Malestrom Becomes "Frozen Ever After"

[Edgehopper]

How about instead of getting rid of Figment, he acts more like Donald from Philharmagic? Figment could go and see these other characters and learn about imagination from them. I mean isn't that why people hated the ride between the original and what we have now? Cause there was no Figment... I know this is just an idea but I love Figment lol.

I thought it was less the lack of Figment than that it was joyless and boring . But that works too; it's not like I've written a full story board for the attraction . The important part is to build a new ride with a more innovative feature or story than "faces on the animatronics look more realistic"!

 

[dwheaton]

Okay cool, for some reason I had it in my head that there was a height requirement. I hope that site is correct because I can't imagine having to turn away the smallest of Frozen fans.

Maelstrom did have a requirement that kids had to be three years old. That was at least in place in 2012 when my daughter was 21 months old. I don't believe it was specific to height.

 

[wisblue]

I see very little appreciable difference in this new system of which you speak. Are you really going to say a 10 minute reduction in standby wait time at Soarin' is a big deal, when in reality the FP return line is now longer than ever? What has changed in the ride capacities? Did FP+ suddenly make Test Track a 2000+ per hour people eater? I think not.

You are stating that as a fact, but that hasn't been my "reality" at Soarin' or anything else. I have now used dozens of FPs over the last year and a half and I could count on one hand the ones that had waits more than 5-10 minutes at the most. Longer waits happened to us occasionally with paper FP's and they have happened to us occasionally (but no more frequently) with FP+.

 

[BebopBaloo]

Maelstrom did have a requirement that kids had to be three years old. That was at least in place in 2012 when my daughter was 21 months old. I don't believe it was specific to height.

Interesting...I hadn't heard of age requirements. Did they stop you from boarding with that reasoning?

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

You are stating that as a fact, but that hasn't been my "reality" at Soarin' or anything else. I have now used dozens of FPs over the last year and a half and I could count on one hand the ones that had waits more than 5-10 minutes at the most. Longer waits happened to us occasionally with paper FP's and they have happened to us occasionally (but no more frequently) with FP+.

I waited over 30 minutes for my Soarin' FP return last August. When I posted about it here there were a lot of people who had experienced the same thing.

 

[dwheaton]

Interesting...I hadn't heard of age requirements. Did they stop you from boarding with that reasoning?

We didn't try it (I rode one night when I was there solo at like 8 p.m.). But I'm guessing they wouldn't have asked for her age. My guess is that it's more about keeping infants off since there are drops.

 

[wisblue]

I waited over 30 minutes for my Soarin' FP return last August. When I posted about it here there were a lot of people who had experienced the same thing.

I'm not saying that it never happens, but it is clearly not the norm, unless I am extremely lucky.

I also wonder when people talk about their wait times for Soarin if they are counting how long it takes to get past the merge point or how long it takes to actually get on a ride vehicle. Also, you never know when a delay is caused by a ride breakdown or some required "cleanup" that shuts down one side.

With paper FP there were times when the FP line was backed up around the corner and it took us a while to get to and through the merge point. Because the anecdotal reports go both ways there is no basis for someone to state as a fact that FP lines at Soarin take longer than they used to.

 

[ucfknight]

We didn't try it (I rode one night when I was there solo at like 8 p.m.). But I'm guessing they wouldn't have asked for her age. My guess is that it's more about keeping infants off since there are drops.

The first time my kids rode Maelstrom they were 3 months and 2 years of age. The 3 month old was of course sitting in my lap. We are Florida residents with annual passes and rode many times after that when my youngest still couldn't even walk. No cast member ever said anything and I never heard of any age requirement being actively enforced on the ride.

 

[midnightlouise]

Both Frozen and the World Showcase deserve something better than a half-a$$ed re-skin, so I really hope it's great, or I'll be even more bitter that they took out Maelstrom. Lest we start the whole "Disney has more stuff for girls/boys" debate, I will say that I hope this ride features Sven, or I don't have a snowball's chance of getting my teen/tween sons on it.

 

[spacy9]

This looks very underwhelming...

 

[JRennie]

I don't do much international travel, so I can't speak to the authenticity of any of the pavilions except UK, but I thought the intent of each country's pavillion was to give a taste of that country. . . i.e. Norway pavillion gives a taste of Norway, not a taste of "some thing like Scandinavia". I have "frozen fatigue" in a way I haven't gotten about any other Disney movies and don't particularly look forward to this, except as a cool break in WS.

