The impact of Frozen on Epcot?

[Jennasis]

It's time to start speculating! What exactly do you think will be the impact that the new Frozen ride will have on Epcot? Will it be the end of tiers on the Fastpass system there? Do you think World Showcase will start opening at 9 a.m. instead of 11? I kind of think it has to open at 9 a.m. now to allow for the crowds. Otherwise you'll have people lining up the World Showcase ropes starting at 9 o'clock off.

Will Soarin and test track become second class citizens? Or at least will their waits there return to normalcy especially with the addition of the new Soarin theater?

So, what do you think will become of Epcot over the next 6 to 12 months?

 

[Praying Colonel]

CGI mock-up of east side of WS after Frozen opens:

 

[bltman]

They can open up the Norway and Mexico area at 9am with the remaining closed until 11am. The ride will be tier one with Soarin and TT (possibly living with the land too). It won't impact the wait of either TT or Soarin but it may be easier to get a FP+ to one of these instead of being stuck with living (the new theatre appears way off). There will be people who would normally skip Epcot with young kids now come and make Epcot even busier. When the meet and greet opens, perhaps the line to meet A&A at the MK will decrease a bit. The opening of the ride will likely open while Soarin is closed for refurb so the first couple of months may be crazy.

 

[anniemae]

I have been wondering about this too. I think the Frozen ride will make Epcot more popular. I think many people with small kids skip Epcot, but now they will be forced to spend the day there to experience this ride, unless they purchase hoppers, which many wont. It may increase hopper sales at bit though. I think Disney is trying to redistribute the crowds, putting Frozen in WS will draw people from MK to Epcot. I never thought the Frozen ride was right for Epcot, I think HS would have been a better place, since HS is all things Frozen (singalong, frozen summer of fun, olaf dance party etc.) But, like I said, I think they are trying to spread out the people more.

I think they will make it tier one and open half of WS at 9 like the pp said.

 

[DisneySOS]

Any news on when it's opening besides Spring 2016?

 

[Ava]

It will make an 8:00am reservation at Akershus VERY coveted.

 

[tlmadden73]

It will do what it is designed to do.

- Help distribute the crowds (especially the families with young children) to Epcot. Right now I feel Epcot offers very little for toddlers, so most families avoid it (I have on two separate trips over the past year). This will change that greatly (despite still not much else there for toddlers).

I would also expect it to be a Tier 1 Fast Pass .. and thus have VERY long standby lines (considering it will be a boat ride, I expect it to be a very slow loading ride .. but be IMMENSELY more popular then the old Viking ride ever was).

 

[SaintsManiac]

It will make an 8:00am reservation at Akershus VERY coveted.

This is exactly what we have planned to do when we return in April 2017. Hopefully the craziness will have died down? LOL

 

[Mac30188]

In my opinion, it will drive up wait times for Nemo, Crush, Imagination similar to the way it drives up secondary attraction lines at MK. Frozen will bring in a few more guests that typically don't visit Epcot. As they will be splitting tier one FP 3 ways between Soarin, TT, Frozen, there likely will be a slight reduction of Soarin lines, but for most part it is just the park keeping up with normal expected Disney growth. However after guests use their tier 1 fast pass, they will now be focused more on tier 2 options. I am guessing the guests coming to see Frozen will feel obligated to get fast pass reservations to Nemo, Crush, Imagination and everyone will wonder why people are waiting 30 minutes to an hour standby for Nemo.

 

[Notso]

Will they open it for fast pass reservations in advance of its opening? We are going in early May, so I'm not planning on it being open, but if it is, I'd love to get a fp. How did they handle Fp+ for the opening of SDMT?

 

[dlavender]

It will hopefully distract people from MK's RD for the next two years after its opening. I'm pumped about that. We probably won't even attempt to ride it until 2018. As shown before, this is probably what SB line will look like....

 

[helenb]

Don't forget, Maelstrom was a Tier 1 FP before it closed, so it's extremely likely the new Frozen ride will be as well.

