive breakfast in hopes of making the long walk over before many other guests.
I know this is a silly question, but when you say “small drops” how small. I hate ride drops so I’d like to know what to compare this too. Is it as “bad” as Pirates of Caribbean (I don’t even like that one) or is there something else you could compare it too?
About the same as pirates. They can be seen in the video.
We typically show up an hour + before the park opens, but what time can you get into the countries area-specifically to get to this ride- if the park has EMH at 8 am? Will this ride be open at 8 or when the park’s regular hours start at 9?
It is open for all emh hours
How early can you enter the park with a 9:15 Akershus reservation on a day with 9:00 park opening?
They should let you in a few minutes early
So how would you find those pictures ?? I asked a cast member and said just look on my band and I purchased the photo pass and there’s no pictures from the ride? How would they know I was on the ride ? I asked that to and the cast member said it’s “magic ” I loved the ride so no complaints but would love to see the picture of my daughter and I and I can’t find out where to find it
Just pops up automatically on your Photopass account
So what time would people be showing up at the ride? I heard they open the main area of Epcot at 8:45am, but do they hold off on letting people into the World Showcase until 9am? Our kids are slow eaters, so want to know maximum time I can spend in the restaurant. Thanks!
Norway opens with the park every day
Hi Kenny. Thanks so much for your blog. Over from Ireland. Hoping to go to FEA on Friday first thing. Not sure how to get to main entrance of Epcot.
Question 1. Is it main car park in MAgic kingdom and then monorail to Epcot? If so what time do we need to be parking in MK at please?
Question 2. Can we pretend we have breakfast reservations to go in extra early ?
Thanks in anticipation
Tara.
If you are driving, just park at Epcot. No, you cannot “pretend” they check to make sure you have reservations.
Followed your instructions and was on ride at 9.14. Thanks for help.
Like a pro!
Hi. I got a frozen fastpass for 7:55pm and I have dinner reservations at 8:15 at la hacienda de angel because I thought it would be a good spot to view illuminations. Is the fastpass too close to the reservation ?
You’ll be fine. Use it at 7:50pm
Hello! We are going to Epcot on March 26th with a party of 7 (me, my husband, 2 daughters- 1 year and 3 years, my parents, and my mother in law). We have a fast pass reservation to Frozen Ever After, but it isn’t until 6:20 pm. We plan on being there when the park opens. Would it be better to head straight to FEA or wait for our fast pass time? We plan on leaving and going to our off site rented house for toddler naps about 2pm, then returning about 4:30 or 5pm.
Also, what time should we be parking, and be at the entrance to get in before the big rush?
Thank you!!
we are not staying on any resorts, so will be paying out of pocket. How will that work with payment?
No different, just request your check the moment your server comes to take your drink order. Tell server you’ll be darting out to ride Frozen after eating.
Hi Kenny, just purchased the full app a few minutes ago. :)
I have been planning our family trip for march break, and I’m not sure if I did a big mess up with re-arranging plans.
Originally, I had a breakfast res. at akerhaus on Tuesday (14th-which is a busy day at Epcot). Breakfast was at 8am. I did have a FP to frozen ride at 6:55pm. Anyways, another freak akerhaus res. just popped up at the same time on Monday, a “green day”.
Unfortunately because of this, I cancelled my Frozen FP and can’t get another one for the Monday. We do have 6 in our party (however only 4 are in attendance for the breakfast).
Should/can the other 2 that aren’t partaking in the breakfast, stand in line outside of frozen to “hold a spot”?
I did see in one of the previous comments about arriving for breakfast at 7:45 and pre-paying ahead. (I’m also confused about that, because the prices seem to change depending on meal).
Thanks so much for your help! I have also referred this site to other friends planning their WDW get away :).
You pay your server when you sit down. You can use credit or ddp. 8am breakfast will get you out in time to beat the crowds, just keep an eye on the watch.
