For the first time in forever February 2026, Walt Disney World has (soft) reopened Frozen Ever After to guests, ending its approximately two-week refurbishment at EPCOT. Disney also shared first look photos of the updated Arendellian Audio Animatronics of Anna, Elsa and Kristoff. Here’s a not-so-sneak peek, plus our commentary about why this update is a much-needed enhancement and more.
In case you missed it, Walt Disney World announced these new Audio Animatronics were coming last fall. Following that, they narrowed timing to winter as part of Walt Disney World’s Full Calendar of 2026 Dates & Details. From that, we got a debut ‘date’ of February 2026. Then a closure date of January 26th. And just last week, a planned reopening of February 12, 2026.
In actuality, Frozen Ever After has reopened as of February 11, 2026. Just in time for the busy Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras week, which we’ve warned will be the Worst Week of Winter at Walt Disney World Due to a Double Whammy of High Crowds in 2026!
More recently, we’ve seen Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Sell Out at EPCOT for the next 5 days, further reinforcing the heavy crowds. Suffice to say, if you’re currently at Walt Disney World and wanting to see the new Frozen Ever After AAs, you might want to Park Hop over to EPCOT tonight.
This soft opening isn’t being publicized in-app, and with the Lightning Lane not being available, your wait will likely be shorter than it would in the coming couple of days or this weekend. And that’s even with word getting out and all of the diehard locals descending upon EPCOT this evening.
Anyway, here’s a look at the new Audio Animatronics, courtesy of Walt Disney World:
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Walt Disney World has confirmed additional details about changes coming to Frozen Ever After at EPCOT. “I was in awe and got chills seeing Elsa, because it’s literally like she stepped off the screen and it’s standing in front of you now. You will notice the improvement,” said Ken Ricci, executive creative development who oversees show quality for Imagineering at Walt Disney World.
Ricci added: “The technology advanced, and there was opportunity to improve the quality of the show and the guest experience…As we saw these figures progress for Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong, we saw that as an opportunity to leverage that technology for Walt Disney World.”
He explained that Imagineering had to modify the Audio Animatronics’ necks to accept the change in the heads. That took a few days, but WDI did a lot of pre-planning with technology and software to make sure that the project team was ready to port over the new figures once the ride closed.
Ricci added that Imagineering made other updates to Frozen Ever After, which are worth keeping an eye out for. “Anytime an attraction goes down, we take an opportunity to freshen up what we can,” he said. “So, we touched up a lot and some show lighting, so it should look refreshed.”
Behind the scenes, the show control system was also updated while EPCOT was closed, according to the paper. (It’s not clear whether this should actually read while the ride was closed…or if there was a refurbishment back during the COVID closure ~6 years ago. My guess is the former.)
More even show scenes and vibrant details are one of the big differences we spotted at Hong Kong Disneyland, so that should be one of the noticeable improvements to Frozen Ever After at EPCOT. Hopefully the result is less darkness, making the ride feel a bit warmer and fleshed out. That plus the fantastic new AAs alone will be a massive upgrade.
Here are details from the original announcement of the Frozen Ever After enhancements, along with my photos of the AAs from Hong Kong Disneyland…
Frozen Ever After Audio Animatronics Upgrades
Frozen Ever After at EPCOT is full of Audio-Animatronics figures. From Sven and Kristoff, an ice-skating Olaf, Marshmallow and a whole herd of Snowgies, and of course, Anna and Elsa.
Many of these figures were groundbreaking in the world of Audio-Animatronics. Not just as part of the world’s first Frozen attraction, but also as the first attraction to have all electric Audio-Animatronics figures, and the first to combine electric motors and 3D printing.
To build the attraction and make it feel like the Frozen story, it all came down to one wrist.
Elsa is known for her magical, ice-forming hand gestures; for her Audio-Animatronics figure to handle the fluid movements just like Elsa does on screen, Imagineers needed enough space to run cables and motors down her arms and hands. They figured out how big Elsa’s wrist needed to be and scaled everything else in the attraction to match.
Since then, Walt Disney Imagineering has built upon that technology of all-electric motors, 3D printing, and scaling for every figure they produce, from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, to Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea, and Frozen Ever After at Hong Kong Disneyland.
This is something Walt Disney World diehards have been clamoring for since the first reveal of the modernized Beauty and the Beast Audio Animatronics teased for Tokyo Disneyland back in 2018.
The requests became louder a few years later, once Disney pulled back the curtain on the international versions of Frozen Ever After, showcasing Imagineering’s newest A-1000 Audio Animatronics generation with incredibly fluid movements and lifelike (as far as animated characters go) facial features.
These new AAs are stunning, perfectly melding old and new technology to create something with wow-factor that will stand the test of time. Just like the Audio Animatronics from classic dark rides still look great today.
In so doing, they make the last generation’s projected faces on EPCOT’s Frozen Ever After or Magic Kingdom’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train look antiquated by comparison. That technology was envelope-pushing for its time, but hasn’t held up.
It’s fantastic to see this full-circle moment, with the attractions that the EPCOT retrofit inspired going on to provide the foundation for improvements in the original ride reimagining at Walt Disney World.
I hope this is just the start. World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland could serve as the template for more ways that Walt Disney World could integrate the film franchise into EPCOT (or beyond) in addition to the new Audio Animatronics in Frozen Ever After.
Beyond the Audio Animatronics, there are little ways the sets and staging of Frozen Ever After at EPCOT could be improved. These wouldn’t result in nearly as major leaps forward as the new Audio Animatronics, but it is worth remembering that the turnaround time for Frozen Ever After a decade ago was under 2 years, and the ride was a race against the clock to complete.
I’m sure the Imagineers who are still around from the original project would love a few more months to get in there and implement some ideas that were ‘cut for time’ or budgets during the original go-round.
Finally, it’d be nice to see a greater atmospheric entertainment presence in Norway at EPCOT…again. Back in the summer when Frozen Ever After first debuted, there were free roaming vikings added to World Showcase the blended authentic culture with the warmth and charm of Frozen (without being movie characters–they would’ve fit the Norway pavilion pre-Frozen). Similar characters now appear in Isle of Berk over at Epic Universe.
Simply bringing back these vikings would be a huge win for Walt Disney World’s atmospheric entertainment. Better yet, restore the vikings, while also adding live music and the rock troll puppets. At minimum, the rock troll puppets should be a no brainer. They’d more than pay for themselves in viral social media videos. Frozen is such a smash sensation and important franchise for the company that it really deserves more at Walt Disney World!
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Your Thoughts
Excited that Frozen Ever After at EPCOT has reopened with modern Audio Animatronics? Hoping that more is enhanced on the attraction than just the AAs? Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
