At the moment, Disney is working hard on creating its first-ever themed land completely dedicated to the succesfull animation picture Frozen. Guest will be able to immerse themselves in the kingdom of Arendelle in Hong Kong Disneyland, where the land is set to debut in the second half of 2023. World of Frozen, as the land is called, includes the dark boat ride Frozen ever After, as well as a family rollercoaster, restaurants and merchendise outlets. Last week, Disney showed their progress on the land in a drone video and a blog post.
World of Frozen means the largest expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland to date, as is described in a blog by Disney. Guests are welcomed in Arendelle, time-wise entering the kingdom just after the first Frozen-film. “In this time of happily-ever-after, peace and prosperity have returned to the kingdom of Arendelle, guests are invited from near and far to take part in this joyous celebration on Summer Snow Day,” said Michel Den Dulk, Executive Creative Director for Walt Disney Imagineering. All well-known landmarks from Arendelle, including the large castle and Elsa’s palace on atop the North Mountain, are carefully recreated and draw upon the natural landscape surrounding Hong Kong Disneyland.
World of Frozen will contain two rides, of which the major dark ride Frozen Ever After is the most noticable. The ride is similar to the ride by the same name that opened at EPCOT in 2016, as a retheme of the existing Maelstrom dark boat ride. However, for the new installations of Frozen Ever After, which will be built entirely from scratch, the ride is re-imagined to create more room for immersive scenes and advanced storytelling. One example is the recently published video of an Elsa audio-animatronic singing the famous Frozen-song ‘let it go’, who will await riders during the ride.
The other new ride in World of Frozen is family roller coaster Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs, taking visitors on a wild sleigh ride. The new land in Hong Kong Disneyland is the first Frozen-land to appear in Disney parks worldwide. A second version is scheduled for Paris in 2024, also including the Frozen Ever After dark ride. A third installation of the ride is being constructed in Tokyo DisneySea, as part of the Fantasy Springs expansion.
