“You are not the first to pass this way, nor shall you be the last. Those who seek the spirit of Norway face peril and adventure. But more often find beauty and charm. We have always lived with the sea, so look first to the spirit of the seafarer.”
If you have been a regular visitor to EPCOT since 1988, those words were ingrained in our minds and words we looked forward to with every visit. The “Maelstrom” attraction at the Norway pavilion in Epcot was considered a ‘dark ride” attraction in the park with limited “thrills” . Although it wasn’t as popular as Soarin’ or Test Track, there was a cult like following and love for the ride that kept it going until the fall of 2014.
September 12th, 2014 – the day the official announcement was made. The day that our hearts grew sad and the day we realized just how much we wanted to dislike the movie “Frozen”.
On September 12th, it was announced that Maelstrom would soon be closing and that Disney would begin working on an attraction based on the movie “Frozen” which was shattering box office records and merchandise was flying off the shelves! How could they do that to us? Why are you destroying EPCOT by bringing in “Frozen”? But no matter how upset we were, there was nothing we could do but mourn the loss of our beloved “Maelstrom”.
Concept art courtesy of WDW
Luckily I was about to embark on my very first runDisney distance race, the 2014 Tower of Terror 10 miler on October 4th! YES! I had the opportunity to ride “over the falls” again before it “disappear disappear” disappeared (which I did… about 5 times). But I swore I would NEVER ride the new Frozen ride and I was going to stand my ground…
Fast forward to the Spring of 2016 and construction of the new “Frozen Ever After” attraction and word of a grand opening was starting to emerge. Its funny how a little bit of time can change your perspective. As I was nearing the date that I could begin making Fast Pass+ selections (I was staying off property so I had to wait until 30 days out), suddenly I got excited that the new ride would officially be open when I was on vacation. But I couldn’t tell anybody at all! Not after the protest I put up when “Maelstrom” closed.
“Oh what the heck, nobody was going to remember”. I GOT A FROZEN FASTPASS!
On June 21st, 2016 – 4 days before I arrived, “Frozen Ever After” officially opened to the masses at the Norway pavilion at EPCOT to an unheard of wait time of over 300 minutes! So naturally I was very excited that I was able to secure a FastPass because by the second day of operation, a FastPass was out of the question and if you did not get one – you were not getting on.
I had learned two important details with all of the media surrounding the massive grand opening – 1) The boats were either the same or VERY close to the original boats used for the “Maelstrom” (seeing the images of the boats on the back of trucks on social media after it had closed was heartbreaking) and 2) THEY KEPT THE SAME BOAT TRACK! YAY!!!! Compromise! Thank you, Disney!
During the first week of operation, the attraction was riddled with problems to the point where only FastPass holders were getting on and even they had to wait an hour from the start of the FP+ Queue to ride. Luckily, the ride was functionally properly during my FP+ hour time frame and when it hit the 5 minute mark prior to my official 1 hour time frame, I got in line to ride with all the excitement I had mustered up. By the way, If you were not aware, you can enter any FastPass attraction 5 minutes before and after your allotted 1 hour time frame. But lets just keep that our little secret OK?
Absolutely AMAZING! the Walt Disney Imagineering team did an amazing job with the new ride. The ride is a 5 minute stroll through the “Frozen” and “Frozen Fever” story lines. The animatronics are probably, in my opinion, the best in the Walt Disney World Resort parks. The characters really come to life and I would be lying if I said I did not shed a tear when Elsa emerges and “Let it go” is heard in awesome quality sound. To see playful and cute Sven with his tongue stuck to a frozen pole, Olaf dancing around and Marshmallow guarding Elsa’s frozen palace brought me back to the movie. The story came to life and in the end, I felt like a little bit of the “Maelstrom” was still there.
Unfortunately Frozen Ever After FastPasses are hard to come by for the remainder of the summer, but if you’re lucky enough to snag one – keep it and enjoy the ride. It is worth the wait and It will bring a new appreciation for the movie and hopefully make your day at EPCOT just a little more magical.