 

[2Gma]

I don't feel the addition of the Frozen ride at Epcot is being used to more evenly distribute guests throughout the parks but rather it was a convienient way (aka cheaper and quicker) to repurpose an old ride that already had features they wanted for a"new" ride.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm not sure it will really make a big difference in attendance. I have never visited Disney, as a kid or adult, and not gone to Epcot before so I don't think a lot of people skip the park entirely now.

It will add a true Tier 1 attraction to Epcot, based on demand if not thrill factor, and should make it a little easier to get Soarin' or TT FPs. I am hopefully that it will get some new attractions into WS but hope any future attractions are based on the country of the pavilion and not some barely related film property.

 

[dwheaton]

I think it's more likely to affect crowd flow than dramatically improve attendance. I know that some people skip EPCOT, but I feel that most guests still at least go for a day. This will likely continue, but it's going to shift crowds over towards Norway and World Showcase earlier in the day. I think there's a better chance it will impact the Soarin' crowds since that's on the other end of the park. Guests who are lucky to get a FP may go first to Test Track for SB and then do their FP at that time. It would take multiple headliners to create a scenario like we see with TSM and Soarin' at DCA, but Cars Land did help to lower those lines. I also agree that it will be easier to get FPs for Soarin' and Test Track if they both stay Tier 1.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

They didn't open WS earlier for Maelstrom, so maybe they won't for this. I really don't see it having a huge impact after the first year or so. That first year will be tough, but not as tough as the first 6 months of next year (no Soarin or Maelstrom/Frozen).

 

[minnie mum]

Of course it will be Tier One, and will likely result in slightly lowering demand for Soarin for at least the first couple of years, until the novelty wears off. I expect LWTL will remain Tier One at first, (at least until Soarins refurb is complete). Reports I read said that the Frozen ride was using the old ride system, so it will be a slow loader. Meaning a low number of guests that can ride per hour. So the number of FPs available per day will be low. It will be a very hard FP to get, and I'll bet that they will be immediately snapped up at 60 + days

I would expect standby lines similar to those of SDMT and A&E M&G when they first opened. The problem will be managing that line, since that area of the pavilion is so small. Add in the new M&G hall, and I predict a nightmare of congestion.

I don't see a logistics problem if they open this at 9. That area is open to guests now, with the remainder of WS roped off til 11:00. But Maelstrom only opened at 11:00 so who knows.

Like SDMT, I can't imagine our family doing this ride without a FP.

 

[hopemax]

I think they are going to have to try to manage the chaos as much as possible, so those pictures posted above aren't the state of Norway all day. I think they will do it like they had those tests for Be Our Guest, and A&E M&G. Meaning, at park opening whatever ride capacity isn't distributed via FP+ in advance will be distributed with a return time card, and when they're gone, they're gone, and no normal "standby line."

They could also do something like raising the price for a meal at Akershus but your meal will include a FP to ride the attraction.

 

[kwdw]

I find Mexico and Norway crowded already - and this will just make it worse. However - I do think this is a GOOD thing overall. It's another ride. Having the A&E meet n greet there is another attraction for a fair number of folks. Should make the Mexico and Norway section very popular with families (hence the traffic congestion I'm expecting). I'm expecting them to move A&E out of the MK Princess Fairy Tale Hall - and put another princess in there. That would be nice. I really wish they had a RIDE on the other side of WS for kids. Shows just don't make a fair number of kids happy - but another ride would.

I can see traveling with my niece already. Boat ride in Mexico, A&E craziness in Norway, and then bribing her with the promise of ice cream to stay behaving all the way to France. I suppose we could walk the other direction, but we'd likely have a melt-down in America - WHEN are we going to GET THERE????

 

[DVCcurious]

A&E's ride doesn't add new capacity. More people are visiting and that is pushing up wait times. Even with a 3rd Soarin and the Frozen ride I doubt you'll see much of a drop at Epcot's standby times.

Frozen will have the same capacity as Maelstrom but it will drive more people to the park which will result in increased Epcot standby waits.

So I say we'll continue to see longer and longer lines until a real expansion of capacity happens.

Will Star Wars, Toy story, Avatar, a third Soarin and 3rd toy story mania be enough to tame the wait times? God I hope so, because I expect this to be Disney's big push for the next 15 years.