Malestrom Becomes "Frozen Ever After"

[Buzz-Light-Beer]

This thread is funny. I don't know about others but when I'm on vacation at WDW I leave reality at home. I get enough of that the rest of the year. I want to believe a talking mouse is real and princesses do exist. I'm there to ride rides, enjoy the resorts and relax. We live in a world driven by political correctness. Sometimes it's for the greater good and sometimes it's just stupid. If the mouse says Anna lives in Norway I'm fine with that and I'll ride the ride for what it is, a ride. With that said I have some words for anyone that wants to boycott the ride "Let it go, Let it go"

When I go to Walt Disney World the next time I will definitely not boycott the ride. I will probably ride it twice because it is new. I just feel that it would have been better places at Hollywood Studios or the Magic Kingdom only because the other attractions in The World Showcase are based on the history of the country not based on a movie. Even though the Three Cabarellos a in the Mexican ride they are still promoting the history of Mexico in that ride and not playing a song from a Disney movie throughout the ride like the new Frozen ride will be doing with "Let It Go".

 

[bananabean]

 

[CounselorX]

What a terrible move. The only possible good outcome this will have is shortening lines for the couple good rides at Epcot.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The world showcase was intended to be a walk through the history and culture of the countries represented.
The way the park was designed represents the concept that history and culture are the backbone of our future; Future world in the front, history and culture behind it.
Vikings fit that bill, talking snowmen do not. There is "real" mythology, and it continues to define cultures even into this era. Frozen may be a new mythos that defines little American girls, but it certainly does not represent ancient or modern Norway. Putting this Frozen attraction into Norway reinforces a rather shallow American disconnect with world history and culture - sadly even our own history and culture - and a flippant disregard for a real people and place.

So only Americans who are flippant would patronize the attraction?

 

[Lady Hiss]

Deja vu - Nemo, The Little Mermaid. Where's the creativity? YAWN

Lady Hiss

 

[Jennasis]

So only Americans who are flippant would patronize the attraction?

Not at all what he said.

 

[agavegirl1]

Not really an appropriate tribute to the "blockbuster" status of this movie but it is what it is. I don't like the placement. I am glad they are doing something with "Frozen" but this is a replacement not an addition. If capacity is marginally improved due to new load/unload areas it will still be a low capacity ride. So, if 30,000 to 50,000 people are in the park on a given day, then around 10,000 people can ride this ride at some time during a day from 11AM to 9PM...typical hours for world showcase. Add about 900 per hour if they open it earlier than the rest of World Showcase. I am concerned this will result in a horrible FP+ situation as well as upset guests.

I will probably try to get a FP+ for this in 2018 but the thought of having to do this is sort ridiculous.

 

[atricks]

So based on the scene descriptions it sounds like the loading station will be moved. The article mentions two scenes in the ride before climbing the lift hill. Does this mean the load will be at the old unload location? Also, sounds like "let it go" will basically be the entire backwards portion of the flume? If so it they should have called the attraction, "Let it Go, the ride!" (brings on soooo many meanings given the prime discussions in this thread.

I also find it interesting they say the ride time will be 4 minutes. Malestrom was like 2 minutes long, how the heck do they get to 4 minutes using the same flume?

Finally, those boats look the same as Malestrom's. Will Disney even renovate the boats?

Interesting the article mentions that the popularity of Frozen has pushed them to use the existing infrastructure of Malestrom. However in my mind IF Frozen is as popular as they say (which it seems to be) why not invest big and go big to do the IP justice instead of quickly throwing something together?

Maelstrom was about 4 minutes long from the time you sat in the boat to the time you got up. (You can time ride videos on You Tube to confirm this)

 

[brooke789]

Thanks to those who said the opening date is 5/1/16! We're booked for 5/28-6/6/16. Really hoping to ride this. I'm so excited. Full disclosure - this will be my 2nd Disney trip and we didn't ride Maelstorm last time. So, really looking forward to it. Acutally the Donald Duck boat ride was my then 2 year old sons favorite ride of the whole trip. I think that is actually why we didn't ride Maelstorm b/c my husband said it was like the Donald Duck ride but no Donald, so we just hoped on every time we walked by!

