Review: Frozen Ever After at Epcot
By Dave Shute
FROZEN EVER AFTER
The ride Frozen Ever After replaced Maelstrom at Epcot in June 2016.
Using essentially the same ride system as Maelstrom, it takes you into and out of a special Summer Snow Day Celebration in Arandelle, along the way revisiting all of the key characters from Frozen and from the short Frozen Fever.
(See this for Jim Korkis on the background to this ride and the Norway Pavilion, where it is located.)
You begin in a village that contains Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post…
…from which, curiously enough, you can see Hogsmeade in the distance.
Just kidding. You then pass a sign that gives you the only hint of the story of the ride–that is a winter day in summer, and that you will be touring Arandelle during the celebration of it.
You board boats…
and visit with the key Frozen and Frozen Fever folk. The animatronics and setting are very well done–my pictures don’t really do them justice.
You will also, as you might imagine, hear some familiar tunes!
A must-see for those who love the movie and its songs, there’s not much to this ride for anyone else. A family trying to negotiate a minimum Frozen dose for their trip would be better served at the Frozen Sing Along at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where humor makes that show of broader appeal.
The use of the old ride system means that this ride has a relatively low hourly capacity of about a thousand people.
As a result, you should aim for FastPass+ or ride it at park close. The low capacity, proportion of rides allocated to FastPass+, people coming from early breakfasts, etc., breakdown history, etc., means that counting on low waits by arriving early may be a bad bet.
For more on strategies for trying to see Frozen Ever After while avoiding long waits, see this from my co-author Josh.
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4 comments
Hi Dave, just finalized our plans for Nov ’19 (Thanksgiving week)! Our last visit was Nov ’15 so a lot has changed. I’m thinking that Frozen Ever After will be our toughest FP to get (as long as the Star Wars isn’t open yet….but we’re not really interested in Star Wars). Is that true? Is Frozen still a hard one to get? Most others we’ll want are for much older rides, like Space Mountain, Test Track etc. Thanks!
Jane, lately Flight of Passage and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train have been the hardest FP+ to get. By your date (ignoring Star Wars), Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will join that list. Frozen Ever After has gotten easier, as it is not a ride that engenders much repeat visits.
Hi Dave, I see that I wrote to you here back in January asking for advice about the Frozen ride. Now that it’s about 2 weeks until I have to do our ADRs it’s on my mind again b/c I’m wondering about whether to FP Frozen Ever After or Soarin, and it affect my ADR. Both are a high priority for me b/c I haven’t seen the new movie for Soarin or seen Frozen. I read through all that you wrote and also Josh’s site. Is it still true that Frozen is the preferred FP over Soarin? Or has interested in Frozen waned enough to warrant making Soarin the FP? I have the idea of an 8 am reservation at Garden Grill to help get us in place early for Soarin but expect that won’t really work out well for Black Friday when hours will probably be earlier anyway. I mostly want to go to GG for GG, so my daughter can see Chip N Dale….but my companions aren’t interested in GG so the only way to do it is a bkfst. I’m not interested in going early to the restaurant near the Frozen ride. I typically avoid long waits by FP everything or skipping, but in this case I’m willing to wait in line or try to show up extra early. Thank you for any advice. 🙂
Hi Jane, as it happens Josh and I are in the middle of creating an update for our book. In it, for our (really 99% his) Epcot one day touring plan, we recommend Frozen Ever After as the Tier 1 FastPass+, and seeing whichever of Soarin or Test track is your next priority at rope drop.
I don’t think you will have much trouble first thing at Epcot on Black Friday. Locals aren’t much in the park that morning (they are shopping, sleeping in, or at HS) and many out-of-town visitors will have been in Epcot on Thanksgiving.
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