I miss the Maelstrom ride so much.

[minnie-apple-mouse]

I will be interested to see how FP's are handled with this new ride and the Tiering system at EPCOT. Will Frozen Ever After be a Tier 1 ride (I assume it will be)? Will you be able to pick 2 Tier 1 rides? Frozen Ever After and TT or Soarin; or, will you still only get one Tier 1 selection and have to choose between the 3?

Yea was wondering that. Kinda doubt they will have 3 tiers though, if 2 this will be a nice extra selection IMO.

Either way most (90% ?) riders will have minimal wait.

.

 

[Andrew015]

But won't like 90% of riders have about a 10 minute wait? And 10% 200?

Regardless it will be about a 10 minute wait for us (FP+), 200 aint happening.

But won't like 90% of riders have about a 10 minute wait? And 10% 200?

Regardless it will be about a 10 minute wait for us (FP+), 200 aint happening.

For people that enter the park before 2:00 pm, sure. For those that arrive after the FP's are "sold out", tough luck. I think you're 90/10 is off by quite a bit...

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

For people that enter the park before 2:00 pm, sure. For those that arrive after the FP's are "sold out", tough luck. I think you're 90/10 is off by quite a bit...

Yea not sure on the 90/10, hence the ? after it

Wait are you talking about the old FP when enter after 2? The tough luck? Didn't follow that. It should be on FP+ I would think/hope.

 

[Andrew015]

Funny, but pretty unfair. One of the biggest criticisms of the new "Frozen Ever After" ride is that it is "just an overlay". Basically, it is a lot closer to a refurbishment than an entirely new ride. I have to believe the rumored budget for Frozen Ever After is massively more than the planned rehab budget for PoC this summer.

You're comparing apples and oranges. POC is getting refurbished to make the ride workable / safe. The ride itself is not being significantly altered (if at all), so of course the budget isn't close to what is being spent on Frozen. Nevertheless, Frozen is being done on a shoestring budget given the expectations placed upon it (the ride to honor the largest grossing animated film of all time, and also, the ride that is expected to "save" EPCOT...). We're talking similar numbers as compared to building a new, budget Omnimover. That's not a number that should get anyone very excited...

 

[Andrew015]

Yea not sure on the 90/10, hence the ? after it

Wait are you talking about the old FP when enter after 2? The tough luck? Didn't follow that. It should be on FP+ I would think/hope.

FP's for the most popular rides are typically gone (i.e. "sold out") by early-mid afternoon. So if 1.) you didn't book your FP far enough in advance 2.) you want to ride it a second time (and believe me, with all of the pixie dust surrounding this ride, the princesses aren't going to be content with just one pass) or 3.) you don't get to the park until 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon (think night owls, park hoppers, etc.), you can pretty much guarantee yourself a spot in the stand-by line. There are significant amounts of people that fall into one of these three categories, which is why I think 10% is a pretty significant underestimate.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

FP's for the most popular rides are typically gone (i.e. "sold out") by early-mid afternoon. So if 1.) you didn't book your FP far enough in advance 2.) you want to ride it a second time (and believe me, with all of the pixie dust surrounding this ride, the princesses aren't going to be content with just one pass) or 3.) you don't get to the park until 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon (think night owls, park hoppers, etc.), you can pretty much guarantee yourself a spot in the stand-by line. There are significant amounts of people that fall into one of these three categories, which is why I think the 10% is a pretty significant underestimate.

Got ya, it was weirdly the same case made against the old system-arriving after 1-2 and you would be out of luck for sure.

Wonder what % will be FP+? Have heard its much higher than the old system anyway.

3.) you don't get to the park until 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon (think night owls, park hoppers, etc.), you can pretty much guarantee yourself a spot in the stand-by line.

Say no more-the exact reason we love FP+ to avoid just that. But then we do plan well in advance.


.

 

[Andrew015]

Got ya, it was weirdly the same case made against the old system-arriving after 1-2 and you would be out of luck for sure.

From that standpoint, I don't think either system has much of a clear advantage. You can only put so many people through a given ride in an "X" hour period regardless of whether the FP was obtained on a piece of paper or digitally.

Wonder what % will be FP+? Have heard its much higher than the old system anyway.

While I'm a bit skeptical of the "published" FP+ adoption rate, I'm sure that it is higher than the old system. But also remember that 1.) millions of $$$ are being spent promoting and supporting the new system 2.) people are being "forced" to choose FP's for rides that don't truly require a FP (part of the whole spreading out of demand thing), which IMO is helping to artificially inflate the FP+ adoption rate.

 

[rteetz]

Has anybody read the comments on the DPB article about the frozen ever after attraction? There are some pretty good sarcastic comments. The moderators of the blog must be off today.

 

[rteetz]

1. Dan
   4 hrs, 8 mins ago
   "Have you made any improvements to increase the capacity of the ride? It sounds like it follows the same track and will use the same boats.
   
   Also, have you decided to change the name of EPCOT yet? It doesn’t seem to really apply anymore."
   

 

[rteetz]

New level of sarcasm...

1. Kevin
   3 hrs, 48 mins ago
   "I love that this is being done in a culturally sensitive way, and will continue to inspire future generations to learn about the exciting and diverse countries of the world around them. It fits in perfectly with Norwegian heritage, and helps to further the mission of the park. It’s edutanement at its finest!"
   

