The gates of Arendelle are open to you for the first time in forever at Frozen Ever After!
Board your boat as you make your way up the North Mountain to Elsa’s enchanting ice palace, passing by other Frozen favorites like Olaf, Anna, Kristoff, and Sven.
This song-filled journey on a “Summer Snow Day” is a slow-moving boat ride with backward and forward plunges down short waterfalls. So just beware, you may get a little wet!
Keep reading for our complete guide to Frozen Ever After.
Frozen Ever After Quick Facts
Location
Frozen Ever After is located inside the Norway Pavilion at World Showcase in Epcot, between the Mexico Pavilion and the China Pavilion.
Here it is on a map:
How to Ride Frozen Ever After
Frozen Ever After has a Standby Line and a Lightning Lane. There is no Single Rider Line.
While the World Showcase as a whole opens at 11, this attraction is available for guests to right at park opening.
Like most attractions, standby lines typically are the lowest first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. The middle of the day will see the longest lines.
Eligible guests can also ride Frozen Ever After during both Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Theme Park Hours.
Do I need to use Genie+ at Frozen Ever After?
Frozen Ever After is one of those rides that makes paying for Genie+ worth it and should be considered a first-level priority when making your Genie+ reservations.
With its theme and the fact that it does not have a height requirement, Frozen Ever After is a favorite with fans of all sizes.
If you aren’t paying for Genie+, Frozen Ever After is one of a few rides worth heading to first as part of your rope drop strategy, along with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Test Track.
Be sure to check out our touring strategies for Epcot for more Genie+ advice.
Rider Switch/Child Swap
While there is no height requirement for Frozen Ever After, this attraction does offer Rider Switch.
Rider Switch is Disney’s system that allows guests with small children to take turns riding bigger rides, while another person/people wait with the little one.
You can learn more about Rider Switch via our handy guide.
What to Expect when you Ride
Queue
As you make your way through the queue for Frozen Ever After you’ll be welcomed into the world of Arendelle. It’s evening in Anna and Elsa’s kingdom during a summer snow festival.
Make your way through the courtyard filled with Scandinavian buildings and strings of lanterns and festive flags above your head. Look for the steamy sauna window – you never know who might pop up!
As you reach the front of the line you will be sent to a row to board your ride vehicle.
Ride Vehicles
The viking boats for Frozen Ever After are the same ones that were used in the Maelstrom attraction that was replaced by Frozen Ever After, complete with faux wood detail and a dragon carving on the prow or front of the ship.
It features 4 hard-backed rows that can seat around 3 people per row.
Motion Sickness
As Frozen Ever After is a gentle boat ride, the chance of motion sickness is unlikely. If you want to know about rides that can cause motion sickness, read our guide.
Accessibility Information
Those in ECVs and wheelchairs must transfer to a boat to ride Frozen Ever After.
Since you board in a different location from where you disembark from the ride, a Cast Member will transfer your wheelchair for you so you can pick it up at the end of the attraction.
Handheld captioning is available for guests.
PhotoPass/On-Ride Photos
PhotoPass is available and your picture will be taken as you make your way down the final hill of Frozen Ever After, past Marshmallow, the giant snowman.
For those with MagicBands or MagicBand+ with a linked Memory Maker account or if you are an Annual Passholder, the photo is uploaded automatically to your My Disney Experience account.
The photos and videos will be available in the app for 45 days unless you choose to purchase them.
Guests purchasing Genie+ will receive digital downloads of their on-ride photos taken in the park on the day of their purchase, at no additional charge.
Be sure to read more on PhotoPass and how Memory Maker works.
On the Ride
If you prefer to experience Frozen Ever After without spoilers, you may want to skip this section.
The Frozen Ever After ride is a continuation of the queue where guests have been welcomed into an “Official Summer Snow Day” to commemorate the anniversary of the day when Princess Anna saved Queen Elsa from the dastardly Prince Hans.
Board your boat and sail off into a winter wonderland. First, you’ll encounter Olaf and Sven singing, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”.
You’ll then pass by Grand Pabbie as he recounts the film’s plot to a group of young trolls.
Ascend a lift towards Elsa’s ice palace and see Olaf skating and singing “For the First Time in Forever” with some unique lyrics.
Next, you’ll pass Anna and Kristoff, oblivious to Sven who has his tongue stuck to a pole. Enter the gates to see Elsa singing “Let It Go.”
Then feel your boat slip backward down a small incline, passing images of Elsa creating her iconic ice palace.
You’ll next encounter Marshmallow and the Snowgies or Snow Babies from 2015’s Frozen Fever. Marshmallow spits out mist that you’ll pass through, before taking another short drop, at which your on-ride photo is taken. Say cheese!
Before the end of the ride, you’ll see fireworks explode over Arendelle Castle. Lastly, Anna, Elsa, and Olaf bid you goodbye as they sing, “In Summer”.
Is Frozen Ever After Kid-Friendly?
While there is a short drop backward during Frozen Ever After, as long as you warn your little ones this gentle boat ride is appropriate for guests of all ages.
You can also check out our guide on several things that might scare little ones at WDW.
Strollers
Strollers are not allowed in most queues at Walt Disney World, including Frozen Ever After.
Instead, you’ll need to leave your stroller in the designated stroller parking area located along the World Showcase Lagoon in front of the Norway Pavilion.
History
On September 12, 2014, Disney announced that the Maelstrom attraction, a boat ride about Norway that had opened at Epcot in 1988, would be replaced by an attraction based on the first Frozen film.
Maelstrom took its last plunge on October 5, 2014.
Plans for a Frozen attraction were actually discussed prior to the film’s release but were accelerated after its worldwide success.
In June 2015, Disney released the first details on the attraction, including its name, Frozen Ever After. The attraction uses the same ride vehicles and course that was used for Maelstrom.
The Audio-Animatronics for the attraction feature improvements in facial animation that were first used on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which opened in 2014 at the Magic Kingdom. The Audio-Animatronics are also the first ever all-electric Audio-Animatronics in the parks.
While there are no new songs in the attraction, some of the original songs from Frozen have revised lyrics written by the original composers and the film’s cast returned to record these new versions.
Frozen Ever After opened on June 21, 2016 to wait times of over five hours long. In fact, Epcot Cast Members passed out ice cream and water bottles to guests to help them cool off in the hot sun.
Other Fun Details
- Although the majority of Frozen Ever After features scenes from the original Frozen (2013) film, there are details from the Frozen Fever (2015) short as well. As you ride through the attraction you will see the large snowman, Marshmallow, as well as the cute mini snowmen (Snowgies or Snow Babies) from Frozen Fever. Then, at the end of the ride, Olaf, Elsa, and Anna sing “In Summer” while the two sisters are dressed in their outfits from Frozen Fever. A full-length follow up film, Frozen II, was released in 2019.
- For Frozen Ever After, Disney brought back the original cast and the film’s composers to work on the ride. Since some of the original song lyrics from Frozen needed to be altered for the story of the attraction, the film’s composers Bobby and Kristen Lopez wrote new lyrics while stars like Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, and Josh Gad returned to record them.
- Frozen Ever After replaced the Norway Pavilion’s original attraction, Maelstrom, a boat ride all about Norway. Maelstrom closed in 2014 but the same boats and ride track have been reused for Frozen Ever After.
- Frozen Ever After was the first attraction to install all-electric Audio-Animatronics, allowing the characters to move more fluidly. At the time the ride opened in 2016, these were the most advanced audio animatronic figures to date!