Adventure Way
It turns out that in the transition between Walt Disney Studios Park and Disney Adventure World, bridging old and new can be quite literal. In this case, it occurs via Adventure Way. A literal midway that proceeds straight through the center of the park, perfectly aligned with World Premiere, the path draws up from the spine of the Y and deposits us at the base of the new lagoon-encircling O beyond.
This “spine” ascending from World Premiere is Disney Adventure World’s first real chance to introduce itself and its new ethos. It chooses to do so by manifesting as a sort of pleasant garden space of art nouveau domes, terraced structures, gazebos, and a cream-and-teal aura that reflects an earlier, more fanciful take on the color palate of World Premiere’s simpler art deco showbuildings.
This path also includes two additional, Adventure-World-exclusive flat rides. Raiponce Tangled Spin gives the park its inevitable version of the teacups, here dressed as boats swirling beneath paper lanterns (in the style of “I See the Light” from Disney’s Tangled). Across the way is a yo-yo swing spinner stylized after Pixar’s Up. (They certainly don’t hurt, but they do make Disney Adventure World perhaps the first Disney Park ever that borders on having too many lightly-decorated flat rides – a complete inverse of the problem that EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom have, which is that they have very few flat rides to fill the gap between D- and E-Tickets.)
The relative grab bag of IP here indicates an important aspect of Adventure Way – it’s technically one of Disney’s first land-sized projects in a very long time that’s not themed to a single IP, but rather, an environment wherein multiple IPs can coexist in a shared style. (The only comparable project in modern Disney Parks would probably be the Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.)
That garden midway deposits guests in the new would-be heart of the park – the terraced gardens, paths, and support structures of Adventure Way that encircle “Adventure Bay.” This bulk of the land (er, “world”?) is something like a mega-sized, modernized, IP-infused version of Disneyland’s Hub, trading gingerbread roofs and Victorian styling for the ornate art nouveau of Epic Universe’s Celestial Park, and swirling together Disney-owned properties (or as modern PR parlance would require, “stories”) in a single space – something totally absent in modern Imagineering outside of Animal Kingdom’s Tropical Americas.
The comparison to Epic Universe is fitting because construction images of the two lands (whose development overlapped) often left visitors wondering which fanciful-1800s-lakeside-World’s-Fair themed land they were looking at – Universal’s or Disney’s? And though it lacks the mythological, otherworldly frame that makes Celestial Park so spectacular, Adventure Way shares not just its style, but its substance – as a sort of “world between worlds” that’s stylish enough to linger in, but neutral enough to bridge to the “Living Lands” that surround it.
As for what those lands would be? Well, early concept art clearly suggested a scaled-down copy of Hong Kong’s “The World of Frozen” and a scaled-down copy of “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge,” with at least two slots around the lagoon available for – again – whatever else they might decide to plop in. There was something potentially clever about the idea of turning Disney’s worst theme park into an unapologetic showroom for its IP lands developed around the globe, all situated around a lagoon – basically, a modern interpretation of World Showcase, just replacing countries with sampler-sized “Living Lands.”
The latter was never spoken by name, which is lucky because it gradually disappeared from conversation as rumors suggested that the French team had politely declined to finance a copy of Batuu(…). At the semi-annual D23 Expo in 2024, revised concept art replaced Galaxy’s Edge with something new. Disney Adventure World’s future would include…
The World of Frozen
A “World of Frozen” had been one of the projects confirmed as part of the announcement of Walt Disney Studios’ €2 billion reinvestment reinvestment in 2019. (A similar project had been announced for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2016, lending some credence to the idea that Paris was piggybacking, even if the truth is that these projects do lend themselves to duplication and to sharing research & development costs.) Back then, we couldn’t have known that the project’s opening in Paris seven years later would be momentous enough to warrant the park’s official renaming on the same day.
