THINK. Believe. Dream. Dare.
“First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream. And finally, dare.”
Walt Disney
WORLD OF FROZEN
Disney Adventure World
ATTRACTION CONCEPT AND DESIGN
History and Concept
Disneyland Paris' second gate - Walt Disney Studios Park - has been something of a black sheep of Disney Parks since it opened in 2002. A quote from the current head of imagineering captures the early ambience of the park:
"The first time I went to Paris' second gate, it was after hours. No kidding, for the first ten minutes, I'm walking through, and I was like, 'When are we gonna be in the park?' And he turned to me, and he goes, 'You're in the park.' And I'm like, 'I'm on stage?' He goes, 'You're on stage.' Like, 'This looks backstage.' It's a bunch of gray warehouses. He goes, 'Yeah. It's supposed to be like a studio.' But again, it was this notion of, 'Ah, the people… the guests will buy it. This is what a studio really looks like."
Like its Floridian cousin - Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World - Paris' movie themed park would slowly back away from the "studio" concept, without really adding a replacement theme or hook to capture guests' imagination. The Park is a distant last place in terms of attendance among the 12 parks, which is particularly damning when you consider that its sister park across the street attracts a very healthy 10 million guests each year, yet almost half of them don't feel it's worth their time to spend an extra day (or half day) next door.
In February 2018, Bob Iger announced a multi-year expansion of Paris' second gate, with new lands proposed for Frozen and Marvel (and a since-dropped Star Wars land). The COVID pandemic paused much of the proposed changes, though in February 2021, the first piece fell in place, with Marvel's Avengers Campus opening. The new land replaced the old Backlot area and pairs a re-themed Rock 'n' Rollercoaster - now Avengers Assemble: Flight Force - with a copy of the popular WEB Slingers attraction from Disney's California Adventure.
In April 2024, the Frozen themed land officially became the World of Frozen, and a few months later the new Lion King was added to the master plan, along with smaller attractions in the central hub, now known as Adventure Way. The opening of the World of Frozen will also see the Park change its name to Disney Adventure World, forever burying the old studio concept once and for all.
It's worth noting that Disney has developed two other lands themed to the iconic Frozen franchise, with the World of Frozen opening in Hong Kong Disneyland in November 2023, and Frozen Kingdom within Fantasy Springs opening in Tokyo's DisneySea in June 2024. Each of these lands received a boat ride, which are arguably plussed-up versions of the original Frozen Ever After at EPCOT in Walt Disney World, while in Hong Kong they also received a family rollercoaster and a meet and greet. Paris' offering looks to be somewhat in the middle, with its own version of the boat ride plus a meet-and-greet together with shopping and dining. Whenever construction is billed as a new "land", I must admit my bias is that there would be more than one attraction, even if one was just a small attraction, and based on the land's location (more below) and the fact they are literally building a mountain, it seems like they could have done more here. However, budget is also a factor, and it's very possible that future expansion of the land could happen down the line.
As much as I would have loved to see a second attraction in this land, the lack of one highlights a problem that I think is causing issues for Imagineers (and their equivalent at rival companies), namely, how to fit in smaller, off the shelve rides into these ultra-themed immersive lands. Dumbo fits just fine in Fantasyland and Astro Orbiters is perfect for Tomorrowland, but it's tricky to fit simple attractions like these in to lands which are supposed to transport guests to a different place for the entirety of the time they spend there. The recently opened Epic Universe has received generally positive reviews, but some guests are pointing to a lack of depth in lower tier attractions, and I wonder if it's the inability to fit them into their immersive lands causing an issue.
Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs in Hong Kong is a really nice looking - albeit very short - attraction and fits the theme really well, but it also required a significant cost outlay, far beyond what something would cost off the shelf. You could easily drop in a version of Dumbo themed with Sven, or some kind of "tea cup" ride themed to an ice storm, but that would pull guests out of the realism of being transported to Arendelle, which is something the Imagineers have so far avoided within the new immersive land model. It will be really interesting to see how Disney (and others) deal with this issue in the next few years as these immersive lands become ready for expansion.
