attractionsmagazine.com: The boat ride debuted in 2016 at the Walt Disney World park near Orlando, Fla., with projected faces for Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff. When a new version of the ride opened in 2023 at Hong Kong Disneyland, fully sculpted faces were utilized instead of the projected faces. These versions of the Audio-Animatronics figures are now coming to Epcot.
5 comments:
Ah, disney going after how Epic Universe is doing animatronics, and wants to copy them and make them the same level, how absolutely cute that is. I do understand to a point on why they want this, to be honest the animatronic are really really bad most of the time on this ride, it’s not worth it and they are quite ugly. Just seeing the picture proves that, it really has a massive massive difference, and it is a step in the right direction. I believe that Epic Universe changed the game with animatronics, and it is genuinely impressive how they did it. They used a mix of projection mapping using multiple projectors at different angles, along with actual moving servo limbs. It seems disney is copying that method, made it their own, and made frozen into a system similar to that, which proves universal impressed disney, which is incredibly impressive. I am excited to see this next generation of animatronics in dark rides, I believe it will change the game and make everything even more realistic then it already is.
While I have never seen these rides in person, watching the video comparing the before and after shows a noticeable difference. The projected faces were a smart idea, however, the colors of the faces don’t seem to blend in properly with the actual body that is moving. Also, I don’t know if it’s the video, the projection, or just me, but it looks like Elsa’s face lagged in a way? When comparing this to the Audio-Animatronic, these problems get solved immediately. The color of the face blends perfectly with the rest of the body, making it look a lot smoother when in action. Another positive to that is they don’t have to keep them in the dark to help the projections. Instead they are able to keep them well lit allowing riders to see more. Also, this can prevent any other projection issues such as lagging or any kind of poor connection that can harm the quality.
I think it’s really cool how Disney keeps improving the technology in their rides. Watching the comparison video, I could really see how much smoother the new sculpted faces look compared to the old projected ones. The projections were creative for their time, but they sometimes looked off, especially when the lighting didn’t match the rest of the figure. The new versions feel more lifelike and blend so naturally with the characters’ movements, especially Elsa’s expressions. I’ve been on the Frozen ride at Tokyo DisneySea, and since it’s still very new, the animation there was truly amazing. Everything looked so smooth and realistic, it almost felt like the characters were alive. I really hope the Epcot version ends up being just as good once it’s updated. It’s exciting to see how far Disney’s technology has come, and I can’t wait to see the new figures when they debut in 2026.
I love Epcot. There is no other park that comes close to it on my list. The mix of all of the different countries, as well as all of the rides, is an excellent balance. I have never personally been on the frozen ride, but I know lots of people who have, and everyone seems to enjoy it. After looking at these pictures, it definitely needed an update, so I'm glad that they will be getting a much needed upgrade from the bad projection quality to way more life like animatronics like in the World of Frozen in Hong Kong. I have read and written many news page articles on the World of Frozen in Hong Kong, and it is truly so beautiful, and I hope to be able to go one day, but for now, I'm glad that that level of technology will be making its way over to Epcot.
I am happy they’re replacing the screen faces of Ana, Elsa, and Kristoff. Every new ride that comes out in theme parks involves screens and projections which is more than awesome when done correctly. However, I feel like often more modern technology makes classic elements of rides like “dark rides” fall flat. Projecting faces onto the animatronics made them look weird and lost the magic of seeing full animatronics on a dark ride like Frozen Ever After. Also, whenever the projector goes down, their faces are horrifyingly blank black voids. There’s an argument that animatronics, especially as they become more complicated in function, malfunction and leave them as still statues while guests ride through. At least when full animatronics go down you can still see their form under the show room lighting. There’s an extra terrifying element of the animatronic working and moving while the projector is down and they just possessed headless bodies.
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