Frozen Ever After wait times... down for good?

[jdisnut]

So in preparation for my trip next month, I've been occasionally checking wait times at the parks. I've noticed that the lines for Frozen Ever After, which were so enormous even six months ago, really seem to have died down. As a type this at 11 a.m. ET, for instance, the posted wait is just 40 minutes, which is relatively short. Is this the new norm? If so, that really changes the strategy of the park, doesn't it? No reason to bother with a Frozen Fastpass if that's the case.

 

[Robo]

Don't take it as short waits being the "new norm."

Its still the newest attraction at Epcot.

Countless millions of visitors (many of them Frozen fans) have not yet ridden.

 

[CAS239]

It's rare imo to see frozen with less than a 60 min wait. It still daily has long waits.

When we were there 2 weeks ago we didn't ride it because the wait didn't drop below like 75 min when we were in Epcot

 

[CAS239]

As of 12:45pm Frozen is now closed.

That's another reason we didn't ride it a couple weeks ago. Got to rope drop about an hour before park opening to get a jump on frozen as we were hopping later to another park. Wait the hour, walk quickly to frozen, probably about 20 people back from the front...then we see the Frozen doors are closed and a CM is telling everyone the ride is down but we can continue to wait.

Waited about 30 min...then another cm came out and said we can continue to wait but they don't know when it would be back up but would be at minimum another hour.

Like cmon Olaf

 

[peg110]

we have done Frozen two times (or maybe 3, I don't recall) but we did it with a fast pass every time. I am glad too, because, I don't feel that the ride is worth a 30 minute wait. I mean it's nice, but it's just Malestrom re-branded for Frozen. Don't get me wrong. I like the Frozen movie and the scenes were nice on the ride, but I just think it was better as Malestrom.

If I have to wait 30 minutes.... I'm walking.

 

[TheGreg1982]

I was there the last week of May and the wait time for FEA was 80 minutes when I went for my fast pass. To be fair that was 5pm on Memorial Day so it may have been higher due to that.

 

[Shanti]

It's a pretty lame ride so it would make sense for its wait times to plummet after all the annual visitors have had a chance to ride it for the first time. But I still wouldn't count on it being a quick wait. And I agree with a PP, it's definitely not worth waiting 30 minutes for. I love the Frozen movie & like the characters, but even I wouldn't wait more than 10 minutes to ride FEA.

 

[Nick6300]

As with other attractions, people were reporting that if you line up beg. within 30 min of Illuminations it can be under 30 min wait. Yes, you may miss or have poor viewing of Illuminations, but it beats the 1.5hrs we waited when it was newer last May/June. Especially if you can come back to EP to see Illuminations another night. We've never tried RD Frozen because, I agree that it's a bit of a let down (but I still try to hit most attractions) and it is sort of tough for us to pass up on Soarin/TT RD when they're in FW.

 

[Gillbob316]

I've done it first thing after the park opened on my last 3 trips and have yet to wait over 20 minutes once. Been on it like a half dozen times now.

On my most recent trip, I actually rode it twice in a row just because we got off our first ride and the wait was still under 10 minutes, so we hopped on again.

And that wasn't even "crack of dawn rope drop" mind you, that was, "Stroll in casually around 9am". Just went straight to Norway and queued up. I think once I actually arrived in Norway a couple minutes before 9. Most times it was a couple minutes after.

I've also noticed it's been easier to get a fastpass for this ride lately. It's still the most desirable fastpass in Epcot, so the timeslots may not have a lot of perfect options... but I've still been seeing more and more available (just in general).

SO yeah... I honestly think it's hitting its downswing. All factors considered. I mean, consider the fact it'll have been open a year at the end of this month already (can you believe it?)

 

[Robo]

7DMT has been open for 3 years.

TSM has been open for 9 years.

EE has been open 11 years.

 

[Gillbob316]

7DMT has been open for 3 years.

TSM has been open for 9 years.

EE has been open 11 years.

And none of those rides is as crowded today as it was in its first 6 to 12 months. And neither is Frozen.

Furthermore those are all (arguably) better rides. Many would agree Ever After was an "eh" ride that mostly just rode the hype wave. (And that's coming from someone who personally loves it, hence my many re-rides)

I didn't say the lines had vanished. Furthermore I flat out acknowledged it's still the most desirable fastpass in the park. All I said was I think it's hitting a downswing. And I do.

I've been on it a half dozen times (2 back to back) every one of them was standby, and I've never waited over 20 minutes. I strategically rode at the best time to be sure, no way would I do standby for that ride during peak hours. I freely acknowledge it can still get up to an hour or two. But... if you're posting on this forum to plan your trip, riding at good hours isn't something that should be a foreign concept. Furthermore I could book fastpasses for Frozen a day in advance yesterday. For THREE DIFFERENT TIME SLOTS no less. I could NOT do that 6 months ago without several days of refreshing and a bit of dumb luck (and even then I still barely ever saw them).

If you show up in the middle of the afternoon will you walk on it? Heck no! Has it hit a downswing after its initial burst of popularity? Absolutely.

 

[ParrotBill]

Summer is coming.
(queue weird interpretation of Game of Thrones music.)
The horde from the closing of school will be upon us. The lines will rise up and snake serpentine through the Kingdom.

 

[ashleyann31]

We are at WDW now... earlier this evening the standby line was 2 hours. We had FP so we didn't wait long...but the soundtrack didn't work for the entire ride. We were given anytime FP for it, which was nice, and luckily we'll be back in Epcot later in our trip, but I would not have been happy if I had been in standby all that time.

 

[AllieBoo]

We were there Wednesday and Thursday, and I was shocked how low the wait times were for the first few hours. I consistently saw times at or below 45 min. They did increase greatly in the afternoon and evening though. we rode once as part of our initial three FPS and then I was able to get a FP for it as our fourth pick which surprised me. It s a cute ride, but I miss Maelstrom.

 

[shruley]

We were there Wednesday and Thursday, and I was shocked how low the wait times were for the first few hours. I consistently saw times at or below 45 min. They did increase greatly in the afternoon and evening though. we rode once as part of our initial three FPS and then I was able to get a FP for it as our fourth pick which surprised me. It s a cute ride, but I miss Maelstrom.

I'm pretty sure standby times are lower the first 2 hours because FP doesn't start til 11am at this ride. So the first hour or so, there are no FP returns to slow up the standby line. Once 11 hits, the standby line will not move near as quickly.

 

[peg110]

but the soundtrack didn't work for the entire ride.

Even when the soundtrack DOES work, it still doesn't work (for us). I would have hoped the ride would have at least flowed like the movie, but it seems to "Jump around". This may be okay for those who have never seen the movie, but for those of us who have, it's just to disjointed. Another reason why I am not a huge fan.