Humor: Frozen ruins Epcot

I have to admit, the animatronics look pretty amazing. I mean, it's not all projection screens (*cough*Universal*cough*)...

I really didn't expect much from this ride. I loved Maelstrom, but it was a short experience that I wasn't sure could be expanded much. I fully expected something like the Little Mermaid ride, a few decent animatronics and lots of static figures and projection screens.

The videos so far look spectacular. The animatronics are some of the best Disney has created, they managed to expand the ride length by a few scenes, and they included Marshmallow at the exact spot I expected him. The only crappy parts are that they're still working out the bugs and that I couldn't get a FastPass until July.

Last night on the news they showed a picture of a Cast Member holding a "300 minute wait from this point" sign. I have the cheap pass which is blocked out over the summer anyway, but I have a feeling it'll be a few months before I venture out to try this. I'm more excited for new Soarin'

Thanks for posting the video. Three thoughts:

1. I kept waiting for a giant oil rig at the end. Just me?

2. Kids and families are obviously going to eat this up. The 300 minute wait is probably less a sign of Frozen's enduring popularity and more about Epcot's serious lack of ride offerings, especially for little kids. They need a half dozen more of these sprinkled around the park. Between Nemo taking over the Seas and now this, the character retrofit strategy is the right use of existing infrastructure. It keeps the place relevant but I understand why the Disney purists hate it. Epcot provokes a particularly strong sense of nostalgia. The whole place is such a strange concept. There will never be anything else like it.

3. I'm so happy the post-ride film lives on forever in YouTube land. 80s Epcot was a park with serious soul.

Don't underestimate the eternal draw of Anything Frozen. If they were down the street at the junkyard the wait would still be 300 minutes.
And it could've been successfully added to any of the parks, but I reckon EPCOT is the right spot. If nothing else it will bring, as you say, more families with younger children to the park.

Dammit.

In its final weeks, no one was sticking around for the Norway film. I never did.

Fastpasses seem to be booking right up to the 30-day window for passholders. I booked 7/20 last night, and it looks like 7/21 is now the best you can do.

I would argue no one was sticking around for the film in its final decade.

The cool thing about YouTube and the internet is it doesn't need to go away entirely for those folks who have odd childhood associations with it like me. With the rise of VR the Disney nerds might soon be able to go back in time and visit Epcot circa 1987 to relive all the glory.

Anyone remember Kitchen Kabaret? Food Rocks? Imagination? Horizons? So old. So boring. So Epcot. So awesome.

I have a copy of the Epcot record released in 1983... great songs including "Kitchen Caberet", "O Canada", "One Little Spark" and "Imagination".

I think my friend has or had that same record. That was close to the time period when they went to Disney World and she brought me back a 2 inch tall snork before I knew what a snork was.

We were always greeted with the Norwegian Glare while trying to escape that movie. Once, ok. After that? ZZZzzzz.

This looks impressive; my daughters thoroughly approved.

The next video up was a full-length video of Frozen the musical debuting at California Adventure.

They sat there...and sat there...until they watched the entire thing (well over an hour).

Indeed, do not underestimate the eternal draw of Frozen. And just when you think it's subsiding...the sequel! :)

And you know, I do think that it was a nearly perfect movie, but it forces me to think about how overlooked Tangled is. That's really the mark of Disney Animation's comeback. They made it into a fantastic show on the Disney Magic as well.

Tangled is completely underrated.

Tangled was THE movie for the girls until Frozen, but then when they discovered that the movies take place in the same universe with Rapunzel at the ceremony...well...their little minds were blown. Now whenever they watch Tangled they're coming up with stories of what Anna and Elsa are doing. That was a nice cross-over.

A tear fell from my eye when they released the sky lanterns, and I don't know why. Tangled was amazing.

I liked Frozen. I thought it was going to be a movie for just little girls, but I was very surprised.

What I find interesting most about this new ride is how they kept the ride system from Maelstrom and turned it into Frozen. It turned a slightly popular ride into what is going to be one of the most popular rides in Orlando.

You wouldn't know it by seeing how "Disney people" feel about it. What a drag it must be to go to one of the parks with them. Their nostalgia is ridiculous. Maelstrom was not particularly interesting, until the ride op said, "Velcome back brave Vikings!"

I think that it's absolutely fair criticism that Epcot is searching for a new identity, and it has at least partly found it as a food theme park, year-round, but especially during Food & Wind and Flower & Garden. Everything in Future World is kind of second-rate other than Soarin' and Test Track, and of course Spaceship Earth. The departure from science attractions makes me sad, but I try to be accepting that it is a business, and they need an audience.

Seconding what Jeff said. I only visit Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival to begin with, and Soarin' and Turtle Talk are the only "must-do" attractions.

Jeff said:
You wouldn't know it by seeing how "Disney people" feel about it. What a drag it must be to go to one of the parks with them.

As someone who has once or twice, it is awful. I would rather not go at all than do that again. It is amazing what they find to criticize.

But I agree, I'm not sure where Epcot goes next. The World Showcase experience is solid, but at some point Future World will need to transform. New Soarin' will pack 'em in, but you need some of those C and D ticket experiences to be a little more current and exciting. I feel like there is wasted potential in Universe of Energy with that building and ride system already in place. I love Ellen, Alex Trebek, and Bill Nye, but that whole show is just cringeworthy now simply in terms of how dated it has become.

Stupid Judy.