RIP Maelstrom

[Angel Ariel]

sad night

 

[agavegirl1]

Sad. Mostly being selfish as I arrive at Epcot on the 17th. DBF and I were planning to celebrate our heritage at F&W. He is German 100%. I am half Norwegian and half French. Norway is sort of out of the picture. The restaurant is now a "Princess Dinner". The ride is gone. The store is being "refurbished" (probably into a M&G). Goodbye half of my heritage that used to be in World Showcase.

But...hello WDW in 12 days! Please make it worth it WDW. No, the Lumberjack show is not it.

 

[Tonyz]

Very sad about this. I would have much preferred that they update Maelstrom instead of doing away with it.

In all fairness, Disney does need to add more princesses. There is so much focused on boys and not enough on girls. We can do without a ride featuring trolls with such a dearth of princess attractions in the parks. Probably should bulldoze "One Man's Dream" while they are at it to expand Wandering Oakens Trading post.

Nice!

Sad that it's officially gone. They better make a little memory of it in the new ride! And it better stay a boat ride!

 

[Bluegrrl]

I am so sick about it closing. Actually sick. Especially considering the thing that is replacing it: a fictional country that has no relation to Norway.

Read Snow Queen. Seriously, read it. It was written by Hans Christian Anderson - a Danish author. The actual setting was not in Norway. At most, they set part of it in Lapland and Finland. It's a a crazy story, and I think the kids end up married at the end. Yeah, everyone says it's only the basis for Frozen, but that's like saying The Little Mermaid is the basis for Finding Nemo.

But I think that Maelstrom is one of those rides like Mr. Toad or Carousel of Progress or even HM that we all love and just take for granted that it will always be there. It's a touchstone - you go to EPCOT, you ride Maelstrom. Having a rehab of the ride that is still BASED in Norway mythos would be great. Bigger, better, cleaner! Like HM (although that wasn't "clean" ), they made it better. They kept the theme, just shined it up a bit! Why couldn't they do that with Norway? And what will they do when Frozen dethaws? Face it folks - it WILL go away. Fads ALWAYS go away. And what will Disney do then?

Why couldn't Disney have thrown it into Captain EO? I just don't get it. I just don't. Poor Norway, getting the shove from Disney. Why, oh, why not a thousand OTHER things besides this? There are so many other ideas that they could have used, so many other things for Disney to do besides what amounts to a poor overlay.

It's just so sickening and I am so done with Frozen and the over-princessfication of 'freakin Disney.

 

[jcnewton]

I am so sick about it closing. Actually sick. Especially considering the thing that is replacing it: a fictional country that has no relation to Norway.

Read Snow Queen. Seriously, read it. It was written by Hans Christian Anderson - a Danish author. The actual setting was not in Norway. At most, they set part of it in Lapland and Finland. It's a a crazy story, and I think the kids end up married at the end. Yeah, everyone says it's only the basis for Frozen, but that's like saying The Little Mermaid is the basis for Finding Nemo.

But I think that Maelstrom is one of those rides like Mr. Toad or Carousel of Progress or even HM that we all love and just take for granted that it will always be there. It's a touchstone - you go to EPCOT, you ride Maelstrom. Having a rehab of the ride that is still BASED in Norway mythos would be great. Bigger, better, cleaner! Like HM (although that wasn't "clean" ), they made it better. They kept the theme, just shined it up a bit! Why couldn't they do that with Norway? And what will they do when Frozen dethaws? Face it folks - it WILL go away. Fads ALWAYS go away. And what will Disney do then?

Why couldn't Disney have thrown it into Captain EO? I just don't get it. I just don't. Poor Norway, getting the shove from Disney. Why, oh, why not a thousand OTHER things besides this? There are so many other ideas that they could have used, so many other things for Disney to do besides what amounts to a poor overlay.

It's just so sickening and I am so done with Frozen and the over-princessfication of 'freakin Disney.

The last couple of posts I've seen you make have taken the words right out of my mouth...so to speak. Couldn't agree more.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Happy to oblige!

 

[999DoomBuggies]

Sad. Mostly being selfish as I arrive at Epcot on the 17th. DBF and I were planning to celebrate our heritage at F&W. He is German 100%. I am half Norwegian and half French. Norway is sort of out of the picture. The restaurant is now a "Princess Dinner". The ride is gone. The store is being "refurbished" (probably into a M&G). Goodbye half of my heritage that used to be in World Showcase. But...hello WDW in 12 days! Please make it worth it WDW. No, the Lumberjack show is not it.

