While it’s not the arrival of a walking, talking snowman, something Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland will receive later in 2026, Disney World Epcot’s flagship Frozen attraction is getting a major upgrade after a brief makeover.
The doors reopen on February 12, 2026, for the first time in what seems like forever for fans of the attraction, and when guests see Anna, Elsa and Kristoff in Frozen Ever After, Ken Ricci, executive creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering, told TechRadar, they will feel “like they jumped off the screen themselves.”
“We wanted to improve the look of Anna, Elsa and Kristoff to make them more true to their movie,” Ricci said. “So their movements are still the same, they’re still part of the same show, the same story, but now they have more expression and similarity in their faces, which adds that extra dimension to telling the same story.”
Frozen Ever After originally premiered at Epcot on June 21, 2016, debuting with state-of-the-art figures that combined 3D-printed faces with projection-based animation superimposed on motors. It was a breakthrough at the time: combining physical movement with digitally animated expressions in a way few attractions had done before, while also matching the movements, specifically Elsa’s, to moments from the animated film.
Almost a decade later, the technology has evolved. In 2023, next-generation Frozen animatronic figures debuted at Hong Kong Disneyland. While Epcot’s version still features some of the longest wait times in the park, Imagineering saw an opportunity to make the experience even better.
The visible change is sculpted faces and improved expressions, making these real-life characters look more in line with the film’s imagery. The less visible (and equally significant) update is the infrastructure beneath them.
Ricci explained that Imagineering updated Epcot’s control systems and refined the kinematics of the figures to match those in Hong Kong.
“So these heads are actually an improvement on the Hong Kong design,” Ricci said. “We always thought about ‘How can we do this quickly to get the attraction back open to visitors?’ So we made some behind-the-scenes control system updates and more figure updates to match what we call kinematics (the mechanical vibrations) of the Hong Kong figures…”
By aligning those mechanical behaviors with the ride’s control architecture, Imagineering could reuse existing performance data instead of rebuilding the show’s animation from scratch, thus reducing the downtime required for this refurbishment.
The choreography has not changed and the music remains intact, but the precision, fluidity and facial fidelity of the figures have been modernized. More importantly, it will make the trip feel even more immersive.
Ricci emphasized that this type of cross-park improvement strategy is part of a long-standing Imagineering philosophy.
“We are always looking to take advantage of new technology that comes from our newer capital projects and insert it into our older attractions to enhance the guest experience,” he said.
The Frozen Ever After update comes amid a broader wave of animatronic innovation occurring across Disney’s experiences at its parks and cruise ships. In 2025, Disneyland Park debuted a Walt Disney audio-animatronic timed for the park’s 70th anniversary, while Disney World received an animatronic Parrot inside the fully immersive Beak and Barrel lounge and one for Clawhauser in Zootopia: Better Zoogether.
And in 2026, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris will debut an incredibly realistic traveling Olaf figure, further signaling Disney’s continued investment in advanced character technology.
Ultimately, the success of the upgrade will not be measured from a technical standpoint; It will be in the experience of riding it. Ricci rode the renovated attraction shortly before our conversation and shared:
“I just rode this morning as a test to take notes, and I’m telling you: standing in front of Elsa doing her ice magic, I got chills. It’s like she was standing in front of you and just walked out of the screen.”
It’s an exciting upgrade, designed to make returning visitors feel at home while giving the attraction a greater sense of immersion. And for first-time riders, it raises the bar for what a character-driven park ride will feel like in 2026.
Frozen Ever After is still the same musical journey through Arendelle. It’s simply more immersive now, with modernized animatronics that sharpen the visuals without overpowering them: technology in the service of the story, not the other way around, which certainly marches to the beat of Disney’s drums.
Of course, you can stream Frozen and Frozen 2 on Disney+, one of the best streaming services.
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