Several Scandinavian puffin figures which wandered the Norwegian landscape in Maelstrom, found their way to Arendelle, standing on some rocks after the attraction’s final drop. In the queue for the meet and greet, guests may notice a familiar three-headed troll and rock ogre. Next door, Anna and Elsa cheerfully meet guests in Royal Summerhus. In the queue for Frozen Ever After, an information board with weather reports reports that a maelstrom has formed in the southeastern bay of Arendelle. When replacing the attraction with Olaf and friends, Disney Imagineers made sure to include several notable nods to EPCOT’s days of Norwegian glory. Maelstrom may be gone, but it hasn’t fully disappeared. And one cannot deny that a gust of those chilly Arendelle winds provide a refreshing break from the central Florida heat. But many more guests (especially those with young daughters) have come to value Frozen Even Ever as an admirable replacement. Many still scorn the presence of another fantasy/character-based experience in a theme park that was once fully dedicated to science and “real” world culture. Maelstrom’s final day of operation was October 5, 2014, and Frozen Ever After opened over a year-and-a-half later, on June 21, 2016.įans of Maelstrom mourned the loss of the Norway pavilion’s first attraction. So on September 12, 2014, Disney announced that Maelstrom would be replaced by an attraction based on Frozen. Maelstrom had run its course, and the Norwegian government had ceased sponsoring the pavilion over a decade earlier. The Norway pavilion was considered to be reasonably related to the film, in terms of setting and culture. Looking for a way to incorporate the film and its characters into the theme parks, Disney’s spotlight focused on EPCOT. “Frozen Fever” brought mega film gross, and spurred an appetite for merchandise and experiences from fans all over. The story of the ice princess, based in a fantasy version of Scandinavian culture and geography, was a tide that wouldn’t subside. But the winds of change began to blow in 2013, when Disney’s animated film Frozen took the world by storm. Maelstrom enjoyed a run of 26 wet and wild years. The boat ride was barely four-and-a-half minutes long, and the full experience reached close to ten minutes if you stayed for the post-ride film. If Maelstrom’s attraction story sounds a bit thin, it’s because it was. Now there was only one way out of the fishing village – through a theater that showed a five-minute film showcasing more of Norway’s history and folklore (and of course, tourist destinations). Once the brush with the oil rigs was under control, the boatful of (slightly wet) guests calmly cruised into a nearby Norwegian harbor, disembarking in a fishing village. So there they were – three beautiful, fun-loving oil rigs. NorShow was insistent that the attraction showcase these three “up to the minute” technological wonders from their country, as they were a great source of national pride. The last of the three rigs opened around the time of Maelstrom’s debut. Well it turns out that Norway commissioned the construction and operation of three industrial oil rig platforms – all of which opened in the 1980s. You may ask what an oil rig has to do with Norway and the idea of story and tourism?
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