Disney Adventure World opening day: World of Frozen steals the show

The day that many Disney fans have been waiting for arrived today, 29th March, as Disney Adventure World opened for the first time. In a rebranding that aims to shift Disneyland Paris’ second gate from a half-day park to a full day adventure, the opening was clearly all about one area: World of Frozen.

Across the newly rebranded and rethemed park wait times were low to modest everywhere, apart from one place: World of Frozen. Walt Disney Studios Park has nearly doubled in size as part of its transformation to Disney Adventure World with World of Frozen positioned as the centrepiece of that expansion. We’re taking a look at opening day hype, first day queues, and what’s new and open at Disney Adventure World from today.

Opening ceremonies: a grand beginning

Disney Adventure World officially welcomed its first guests this morning, marking the moment Walt Disney Studios Park became Disney Adventure World. Disneyland Paris made it quite the occasion too: before official opening, Spider-Man appeared on the Earffel Tower to reveal the new park name.

The emotional centre of the celebrations quickly shifted to Frozen, with music from Frozen 2, a performance built around an ice piano, appearances from Anna, Elsa and Olaf, and a finale built around Let It Go. Disney executives also singled out Frozen as one of the company's most resonant global stories.

The day follows a high-profile inauguration event held on the evening of 28th March, which Disney used to frame this as the start of a new era for the resort.

World of Frozen: queueing to queue

While Disney Adventure World opened as a whole, World of Frozen saw the biggest crowds, and as stated guests were required to queue to enter the World of Frozen, before queueing again to experience Frozen Ever After. Wait times to enter the area were in excess of 100 minutes for large parts of the day.

Frozen Ever After, also experienced very high queue times throughout the day, with times hitting highs of over 200 minutes, not to mention experiencing significant downtime.

It is however exciting to see the map alive with wait times for these attractions; a moment fans have been waiting for since the 2018 announcement of this €2billlion expansion.

Queue times were low around Disney Adventure World for opening day

Disney Adventure World now also includes Adventure Way, Adventure Bay, Raiponce Tangled Spin, Worlds of Pixar and Marvel Avengers Campus. While the majority of these attractions are not new, the expansion has seen significant retheming of the entry areas and entrances into some of the lands. Today though, crowds did not seem to be heading to any areas other than World of Frozen.

Wait times around the park were generally really low given the crowds heading into Disney Adventure World this morning, the previous hype, and Disneyland Paris’ own words of warning that a ticket to the parks today may not guarantee entrance to World of Frozen.

The low wait times show that the main pull of the new park is indeed World of Frozen which is effectively a cut and paste of The World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland.

What is newly open at Disney Adventure World from today

From today, the renamed Disney Adventure World will add more than just steps to your day. The new central lake Adventure Bay, the Tangled-inspired family ride Raiponce Tangled Spin, 15 new dining locations, and the park's first daily night-time spectacular, Disney Cascade of Lights are all part of the offering. For a full list of everything available head to Disney Adventure World new rides: what else is there beyond World of Frozen attractions?

Inside World of Frozen, the new offer includes Frozen Ever After, the daytime show A Celebration in Arendelle, a royal encounter with Anna and Elsa, character interactions, a tavern and themed shops. Disney Adventure World also now operates as the home of three main immersive areas: World of Frozen, Worlds of Pixar and Marvel Avengers Campus.

An incomplete park

Although this was the grand opening today, 29th March, the park is not yet fully complete. The Lion King area and an Up! attraction are still yet to open, so the adventure is only just beginning. For UK visitors, the pull of the World of Frozen is enough to make visiting now worthwhile, but expect to still see cranes.

Despite the incomplete status this park is going to be a huge draw for many UK families and Disney fans in the coming months, so expect the long wait times in World of Frozen to continue.

Magic in a minute

Today, Disney may have opened a new-era park in Disneyland Paris with the opening of Disney Adventure World, but it launched it with Frozen front and centre. That is likely to be the main pull for UK visitors moving forward.