I also sometimes wonder about the authenticity of the pavillions in WS... I've be in the Canadian one, I am a Canadian and I feel its just all about moose, maple syrup and coffee crisp chocolate bars for some strange reason.... Not exactly representative of Canada in my opinion. So it makes me wonder about the others. Don't get me wrong, I love WS.

 

[Ambear]

I also sometimes wonder about the authenticity of the pavillions in WS... I've be in the Canadian one, I am a Canadian and I feel its just all about moose, maple syrup and coffee crisp chocolate bars for some strange reason.... Not exactly representative of Canada in my opinion. So it makes me wonder about the others. Don't get me wrong, I love WS.

It's too easy to make a Tim Hortons joke >.<...

I think it's probably hard to capture all aspects of a country's culture... But I'm not ever impressed with America's Pavilion either.

 

[JRennie]

It's too easy to make a Tim Hortons joke >.<...

I think it's probably hard to capture all aspects of a country's culture... But I'm not ever impressed with America's Pavilion either.

Ha ha ha ha.

 

[Ambear]

Ha ha ha ha.

They have THE BEST ice capps, so I'd have no problem if they chose to include that in Canada's Pavilion haha.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I waited over 30 minutes for my Soarin' FP return last August. When I posted about it here there were a lot of people who had experienced the same thing.

Usually that is an anomaly (meaning not normal intended operations). My husband had a lengthy wait for fast pass for Space Mountain. It was insane.

But pretty sure it has been down. They temporarily shut down the standby side or something to try and clear some of the log jam. I have not been in in a long time, but the way he said this sounded like it was not the norm.

In any case--when those long waits happen--it is often because something happened.

Star Tours has similar issues this past weekend. Not sure how long FP was, but the line to get in was a little long. Someone shared that the first hour of park open, that the ride had been down.

So clearly, when a ride is down, those fast passes get bumped to any time passes. And while riding other listed rides is an option--a lot of folks just come back to the original ride they booked.

Similar anomaly to paper days, I'm sure.

*this is not to say that this is precisely what occurred for you, but from what we have witnesses, it has been the case when our party's FP wait times were excessive.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

So they will use the same track as Maelstrom? Perfect! I hereby vow, on this day, that whenever I ride this new ride, I will narrate the old Maelstrom ride as loudly and as thickly-accented as possible.

Please don't if I get on with you.

 

[Diznygrl]

We didn't try it (I rode one night when I was there solo at like 8 p.m.). But I'm guessing they wouldn't have asked for her age. My guess is that it's more about keeping infants off since there are drops.

Infants can ride Pirates of the Caribbean, and the drops in Maelstrom are no worse than that, despite one dropping backwards.



LOL about Tom Staggs' "something like Scandinavia" comment. That's what they should rename it. The Something Like Scandinavia Pavilion.

 

[Aerinha]

WS was, I thought, supposed to be like looking back at "misty memories" of a vacation to the country. Having been to Italy and France, I would say it sparks some memories, but in no way encompasses the whole country. The flowers hanging in France Epcot remind me of the hanging baskets I saw in the French Riviera. People think of pastries, perfume and glaces...epcot France has those. Italy has the Doge palace, Neptune, blown glass and pizza...pretty much what people think of with Italy. If only they could mimic real Italian gelato, cause what they call gelato in Disney is nothing like what I had in Italy. Sigh.

These countries are more than highlights, but the pavilions might spark someone to go see the real thing. There is no real Arrandale.

The American pavilion is lame. Sorry to its fans. How about Soarin over the US (love to see Grand Canyon from above). Regional cuisine and not nuggets and burgers should also play a part.

 

[LATJLP]

Sniff sniff. I smell a Soarin' refurb coming not long after the opening of Frozen Ever After.

ooooo, we could ride over Arendelle. Actually I just read today that the 3rd Soarin' ride is "coming soon". But, my understanding is that this is a completely new room, so they shouldn't have to shut down the other two rooms for it's construction. Once that new one is done, maybe they'll clean up the "old" two....both of them have a lot of dark spots on the screen that need to be repaired.

I just hope that they do actually add/change/redo completely the film......after a decade it's probably time for a few new scenes. Maybe some of other countries.....ya know to tie in the World Showcase theme that is....right there.

 

[Planogirl]

So they will use the same track as Maelstrom? Perfect! I hereby vow, on this day, that whenever I ride this new ride, I will narrate the old Maelstrom ride as loudly and as thickly-accented as possible.

"You are not the first to come this way..."
(Elsa warbling in the background)
"Shut up Elsa!"
"Nor will you be the last..."

I don't know why exactly but your post makes me laugh.