The new Frozen ride at the Tokyo Disneyland resort that has been called a “masterpiece of modern Imagineering” offers a glimpse of what the future could hold for Disneyland under a long-term vision for the Anaheim theme park resort district.
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey has been pitched as a possible project for the DisneylandForward theme park expansion plan recently approved by the city of Anaheim.
The new state-of-the-art water ride officially debuts on Thursday, June 6 as part of Frozen Kingdom at Tokyo DisneySea following an extended soft opening.
Frozen Kingdom will be part of Fantasy Springs, the $2 billion port-of-call at Tokyo DisneySea that also features Rapunzel’s Forest and Peter Pan’s Never Land.
Disney executives have talked a lot lately about the possibility of building a Frozen themed land at the Disneyland resort.
The first Frozen Ever After attraction debuted in 2016 as a reimagining of the Maelstrom water ride in the Norway Pavilion at Florida’s Epcot theme park. A similar version of the ride opened in November with the first World of Frozen themed land at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea has been built from the ground up by Walt Disney Imagineering to be a next-generation attraction with greater detail, more expansive storytelling and newer technology than the Frozen rides in Florida and Hong Kong.
A fourth Frozen ride is set to open in late 2025 at the recently rechristened Disney Adventure World at the Disneyland Paris resort.
The backstory for Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea follows an abridged “book report” retelling of Disney’s blockbuster 2013 “Frozen” animated film.
The 6 1/2 minute journey through sisters Elsa and Anna’s story includes abbreviated versions of the popular film songs “Let It Go,” “For the First Time in Forever,” “Love Is an Open Door” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”
Riders enter an extended queue featuring Norwegian-inspired architectural design and navigate through several lavishly decorated rooms in the Arendelle Castle – including the greenhouse, music room and playroom complete with a dollhouse of the castle.
Riders board 16-seat boats in an impressive loading station with detailed high ceilings.
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey tells the now familiar story from the first film in the $2.7 billion movie franchise.
The story opens with the rock troll leader telling the tale of Elsa and Anna with the help of a magical iridescent light.
Audio-Animatronic figures of Elsa and Anna stand on either side of a towering closed door that spins on a turntable as Elsa attempts to conceal her magical ice powers and Anna sings “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”
Anna sings “For the First Time in Forever” in the portrait gallery as Elsa prepares for her coronation as queen and opens the castle to the Arendelle villagers.
Anna falls in love with the villainous Hans as she sings “Love is an Open Door.”
Elsa loses control of her ice powers and freezes a room with jagged icicles as Anna, Hans and the Duke of Weselton watch in shock.
Humiliated and afraid, Elsa flees up a snowy mountain and builds her ice palace as she sings “Let It Go.”
Anna teams up with Olaf, Kristoff and Sven in a treacherous search for Elsa on the mountain.
In a climactic scene, Anna is turned to ice in an attempt to save Elsa from a murderous Hans.
Elsa unfreezes her sister and a celebration ensues with Elsa and Anna ice skating together.
The ride concludes with an animatronic Olaf bidding farewell to the riders.
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey employs Imagineering’s newest A-1000 Audio-Animatronic figures. Lighting effects projected onto the animatronics help illustrate the icy transformations of the characters.
The boats in Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey change direction just like the Florida and Hong Kong versions of the ride – with riders traveling forward and backward through the attraction.
The precisely calibrated ride system at Tokyo DisneySea has the ability to slow the boat to a gentle glide, pause and linger on an individual scene, or send the boat careening at high speed depending on the storytelling needs.
“Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is an incredible attraction,” according to TDR Explorer. “From my perspective, Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is flawless – a modern masterpiece of Imagineering.”