‘Frozen Ever After’: First Details, Concept Art, and Name Revealed For Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Attraction Coming To Epcot In 2016

On Monday, there was a rumored opening date that started going around for the Frozen-themed attraction coming to Epcot at Walt Disney World in 2016, but now there is some confirmed information for the ride. That includes the name of the ride replacing Maelstrom in Norway, which is “Frozen Ever After.”

The Wall Street Journal got an inside look at the new attraction, which is still only said by Disney to be opening in late Spring to Mid-2016.

Disney Imagineering creative executive Kathy Mangum, overseer of the Walt Disney World Resort, gave an inside look at the new attraction. Storyboards were shown for Frozen Ever After, and some important details were revealed.

“What we try to do is take you back to the movie without retelling that story. This is a celebration of the characters, a way for guests who love the film to experience it in a completely different way.”

There will not be any new songs in the ride, but new lyrics have been written for Frozen Ever After that will be put into existing melodies. Frozen composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson Lopez are doing that work.

Mangum did say that the old Maelstrom attraction has been “gutted” and it is in the process of “getting a whole new overlay with Frozen.” The log flume portion of the ride will remain, as will the path, but everything else is new.

Audio-animatronics will be in place throughout the approximately four-minute attraction, and here are other important details about Frozen Ever After. Those animatronics will be the same rear-projection figures seen in the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction.

• Setting: A winter festival taking place in Arendelle during the summer.
• Guests will go through (queue line) Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post to get to the attraction.
• Olaf, Sven, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and others will appear in the attraction.
• Marshmallow from Frozen and the Snowgies from Frozen Fever will appear.
• A big part of the attraction will be Elsa on her ice palace balcony singing “Let It Go”
• Troll Valley will feature Grandpappy Troll where he tells guests a tale of how Anna and Kristoff met, and then moved up the hill and found Olaf.
• The finale of the attraction will have a fireworks show as Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Seven, and Kristoff wave goodbye to everyone.

For fans of the old Maelstrom ride, the path staying the same may be very important to them. As Elsa sings “Let It Go,” Marshmallow will yell “Let it Go” with the Snow Queen as guests head through a mist cloud in their log flumes and into the final scene of Frozen Ever After.

Disney’s COO, Tom Staggs, has addressed the concern of many who believe the fictional country of Arendelle may not belong in Epcot’s World Showcase. He truly believes that the Frozen Ever After attraction will draw more visitors to the Norway pavilion and Epcot as a whole.

“If the goal is to give people a taste of something like Scandinavia with the Norway pavilion, then ‘Frozen’ would only increase the extent to which people would be drawn to it. To me it doesn’t seem out-of-character at all.”

Walt Disney World is ever expanding, and the Frozen Ever After attraction coming to Epcot is an example of that. These are the first details on the new ride, and the concept art is also the first look at anything inside. Guests can expect the ride to open sometime in mid-2016.

[Image via Disney/WSJ]