Disney Adventure World has finally opened to much fanfare in Disneyland Paris! This redo of the former Walt Disney Studios Park has felt a long time coming, but last Sunday it officially underwent the name change and opened new areas of the parks to guests – World of Frozen and Adventure Way. We’ve been watching the parks app, social media and more like a hawk, and there’s already some valuable tips and tricks for exploring the new areas emerging – and we’re sharing them here!

Animatronic Olaf is… not guaranteed

Probably one of the most anticipated things coming to the new World of Frozen was a walking and talking animatronic of Olaf, the adorable snowman from the Frozen franchise. And there’s no doubt that this animatronic is super impressive! But we’ve already learnt that seeing animatronic Olaf is not a guarantee.

For starters, there are no set times for Olaf to come and walk around to talk to guests, although it’s happened a few times. The only time when the Olaf animatronic is meant to make a guaranteed appearance is the Celebration in Arendelle show, where he appears on a floating stage with Kristoff. Even then though, Olaf might not be present in animatronic form – a B-Mode of the show has already been seen with Olaf appearing as a puppet instead!

If animatronic Olaf does make an appearance in World of Frozen outside of the show, expect him to stay in a roped off area – you won’t be able to go up to him for hugs or anything like that. And even if he does appear, Olaf might get stage fright! The video of the animatronic freezing has gone pretty viral so you’ve probably seen it by now (I’ve also added it below from the USA Today channel). Of course the animatronic is advanced technology, and as anyone who’s had to reboot their computer or phone for apparently no reason whatsoever knows, tech is finicky and sometimes just doesn’t work as planned! So while I’d certainly hope to see Olaf in his animatronic form, note that there’s no guarantee that it will happen!

Wait to get into World of Frozen? Come back in the afternoon!

The new World of Frozen area is very popular, and not very large, so to manage capacity at times Disneyland Paris are putting a queue system in place. Queues for the land seem to peak late morning. But if the queue is too long for you, come back in the mid-afternoon onwards!

Looking at the queue times from the app to get into the land, they are drastically dropping after around 3pm, often becoming non-existent. So this might be a great time to head over to the land if you want to head in and explore without the wait. Just note that the Frozen Ever After ride will probably keep its long wait throughout the day (although it is dropping a bit in the afternoons, it’s still staying pretty long!). Speaking of Frozen Ever After…

Disney Hotel guest? Tackle Frozen Ever After during Magic Hour!

The Frozen Ever After ride is quickly building up long queues that stay long throughout the day. The quickest time to get on this ride seems to be during Magic Hour, the extra hour in the park before opening to day guests that is a perk of staying in one of the Disneyland Paris hotels.

If you’re a Disney hotel guest and really want to ride Frozen Ever After, aim to arrive to Disney Adventure World before Magic Hour starts (typically it’s 8.30-9.30am, although that can change due to the park opening hours). So if opening for Magic Hour is at 8.30am aim to be there before then. (I know, early morning and all that). Then head to World of Frozen as soon as you can and jump in the queue. Those getting to the ride at the beginning of Magic Hour are reporting getting on the ride in 20 minutes or less.

Of course if you can’t get to the park for the beginning of Magic Hour, or aren’t a Disney Hotel guest, then getting on the ride is a bit more tricky – by the time you get in the park the queue for Frozen Ever After is already going to be long and it’ll stay that way for the bulk of the day. Your best chance for a bit of a lower wait might be to return in the evening – there’ll still be a queue but hopefully it might be a bit shorter! Hopefully you’ll also eventually be able to buy a single Premier Access pass for the ride. Premier Access is now available at the ride, but only for people who by the Ultimate Premier Access pass (that gives access to all the rides on one day that offers the Premier Access line, a steep price!).

Side note, if you’re a Disney hotel guest and aren’t interested in Frozen Ever After, use Magic Hour to hit up Crush’s Coaster instead – now the masses are heading towards World of Frozen, it’s made the Magic Hour lines for this ride a bit less intense!

Priority Pass for the differently-abled is working in the new area

One area that Disneyland Paris excels in is their support for the differently-abled, including their Priority Pass that allows for expedited waiting in lines. And thankfully this is working just fine for the new areas in Disney Adventure World.

