Disney California Adventure kicked off summer this Memorial Day weekend with the debut of its big new Frozen — Live at the Hyperion musical stage show. With limited showtimes and high demand, the show is selling out quick every day as guests flock to see how the much-hyped replacement for the theatre’s long-running Aladdin musical measures up. Today we have a photo-heavy look at the new show with some thoughts on how it turned out. We also fill you in on the latest Star Wars construction at refurbishments at Disneyland.
Don’t miss your weekly Disneyland Resort crowd forecast — provided by our friends at Mouseaddict — in the Weekly News and Information Roundup at the end of today’s update!
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We’ve got a big Frozen-filled update for you today!
Welcome to Disney California Adventure! |
Fans of Soarin’ Over California should plan to get their final rides in soon. Soarin’ is set to be closed on June 16 and reopen on June 17 with the new Soarin’ Around the World movie. The original California film will play through June 15.
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Love is an Open Door |
WARNING: There are plenty of spoilers here, so if you want to see the new show with fresh eyes, click here to skip this section.
The big news from the Resort this week is the debut of the new Frozen — Live at the Hyperion musical stage show in Disney California Adventure. The new Frozen show replaces the long-running fan-favorite Aladdin — A Musical Spectacular and brings the hit animated film to life on stage.
Demand for the new show is, as expected, very high and we’d recommend getting FASTPASS at park opening if seeing this show is a priority for you. On Friday, opening day, FASTPASS for all three shows of the day sold out within an hour of park opening.
Speaking of showtimes, the show is currently only running three shows per day while the cast and crew continue to rehearse in the mornings. Expect Disney to ramp up to five showings per day this summer.
Disney is now allowing food and drink inside the Hyperion Theatre and has Cast Members selling concessions outside in the queueing area prior to showtimes.
Inside the theater, the stage has been reworked, new “aurora borealis” curtains wrap around the front half of the theater, and new large-scale video screens dominate the stage. The show is very projection-heavy and this is evident as soon as you enter the theater with projections of the Arendelle landscape covering every projection surface.
The show itself is a pretty close beat-by-beat adaptation of Frozen, with only a couple notable moments missing. Because of this, it’s a long show — clocking in between 60 and 70 minutes. Keep this in mind if you plan on attending as there’s no intermission break or restrooms available inside the theater itself.
Sets in the show are mostly comprised of projected backgrounds with a few smaller physical set pieces. These three doors from the Arendelle castle play a big role in the show.
Elsa and Anna as kids, playing in the castle.
The death of the King and Queen
The show is sprinkled with clever moments, utilizing surprise stage effects and props, trap doors, and projection effects. Below, Elsa accidentally shows her magic when Anna announces her engagement to Hans resulting in large ice spikes that jut out toward the audience.
Anna promises Hans she’ll return safely with Elsa
The “Let it Go” sequence is big, as expected, but perhaps lacks a bit of extra oomph needed to really sell it.
Elsa’s ice palace chandelier sparkles from the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Anna and Kristof are en route to find Elsa
They pick up Olaf along the way…
…where he tells them his summertime dreams in a big number.
Anna finally arrives at Elsa’s…
Elsa demands Anna to go away, freezing her heart in the process
Kristof rushes Anna to the trolls where they try to marry the two before they realize just how precarious Anna’s situation is…
Kristof rushes Anna back to the castle so Hans can give her true love’s kiss, only to be deceived.
The climactic search for each other in the blizzard is perhaps one of the show’s least interesting moments — an arguably difficult scene to translate to live theater. It does end up culminating in what is perhaps the show’s most impressive use of projection technology as Anna is transforms to ice through projection mapping when she sacrifices herself for Elsa.
Of course, Anna’s sacrifice ends up saving her and the kingdom and everybody lives happily ever after.