Yet here it is – THE WORLD OF FROZEN. It’s a slightly-edited-down version of Hong Kong’s (cutting out the “Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs” family coaster that’s a Hong Kong exclusive, and reducing the “Living Land” village of Arendelle a bit in its scale. Using an inlet of Adventure Bay as its fjord harbor, the land is primarily made of a block of shops embodying the Nordic town of Arendelle, with the kingdom’s castle on the water, and Elsa’s iconic ice palace nestled in the curves of the North Mountain looming beyond.
Although U.S. parks fans (including this author) can say that this mini-version of the World of Frozen is nice, but certainly not worth all the fuss compared to, say, Pandora or Cars Land or Diagon Alley or Epic Universe, tell that to Europeans who are used to a Parc Disneyland that hasn’t added a new ride at all since 1995, and a Walt Disney Studios whose previous height was Place de Rémy, a dozen years prior.
There are certainly reasons to be cynical about The World of Frozen at Disney Adventure World – not the least of which being that its ornate ornamentation, immense marketing campaign, and pivotal positioning in the park’s lineup conceals… a copy of a mediocre Frozen Ever After boat ride that opened at EPCOT a decade earlier, now apparently meant to be the singular main attraction headlining the entire Disneyland Paris resort…
But there’s also a whole lot to enjoy about The World of Frozen, including the Nordic Crowns Tavern (a much-needed divergence from Disneyland Paris’ almost comical reliance on cheeseburgers and pizza… at least, while it lasts), the Fjord View Shop (where guests can purchase interactive trolls), and a smart use of its proximity to the park’s marina to host a daytime “A Celebration in Arendelle” singalong watercraft show by day. Every square foot of it is so beyond the pale when it comes to the level of detail that one would expect of Walt Disney St– er, Disney Adventure World. And listen, in this very feature I practically said ‘The Ratatouille ride might not be a masterpiece, but that’s okay because it’s about the detail, texture, and warmth of the mini-land as a whole, not just its ride,’ so far be it from me to now declare that this wrap for Frozen Ever After is absurd.)
Anyway, one singular day after our friends at Defunctland released a captivating four hour documentary concerning Disney’s long-running “Living Character Initiative,” a hilariously-timed Disney post announced that a self-navigating, self-supporting Audio-Animatronic of Olaf would join the land. It should be fairly clear why the same concept hasn’t come to America, but it also seems an unlikely concept to survive Paris’ legendarily-rowdy crowds, so… we’ll see!
In any case, would Paris’ World of Frozen – and indeed, all of Disney Adventure World – have been more notable if the land’s anchor has been Tokyo’s elaborate and gorgeous Frozen ride? Of course. But this first “Living Land” to take its place around Adventure Bay will set a precedent that’ll be good for Disneyland Paris as a whole. And it won’t be alone for long…
Future Lion King Themed Land
Placed on the plot once earmarked for a version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a Lion King themed land was part of the package of announcements made at the 2024 D23 Expo. (The concept art Disney released then clearly used the “photorealistic” 2019 version of The Lion King, requiring Disney to acknowledge that that was a mistake, and the land would actually be inspired by 1994’s animated classic – something that revised concept art made clear.)
“Land” is sort of a misnomer, because even more so than the Frozen mini-land, the Lion King land is shaping up to be, basically a ride. (That sort of makes sense since humans and the kind of facilities they need – like restaurants, gift shops, and restrooms – are conspicuously absent from The Lion King, so the vaguely-African-stylized restaurant zoned to be placed here is surely far less essential than exploring Arendelle is to The World of Frozen.)
As of this story’s publication, Disney hasn’t confirmed so much as an opening year for the yet-untitled Lion King land or its attraction, but we do know that the flume ride will whisk guests through the film’s story and feature Audio-Animatronics, songs, and a signature drop. (Disneyland Paris never added a Splash Mountain due to the resort’s overall cool, wet climate, and its periods of snowfall that minimize the appeal of water rides.)
When more information about the forthcoming Lion King land is made official, our journey through Disney Adventure World will certainly be updated with it.