Are you saying that we could be seated earlier than our 8:15am reservation at Akershus? Also, how long does it take to walk from FEA to Soarin?
If you arrive before 8am, you’ll be among first seated. FEA to Soarin is long walk, maybe 10 minutes
Thank You.
Just planned a last minute trip. No fast passes available. What are your recommendations for arrival time for Feb 27 & Mar 1?
1 hour before park open
I have 8:15am on 4/26/17 for breakfast at Akershus. Getting on FEA is essential but also very interested in Soarin’. What’s your FP recommendations so we get both rides since both are Tier 1. Thank you!
Arrive 7:45 eat breakfast. Request bill when seated and pay in advance. Get out right before crowds arrive and ride Frozen. Use fp for Soarin
I have an 8am breakfast reservation at Akershus on a busy day (April 16, 2017). The plan was to go right from breakfast onto the Frozen ride. How quickly can folks doing the rope drop get to the Frozen ride? I don’t mind up to a 45 min wait, but was hoping to avoid an hours long wait. Any thoughts?
Takes about 7 minutes for most people to walk there after park opens
We are taking a 6yo to EPCOT on one of the low(ish) attendance days in early January(4, 5 or 9). The decision was made too late for a Fast Pass for any of our potential days. Is there any hope of getting her on this ride without a “just not worth it” wait in line or should we just skip the ride this time, watch your video and wait a few years for the ride to be less popular? FWIW, she’s now moved on from being all about Elsa to pretending to be Wonder Woman though she’d still love the ride. :D
We’d very much appreciate your thoughts and advice.
Thank you
Arrive 45 to 60 minutes before park opening and go straight there when the park opens.
Hi Kenny! I wasn’t able to secure fast pass for Frozen Ever After for our party of 4, on Dec. 5, 2016. So sad! Trying to figure out best way to get on it fast. If we enter at the back Epcot entrance for park opening does that give us an advantage to get on the ride? Are only resort guests able to use that entrance?
Thank You,
Jill
International Gateway opens at same time as front of the park. Anyone can use it, but it is no advantage. Arriving early is the advantage.
Is there a separate line to meet Anna and Elsa from the ride ? The Disney app has really low wait times for meeting the characters. I was surprised
Yes and the characters do have a much lower wait since they moved.
We just went in the evening this past week and the wait was probably 10 minutes to meet them
Hi Kenny, We’ll be in Epcot later this month and want to see FEA with the least wait time possible. I scheduled breakfast in Norway at 8:35. My understanding is that Future World opens at 9 and World Showcase at 11. When we are finished with breakfast, do we have to leave World Showcase until it opens? Can we get in the Frozen line before the rope drop? I am assuming the rope will drop at Mexico at 11? Or might our breakfast plans actually hinder us from being near the front of the line? Thank you!
No. Norway opens with the park!
I have a question, my daughter is in a wheelchair. Some rides have wheelchair accessible lines where we wait in the same line as everyone else and some rides have a separate entrance for wheelchairs. Do you know which this has? Just trying to decide if we should run first thing in the morning or if we can wait till later. Thanks!
The line is the same for all. We had a wheelchair in our group and waited 2 1/2 hours. There is a bit of a drop into the boat do beware of that.
Have FP FEA @ 8:15pm Sunday 11/13; family is FP Soarin’ at 12:15. trying to determine if I drop the FEA FP for Soarin’, will it really add a lot of wait time for the day? I expect to do a 1.5 days at Epcot, but no more FEA FP available right now. Can we figure out a way to jump in the standby line and join up with our FP family on Soarin’?
If you arrive early and go straight to FEA, you’ll have a short wait. If you go any other time you’ll likely wait 1.5 to 2 hours. No, you can’t have someone hold line space for rides.
