Anna's Frozen Journey
Welcome to Arendelle. The coolest kingdom this side of the Fjord.
For the main draw of this Frozen expansion to Fantasyland, we've decided to make it an E-ticket dark ride attraction that is a newer version of the traditional Fantasyland style dark ride, utilizing the latest and greatest technology to retell the story of Frozen in a brand new light in the form of the new attraction "Anna's Frozen Journey".
This will be a trackless dark ride (which combines the tech of the previous Disney trackless rides with the motion of an EMV) that takes you through the story of Frozen in ride form that uses mostly live sets and AAs but will occasionally be enhanced with the use of projections at select moments throughout the ride (which will be only used when needed).
So let the journey begin...
For the main draw of this Frozen expansion to Fantasyland, we've decided to make it an E-ticket dark ride attraction that is a newer version of the traditional Fantasyland style dark ride, utilizing the latest and greatest technology to retell the story of Frozen in a brand new light in the form of the new attraction "Anna's Frozen Journey".
This will be a trackless dark ride (which combines the tech of the previous Disney trackless rides with the motion of an EMV) that takes you through the story of Frozen in ride form that uses mostly live sets and AAs but will occasionally be enhanced with the use of projections at select moments throughout the ride (which will be only used when needed).
So let the journey begin...
The Exterior / Queue
To start off guest on their Frozen adventure, they will first enter into the Arendelle Castle from the movie (which will serve as the entrance and queue for the attraction as well as host a restaurant on the second floor). Upon entering the castle, the first location guest will come upon is a grand staircase room that was seen during "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" where Elsa last saw her parents before their untimely demise.
Once guest have entered the queue, they are transported back in time to before the events of Frozen took place as each section will showcase a different time period during the beginning of the movie (with a main hall and extended queue room in addition to several windows with projection on the other side making guest feel like they're looking out an actual window into the kingdom), and instead of flat out telling the guest what has happened, they will get the chance to discover for themselves.
The first hall after the staircase room will be themed to the period just after the incident with Anna and Elsa's powers, where the castle has just been isolated. Here the extended queue room will be themed to the art room (featured in "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and "For the First Time in Forever") and the only interactive part of the queue will be in the hall with Elsa's door, where whenever guest knock on the door, they'll hear a young Elsa reply on the other side.
Once guest have entered the queue, they are transported back in time to before the events of Frozen took place as each section will showcase a different time period during the beginning of the movie (with a main hall and extended queue room in addition to several windows with projection on the other side making guest feel like they're looking out an actual window into the kingdom), and instead of flat out telling the guest what has happened, they will get the chance to discover for themselves.
The first hall after the staircase room will be themed to the period just after the incident with Anna and Elsa's powers, where the castle has just been isolated. Here the extended queue room will be themed to the art room (featured in "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and "For the First Time in Forever") and the only interactive part of the queue will be in the hall with Elsa's door, where whenever guest knock on the door, they'll hear a young Elsa reply on the other side.
After a turn at the corner, guest will find themselves in the castle just after the King and Queen have been lost at sea (which will be identified with the use of blacks and greys to set the atmosphere). At the end of the hall is the painting of the parents covered in a black translucent drape, and the extended queue room will be themed to the council chamber, which hints at how the kingdom was run after the death of the parents.
After seeing the painting, guest will now see that they're in the castle the night before coronation day (which can be seen by the coronation decorations hanging around the area), with the extended room here being themed to the library (where Elsa was before they opened up the gates) where we can see little patches of ice hinting that Elsa was here trying to control her powers before we got there. Once guest have finished exploring the castle, they will arrive at the loading area, which is set in the Royal Gardens at night (seen in "For the First Time in Forever" and "Love is an Open Door").
This will be designed similar to how the ratatouille loading area was with a open area for the vehicles to enter/leave while having 2 loading section that load 2 vehicles each. There will be a lot of atmosphere to make guest feel like they are experiencing the garden at night (with the help of several details, plants, and the use of a projection dome to make the sky awake in the loading area) before they get on the ride.
After seeing the painting, guest will now see that they're in the castle the night before coronation day (which can be seen by the coronation decorations hanging around the area), with the extended room here being themed to the library (where Elsa was before they opened up the gates) where we can see little patches of ice hinting that Elsa was here trying to control her powers before we got there. Once guest have finished exploring the castle, they will arrive at the loading area, which is set in the Royal Gardens at night (seen in "For the First Time in Forever" and "Love is an Open Door").
