EPCOT’s Frozen Ever After is about to look a whole lot more like the movie.

Walt Disney World is giving the popular Norway Pavilion boat ride a tech refresh, swapping in upgraded Audio-Animatronic figures for Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff—with new, more lifelike faces designed to better match their on-screen counterparts. The attraction is scheduled to reopen February 12 after its brief downtime.  

Why Disney Updated the Animatronics

If you’ve ridden Frozen Ever After since it opened, you might remember that the characters’ facial expressions were created using rear-projection mapping—essentially, a projected “face” layered onto the figure. That approach was a big deal at the time, and the attraction’s figures were among Disney’s first all-electric Audio-Animatronics. But projection-based faces can start to feel dated (and occasionally finicky) compared with today’s best-in-class figures.  

The new update replaces that older look with more expressive, more film-accurate faces—the kind of refinement Disney fans have been seeing in newer attractions across the globe.  

The Hong Kong connection

Imagineers didn’t reinvent the snowflake here—they borrowed inspiration from Hong Kong Disneyland’s World of Frozen, where Frozen Ever After operates with a newer generation of figure and facial tech. In other words: EPCOT’s version is catching up to the standard guests have been raving about overseas.  

Will the Ride Experience Change?

Disney says the story and overall ride experience remain the same—so your favorite scenes, music beats, and that familiar finale are still exactly where you left them.  

But the vibe may feel subtly upgraded.  When an attraction at Disney goes down, teams often use the opportunity to freshen up more than the headline item—including things like show lighting and other small enhancements you’ll notice only if you’re paying attention (or riding back-to-back).  

What to look for on your next ride

If you’re the kind of Disney fan who loves spotting details, here’s your checklist once it reopens:

• Facial expressions that read from farther away (less “screen-y,” more dimensional)
• Smoother, more natural movement thanks to added articulation in the figures  
• Little refresh touches in lighting and show elements that make the scenes feel crisper  

The bottom line 

Frozen Ever After isn’t getting a new storyline—this is a quality-of-life upgrade meant to make EPCOT’s Arendelle adventure look more polished in 2026 than it did in 2016. If the projection faces ever pulled you out of the magic (even for a second), February 12 could be the day the ride finally feels as “movie real” as fans have always wanted.  

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(Photo courtesy Disney Parks)