Disney Ride Debuts with Disappointing 'Frozen' and 'Up' Overlays, Guests Furiously Slam Changes

Disney guests aren’t overly impressed with the updates to one ride.

For better or worse, Disney is always changing its theme parks. As Walt Disney vowed in 1955, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

The thing is, not everybody’s always on board with this “imagination.” In recent years, it feels like the vast majority of changes made within Disney’s theme parks have sparked backlash among diehard Disney fans.

For example, when Splash Mountain closed at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom last year to make way for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, inspired by The Princess and the Frog (2009), the most dedicated Splash Mountain fans were so upset that some tried (unsuccessfully) to stage physical protests.

Regular parkgoers were equally furious over the decision to eliminate The Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios in 2017, as well as Disney’s decision to close the Tower of Terror to make way for Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! at California Adventure and Maelstrom for Frozen Ever After at EPCOT.

The less said about the reactions to Tokyo Disneyland’s version of “it’s a small world” adopting a temporary Marvel overlay, the better.

The latest update to a Disney park attraction isn’t quite as drastic, but it’s also proven pretty unpopular with regular guests.

Le Pays des Contes de Fées – which translates to “The Land of Fairy Tales” – first opened two years after the rest of Disneyland Paris in April 1994. Like its California counterpart, Storybook Land Canal Boats, this sees guests board boats to sail through scenes from beloved Disney classics.

Last year, Disneyland Paris announced an extensive refurbishment that would see two scenes of the ride replaced with more popular IP.

At the time, the ride’s scenes were inspired by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the Hansel and Gretel short from the Silly Symphony collection, Tangled (2010), The Little Mermaid (1989), Fantasia (1940), Peter and the Wolf (1946), Aladdin (1992), The Sword in the Stone (1963), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Return to Oz (1985).

Fast forward to this week, and Le Pays des Contes de Fées has reopened with the Peter and the Wolf section replaced by Frozen (2013), while the Hansel and Gretel scene was swapped out for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and Return to Oz (1985) was replaced by Up (2010).

However, not everyone is impressed by these upgrades. Unlike the other scenes in the ride, these new additions are remarkably lackluster, with some drawing comparisons between the scenes added to Storybook Land Canal Boats and Le Pays des Contes de Fées.

The comparison between Disneyland’s Frozen scene in Storybook Land and the new Frozen scene in Disneyland Paris’ Le Pays des Contes de Fées is really, really depressing.

The comparison between Disneyland’s Frozen scene in Storybook Land and the new Frozen scene in Disneyland Paris’ Le Pays des Contes de Fées is really, really depressing. pic.twitter.com/NxO0dlN3jR

— fka twenty one royal street (@_21royalstreet) August 29, 2024

For many, the biggest letdown is the lack of color in the Frozen section of the Disney ride. As shown by DLP Report, the castle was initially portrayed as being much more blue, while in reality, it is simply gray.

Disney PR vs. reality 🤷🏻‍♂️

Disney PR vs. reality 🤷🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/1HeUwSnsyY

— DLP Report (@DLPReport) August 28, 2024

“Time for a new partnership for DLP,” said @pythonmaniac. “AliExpress seems fitting.”

“No Imagineers left in Paris, I guess,” wrote @KnightRaan.

The choice of Disney films to replace certain scenes in the ride has also irked some. “What really irritates me is the replacing of the Oz scene with one from Up,” wrote @homme_du_nord. “The attraction is Storybook Canal Boats, right? Oz is from a number of stories by an American author. Up is from a movie and was not adapted from literature.”

Check out the full ride-through of the updated version of Le Pays des Contes de Fées below, and let us know your thoughts on the ride’s update.

⏯️ Video: Full POV – refurbished “Pays des Contes de Fées” with new Frozen, Winnie The Pooh and Up scenes at Disneyland Paris:

⏯️ Video: Full POV – refurbished “Pays des Contes de Fées” with new Frozen, Winnie The Pooh and Up scenes at Disneyland Paris: pic.twitter.com/bSa1VqmLmS

— DLP Report (@DLPReport) August 28, 2024

Do you think Disney is integrating too much modern IP into its theme parks?