So I couldn’t get a FP to frozen. One day we are planning to do magic kingdom in the am and do Bippidi bop then come to Epcot for late lunch at askershus. I saw somewhere if you are doing both parks it is a good idea to come into Epcot and ride the monorail to MK. Is that a good idea? Then we could run to frozen in Epcot first thing when they open too. About how long is the wait at opening?
Are you entering Epcot at Lunch or at opening? Your post was confusing in that way
We would be entering at opening I guess to ride monorail then coming back for 2:45 lunch. Is the monorail in Epcot? So we could go to frozen at opening at 9
You’d need to arrive around 8:15am in order to ride with little wait when the park opens or you could be waiting up to an hour or more shortly after park opening.
thanks! In the time it took me to write this comment and the speedy reply yo provided, the Soarin’ FP are gone anyway….boo. I think I will check and see if any open up and switch over to go with the family and standby FEA.
The Frozen Ever After wait time was listed as 90 minutes. We went through thee entrance and up the slight incline towards the ride when we entered. The wait from there was 2 and a half hours. Once you get inside of Oakens Tokens and Sauna while in line you will be on it in 10 minutes.
I went at park opening last week and waited about 25 minutes
Have most of the break-downs and glitches been worked out by now? We are headed there in 4 weeks.
Still breaks down a lot
.5 out of 5. Never again. It was better watching it on YouTube. I wasted 4 hours waiting in line for a piece of crap. WARING DO NOT RIDE
I have a breakfast reservation at Garden Grill in hopes of jumping on Soarin’ early.
Will this work?
I was going to cancel, but now my plan is to be let in the park a little earlier, due to breakfast reservation. Any idea when they let ADR people in?
Our breakfast is for 8:25. Is that too late to be of any benefit?
Then we would get in the Soarin’ line.
Planned on doing Frozen with FP later in the morning, so we would not bypass FW and have to backtrack later.
Does this plan make any sense??
I usually do not like having early morning plans. End up being a zombie the rest of the day, but feel it can’t be avoided with these two rides.
The other plan might be to go back to Epcot later in our week for a half day and fastpass both of these on separate days.
I love Soarin’ and my instincts are to book that as my FP, but I have some Frozen fans along with me this trip.
Any thoughts and tips appreciated!
They let people in as early as 7:45 for meals.
Hypothetically speaking, if there were no fastpasses available, we had 9:30 reservations at Akershus, and were one of the first people at the rope, how long do you think we’d be waiting for FEA? Could we be in and out before the reservation time? Trying to convince my group to get up eeeaarrrly.
If you were among the first in Mexico and wrestle for that spot into Norway, you’ll have short wait
We were here this morning for early magic hours (0800). We walked straight back to Frozen and waited 5 minutes. Easily made our Akershus reservations at 0835!
What time did you arrive at the gates before 8am? Isn’t the off season awesome!
Hi Kenny,
If I am going Epcot September 28th, and it opens at 9am, how early do we need to get there before opening? I saw where you suggested something about 90 minutes before opening then get to Mexico, but I don’t really understand where you go to 90 minutes and what part is open to get to Mexico and wait. Thanks in advance!
If you don’t have FP, arrive at Epcot 45 to 60 minutes early and head directly towards Mexico. Be sure to follow the Cast Members leading with the rope!
Thank you!
We will be staying at the Beach club and plan on heading over 9/1 for extra magic hours. What is the best way to go about it? Be at the IG at 7:45am and just walk fast towards Mexico?
Yes, that would be the better way to make it over for Early Magic Hour. I would shoot for 7:30am though
Does this ride open during Early Magic Hours? Any tips for being able to ride it then without a FP?
Yes, it’s open for all EMH
Hi Kenny, we made our first Disney visit last month all the way from Dubai and boy did we have lots of fun!! It was the best vacation of our lives! I got so much information from your site and your newsletters. They really helped to plan every aspect of our day! Thank you so much! We had the FP for the Frozen ride at 2pm and my daughter loved it! The ride broke down almost immediately after our turn (thank god we got our chance!). With FP it was only a 10-15 min wait. I had given up hope about Anna & Elsa meet since they didn’t offer FP. But walked by and saw only a 20 min wait!! So happy we got to do it all and thanks to your info!!
