Maelstrom: Let It Go

I must admit that I was a little torn on this one in the beginning. The rumor mill started churning months ago about the possible closure of the Maelstrom ride at Epcot's Norway Pavilion. It's replacement would be a ride based on the film Frozen.

No one could argue that Walt Disney World needed a Frozen-themed exhibit somewhere. I hoped for an alternative. Perhaps they could build a "Frozen World" of sorts at Disney's Hollywood Studios, being that it is, after all, a movie. Perhaps they could incorporate Frozen at Magic Kingdom and add Anna and Elsa to its ever-growing list of princesses for the kids to meet and greet.

This past week, it was made official. Maelstrom is closing in favor of Frozen.

There was sadness on my part. Another piece of the old EPCOT Center is gone. I wasn't outraged. I have my memories. I'll wait and see how the new ride turns out, sometime in 2016.

If you're looking for outrage, look no further than Twitter. I’ve read plenty of comments from people who are downright pissed. How dare Disney mess with the sanctity of the World Showcase! This time they've gone too far! This is not Walt's vision...

Actually, yes it is.

EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing, and testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.... So that's what EPCOT is: an Experimental Prototype Community that will always be in the state of becoming.

So there it is - a pledge from the man himself. Times will change and Epcot will change with the times. Sure, I miss Horizons. I bought the window decal on ebay for my car. I miss World of Motion and original version of The Living Seas. I'll miss Maelstrom. Someday, Journey Into Imagination will close and they will finally demolish the old Wonders of Life building. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you miss it, buy Jeff Lange's DVDs.

There's one refrain that struck a nerve with me though. It's this idea that just because EPCOT Center “died” in 1993, that doesn’t make it right NOT to be upset over Frozen replacing Maelstrom.

Apparently, Disneyphiles have the right to be pissed off. Stop and read that last sentence again. Fans of Disney have a right to be pissed off?? Talk about a Volvo with a gun rack...

 

First off, if you are genuinely pissed at Disney, you are incapable of being happy. Believe me, I’m an expert on the subject. You go to the parks to escape real life and to lose yourself in the magic. It's the happiest place on Earth. There are characters, Mickey bars, thrill rides and fireworks.

I think it’s more about people fearing change than being angry at the change. We are all allowed to be sad. Maelstrom was a great attraction. That being said, I find it funny and a little hypocritical that people are miffed at the creation of a ride that will mirror a film that captured everyone’s imagination and garnered 1.3 BILLION dollars at the box office.

1.3 billion, with a B! Again, please let that sink in. People paid 1.3 billion dollars to see Frozen in the theaters, and they are complaining about the creation of a ride based on that movie.

 

Are these the same people who complain because their college football team had a disastrous season and lost all of one game? Are these the same people who are up in arms because the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs for only the second time in twenty years?

 

The truth is that people who complain are in the vocal minority. They have blogs and Twitter accounts and they aren’t afraid to speak their minds. The powers-that-be aren’t listening to them, because they know who to listen to. Any good business will listen to the majority, no matter how educated and passionate the minority may be. That is one thing I’ve learned from all my years of following WWE. They don't listen to the internet marks who beg for John Cena to turn heel. They listen to the children who buy his merchandise and cater to them.

Speaking of which, how much money do you think Disney has made off of Frozen-themed merchandise? That 1.3 billion dollars in box office revenue is just the tip of the iceberg. The cash registers speak louder than any Disney Parks historian.
 

How much money did the Maelstrom movie make? How many DVDs and T-shirts did it sell? How many miles did you have to drive to find that one store on the Eastern seaboard that had just ONE Maelstrom doll? How many Oscars did a song from the Maelstrom movie win?

The truth hurts. The same people who claim to be outraged at the changes to the Norway pavilion are the same ones who buy annual passes, premium D23 memberships and a plethora of Disney items. They spend countless hours at the parks and leave a lot of money behind. Surely, they captured the spirit of Norway enough times in the twenty-five years Maelstrom was around.

This is just another way to bring the kids into the park. Twenty-five years from now, the kids of today will be the adults of tomorrow. They will lament the closure of the Frozen ride in favor of another ride based on another Disney film that made more than Scrooge McDuck's net worth. That's the circle of life.

Maelstrom. Let it go.