Yeah, so disney has had copious amounts of time to decide what type of act will replace off kilter and the lumberjack show is what they come up with?

At this rate I imagine the American pavilion will have an act devoted to candle making and the Moroccan pavilion will have an act devoted to cooking. Can disney become more boring in their latest moves? From MDE, avatar, and a frozen takeover to the lumberjack show, it is as if disney is like "screw it, they will buy anyway". Disney is right in the short term but perhaps rather wrong in the long term. There is a 10,000 lb gorilla in the room called universal that is taking disney's talent and has the money that perhaps in 15 years we are looking at a whole different dynamic. Either way I will still buy disney because there is so much original imagineering throughout the parks, but the more the original imagineering disappears the more the consistently devoted will too...

 

[palavra]

We rode for the last time around 6:30. We had a FP, but the posted wait time was 65 minutes. Last I saw it was 100 min. There was security at the ride entrance.

My husband was one of the security guards there. He said there were many people upset that Maelstrom was closing, but everything went smoothly.

 

[Virtucomp]

The point of my *****ing is that yes, Disney is making a financially smart move in the short term but in the long term Disney may and likely will suffer. I can imagine that many of the imagineers are less than thrilled to see classics stomped on by current management. For the sake of imagineering in general I would hope that Disney regains some sort of swagger instead of attempting to capitalize off of hit movies. When will we see another Haunted Mansion, Mystic Manor, Pirates of the Caribbean, Maelstrom, Spaceship Earth, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, etc? Right now all I can see is Avatarland, SW7DMT, Princess Fairy Tale Hall, the many adventures of winnies the pooh, the ariel mess, etc. No creativity. Imagineers are stuck creating attractions based on movies that sell, instead of creating attractions as in the days of Walt et al. I can promise you that ten years from now kids and adults would have been more captivated and creatively stimulated by a norwegian ride based on adventure and folk lore than the olaf snowman pushing you over the falls.

I think people who are Disney regulars and who appreciate the classic rides will be trampled by the hoards of parents trying to get their child on the latest Frozen themed ride. Although most on the Disboards are getting sick of all this Frozen stuff taking over the parks the general public is coming in masses to see it. Disney will not suffer from the changes because they are selling out hotels selling park tickets just to meet two girls dressed like the sisters. There is still a huge demand to see anything Frozen.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

My husband was one of the security guards there. He said there were many people upset that Maelstrom was closing, but everything went smoothly.

Glad it went smoothly for your husband. Did he mention that the only folks excited for frozen are under 11 years old?

 

[kbelle8995]

I went and rode it one last time before it closed. Said farewell to the Puffins and the polar bears. And the trolls.

I walked into the store which is basically a Frozen store now. Laila and a few items are left of the Norway pavillion are all that is left.

I understand Disney wanting to take advantage of Frozen but in WS Jeeze.

 

[Camaro305]

My 14 year old daughter just said, "Maelstrom was my favorite smell in Disney World!" Definitely a Disney fan!

 

[999DoomBuggies]

I think people who are Disney regulars and who appreciate the classic rides will be trampled by the hoards of parents trying to get their child on the latest Frozen themed ride. Although most on the Disboards are getting sick of all this Frozen stuff taking over the parks the general public is coming in masses to see it. Disney will not suffer from the changes because they are selling out hotels selling park tickets just to meet two girls dressed like the sisters. There is still a huge demand to see anything Frozen.

It will not last. I know for my kids that if you're nine and over and into frozen then you better keep it under wraps. Frozen is now deemed an annoying fad to a lot of girls. Essentially we are watching maelstrom have an overlay with the same staying power as new kids on the block. This is a very short sighted solution to trying to shove frozen into the parks. Look at Winnie and Ariel and you will find similar demand with the frozen attraction a few yrs after opening. Similarly, you find the same results with monsters and roger rabbit at disneyland.

No one is booking a disney trip just to ride maelstrom and likewise no one is booking a disney trip just to ride frozen. It is all the attractions together that make disney worth booking. Why not maintain the little engine that did?

 

[kmarie99]

Glad it went smoothly for your husband. Did he mention that the only folks excited for frozen are under 11 years old?

I am excited for it and I am over 11

 

[grimley1968]

Both my DDs now hate Frozen. My 15 YO never liked the movie, but has loved Maelstrom since she was 3. She has said she never wants to go on the ride when it's done. I can't blame her. My 11 YO liked Frozen the first time she saw it, but has gotten sick of it, and she hasn't even been to a Disney park since she saw the movie.

