On June 26th, Disney unveiled a not too well kept secret: Frozen is coming to Hollywood Studios. Frozen Summer Live features a daily procession, a sing along show at the Premiere Theater, a fireworks show, indoor play place dance party and fireworks. Nothing major, but something fairly substantial featuring Disney's most popular current property.
This announcement comes rather sudden as the event begins July 5th and runs through early September. Although details for this leaked online over the last couple weeks, this felt like a rather quickly put together event. To me, it seems this was done for one reason: as counter programing for Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley.
Universal Studios' expansion to their popular Wizarding World has been under construction since early 2012 when Jaws closed. It is the London side of the Harry Potter Universe which is drastically different from Hogsmede at Islands of Adventure.
Harry Potter is one of the theme park industry's biggest successes as of late and Disney has yet to find it's answer. New Fantasyland and Pandora: World of Avatar are Disney's first attempt at trying to steal some of Universal's thunder, but are they enough?
Trying to bank on the popularity of Frozen makes a lot of sense. Frozen is currently Disney's most popular animated film of all time and certainly one of the hottest properties out since it's November 2013 release. It makes sense for Disney to capitalize on Frozen quickly while the iron is hot and I applaud them for doing so, but is it enough to break the spell cast by Potter? Probably not.
First of all, Frozen and Harry Potter have rather different audiences. If you are coming to Orlando for Potter, I doubt the Frozen event will sway you away for long, if at all. Same goes for Frozen's main audience.
Secondly, we have two rather different attractions. Diagon Alley is a big, immersive heavily themed area with tons of unique merch (some unique to Diagon Alley) with a state of the art E-Ticket ride and an exciting park to park ride/transportation system. Frozen is a temporary event. With the exception of the sing along show and various activities inside Soundstage 1, its mostly what Disney always does for events, just Frozen themed. Not exactly impressive, but that's not the point.
Disney hopes that it's younger audience will drive the popularity of it's Frozen event. The event is made for kids who love the movie and what is offered reflects that vision. Adults and teens will probably enjoy themselves too, but they aren't the focus of this event. Disney is far and away the leader of the Orlando area tourism industry, so they don't need to take away from Universal, just convince people to spend a bit more time at Disney.
Merch sales are another big driving force for Frozen coming to DHS. Universal makes quite a pretty penny off of Wizarding World merchandise. Although New Fantasyland is pretty and the attractions are solid, there isn't much in terms of unique items to buy. Frozen merchandise sells very well, so well in fact that Disney has implemented a purchase limit on Frozen items. New Frozen merch for Frozen Summer Live should make a lot of money, but is it enough to combat even more gifts from the Wizarding World? Probably not, but it should be a boost similar to Star Wars Weekends.
When it comes down to it, Frozen will boost the attendance of DHS, but won't really hurt Universal's Potter expansion. They are both going to be successful and will be sure to drive up attendance, but can they coexist without playing tug of war with their respective audiences? Absolutely! It may seem like a war for your tourism dollars, but there is only one true winner: the guests.
Written by Chris Coburn
Images from Disney Parks Blog, USA Today