So how does Frozen — Live at the Hyperion measure up? All-in-all, it’s a decent theme park show. It’s perhaps a bit too long by 10-15 minutes but it’s evident the team already did their best to trim the fat to keep the show’s pace moving. The use of projections mostly work in transporting us to the different locales demanded by the story. The quality of the projections, while not perfect, felt notably better than those used in the recent Frozen Sing-along show or at Disneyland’s Mickey and the Magical Map show, which is nice to see — if you’re going to go with digital sets, they need to look good and this Frozen show gets this mostly right. At times, the projections transport you in a Soarin’-like way across the landscape — moments like that are really effective and impressive. Still, nothing trumps well-done physical sets and props and scenes “For the First Time in Forever” and “Fixer Upper” where there’s a lot of physical props or more elaborate set pieces are some of the strongest moments. If I had to choose one major thing that just didn’t work for me, it would be the design of the stage and surrounding curtains. The three-tiered circular shape of the stage backdrop is strange and feels disconnected altogether from Frozen and its aesthetic. And while naming the new curtains surrounding the stage the “Aurora Borealis curtains” is clever, the curtains just seem like an afterthought in practice. They’re never treated as anything but a flat projection surface, which isn’t even what they are to begin with.
The cast I saw for the 2:55 show on Friday was great, and do a great job in bringing these characters to life. Disney has opted to go with color-blind casting for this show in favor of simply finding the best performers. I would agree that there’s no need to stick to an all-white cast and I think Disney made the right choice here. The cast works, the talent shines, and you can tell that everybody is really putting in their all to make this new show work. The biggest weaknesses here can probably be traced back to two things: a reliance on digital projections and the story issues that came with the source material. Despite breaking every record in the books, Frozen is a bit of a messy story and with this new stage show being a pretty close adaptation, a lot of the film’s story issues are now evident on stage as well. Is Frozen — Live at the Hyperion worth checking out? If you’re a fan of Frozen, then absolutely. Everything you like from the film is right there on stage (except Marshmallow) and it’s definitely an entertaining hour or so. If you aren’t, then it’s probably best to wait until the hype dies down a bit. You won’t be missing much if you choose to wait a while to see it — after all, it’s unlikely the show will be going anywhere anytime soon as Frozen‘s continued popularity is a pretty good guarantee that the show will be a hit for Disney California Adventure.
Looking for video? Our friends at MouseInfo and TouringPlans have full video of the show:
There’s a small selection of merchandise available for the show near the Hyperion Theatre’s FASTPASS distribution area
Of course, there’s plenty of other Frozen merchandise available as well.
The Frontier Awakens |
Disneyland’s new Star Wars project will be unprecedented in terms of scale for the park, dedicating 14 acres to a single property with massive new facades, rock work, and massive E-Ticket attractions that dwarf even Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones Adventure. Below, a map showing how the new land is expected to impact Disneyland’s landscape once completed in late 2018.
[beforeafter][/beforeafter]
Back in Critter Country, the Hungry Bear provides a good view of the ongoing construction…
Over by Big Thunder Mountain, the old Big Thunder Trail and Ranch continue being reshaped for Star Wars.
This & That |
In Disneyland, Tarzan’s Treehouse remains closed through June 9.
In Tomorrowland, the Space Mountain restrooms have reopened after their remodel and expansion
Starcade remains closed and it does not appear that the adjacent restrooms did not expand into that space as had been previously rumored
Some facade refurbishment work is underway at the Grand Californian Hotel.
And in Downtown Disney, Starbucks construction continues next to the DVC sales center.
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Weekly News & Information Round-Up | ||
Weekly Theme Park Hours May 30—June 5, 2016 |
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Disneyland Park | California Adventure | |
Mon.-Fri.: 8 am – 11 pm Saturday: 8 am – 12 am Sunday: 8 am – 11 pm |
Daily: 8 am – 9 pm | |
visit the Disneyland.com Theme Park Calendar |
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May 30 – June 5
The free Mouseaddict app for iPhone and iPad features more than five dozen categories of searchable resort information, weather forecasts, park and show schedules, the latest news and articles from MiceChat, and more. Download free on the App Store or at mouseaddict.com. |
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A quick look at noteworthy Disney theme park headlines from around the web. |
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Alright, that wraps up this week’s edition of Dateline Disneyland. What do you think of the new Frozen show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Special thanks to our Dateline Disneylanders!
Mark D., Bruno, Casey, Hastin Z.! To help support Dateline Disneyland and get some fun swag in return, visit our Patreon page now! Don’t miss our sister blog, Dateline Disney World – a fantastic weekly photo blog covering Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida! Thanks for reading. See you at Disneyland! |
FTC-Mandated Disclosure: Promotional consideration for this edition of Dateline Disneyland was provided by the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel & Water Playground. |
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