 

[rteetz]

This might be my favorite

Carrie from CA on June 9th, 2015 at 1:23 pm
So, “Snowgies” are boogers, right? So there are gonna be animated boogers on this ride?

 

[LaidBackDad]

Yea was wondering that. Kinda doubt they will have 3 tiers though, if 2 this will be a nice extra selection IMO.

Either way most (90% ?) riders will have minimal wait.

.

I have to disagree with your math a little bit or at least your use of "most". The ride has poor capacity and the new load / unload won't help that much if not even hurt capacity. From what I read, Maelstrom' capacity was around 1000 riders per hour. Even if the ride is a 50 / 50 split for FP vs. SB your only talking around 6000 FP's. Figure average EPCOT attendance at about 25000 guest and you are talking less than 1 in 4 guest could have a FP. Figure a lot of those FP's are at at non-peak times even less are available. I'm thinking "most" guest are going to be looking at 2 - 3 hour waits. FP will be a necessity if you can even get one.

I also found it curious that towards the end of Maelstrom's operation (before Frozen was announced) it was changed from a Tier 2 ride to Tier 1. I always thought that was strange. Maybe something to to with MDE and assigning FP reservations. A ride this popular almost has to be a Tier 1 ride. If it is and you are only allowed one Tier 1 selection; then you are looking at 120 minute waits for TT and Soarin.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

I have to disagree with your math a little bit or at least your use of "most". The ride has poor capacity and the new load / unload won't help that much if not even hurt capacity. From what I read, Maelstrom' capacity was around 1000 riders per hour. Even if the ride is a 50 / 50 split for FP vs. SB

Capacity is irrelevant to what I am saying.

50/50 is indeed not "most", anything over (51/49 and up to 99/01) would be.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Has anybody read the comments on the DPB article about the frozen ever after attraction? There are some pretty good sarcastic comments. The moderators of the blog must be off today.

Which article? Was that the one with the censored link?

 

[rteetz]

Which article? Was that the one with the censored link?

No the Disney parks blog release

 

[rteetz]

This one is pretty good...

1. Scott From IL
   3 hrs, 56 mins ago
   I can’t believe how much hate this ride is getting. It’s Frozen! Everyone loves Frozen!
   So what if it’s not based on a real country. Why is that a first? Like Morocco is a real country. It was just made up so that Mo’Rockin had a place to play!
   So what if there will seemingly not be much of Norway left in the pavilion? Princesses are real, I saw that one was just born in London, and that’s Europe, and all of Europe is the same thing anyway!
   So what if the story of this attraction seems to not be a real story, and instead just a ride past our favorite characters? Who rides rides for stories anyway? If I want a story, I’ll turn on Reading Rainbow!
   So what if an expansion pad is being turned into a giant meet and greet? Meet and Greets are just the interactive cosplay attraction of the future, allowing fans to interact with franchise characters and build their bond with the brands they love!
   Let it Go all you h8ters, thaw your Frozen Heart! For the First Time In Forever, Disney is tearing down an existing attraction to build a new one. Maelstrom was always a bit of a Fixer Upper anyway. This place is going to be a madhouse, and who doesn’t Wanna Build a Snowman In Summer? Look deep inside think about the new ride and realize that Reindeers are better than People. I for one cannot wait for this attraction to finish and I can prove that Love is an Open Door to the new Frozen Ever After ride!
   

 

[ash_xox]

Maelstrom was such a staple for me. I even drove up from Ft Lauderdale to ride it one last time before it closed - albeit with a 104 fever which sliiightly tarnished the experience.

 

[rteetz]

I'd like to throw this out there after spirit on wdwmagic did. Ben Fritz the author of the WSJ article has been in contact with several posters on wdwmagic regarding the Shanghai debacle and getting that story out there. After gathering info from the sources at wdwmagic he went to disney for their take on the Shanghai issue. Disney said oh hey look well let you leak this frozen ever after story before we put it on our blog, well even let you go scene by scene. So disney basically is trying to cover up anything about the shadiness of Shanghai.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that Drizella, err, Epcot really needed something to rehabilitate it out of ugly stepsister status (like AH and DHS).

The sensible solution that would respect the theme and history of the park would be to add more rides along the lines of Test Track and Mission Space. Thrilling and elaborate. It also would be quite easy to add really good rides to some of the World Showcase pavilions. A state-of-the-art log flume in Canada should be a slam dunk. A couple of dark rides in other countries' pavilions on the scale of Haunted Mansion or Pirates. A tour of Germany in a Mine Train style coaster.

It would be easy ... but it would cost a lot. So Disney decided to take the inexpensive, quickie shortcut of diverting a few million of the excess princess fans from Cinderella's park to Drizella's park.

I'm sure that if I had been presenting this argument to the Disney board, I would have been shown numbers which proved that it was financially stupid to preserve the integrity of Epcot as described. The problem of a completely broken Epcot with no purpose to its existence except for F&W and F&G, after the bump from Frozen subsides to next to nothing, is so far away that it doesn't even bear thinking about. That's like, three years away. And we can always slap in some other quickie thing based on whatever cartoon or TV show is big at the time.

If you really love Epcot you should get over it ... lay a bouquet of flowers on the tombstones at the front of the park and get on with your life. It's not coming back.

Wow, you really hit the nail on the head particularly with the bolded. I've been unhappy with Epcot and in spite of family requests I've been trying to stay away from the place. Those tombstones are all too fitting now.