The adventure begins…
Whether you call it “Walt Disney Studios Park” or “Disney Adventure World,” it’s unknowable for now whether this park will remain the lowest-rated and least-attended Disney theme park on Earth. What’s likely to remain true about the second gate at Disneyland Paris is that it’s the oddest Disney Park on Earth. Bruce Vaughn was right when he said that “In no other place do you see such an evolution of the design aesthetic of a Disney theme park.” This “franken-park” really does show its seams, and certainly embodies the highest highs and lowest lows of Imagineering across the 21st century.
Disney Adventure World is a mess. And listen, so is Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or EPCOT, or California Adventure. In an IP-centered era of corporate Disney, theme parks are cast as show floors – living brand loyalty centers whose highest calling is to promote… well… whatever Disney+ viewership metrics suggest that fans want more of. I don’t mean to be derogatory or snide when I suggest that “Disney+ Adventure Park” might’ve been a more fitting name. That’s what Disney hopes this park can be – a place to stuff all the franchises that their European resort has missed out on given its quarter century of paralysis.
So sure, the result is a park that feels less cohesive than ever. But through the lens of a post-Theme mindset, Disney Adventure World probably is the park Iger wishes every resort had – a place that can readily accept a mini-land themed to… well… whatever. There’s no preciousness about preserving its history; no thematic bar to entry; no confines for space… just expansion pads ready to welcome Zootopia or Avatar or Aladdin or Encanto, all in precisely equal measure of likelihood and fit.
Is it so wild to imagine that Iger wishes that they’d thought of it sooner, so that the 2012 relaunch of Disneyland’s own thematically-jumbled second gate could’ve reemerged from its makeover as Disney California ADVENTURE WORLD until the vestigial California could fall away? (By the way, a still-possible scenario, so stop saying California Adventure’s name should change lest the painfully generic Adventure World indeed spreads there and to Florida’s studio park!)
The obvious question is, Is Disney Adventure World a better theme park than Walt Disney Studios Park was? The answer can be nothing but yes, but with a caveat. Disney Adventure World still is Walt Disney Studios. It’s all still there, sometimes beneath a pleasant wrap and improved placemaking, and sometimes right out in the open. All of the best and even some of the worst of Walt Disney Studios remains to such a degree that all the new naming schemes and swapped out banners and now-color-drenched marketing feels a little silly, and casual visitors will arrive to largely think, “Oh, it’s the same.”
Sure, they’ll hopefully be delighted by the presence of the new lagoon and its World of Frozen beyond… and theoretically one day, the opening of a Lion King mini-land, too.
But if we’re being honest, it is a bit of a disappointment to think that Disney’s cash infusion here was apparently double that required to reboot Disney California Adventure, and distilled down to its simplest form will mostly read to the public as:
- a copy of California’s Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure
- a debatably successful redesign of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
- a copy of EPCOT’s Frozen Ever After
- two more flat rides – a Tangled “teacup” and an Up “yo-yo swing”
Yes, that’s an intentionally cynical framing given all the wonderful placemaking, and entertainment, and trees, and infrastructure, and art nouveau, and stained glass, and two new restaurants, and the whole of Avengers Campus and The World of Frozen (which are more than just their ride counts), and a nighttime spectacular with drones – all of which contributes to a new energy and a new enthusiasm and a park that feels fundamentally different than the barren backlots and beige soundstages of yesterday! All of that is totally indisputable!
The question is, will you now put Disney Adventure World at the top of your bucket list? Maybe… but it’s worth considering that the predicted M.O. here – filling slots around Adventure Bay with pared-down versions of “Living Lands” that debuted elsewhere – could leave Disneyland Paris positioned as it always has been: a resort with no singular thing that makes it a “must-visit” for those outside of Europe, and that those within Europe have deemed provides less than their regularly-scheduled trip to Disney World.
Fin du début
Walt Disney Studios was a child of neglect – born in an acrimonious time for The Walt Disney Company and marooned with its older sister to eke out survival by whatever means necessary. Even so, remember that the effort of countless creatives went toward its initial opening and every change made since – up to and including its reintroduction as Disney Adventure World. No one at Disney today can take honest ownership of the fact that only now, after twenty five years, will this park have a ride count approaching reasonable numbers and at least a couple of certified E-Tickets.
