First Look at Disney's New 'Frozen'-Themed Roller Coaster

May 11, 2023, 9:48 PM · Disney's first purpose-built Frozen land is moving closer to an opening date, and Imagineers are sharing some fresh looks of its signature roller coaster ride.

Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs is a 978-foot custom Vekoma Junior Coaster now under construction in Hong Kong Disneyland's upcoming World of Frozen land. It will be Disney's first roller coaster themed to the Frozen franchise.

Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs
Photos courtesy Walt Disney Imagineering

"The ride will be powered by his buddies Olaf and Sven as they work together to pull the sleighs to the top of the lift hill," Disney said in a social media post that also showed a look at those characters inside the attraction.

Olaf and Sven

WDI has posted a short video of Imagineers before and after taking a test ride on the new coaster. Yeah, they serve a lot of hype, but the snippet does provide a nice look at the sleigh-themed trains in action.

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Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs is one of two attractions in Hong Kong Disneyland's World of Frozen land, joining another installation of Epcot's Frozen Ever After boat ride. Disney CEO Bob Iger said this week that the new land is set to open in the second half of 2023. A second Frozen-themed land is under construction at Disneyland Paris' Walt Disney Studios Park, with an expected completion next year or later.

Update: The Hong Kong land will open in November - Disney's New Frozen Land Gets an Opening Date.

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Replies (13)

May 11, 2023 at 10:05 PM

Bet this layout will be very similar to seven dwarfs mine train! If it is, cool because its an awesome family coaster with some kick and cool visuals. The only thing that drags it down is its popularity and wait times.

HK Disneyland is fantastic folks. It has come into its own by featuring some truly awesome exclusives, classics, and now Frozen. Best of all, the crowds are not as prohibitive at the other "Disneylands." Been there once and it is up there with my favorite Disney days ever.

But dam, it's far for us Americans.

May 12, 2023 at 1:05 AM

This looks great and I agree with Manny above, Hong Kong Disneyland is fantastic. Spent a week there in 2016 and was honestly wowed. It was small in comparison to the American Disneys, but made up for it in cleanliness and overall happier atmosphere, generally cast members seemed more upbeat and other guests and families seemed happier and less stressed. I don’t think we saw one family meltdown around us which are so so common in the US parks. This looks like it will be a great addition to the park - its third mountain effectively. Can’t wait to go back and check it out.

May 12, 2023 at 6:22 AM

I'd be very interested to know when this is likely to open. We have a family trip to Hong Kong in late September and I'd love to see this new land. I think its unfortunately pretty unlikely to be open in time though.

May 12, 2023 at 7:54 AM

That has got to be the thickest track spine on a "junior" coaster in the world. Give it to Disney, they always over-engineer their attractions so they can take the beating that comes with being operated at optimal capacity 365 days a year. It's a shame they don't always build the same ruggedness into thematic elements (though even when they do, they still don't build them rugged enough - see Disco Yeti).

May 12, 2023 at 2:07 PM

It just occurred to me that the "second half of the year" starts in less than 50 days, so this might not be too far from a debut. I'd guess about 30 days after the scaffolding comes down, for operations cast training and testing.

May 12, 2023 at 5:04 PM

I'm still not sold on shoehorning in Frozen: Ever After in the international parks. For retrofitting Maelstrom in EPCOT, the ride is fine, but I feel there are so many better uses of attraction real estate when starting from scratch. This coaster looks great and is an example of what Imagineering should be doing, rather than adding a ride system and design from 35 years ago.

May 13, 2023 at 12:08 AM

Given the length, I'm expecting this thing to be more of an enlarged Gadget Coaster or Barnstormer than a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but the theming on the coaster does look excellent. It should be a great addition for a park that doesn't really have as much in the children's department as the other Disney castle parks.

May 13, 2023 at 8:12 AM

Definitely agree with all the HKDL love. It's a beautifully intimate, relaxed park - a change of pace from the other castle parks. (And for my money, Mystic Manor is one of the top 5 rides anywhere in the world.) This seems very in-keeping with what makes it such a great experience.

May 14, 2023 at 12:28 AM

Hopefully, it's better than Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I struggle to see why the average person over the age of 8 would want to wait more than an hour for something so underwhelming.

May 14, 2023 at 11:37 AM

because they have children who are under the age of eight, like incredibly themed experiences or simply aren't big fans of roller coasters.

you know, people who typically buy tickets to disney castle parks.

May 15, 2023 at 9:07 AM

It seems like it's just been announced as a November opening. Dangit... Missed it by 2 months

May 15, 2023 at 8:03 PM

I really don't consider Seven Dwarfs to be incredibly themed (relative to Disney standards), and I don't really think a coaster is the right ride system for it. It's as if they decided to do 20% of the theming of a dark ride without the coaster actually improving the ride or fitting the pacing of the ride. It seems counterintuitive to make a coaster for people that don't even mildly enjoy coasters. All 3 of my kids were under 8 years old when they rode this, and none of them enjoyed it. In fact, I've never met anyone who was glad they waited in line for this ride. It's one of the newer rides in the park, and parents are desperate to give their kids something with a mild thrill.
If they're going to do a coaster, the ride system has to make sense. Big Thunder makes sense. Even Gringots makes sense just for the one semi-dive coaster element (which by the way, my under 8 year old kids enjoyed). If the whole family doesn't enjoy the ride, then it's not a successful ride. The ride is basically relying on Magic Kingdom inertia.

May 16, 2023 at 11:02 AM

I don't know what to tell you. not everyone is going to like everything. its theming far surpasses what you find on space mountain and the matterhorn, and its not much more mild a coaster than anything you'll find at a castle park. most of the coasters I've mentioned are considered classics.

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