Glad I could help!
I have Akershus Breakfast reservation at 8:10 in Oct. I am trying to decide whether to do breakfast then go straight to Frozen ride or FP later in the day. It is my first trip to Disney and I am unfamiliar with rope drop. Will people be let in early and already in ride line before 9. What would be best chance for short wait time FP later or go straight to ride.
Fastpass or you’ll spend a lot of money to rush through breakfast and miss some princesses.
So if the park opens at 9 what time should we arrive at the park if there are no early morning hours ( and we aren’t staying on site anyway)
My name is stevka surbatovich.i send you an e mail on the 1ST of july did you delete it.I was saying how i like the frozen ride better than malstro because its more complete than malstom. You feel also more connected to the frozen story. Malstrom was good but a few scenes and you think is this it.With frozen they expanded the track.My question was how did they make room for several more scenes before the lift.Malstrom started on the lift. Frozen has 3scenes before the lift. thank you stevka
I’ve been out of town, so no new messages were approved over the last week.
Kenny, we have a daughter with respiratory issues and in a wheelchair (she can transfer). The backwards movement and the “cold air” blast – are these significant? She wants to ride this but we want to be sure this will not be too hard for her.
It’s a minor falls and I didn’t notice any significant temperature change, but you might want to check with the Disney CM
Wait – I rode FEA 3x last week on 3 different days and never had the “burst of cold air”. We had fog but it was warm. Was yours actually cold? Also- I’m sad imaginears didn’t have Elsa’s icy staircase flanking the tunnel up to the North mountain. Acrylic glowing blue would be awesome! And Olaf skating needs some of the frozen town fountains. And I wish the Let It Go room had bubble snow – I loved it but a few enchancements could make it even better!
I love the frozen ride. You are are right it is more full and complete than malstrom and you more connected to frozen rather than malstrom which is outdated after a few scenes you think is this it. I wonder how did they expand it since malstrom started on the lift but here there are few scenes before the lift where did they have the space expand the track
Hi Kenney,
Thank you for the feat video. I have a question for you. We are traveling to DW on July 9th. We booked our Frozen ever after ride for 8pm (the only time available). We will probably be there early in the morning taking advantage of magic extra hours. Do you think it will be a good idea to get to the ride first thing in the morning or should we just wait for our 8pm reservation time? We have never been to Disney and we are pretty excited about going and enjoying this ride. Any feed back will be greatly appreciated.
If you can get there early, head over to check it out.
We live in Central FL so we always wait till the kids are back in school & it’s cooler here, then we go to the parks. Yes, a lot less crowded & you have a good chance of getting on a lot of rides.
But I love all your information.
I booked Akershus in Oct at 10:30 a.m. Hoping to get an early FP for FEA around 9, then do the Anna & Elsa meet & greet and head straight to breakfast. Good plan? Love, love, love Character Locator and your KTP website! We met about 50 characters last October thanks to you! And we’ve snagged every ADR we hoped for this trip! Your tips are the best!! Thank you!
Your plan would work well. If you can’t get early fp, just arrive 60 minutes early and be among the first guests at the ride
I made fastpass reservations at 8 pm aug 18 as it was the only time available that fit around the rest of my schedule. Do you think this will work out? And what are the waits like on meet and greet?
Meet lines are really short. As long as the ride isn’t broken, you shouldn’t have any issues.
If FEA is broken and I have an 8:20 fastpass, will they let me use the fastpass on another day? (We are planning a second EP day later in the week.)
Only if you stop by Guest Services and request that be added
if you enter EPCOT thru the International Gateway will they allow you to come thru past the other countries to get to Norway or do you have to go all the around past Mexico? Also do you know if Bakery in France still opens at 9:00 am?
