Frozen ride breakdowns

[ml sumner]

We had the same problem on our trip in October. Our fast pass time was 2:30 and spent the afternoon trying to keep my 5 year old son entertained and out of the heat, since we had finished up the future world side. Sure enough the moment getting into the line we were told it had just broke down. We did wait for like 20 minutes but by that time they were evacuating the people off the ride and making everyone that was inside the ride leave. We were so frustrated and I knew this was a possibility, because I had been readin this issue all over the disboards. We are going back in May, and I am worried about wasting my tier one fast pass on this ride that seems to not be able to function properly, but yet my son wants to ride it at least once I've been trying to figure out the best time to make a fast pass for it and was thinking first thing in the morning, but now I'm unsure after reading some of these post.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Why are passes not given out to those with FPs to come back instead of just losing the FP?

 

[stinkpickle]

Why are passes not given out to those with FPs to come back instead of just losing the FP?

We were told our FPs would be good for the rest of the day (or to use at another attraction), but FP return lines were packed once the ride reopened.

 

[famy27]

We had the same problem on our trip in October. Our fast pass time was 2:30 and spent the afternoon trying to keep my 5 year old son entertained and out of the heat, since we had finished up the future world side. Sure enough the moment getting into the line we were told it had just broke down. We did wait for like 20 minutes but by that time they were evacuating the people off the ride and making everyone that was inside the ride leave. We were so frustrated and I knew this was a possibility, because I had been readin this issue all over the disboards. We are going back in May, and I am worried about wasting my tier one fast pass on this ride that seems to not be able to function properly, but yet my son wants to ride it at least once I've been trying to figure out the best time to make a fast pass for it and was thinking first thing in the morning, but now I'm unsure after reading some of these post.

The one nice thing is that you won't lose your Tier 1. If it breaks down during your FP window, you'll receive an email letting you know that the ride is down and telling you your FP will be good for the rest of the day. If you choose not to wait for the ride to come back up, you can exchange your FEA FP for any other ride. When we had the breakdown for 4th of July, it was on our last day. We had to head back to BC to go to the airport, so we couldn't wait for it to come back up. We swapped for TT and rode that right before we left EPCOT.

 

[dreiwhit]

So... if breakdowns are the norm, on this brand new ride, what the heck did they do wrong, and maybe it's time to shut it down for awhile and fix it? I'm sorry, this is completely unacceptable. A ride this new shouldn't have this many problems. But when you look at RoL, maybe that's becoming the new norm for Disney? Rushing through to push things out before they're ready? Then dealing with the failures?

I remember reading somewhere that Disney took the old Maelstrom ride and "rebadged" it for Frozen. Someone said that Maelstrom wasn't the most reliable, so apparently the reliability issues have carried over into the FEA ride and, due to the popularity, caused more problems!

FWIW, we did get to ride it, but we waited probably 30-45 minutes in the FastPass line!! Standby was 75 minutes at the time.

We were told our FPs would be good for the rest of the day (or to use at another attraction), but FP return lines were packed once the ride reopened.

They are supposed to be good for the rest of the day, but the problem is that other folks with FPs from when it was down will also show up, making the lines longer. We missed our FP window for Winnie the Pooh and had to give the CM a good reason why we missed our FP. I told him "The ride was down" and he let us on.

Frozen wasn't the only ride that broke down while we were at Disney last week. Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, People Mover, Spaceship Earth all broke down with us in line or on the ride. The monorail even broke down - a door on one of the cars wouldn't close, which apparently prevented the train from leaving the station. We waited 20 minutes for the technican to fix the door, then the train could be moved, then we could wait for other trains. There may have been more breakdowns, but those only affected my family and I.

IMHO, for what we're paying for tickets, condo, rental car, souvineers, etc., I expect the rides and everything else to be as close to 100% reliable as can be! While waiting in line for the monorail to be fixed, I likened it to paying for a room at a five star hotel, and finding out the toilet doesn't work and the A/C works occasionally!

Disney apologists can flame me, but Disney needs to take some of that money they're spending on expanding parks or building new parks and put it into the rides to make them as close to 100% reliable as they can be.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

When we visited for MNSSHP, The People Mover, Buzz, and Winnie the Pooh all had issues.