The Priority Pass can be used to speed waits at both Frozen Ever After and Raiponce Tangled Spin. Note that for Frozen Ever After in particular because this ride is so popular you’ll probably still have a wait, but it’ll be a lot shorter than the main line! (I’ve seen reports of 20 minutes or so wait when the main line is around 80 minutes). The Priority Pass can also be shown for a shorter wait to get into World of Frozen itself if there’s a queue to get into the land, and may help with shorter wait times in the shops too. And there’s a special viewing area for guests with the Priority Pass for Disney Cascade of Lights, the new nighttime show. (If you head up Adventure Way to the path around the lake, head left to find the viewing area). Rather like the viewing area for Tales of Magic in the park next door, this can still be busy so it’s recommended you get there a reasonable chunk of time before the show for a spot in this space – I’ve seen that Disney cast members are currently recommending about an hour before. That might change though as currently of course the show is packing in the crowds being shiny and new!

One thing the Priority Card can’t help you with though, and that’s meeting Anna and Elsa in the Royal Encounter – this is a virtual queue system so it’s a fastest finger first game for everyone! Make sure you’re on the app and ready to click ‘join queue’ for the meet and greet before the time the queue spots open up (typically 9.45am and 2pm), and click ‘Join’ the second the clock ticks over to that time. And then cross your fingers and hope!

Don’t overlook the entertainment on Adventure Way!

Naturally the main focus of the refreshed park is the ultra-immersive World of Frozen, but don’t run past Adventure Way to get there because this area has a lot to offer!

As well as the Raiponce Tangled Spin ride, Adventure Way offers scenic gardens, food stands, and a whole lot of live entertainment – from character meet and greets with Mickey Mouse, to musical performances featuring Disney characters (heavily borrowed from the Disney Music Festival that ran in the Disneyland Park last year!), to live musicians adding to the ambiance of the area.

And there’s still more to come too – Disney have already said that more character meet and greets will be coming to this area later in the year, and there’s also going to be a Princess Calvacade starting this summer!

The best food? It might be outside World of Frozen

Aside from the Princess Character Dining spot of Regal View Restaurant, the main new quick service opening is Nordic Crowns Tavern over in World of Frozen. This spot offers Nordic themed meals and Frozen inspired desserts. But it’s by no means the only new food spot.

Reviews for Nordic Crowns Tavern have been… mixed. The theming and details get rave reviews but some folks seem a lot less enthusiastic about the food! Of course this might be that they’re not fans of that style of cuisine, or that this new restaurant is still finding its feet while feeding hundreds of guests – and there have been positive reviews too.

But there are a lot of new spots also open around Adventure Way, and the reviews for the food here have been more positive! This includes themed hot dogs and a Cinnamon Roll at Cafe Luminosity, filled bread bowls at La Terrace Panoramgique, and the trio of booths themed to the Aristocats offering sandwiches, pancakes and sweet treats. Of course there’s been some folks that have had bad experiences here, but overall more folks seem like these offerings than the ones over in Nordic Crowns!

Just interested in the new merchandise? Try the gift shops in World Premiere Plaza

World of Frozen offers two wonderfully themed gift shops with an array of Frozen themed merchandise designed for the new land. The new shops are proving to be popular – so much so that there can be queues to get in them! But what happens if you just want to see the new merchandise and aren’t worried about seeing the new shops?

If this is you then head over to the two large shops in World Premiere Plaza, the Walt Disney Studios Store (which I though was going to get a name change but it’s not happened yet!) in the entrance courtyard, and Mickey’s of Hollywood inside the World Premiere building. The bulk of the new merchandise in World of Frozen can also be found out here with a lot less of a wait!

Look out for the hints of what’s to come!

A whole lot of change has already happened in this park. But there’s a whole lot yet to come!

I’ve already mentioned the new Princess calvacade coming to Adventure Way this summer, and new character meet and greets to follow later in the year. But that’s not all of the changes.

At the top of Adventure Way work is already underway on a new Up swinging chair ride. And a big part of the area around the new lake will be taken up by a new Lion King themed land. Hints of this land are already in place – a subtle Pride Rock motif on the park map, and themed gateways and decorated construction walls in the park. Disney reportedly even wanted to paint the cranes working on the site in animal print to match the theming! (Shame they couldn’t do it). There are no dates yet for the Lion King land or Up ride (we might get some at the D23 taking place in August this year) so we’ve got a wait, but it’s great to see the work happening to plus up this park even more!

So there’s some tips and tricks already emerging about Disney Adventure World. Have you explored the new areas yet and have your own thoughts or tips? Add them in the comments! And please subscribe to this blog too, you’ll receive our blogs in your inbox and a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris attraction accessibility (typically £3). We share tips and tricks over on our YouTube channel too so please come visit us there, and if you’d like to support our work please do consider leaving us a tip. Thank you!