You go toward UK and Canada around to Norway. Can’t go through France. Bakery does open at 9am in France and Norway
Why do u think the lines for the meet and greet are so much shorter than they were in MK?
Disney Magic ;)
Ah…..did they figure out to multiply the princesses?
Only one Anna and Elsa, of course
We had fast passes for Saturday and it still took 45 minutes to board the ride. Of course it beats the 3 hour wait time for standby. Our next fast pass for this ride is 30 days out. Checked every day and nothing was available. We were disappointed that our photo never linked to our Magicbands. Our photos for this Elsa and Anna meet and greet for the same day never appeared either.
It took 2 days for my ride photo and Anna and Elsa photos to show up. You can call them, if they don’t show
Now I can’t wait to experience this next month! Thanks for the great ride video – I think you beat everyone in posting this first!
Thanks for the info, I have your app and will be making good use of it for our trip! We were going to try to book Akershus first thing in morning, like 8am and then go straight to meet and greet around 9:15-9:30am, and get a fast pass for the ride after…. How does this all work with the countries not opening until 11am? Most touring plan guides suggest doing the rest of Epcot in morning, and saving countries for afternoon, due to the 11am opening… Will the Frozen ride always be open early and of so, would it be best to just stick around in countries, since your already there and they’ll almost be open by the time we’re out of all the Frozen stuff, and then tour the rest of Epcot after lunch??? I have little ones so we won’t be doing a ton.
Norway opens 9am
Mexico ride also opens at 9am. Sounds like you have outdated touring plan guides.
Thank You Kenny, I always Love your posts. The ride looks Great, I am planning on taking my son to WDW in 2017 (already booked) The last time we went was 2010. I know a lot has changed. I’m looking forward to all your posts. Thank You Again :)
Do you know if Frozen Ever After will be participating in morning extra magic hours?
Yup
BTW, I have those lists included under Rides for each park on http://www.characterlocator.com
Roll Tide! We live in Tuscaloosa and will be traveling to Disney in November. Hopefully the lines will die down by then. :)
I’d say you’ll still see 90 to 120 minute waits.
Sunday June 26th had Fastpass+ for 4pm but never did get to see the ride because it was down for most of the day and naturally they couldn’t tell us when it would return to operation. We’re Premium Plus annual members so it didn’t really rock our world but I was disappointed for many of the other guests.
I thought it was the same ride layout as Maelstrom. If so, how did they make it 1.5 minutes longer?
That seems to be about the same length as the Little Mermaid ride, which is a pretty good length. They can’t all be Splash Mountain.
I explained in the post that they added 3 new scenes to the ride. The first two didn’t exist at all.
Are Fastpasses available for the meet & greet with Elsa and Anna?
No and not needed. Very short waits
Great job, Kenny! Does anyone know if the giant wooden troll is still at the gift shop in Norway. You know…the one that everyone stops to take a picture with?
Yes, I posted a picture of it on my Facebook page
Amazing pics! With the characters in constant motion, you must have a super amazing camera! What do you use? Thanks for the great review! Do you think they’ll do anything to the background of the on ride photo for this one? :)
Roll Tide!
I’ll admit right from the start that my family and I had never ridden maelstrom, so I don’t have that emotional attachment to it. However, I will say that I agree with you completely! To be honest, my family doesn’t like educational stuff while on vacation! Sounds bad I guess, but we enjoy the fairytale. And I honestly don’t get what the big deal is and why so many purists don’t like the idea of frozen being in world showcase… There are already fake princesses meeting in countries around the world showcase, so the pretend is already mixed in with the educational. Frankly I think that Epcot needed a great ride in addition to the ones found in future world. Also thought I should mention that in your original post you say to make your fast passes 60 days out if staying off site… Thought you should know about that typo! Thank you for all your hard work and your awesome posts!
