It goes without saying that Frozen became a cultural phenomenon. It easily dethroned The Lion King as the highest grossing animated film of all time, becoming the de-facto fairy tale of the 2010s generation and instantly cemented itself as a new classic that will forever be on par with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin. A stunning score, a riveting story, and gorgeous animation make Frozen a timeless film, even if oversaturation and a near-endless string of commercial products might’ve left people groaning about it in the short term.

Pretty quickly, Frozen spawned Frozen Fever (a short that debuted before Disney’s live-action Cinderella) and Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (a much less-short short that debuted before Pixar’s Coco) with Frozen 2 officially on the way... Which is to say nothing of the hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise, the award-winning soundtrack, the multi-hour queues for meet-and-greets, and more.

Image: Disney

And, in a relatively nonchalant post on the Disney Parks Blog dated June 9, 2015, Disney quietly announced that Epcot would soon play host to a new attraction based on Frozen.

Naturally, people went wild at the thought of yet another EPCOT Center classic closing (and indeed, Maelstrom joined other entries in our series, Lost Legends: Body Wars, Captain EO, Journey into Imagination, Kitchen Kabaret, World of Motion and its follow-up Test Track, Soarin', Universe of Energy, and the king of all Lost Legends, Horizons. Yikes.)

The situation only grew more dire when Disney admitted what so many had feared: that, for all its pomp and circumstance, the new Frozen Ever After would re-use Maelstrom’s three-decade old ride system and – worst – its four minute ride time… an awfully small payoff for what would undoubtedly be multi-hour waits.

What far fewer expected is that Frozen Ever After would be good… great even. And that’s the ride we’re about to step into.

Frozen Ever After

Image: Undercover Tourist

As with Maelstrom, the journey begins in the back corner of the Norway pavilion. Perhaps it's fair to imagine that there's somehow a more mystical, otherworldly sense to Norway now that so much of it is either purposefully overlaid with Frozen or at least viewed through the fantasy film's lens.

Only a few changes would signal to longtime visitors that anything's different here: the old fishing village exterior has been reshaped into a more regal stone church; the waterfall outside the pavilion still falls, though the "hole" in the exterior that gave passing glimpses of passenger Viking boats has been closed off; and massive, enormous throngs of people now queue beneath the Frozen Ever After marquee – crowds Maelstrom hadn't seen in decades.

Image: Theme Park Tourist

Inside, the queue has been brilliantly rerouted from the old ride, too. The theater that once played a Norwegian travelogue on repeat has been repurposed into additional queue space, and it's beautiful. Guests now weave around and through a central plaza of Arendelle at night as lanterns flicker in the frosted town's windows. 

That's also where we get our first indication of the story we're about to be a part of...

Image: Theme Park Tourist

"Hear ye! Hear ye! The Kingdom is invited to a Summer Snow Day Celebration in honor of the day that PRINCESS ANNA saved her sister QUEEN ELSA with an unselfish act of true love. All shall be welcome to a Royal Reception inside the Ice Palace."

A-ha! Already we've avoided that dreaded fate most disdained by Disney Parks fans: the "book report" ride. Frozen Ever After is not simply a 4-minute condensed retelling of the story we already know. While we will sail through familiar sights and hear reprises of some of our favorite songs, Frozen Ever After is a new story... one that we're a part of with a definite place in the narrative. (Compare that to, say, Magic Kingdom's Journey of the Little Mermaid or California Adventure's Monsters Inc.: Mike & Sulley to the Rescue, where we're mere observers gliding through the "book report" synopsis of a familiar story.)

And just like that, we're primed. Exposition out of the way, even those who've never seen Frozen before (few and far between as they may be) are set for adventure.

Our vehicle will look familiar to fans of Maelstrom – the Viking long boats have returned in what Disney calls a nod to nostalgia but, admittedly, may be more of a nod to the ride's budget.

Setting sail from the seaside port of Arendelle, the boat drift away from the town's flickering lanterns and their warm glow on the shimmering snow mounds. A rocky cavern ahead is no worry – it turns to the left where an otherworldly warm blue glow shines. As the ship presses forward through the calm channel, the opening notes of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" tinkle through the cavern like ice, and emerging, the boat is surrounded in the ice-encased weeping branches of a tree.

This supernatural, frozen grotto seems magical in its own right, nevermind the snowman set up on a snowback along the water's edge up ahead. Of course, it's Olaf. He turns toward the approaching ship and gasps excitedly when he sees us.

Image: Disney

One look at Olaf should quickly quiet any worries that fans might've had about Frozen Ever After. Among the new generation of Disney's astonishing Audio-Animatronics figures, Olaf still stands out. The clumsy snowman blinks, gestures, walks, jumps, and – as he begins wobbling toward us along the snowbank – sings: "Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on, let's go and play! Elsa wants to give us all some fun, she's making everyone a snowy summer day!" 