This will be designed similar to how the ratatouille loading area was with a open area for the vehicles to enter/leave while having 2 loading section that load 2 vehicles each. There will be a lot of atmosphere to make guest feel like they are experiencing the garden at night (with the help of several details, plants, and the use of a projection dome to make the sky awake in the loading area) before they get on the ride.
The Ride Vehicles
For this attractions ride vehicles, they'll be trackless sleds that's operate similarly to how the previous trackless dark ride vehicles have, but this time they will also feature the motion that is used in EMV's (like Dinosaur and Indiana Jones). The vehicles will be organized in 2 by 2 seating (2 rows of 2 seats), and will feature the use of a few 4D effects (like fans simulating wind and air hoses spraying guest whenever something is coming at them) despite not using 3d projection screens.
Section 1: Coronation Day
Once guest have been loaded in their sleds, the vehicles will disappear into the gardens and find themselves going through the gates to enter the castle where we find ourselves during "For the First Time in Forever" where we rush around the castle with Anna (who will be in live action AA form) through various parts of the song (mainly the ballroom, the dining room, the hallways, and the window with her on the window cleaning platform) before running into Hans at the docks. He exchanges a little banter with Anna before the bells ring signaling the start of the coronation. Passing through a doorway, we get a short scene where we witness Elsa being coroneted before we exit the chapel and reenter the castle for the next part of the ride.
Section 2: The Ball/Coronation Celebration
After we witness the coronation, we go to later that night for first, a dance scene with several vehicles moving around to "dance" to the music of the band (similar to the huffelumps and Woozles scene in Pooh's Hunny Hunt) before going outside to find Hans and Anna singing off "Love is an Open Door" on the balcony. We then travel near some rockwork where the silhouettes of Hans and Anna dancing are projected onto the rocks as we pass by before we find them at the waterfall getting engaged. We then back into the castle to find Elsa being upset by the news of Hans and Anna's engagement before her powers are revealed (spikes rise from the floor and are enhanced with projections and actual spikes rising from the ground). We then rush outside to see more ice magic going crazy as certain areas are frozen over before we exit the kingdom and enter the mountains.
Section 3: The Expedition to the North Mountain
After a entering the forest, we find ourselves approaching the familiar trading outpost and sauna, where we overhear the conversation between Anna and Oaken and see their silhouettes in the window before we enter the stables to find Anna negotiating with Kristoff about a ride up to the North Mountain. We leave them once Kristoff agrees and find our selves in the forest night life before eye's start to appear in the darkness and we see Kristoff, Sven, and Anna studying what's going on before the wolves start to appear and we rush through the forest trying to escape the wolves before having to jump a gorge (which when we do the jump, it will be only of the few uses of a projection screen in the entire ride). Once we've safely landed on the other side, we approach a frozen lake and witness the group meet Olaf before we transition to an "In Summer" sequence (which go from the Olaf singing on the hills to the beach to preforming at the gazebo till we arrive back in the frozen forest). We then get to the North Mountain to find Elsa singing "Let it Go". We pass by her after a little bit as she forms a staircase for us (with the use of projections on the track and ice rails rising from the side of the track) before we get to the center of a snowflake platform where Elsa is as we have secretly entered an elevator (with the walls being a mixture of screens and live set pieces rising to simulate the palace being built around us).
Section 4: Return to Arendelle
Once we exit the elevator to find Elsa on the balcony finishing her last note before reentering the palace to find Anna confronting Elsa as the room is filled with a swirling storm inside before Anna is struck and smoke machines cover the rise of Marshmallow. We find ourselves outside as Marshmallow has just kicked Anna and her friends out of the castle as we turn around and get chased by Marshmallow around the forest till we find ourselves at the Valley of the Hidden Rock where Grand Pabbie tells us "only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart". With that news, we race down the mountain till we arrive at the castle just hen Hans reveals his plans and leaves Anna to die. But Olaf walks in and restarts the fire and declares "Some people are worth melting for" as the window opens which we exit through.
Section 5: The Chilly Finale
After exiting the window, we are in the middle of the blizzard of the century as we go through the blizzard to enter an area (designed like the climax to Mystic Manor) where Hans is about to kill Elsa before Anna sacrifices herself and freezes over (the affect will be similar to last Randall in the Monsters Inc. dark ride in Dca). Once Hans disappears (through the floor), Elsa gets up to lament her sister's death but soon everyone sees Anna become thawed before Elsa thaws the kingdom and the storm. We end on seeing the castle courtyard becoming an ice rink with Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven in the center as several vehicles swirl around them before entering the castle to unload.