Noticed the typo too
This is great information – thanks! Have you received any information about how it works out for people who’ve booked an 8 a.m. breakfast at Akershus? I originally thought that people entering at park opening would have to walk all the way from the main gate to the ride. But now they’ll be able to get there more quickly from the rope drop at Mexico, so perhaps the breakfast booking does not give you as much of a head start?
Can’t see it helping unless your reservation is close to 9am and you go straight to ride then go to Akershus.
Would you mind expounding on this a little? Wouldn’t doing that make you late for your reservation? We have a 9:20 reservation so I was considering RDing FEA but thought it might make me miss my breakfast reservation.. what do you think?
Being late for a breakfast is not a big deal. They will still take you.
Lilo, replaced Bolt permanently, he hasn’t appear for a week or two.
Kenny, did you attend the University of Alabama? That is where my husband went undergraduate!
No, grew up in Bama
Interestingly, my husband was born in Illinois, grew up in California, went to college in Alabama, came to New York for graduate school where he still lives (Long Island). He is an ultimate Bama fan!
Thank you. this was a great review. Question: I am about to book my fast passes on Wednesday. I just updated the app and they removed the wait times. Do you know anything about this? I asked a cast member on chat and she said it seems they removed the wait times. I hope i’s a glitch because it makes no type of sense me to :( I was really counting on that to help me book my fast passes, as well as when I’m in the parks.
Cheryl, I am not a pirate but I can help ;) I miss this feature too. If you go to Attractions, you can filter by park and there is a list view option and you can get the wait times. You can also get them from the map. It’s not as great as the old wait times option but it gets the job done.
Thank you. It definitely isn’t as good but thank god it’s still there. Lol
We offer wait times on http://www.characterlocator.com. Even show up in your touring plans there.
We are going at the end of October and staying at the Wyndham so offsite. Can we book fast pass at 60 days? Or 30? If we can’t book until 30 will there even be any left for frozen?
Prob at 30 days, if you can’t find one, just keep checking. We didn’t have a fastpass, we’re headed to the line, I checked one last time, mins before and was able to snag it. Posted wait was 180 mins. We were thru the line and off the ride in 15 mins!
Thanks! There is no way we can or will wait in line for hours. It is low season when we are there so hopefully that helps. My daughter has cooled off on frozen but I’m sure she would still love this ride.
You’ll still see waits of 90 to 120 minutes.
30 days at 7am. Might find some.
Thanks, I will attempt to get some fast passes!
Thanks for the video; it looks great! I think it looks like a fun, updated classic dark ride with better technology than almost anything at the park with the exception, perhaps, of the mine scene on 7DMT. I can appreciate the length, though. I am excited to be on it in person soon. Thank you for the review. Quick question; is there an actual blast of cold air as you are exiting backwards from Elsa’s ice palace?
Toward the bottom of the hill yes
I am pleasantly surprised, it looks fun. My family and I had a sweet place in our heart for Malestrom and rode it every time we visited Epcot. We were already burned out on Frozen when they decided to take Malestrom out. So we were not happy with the decision. Hopefully this will feed all the Frozen folks for a bit and won’t be constantly bombarded with Frozen. We are excited for a new we dark ride from the imagineers.
That would be coming with Avatar Land next year. Star Wars will follow that in a few years.
Great review and photos!!!! Looking forward to seeing it in person in September!!
Thanks
Thanks for this info!
Everything I’ve read talks about rope drop from the main gate. I’m staying at the Yacht Club in August and thus entering via the International Gateway. How will someone in this situation be brought toward Norway?
I’d guess you just blend into the giant mess of humanity. As I stated, you should use Fastpass! Just because people tell you to go there, doesn’t mean they know what they are talking about.
Thanks Kenny!
Quick Question, where is the ride camera? Is it right after Marshmallow and the snowgies? I know it’s only linked to a magic band if you have one.
Yes
Ride Camera…are they taking a photo or video for memory maker here?
Photo automagically attached to MagicBand, no place to purchase or tap