To remove a well liked ride, that surely needed some updating but could easily have been kept in an appropriate World Showcase theme, just to put this Frozen ride in, is short sighted to say the least, IMHO. A Frozen ride could have appropriately been added just about anywhere, except for World Showcase. But Disney management seems to have a lack of long term vision lately. Failing to add to the number of attractions (instead of replacing beloved ones), I think, is going to eventually cost WDW visitors.

We had already booked our October 2015 WDW vacation before I heard about this, and we'll keep our plans. But I'm much less excited about this trip than any others I've made to WDW, and am not sure we'll really want to go back after that. At the very least, there's one huge reason less now for us to visit World Showcase.

I am sure our lack of desire to see Frozenland will be temporarily offset by people who want to try the Frozen ride, but many people are going to be very sad over the loss of Norway, the Stave Church, Maelstrom, the movie, the little village at the end of the ride, and even the gift shop.

A 16-month schedule just doesn't sound like enough time to put in something that would end up being a "classic" ride, given WDW's snail's pace construction the last few years. If this ends up being like the Nemo ride or the Ariel ride, I will be even more heartbroken than now. RIP.

 

[999DoomBuggies]

Both my DDs now hate Frozen. My 15 YO never liked the movie, but has loved Maelstrom since she was 3. She has said she never wants to go on the ride when it's done. I can't blame her. My 11 YO liked Frozen the first time she saw it, but has gotten sick of it, and she hasn't even been to a Disney park since she saw the movie. To remove a well liked ride, that surely needed some updating but could easily have been kept in an appropriate World Showcase theme, just to put this Frozen ride in, is short sighted to say the least, IMHO. A Frozen ride could have appropriately been added just about anywhere, except for World Showcase. But Disney management seems to have a lack of long term vision lately. Failing to add to the number of attractions (instead of replacing beloved ones), I think, is going to eventually cost WDW visitors. We had already booked our October 2015 WDW vacation before I heard about this, and we'll keep our plans. But I'm much less excited about this trip than any others I've made to WDW, and am not sure we'll really want to go back after that. At the very least, there's one huge reason less now for us to visit World Showcase. I am sure our lack of desire to see Frozenland will be temporarily offset by people who want to try the Frozen ride, but many people are going to be very sad over the loss of Norway, the Stave Church, Maelstrom, the movie, the little village at the end of the ride, and even the gift shop. A 16-month schedule just doesn't sound like enough time to put in something that would end up being a "classic" ride, given WDW's snail's pace construction the last few years. If this ends up being like the Nemo ride or the Ariel ride, I will be even more heartbroken than now. RIP.

Extremely well put.

The frozen backlash is rising. Often young girls do not want to be caught admitting they like frozen.

What happens when frozen dies out, which it will? Does disney do the right thing and restore maelstrom?

My understanding is that other rides are on the chopping block, that no ride is safe, and that disney is attempting to react as quickly as possible to universal. I enjoy the zeal but the Ariel and Winnie rides have not made life long disney fans but I know that horizons and maelstrom have made lifelong disney fans.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

RIP Maelstrom.

 

[ChanFO]

My requiem for poor Maelstrom:

For some, you were loved, and for some, you were hated. And for me, you were kind of the outdated punchline to a really corny joke from the 80s that was still funny but for all the wrong reasons. I didn't really like you that much, but I came to ride every time, because it's hot and humid in Florida and Epcot is huge, so sitting down in the air conditioning was always preferable.

I've gotten to an age now that I think I would just go to the Norway page on Wikipedia if I wanted to learn something extremely basic and glossed-over, though, so I won't weep for the loss of your edutainment. I did like you more than the idea of a Frozen ride, so I guess there's that. I admit that I'm more sad about Mo'Rockin than I am about you. Ultimately, your demise mostly just reminds me that I don't have solid thematic idea where Disney is going with the World Showcase at this point.

Someday in the decade to come I'll stand in the middle of what was once your pavilion and buy an Olaf doll for my cubicle, and think of you for a brief moment before forking over my credit card.

Reese's in pieces, ye victim of Disney "progress".

 

[FirstTimeDisneyVisit]

I loved going on this ride every year .... So sad to see it go as well ! I wish they added rides with out taken them away .. They seem to have a lot of land available no ?

 

[999DoomBuggies]

RIP Maelstrom.

Wow that hurts. I heard these were floating down the highway this morning. Thanks for the picture.