Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is a boat attraction in Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs. This new ride is one of four in the port-of-call. As of opening week, the attraction has to be experience via Standby Pass, Disney Premier Access or through a special Vacation Package ticket. In this post, we’ll review Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, talking broadly about the attraction before getting into individual scenes.

In the ever-evolving world of theme parks, there are certain types of rides that still feel distinctly Disney. While the company is certainly not the only one to have a classic film canonized in theme park lore with a dark ride, they are the ones that come to mind. With apologies to Universal’s Secret Life of Pets and E.T., Peter Pan’s Flight, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and a host of other attractions give Disney the ‘dark ride championship belt’. And the bout was won pretty easily.

The other type of ride a Disney theme park has perfected is a slow boat ride. Whether you think they cemented that legacy in 1967 with Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean or the ’64 World’s Fair with Small World, the slow boat ride is just a riff off the classic Fantasyland dark ride.

With DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs opening, there was a chance to showcase something new by way of something old. Or maybe vice versa. The port-of-call is a de facto Fantasyland, just with a slightly different name and more modern IP. So why not have the best attraction of the bunch be a slow dark boat ride?

Like many rides that came before it, Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is a book report attraction. The ride vehicle hops around to different scenes from the movie seamlessly for roughly 6 and a half minutes, with some striking tricks along the way. I’ll get into more details shortly, although there’s not much plot to spoil unless you’ve never seen Frozen.

Outside of just looking great and fitting that ‘classic’ bill, there are a few things (or the entire ride) that make Frozen Journey stand out. We’ll start with the animatronics, as they are some of the finest work Imagineering has ever done. The fluidity that each one moves with is believable and interesting. All of the models in this are practical, with no projected faces or cheap tricks. In fact, when the attraction does use projections in the background, they look so seamless that it’s hard to tell what’s been painted and what is a projection.

On my first ride through of Frozen Journey, it was those animatronics that caught my eye. Rightfully so! There’s over 25 (I believe the actual number is 30 but The Price is Right taught me to not overbid) of them during the course of the attraction and they all look immaculate. I was wowed by everything on the first ride but that was what stood out.

Then I started considering the ride mechanics. Without getting deep into spoiler territory, the boat moves both forward and backward. That is the biggest similarity between Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and Epcot’s Frozen Ever After. Well, I guess the biggest similarity is that both rides are based on Frozen but you catch my drift. There are plenty of other attractions in theme parks that move both forward and backward but this Fantasy Spring’s attraction separates itself from the pack with timing.

Let’s zoom out a little bit. Most theme park attractions treat ride vehicles with little regard. Yes, there are some amazing ride vehicles out there but they act as a way to get rider from scene to scene. That’s especially true of dark rides or boat attractions. Guests are sailing through scenes that are already in progress. How else would you do it, right?

Frozen Journey takes that idea and tweaks it, respectfully. Instead of passively moving through the ride, the characters are almost performing for you. The boat acts as a camera panning in and out of scenes, moving with Anna, Elsa and the plot in a brilliant dance. This isn’t some revolutionary ride system but it’s a revolutionary way to frame an attraction’s story.

One of the first scenes in the attraction (slight spoilers here) takes guests through the song For the First Time in Forever. The boat cascades backwards into the castle’s art room with Anna singing. The boat doesn’t really slow down much before we reach Elsa, as the same song plays. She looks apprehensive in the foreground while Anna and her excitement still linger in the back. That angle is one of the best ever framings in a theme park ride. Dark rides don’t have depth of fields like this, they’re trying to keep your eyeline moving. Not this one.

Thinking of the boat as a camera for different scenes not only makes Frozen Journey feel more cinematic, it heightens the emotional impact. Nowhere is that clearer than the attraction’s visual take on ‘Let It Go’. A lift hill is so beautifully illustrating the song building to it’s climactic chorus. We turn the corner to see Elsa harnessing her powers with a cool, but not over the top, lighting effect. That all leads to the doors swinging open to see her in all of the ice palace glory. Excuse all of my gushing, but it’s breathtaking.

Being a book report attraction plays in the ride’s favor in this case. The queue takes guests through the Arendelle castle, with different rooms showcasing details. I’m not going to spend much time on the queue because the ride itself is so good, but this is one of the better queues out there. The setting appears to be some years after the events of the movie (and the ride) take place, as the details point to different characters getting older. That is confirmed when the first scene of the ride is Grand Pabbie recounting some early details, as the boat sets off.

The plot retelling allows Frozen Journey to focus on the highlights of the film and, in this case, that means the soundtrack. Most of the ride is jumping from song to song with the visuals connecting the gaps between. Even the ending is pushed through quickly in favor of a beautiful final scene in Arendelle. The attraction’s superb timing throughout doesn’t make anything feel especially rushed though.

In many ways, the attraction bears a strong resemblance to Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast in Tokyo Disneyland. There’s a lack of dialogue and an emphasis on the songs. Even one of the visual surprises here looks similar to something that happens in the halls of Enchanted Tale. Frozen Journey is superior though, with better pacing throughout and more to look at.

I’ve already mentioned Frozen Ever After in comparison to this new ride. Unfortunately for Epcot, moving forward and backward on a book report boat attraction is where the comparisons end. DisneySea’s Frozen Journey separates itself in just about every category imaginable. In fact, there’s really not a Fantasyland-esque ride that is a good comparison in the states.

All of this raving about Frozen Journey’s brilliant design is deserved but the ride having roots in classic Disney dark rides pays off. Even with such a unique perspective and dazzling details, there is some restraint shown. Visual effects never take over the story, they just enhance it, and there aren’t so many animatronics that it overwhelms the plot. There’s even a lack of Hans and Kristoff because this is Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey, after all.

The ride may not have a good stateside comparison but that’s not to say it won’t feel familiar. Frozen Journey never tries to reinvent the wheel, it’s just eliminating some deficiencies. Attraction storytelling is a difficult medium that can be choppy, with little in the way of transitions. Through meticulous details and a different perspective, this attraction changes those limitations into assets.

This is a good reminder of what Imagineering is capable of with a massive budget. While we lament the celebrity Imagineers who aren’t working with the company anymore, Frozen Journey shows that a new generation has ideas to make a classic ride style as relevant as ever. They just need that chance.

Because of this new take on an old system, Frozen Journey already feels timeless; a modern masterpiece. It’s next in a long legacy that includes Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight and more. Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey is one of the best dark rides ever created.

Have you been on Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! If you are planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort, check out our Trip Planning Guide. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!