Nor is it anyone’s fault that Disney Adventure World… well… still won’t necessarily be a top tier Disney Park. Yet again, we see Imagineers do the best they can with what they’re given, and as ever in Paris’ case, what they’re given isn’t much. By most any metric, even the relaunched Disney Adventure World is still the worst Disney Park on Earth… but at least now there’s a blueprint for moving forward and – after all these years – lingering hope that one day, Walt Disney Studios Park might prove to be the blockbuster Disneyland Paris needs…
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the strangest thing about this whole project to me is the fact that paris didnt attempt to fight or even redesign arendelle so they weren’t left with the worst of the three lands as its lynchpin 2 years after the others opened.
For most people who’ve visited both the consensus seems to be hong kong has the vastly better land while tokyo has the vastly better ride. Then Paris is coming along and getting hong kong’s lesser ride and half of the land it has and nothing from tokyo. I know that guests are overwhelmingly local but still youd think paris would want something unique about their arendelle but instead they seem to be basing the expansion off of half of hong kong’s land.
the whole strategy here just seems so weird
Absolutely true. Even from the earliest artwork of the park’s big expansion, people were zooming in and going, “Wait, it’s only half of Galaxy’s Edge, too?” That artwork has what would typically be the Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run half of the land, but with an X-Wing instead of the Falcon, so it was like, “Okay, so… it’ll be Black Spire Outpost, but with Rise of the Resistance?” I really do this that was their M.O. here the whole time – basically “sampler” versions of the “Living Lands” designed for other parks.
It’s not like the Sliding Sleighs ride in Hong Kong is a masterpiece, but yes, it’s totally nonsensical that Frozen Ever After – Frozen Ever After! – is what awaits at the end of the literal and metaphorical journey for this park. Even when that ride debuted at EPCOT and all the talk was about how Frozen was too new to have a permanent ride in a park (that “mindset” at Disney feels ancient now…) I said that Frozen definitely deserved a ride… it just deserved a better ride than even the best makeover of Maelstrom could produce. And now we see that ride recreated two more times by choice, which is wild… As you said, especially because Tokyo’s exists. I don’t think Disney is at all interested in paying for that (not to mention, OLC probably has a multi-year exclusivity window), but even so, it is somewhat depressing that at the end of this, Walt Disney Studios’ multi-billion-dollar makeover took seven years to result in… (checks notes) Web-Slingers, Flight Force, two flat rides, and Frozen Ever After.
yeah i can accept lesser rides (very very likely that OLC does have an exclusivity clause) but usually id prefer them to be paired with more developed lands. Like HK’s arendelle isnt winning awards for its rides but its arguably the best “land” either Disney or universal has put out in decades just because its absolutely overflowing with everything else that makes a living land
Im concerned these ‘sampler’ lands simply wont be immersive enough. Like HK’s arendelle isnt that big despite how packed it is and its twice the size with you being able to look over the harbour at more land. Pride lands is barely more than a ride with an immersive outdoor queue.
They already tried the “sample disney and if you like it go to a better disney” with original HK and it failed miserably, i hope they dont go that route again
Agreed. In my mind, it’s because the intentional strategy was to get “mini-lands” rather than full copy-pastes from elsewhere. (The early concept art seemed to be signaling that their Galaxy’s Edge would be just the “village” half, but with Rise of the Resistance instead of Smugglers Run.)
Theoretically, when this all sums up in fifty years, that would’ve created “sampler” sized” lands comprised of 1 ride, 1 restaurant, and 1 shop each, so you could cram four, five, or six of those around the lagoon whereas the more sprawling Frozen land in Hong Kong or a full sized Galaxy’s Edge would mean you could only ever amount to having two or three.
Again, I have no reason to know that was the intention, but it’s the only explanation I can come up with to explain why – to your point – they’d build all of that to conceal what’s ultimately a copy of the mediocre boat ride. I think the land itself is phenomenal, but surely even the quality-starved visitors in Paris will get off Frozen Ever After and go “Oh… that’s… that’s it?”