Frozen (2013)


Today we come to the highest-grossing animated film of all time, Disney's smash hit Frozen.

The Movie:

 Frozen is the 53rd film in the Disney Animated Canon.  For the two of you out there who don't know about this movie, it's a musical about two sisters, Elsa and Anna, who are princesses in the fictional kingdom of Arendelle.  Elsa has ice powers, and she tries to conceal them from everyone, including her own sister, causing them to be estranged.  On Elsa's coronation day, the newly crowned queen, in a moment of frustration, accidentally exposes her powers, and she runs off to be in isolation.  However, unbeknownst to her, Elsa has set off an eternal winter in Arendelle.  Anna takes it upon herself to track down her sister and restore summer to the kingdom.

Let me just say, I love this movie.  In my opinion it's the best Disney movie since The Lion King.  The story is well told, and there are some nice subversions of typical Disney tropes.  Plus, the movie looks gorgeous.

But easily, the biggest draw of the movie is the music.  The songs, by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, are catchy, well-written, and sound like something from a Broadway show.  (Unsurprisingly, a Frozen stage musical just opened on Broadway.)  And even though it did get overplayed in covers on YouTube, the cream of the crop is the Oscar-winning "Let It Go," which definitely earns its place in the pantheon of iconic Disney songs.  The score by Christophe Beck is also really good and somewhat underrated.  The only weakness in the soundtrack is that the songs disappear in the third act of the movie.

I remember when I first saw this movie in the theaters, I was totally unprepared for what I saw.  I don't know if Disney was worried they might scare people away, but none of the previews and commercials gave any indication at all that this was a musical.  In fact, the first trailer was just a scene of Olaf and Sven that wasn't even in the movie, and it really didn't give any hint of what the movie was actually about.  So when I did see the movie, I was blown away, and as soon as I got home I pulled up the video of "Let It Go" on YouTube and watched it several times.  So yes, I really like this movie.

Presence in the Parks:

So you know that as soon as Disney realized the juggernaut they had on their hands, they wanted to find a way to get Frozen into the parks.  Because of this, some fans of the parks began to resent Frozen for becoming such a large presence in the parks.  In fact, on my last trip in 2015, the summer theme for WDW was based around Frozen.

For a movie that fits in perfectly with many of the other films in the Magic Kingdom, Frozen actually currently has its main presence not there, but at Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

The Frozen attraction at Epcot is the boat ride Frozen Ever After.  This ride is located in the Norway pavilion, as the fictional kingdom of Arendelle shown in the movie was inspired by Norway.  This ride opened in 2016.  However, some people were upset because the ride replaced the Norway-themed boat ride Maelstrom, which had been part of the pavilion when it opened in 1988.


Norway pavilion, May 2015
The green doors are the former Maelstrom entrance

In addition to the ride, the Norway pavilion hosts the only place in WDW to meet Elsa and Anna.

The Stave Church building in the pavilion hosts a display of Norwegian items and how they served as an inspiration for Frozen.







Frozen display at the Stave Church, May 2015

Hollywood Studios is home to the show For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along.  This show originally opened as part the Frozen Summer Fun event in 2014 at the Premiere Theater in the Streets of America section of the park.  This theater was the original location of the Beauty and the Beast show before the Theater of the Stars was built.  It then hosted shows based on Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I remember seeing the Pocahontas show there when it was an open air theater.  When I saw the Frozen Sing-Along there, just a few weeks before it moved, the theater was now enclosed.  The theater, along with Streets of America, is now gone, as the area is where Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is being built.








Frozen at the Premiere Theater, May 2015

The Frozen Sing-Along can now be found in the Hyperion Theater, formerly called the SuperStar Television Theater, in the Echo Lake section of the park.  This building had hosted several shows in its history, including Doug Live and The American Idol Experience.

Hollywood Studios is also home to the character meet for Olaf.


Frozen topiary in front of Hollywood Studios, May 2015

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