Behind him, Sven stirs, smiling lazily and nodding. "You're going up to Elsa's Ice Palace! Sven's going, I'm going! It'll be so beautiful! See you there!"

The boat sails around the duo and beneath a mossy fallen log. On the other side, Grandpappy and his troll grandchildren sit and recount tales of Anna and Elsa, projected magically in thin air.

Rounding the corner, an incline appears with an ascent toward the Ice Palace, towering above. As the film's rousing "Vuelie" opening track echoes, the boat is pulled magically up the hill toward the summit of the North Mountain with snowfakes following along, dancing up the hill toward the castle.

As the boat crests the summit, a massive, ornamental snowflake shimmers and shines as the boat rolls down a small ramp and into the waterway. Elsa's famous balcony is ahead with Olaf singing as he skates and slides across the surface gleefully. But it's in the next room that Disney's Imagineers once again hit a grand slam: our first view of Frozen's human heroes.

Anna and Kristoff are represented so phenomenally – so fluidly – that we dare say it's the first time in forever that a character brought to life inside of a Disney dark ride sincerely looks like the character from the film has stepped off the screen. Their every move, blink, and breath is picture perfect thanks to the cutting edge technology (first used in Magic Kingdom's Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) that internally projects each character's face. Even beyond that, the motion of these figures is so lifelike, it's may make even the most grounded viewer suppose they're being puppeted by live actors.

The duo are singing a never-before-heard reprise to the film's "For The First Time in Forever:"

"For the first time in forever, we get to share this frozen fun. For the first time in forever, Elsa's invited everyone!"

"Would you say that we're elated or gassy?"

"Let's just call it delight!" 

"'Cause for the first time in forever, you're here for my sister's magic night!"

Passing by Sven (perhaps the most adorable animatronic ever devised by Disney Imagineers), the boat approaches a glowing, icy doorway.

"Are you ready to see Elsa?" Kristoff asks.

"They were born ready!"

As the door parts and opens, we get our first view of Elsa herself, lofted high in her icicle balcony. In what's certianly the ride's highlight, Elsa serenades from above, gesturing to create sheets of ice around us as the palace takes form. A glittering chandelier appears as the boat pulls up beneath her while she sings, "It's time to see what I can do; to test the limits and break though. No right, no wrong, no rules for me... I'm free!" 

Image: Disney

As her powerful chorus of "Let It Go" begins, the boat is pushed backwards, sliding down a ramp and down an endless corridor. "Let it go, let it go! I am one with the wind and sky! Let it go, let it go! You'll never see me cry!" The boat glides backwards as Elsa's refection in ice follows, columns and ramparts taking shape in magical dust around us.

"Here I stand in the light of day! Let the storm rage on! The cold never bothered me anyway." With that, the boat drifts into darkness, overcome by fog and mist.

Image: Disney

When light returns, guests are continuing backwards through snow-covered hills with the Ice Palace growing further and further away. However, it's dutiful guardian – "Marshmallow," the abominable snowman – is relaxed into a valley surrounded in Snowgies (which you won't recognize unless you've seen the Frozen Fever short). As the boat's backwards trajectory dead ends before him, it shifts right on a turntable and sails ahead toward a steep waterfall. Marshmallow opens his mouth, spewing fog: "LET. IT. GO!"

Slipping through his icy breath, the ship plummets down the waterfall and splashes down back in the Arendelle harbor as fireworks explode overhead! It's a thrilling finale to a short but sweet journey, and as the orchestral arrangement of "For the First Time in Forever" plays, it's hard to imagine that this attraction were ever anything but Frozen Ever After.

Image: Disney

The ship passes back into the village where lanterns still illuminate, but now Anna and Elsa are on hand in their spring attire (another Frozen Fever takeaway) celebrating by singing "In Summer" with Olaf. Once more, the staggering figures are likely to leave adults speechless and children certain they're seeing the real Anna and Elsa bidding them farewell.

As always, we end our in-depth feature ride-throughs with the best point-of-view video we can find to show off all the phenomenal features of this frigid ride. Check out the video below, but the story's not over yet...

But wait…

Though Frozen Ever After might indeed be a true Modern Marvel – a shining, magnificent example of Disney’s Imagineering (and perhaps a model of how Disney can re-use the infrastructure of other dated rides phenomenally), it also set a new course for Epcot, already in the midst of upheaval.

On the last page, we’ll diagnose what Frozen Ever After really meant for Epcot’s World Showcase and look critically at the ride as it exists today. Read on…