Back to Paris, World of Frozen is of course just one of three prongs of the new-look Adventure World, although the Lion King themed land likely won't be with us until somewhere around 2030. My family and I were considering a visit to Paris next spring, but I think we will stick with our original plan for going to Tokyo, in part to ensure that World of Frozen is open when we visit. Does this new land move the needle for you in terms of visiting Disneyland Paris at all, or at least alter your likelihood to add an extra full day at the second gate?
RIDE DESIGN
We haven't received much in terms of concrete ride layouts yet, and while construction photos are available, they don't easily allow us to infer the exact size of the show building. To show the difference between EPCOT's Frozen Ever After and DisneySea's Anna and Elsa's Frozen Adventure, look at these two gorgeus pieces of artwork from ParkLore, who also have a wonderful piece on the history of Frozen Ever After.
EPCOT
DISNEYSEA
By my rough calculations from Google Maps, the show buildings for Frozen Ever After in EPCOT and Hong Kong Disneyland are about 32,000 and 47,000 square feet respectively, whereas the newer building in Tokyo is an astonishing 95,000 square feet. Of course, EPCOT's ride system - based on the old Maelstrom - takes place over two stories while the newer Anna and Elsa's Frozen Aventure is largely on one level with some small ups and downs. Hong Kong's version is a near clone of the one found in EPCOT (with some special effects and audio-animatronic updates), and we are led to believe that Paris will follow a similar path.
CONCEPT ART GALLERY
TIMELINE AND PROGRESS
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
$2 billion, multi-year expansion announced
Walt Disney Co Press Release
First detailed concept art for the new land
Disneyland Paris Media Expo
Foundations laid & buildings go vertical
Walt Disney Imagineering
Preliminary work on castle and clocktower
Destination D23
Mountains go vertical and lake is filled in
DLP Works
Building detail added and interior work
Disney Parks Blog
Confirmed Opening: Spring 2026
This project feels like its been ticking along forever (or as Anna might say "fooreevvvverrrr") and there seems to be some understandable frustration from Disneyland Paris fans regarding the perceived delays. Assuming they get the land open relatively early in 2026, it will have been around eight years since the project was announced as part of the $2 billion expansion to DLP, way back in 2018. If we adjust for COVID, that eight years is more like six, which is itself pretty slow, and does look worse when compared with the other Frozen-themed lands. In Hong Kong, their own World of Frozen was announced in November 2016 and opened November 2023 (seven years), while Fantasy Springs in Tokyo DisneySea was announced in June 2018 and opened in June 2024 (six years).
However, the World of Frozen in Hong Kong is around four acres (16,000 square metres) whereas drawings from DLPWorks suggest that the sister land in Paris is only around 2.4 acres (9,800 square metres). Hong Kong also has the second attraction in their mountain (Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs) which would have added to the cost and complication of the project. Fantasy Springs, meanwhile, is a totally different animal, with 35 acres (140,000 square metres) of land. Those metrics do paint the pace of construction in Paris in a somewhat negative light, but we can at least now see the end of the road for this project.
Construction Updates
2025
SEP
Imagineering shared a new video to confirm that the much speculated Spring 2026 opening day is a reality, although they stopped short at providing a hard date just yet. On the face of it, the land looks very far along and so an earlier spring opening date - to accommodate being open for easter school holidays - seems very possible. The details shared in the video look spectacular and the exterior looks essentially complete, so we can assume that the finishing touches are perhaps inside the ride buildings and stores.
2025
JUL
The excellent DLPReport continue to share the latest updates, with the big news in July being the addition of Elsa's ice palace to the top of the mountain. The scaffolding is now gone from the mountain and most of the buildings in the town, so it looks like we're down to finishing paving, lighting, and of course the interiors over the next few months.
2025
APR
We got an official update at the Disney Parks Blog, showing that the main buildings look very close to completion and the mountain facade doesn't look too far behind.