 

[Planogirl]

I won't make the ride wait longer at least because I will never ride this. I hope that it's enjoyable for those who do though.

 

[2Gma]

If capacity is marginally improved due to new load/unload areas it will still be a low capacity ride. So, if 30,000 to 50,000 people are in the park on a given day, then around 10,000 people can ride this ride at some time during a day from 11AM to 9PM...typical hours for world showcase. Add about 900 per hour if they open it earlier than the rest of World Showcase. I am concerned this will result in a horrible FP+ situation as well as upset guests.

I will probably try to get a FP+ for this in 2018 but the thought of having to do this is sort ridiculous.

That was one of my thoughts as well. If you're not an onsite guest with 60+10 you'll be lucky to be riding this at all unless of course you want to spend half your day waiting in line.

 

[baldy6060]

Anything would be better than Maelstrom, the B-movie of Disney attractions. Laughably awful.

 

[cakebaker]

That was one of my thoughts as well. If you're not an onsite guest with 60+10 you'll be lucky to be riding this at all unless of course you want to spend half your day waiting in line.

That would happen with any new attraction they build and it's not a good reason not to do it. It is though why I say building new attractions won't relieve the crowding at any park- the more they build, the more people come. Again, not a good reason not to build more attractions, but a good reason to have a system in place that can disperse the crowds more evenly.

 

[lugnut33]

I have a hard time believing that a simple overlay will make this appreciably better. Sounds like this will be very much like the Little Mermaid ride considering the animatronics they are employing. I'll reserve judgement until I ride it, but I'm skeptical.

 

[lugnut33]

That would happen with any new attraction they build and it's not a good reason not to do it. It is though why I say building new attractions won't relieve the crowding at any park- the more they build, the more people come. Again, not a good reason not to build more attractions, but a good reason to have a system in place that can disperse the crowds more evenly.

How do you plan on dispersing crowds when everyone wants to ride the few major headliners that are left in the park? Both Epcot and DHS have the same problem.

 

[cakebaker]

How do you plan on dispersing crowds when everyone wants to ride the few major headliners that are left in the park? Both Epcot and DHS have the same problem.

Systems to handle crowds first, attractions second. New attractions will not solve the problem by itself and I think the system needed to be in place first.

 

[BarbieGal457]

A couple of quotes:

They could be displeased about this. Or they could be just be getting tired of people making complaints about the change to Frozen over and over. That is something wholly out of their control.

No, trust me, they were not tired of people asking about it. While I said they never outright said it, there were plenty of comments made to us under their breath that gave me the belief they feel this way. I don't like to assume things or put words in peoples' mouths, but when you whisper to me "trust me, we agree" after I say that I miss Maelstrom to the person next to me, I don't think that means they are tired of complaints. They were quietly complaining themselves by agreeing with us or making very small comments like that. I think if they were tired of people complaining they would ignore it, not very quietly agree under their breath or nod their heads.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Didn't see this in the article, but are they going to be hiring CMs from Arendelle's Universities to work the ride? I'd like to make sure I know what language to learn so I can speak to the CMs in their native tongue.

 

[lugnut33]

Systems to handle crowds first, attractions second. New attractions will not solve the problem by itself and I think the system needed to be in place first.

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.

 

[glohoffman]

I'm just disappointed that it seems kind of boring. I mean I'm sure my daughter's will like it when they ride, but I don't think it will be something they beg to do multiple times. They could have done something cool with the frozen theme, I feel like they went with what would be fastest to make sure it's released while the frozen hype is still present, or with the hype from the sequel.
I'm not upset they put it in Norway really, but I am sad that Norway seems to be diminishing.