 

[zimomiller]

The night of our fastpass window in November the ride broke down.
The cast members assigned to respond clearly could not care less.
They just wanted the queue cleared and everyone to leave.
No apologies, no offers of return fastpasses. Just tough, try again later.

Our least favorite moment at Disney ever.
We never were able to get another FP and when we tried to go back and use FP the at a later time the answer was no.

 

[pmaurer74]

This has me concerned. I have a FP window of 4:350-5:30 and a dinner ADR at Beaches N Cream at 5:20pm. My friend who was there a week ago had no trouble twice. I guess we would try to get in line after dinner sometime?

 

[wrighteous]

Had a FP for one evening this past September. Went over at the start of our window and it was down. We explored Mexico and did a few other things before heading back to check if it was running again. We happened to get there literally the moment they reopened. Used the FP and hurried in with a HUGE crowd. The standby line grew quickly, but with FP we were on in about 5 minutes. That was total luck and we were so grateful! Awesome ride that I would like to do again someday, but I don't think I'd make a FP for it again when we go in May. Too many issues, plus I think once is enough for my bf lol.

 

[winterwhite]

The ride broke down just before our FP window last night at 8:30. We got an anytime fastpass for any time between then and end of operations today. We were able to use it at FEA at around 1pm and were on the ride within 10 minutes of entering the line.

 

[Megara5115]

We are a group of four (3 Disney adults and one infant) and I booked DH and DS for TT and used mine for FEA... I figured I could just ride alone on FEA and then do rider swap with them (and we will do it for TT too).

I didn't initially know that FEA offered rider swap until I saw it on the Disney rider swap page a few months ago and was lucky enough to grab a single FP. I am hoping this will be a good option for eligible families so you aren't out of luck for Tier 1 fast passes if (when?) FEA goes down.

 

[jhaig]

The curse of the trolls will not rest until Frozen is banished from the Norway pavilion!!!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We were there last week on a night Epcot was open late for extra magic hours. We figured the best chance to get on frozen was right before closing at 11 30. Had a fast pass for soarin at 8. Went directly to Mexico to ride their ride, watched Illuminations with a margharitta in hand, went to dinner in Mexico about 10 and walked over to Norway about 11 15. Said there was a 40 min wait for Frozen but it turned out to be 20 min. Have to say after all the hype I wasn't that impressed. But at least it worked.

 

[Disneytam]

We got to ride on the 6 try!! We did get a FP good for the next three days but it took us to the third day to make it on. We both really enjoyed it but we .ade a game of would we or wouldn't we be able to ride it.

 

[Farro]

Wow. I feel like I should make a fast pass for it every time we are in Epcot just to make I sure I can try it!

 

[KrazeeK120]

We are a group of four (3 Disney adults and one infant) and I booked DH and DS for TT and used mine for FEA... I figured I could just ride alone on FEA and then do rider swap with them (and we will do it for TT too).

I didn't initially know that FEA offered rider swap until I saw it on the Disney rider swap page a few months ago and was lucky enough to grab a single FP. I am hoping this will be a good option for eligible families so you aren't out of luck for Tier 1 fast passes if (when?) FEA goes down.

This is the first I've heard of FEA offering rider swap. I thought rider swap was for rides with height requirements so that parties containing a too-short child can ride without standing in line twice.

If word really gets out that FEA offers rider swap, I can see things getting really messy at that ride.

 

[WDWNY]

What happens if you're in line (near the front with no fast passes) and it breaks down? Too bad you wasted your time?

 

[stinkpickle]

What happens if you're in line (near the front with no fast passes) and it breaks down? Too bad you wasted your time?

I saw that happen both times it broke down when we tried to use our FPs. We felt sorry for the standby folks, because we only lost 5-10 minutes...they lost over 60.

 

[SuperTink]

We skipped for our FP and glad we did. We'll catch it (in January), if convenient.

 

[simnia]

So sorry to hear that so many people have not been able to experience FEA due to it being down. We got super lucky that we were able to ride two times, both with FP, at the end of October.