Frozen Summer Fun kicked off on July 5th at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and we here at WDWNT were on the scene to give you the full run-down of the 2-month-long event at Walt Disney World. Let’s look at this special event centered around the worldwide phenomenon of Frozen:
Anna and Elsa’s Royal Welcome
Daily at 11:00AM, guests can welcome Anna and Elsa to Disney’s Hollywood Studios with a short parade that travels up Hollywood Boulevard, pauses at the Sorcerer’s Hat stage for a short presentation, and then travels through Echo Lake towards Star Tours.
The parade is short, but a fun way to start your Frozen-filled day at the park
Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post
Located inside Soundstage 1 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a Frozen superstore!
If you are looking for anything Frozen, there is no reason to shop anywhere else at Walt Disney World.
They are doing a great job of keeping everything in stock and the variety is the best of any store carrying Frozen items at Walt Disney World.
If you are looking for one of the iPhone 4/4S or 5/5S cases or the Anna, Elsa, or Olaf MagicBands (retailing at $19.95 each), this is where you will need to go.
The store is really well-themed, even down to the pine smell being pumped in. There’s even a small counter selling Frozen-themed treats.
Oaken’s Frozen Funland
Oaken’s Frozen Funland is a little bit of a frosty winter in Florida. Guests can play in the snow at the “Do You Want to Build A Snowman Playground”…
Enjoy some ice skating for 30 minutes for a fee of $10…
Purchase a Frozen treat… or even buy hot cocoa in July in Orlando…
But my favorite offering had to be the hourly ice skating show performed by two very talented professionals to some of Frozen’s more popular songs:
For The First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
If you’ve seen the sing-along version of Frozen, get ready for a condensed version of what you have seen with fancy lighting and a few character appearances. Oh, and snow. Lots of snow. Ticketing is being done on the Streets of America and is given out for each show on a first-come, first-serve basis. The theater holds over 1000 guests and there are several shows a day, so don’t worry about running over here hours before the first show to get a ticket.
The show has two storytellers who jump in between songs to move the story along and keep the show around 30 minutes. Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff make sporadic appearances before appearing all together on stage for the finale. The moment at the end is cute and your kids will probably love the sing-along portion, but this really isn’t much. It’s better than waiting 3 hours to have your family meet the characters individually, but isn’t much of a unique offering if you saw the sing-along in theaters. It’s well-produced and a nice escape from the heat, but it isn’t anything to write home about either.
Frozen Fireworks
A second nighttime show at Studios is always a good thing, and Frozen fireworks are no exception. Preceded by a now seemingly customary dance party starting earlier in the evening, this show combines live characters on stage with pyrotechnics in the sky:
Thoughts
Frozen Summer Fun is a great offering because it adds so much more to do in a given day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Oaken’s Frozen Funland is a great way to spend an hour or so of your day ice skating, watching ice skating, playing in the snow, or just enjoying the air-conditioning and you inhale a Frozen-themed sweet treat. The sing-along will keep smaller guests entertained and out of the Florida sun, and the parade is cute and well-done for what it is. The main attractions is definitely the fireworks show, a must-see if you are visiting during the limited run. Overall, it’s always nice to get more entertainment added to a day in the park, and frankly this isn’t the best or worse seasonal event ever held at Walt Disney World. If someone in your party loves Frozen, chances are they will think this is the coolest thing ever, and that’s probably enough reason to go. You’ll certainly find at least one or two of the offerings worth the trip and chances are you were going to visit the Studios on your trip anyway. Frozen Summer Fun is a worthwhile addition, but probably not the highlight of anyone’s vacation. Oh, and don’t forget to get an Olaf on a stick to tweet about…
Frozen Summer Fun festivities will be offered daily through September 1, 2014. Fireworks will not be offered on August 23rd due to the Villains Unleashed party.
