Frozen Ever After – Day 1, Total Bucket List Day!

Our experience with the all new Frozen Ever After attraction in Epcot’s Norway Pavilion, which opened today, was nothing short of one bucket list item after another.  Pat made our FastPasses the first day they became available to us, and we have been counting down the days until we got to experience the replacement ride for Maelstrom.

All morning Pat had been watching social media and reading others reviews as well as watching videos that have been posted.  I asked him not to share anything with me, as I didn’t want to know.  I wanted to experience Froze Ever After with no spoilers.

So we headed out for our 4:25 to 5:25pm FastPass and to say all of were excited would be an understatement.  The kids were asking all about the Elsa and Anna boat ride, and I couldn’t wait to see the new queue and what they had done with the old attraction.

Once inside Epcot, Patrick told me that he had read Frozen Ever After was currently down, and that we may not get to ride.  At this point, I was incredibly worried that we wouldn’t get to ride, but we kept on going like it was actually up.

Well, we got to Norway, and fate smiled down on us for the first time, as Frozen Ever After had just reopened.  So we hopped into the FastPass line and headed in.  I was absolutely in love with the new decor!  I felt like I was walking into a quaint little Norwegian village.  It is positively beautiful!  While walking through the line, I noticed how empty the queue was, and realized that fate has smiled down on us again.  The stand-by queue had not been opened up again, so I was able to photograph the entire queue with only FastPass holders in line!

Once boarded, we took off on our little adventure to feel the deja-vu of an attraction past.  Disney had kept the same boats and ride track as Maelstrom, and in my opinion, it felt as if it was a subtle homage to the building’s origin.

The entire ride was beautifully done, with bright colors, wonderful scenes, great music, and state of the art projections.  I can’t praise the Frozen Ever After attraction enough.  Disney did it right, and I know this will eventually become a family favorite.  I say eventually because we may have some issues getting Carson back on the ride.

You see, after climbing the hill our boat got stuck.  Yes, we got a ride stop, and after about 10 minutes Carson got scared and started crying.  It wasn’t scary, but I think the fact that it was a new experience, and we were stuck under a speaker which was playing extremely loud music, it was too much for him.  His was on sensory overload and has requested that we never go on it again.  We will find a way to get him to do it again, so he can realize it was only a one time thing and that the ride really does keep going.

BUT, the ride stop for me was another moment of fate smiling down on us.  I have a couple of Disney bucket list items, having the lights turned on while on a “dark ride” and being evacuated from an attraction.  Both of these occurred for us today on Frozen Ever After!  So yeah Carson got scared, but I got to check off two bucket list items!

At the end of the day, I am more than pleased with what Disney has done.  Frozen Ever After is a beautiful attraction that shows how great Disney is at creating rides that speak to the whole family.