A Popular EPCOT Ride Is CLOSING Next Month

If Frozen Ever After is a must-do on your EPCOT day, you’ll want to hear this now rather than at the ride entrance.

Frozen Ever After

Frozen Ever After is getting a refurbishment in early 2026, and we finally have the timeline. The popular attraction in the Norway pavilion will temporarily close on January 26th, 2026, for a refurbishment that’s expected to last about a month. During that time, Disney will roll out some long-awaited updates. If you’re planning a winter trip to EPCOT, keep reading because these changes could impact your plans.

Frozen Ever After has been a fan favorite since it debuted at EPCOT in 2016, and it’s pretty easy to see why.

Frozen Ever After

The ride takes guests on a journey through Arendelle and straight into Queen Elsa’s ice palace, all set to the songs everyone still knows by heart. Thanks to the massive success of Frozen, this attraction has consistently been one of the most popular rides in the park, especially with families and first-time visitors.

Frozen Ever After queue

Part of what makes Frozen Ever After so impressive is its Audio-Animatronics. The ride is packed with figures, including Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, and even Marshmallow. When the attraction opened, these animatronics were groundbreaking. Frozen Ever After was the first Disney attraction to feature all-electric Audio-Animatronics, which combined electric motors with 3D printing technology. That might sound technical, but the result was smoother movement, more expressive characters, and a level of detail that felt like a huge leap forward at the time.

Who doesn’t love Olaf?

Elsa’s animatronic is still one of the most talked-about moments on the ride. As you reach the top of the ice palace, her movements feel fluid and lifelike, especially her hand gestures as she creates ice around her. To make that work, Imagineers had to carefully design her arms and hands with enough internal space to run cables and motors while still keeping everything proportional. That level of engineering is wild, and it helped set the standard for future animatronics across Disney parks worldwide.

Frozen Ever After

Over the years, that technology has continued to evolve. You can see its influence in newer attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in the U.S. parks, as well as international rides like Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival at Tokyo DisneySea and the World of Frozen attraction in Hong Kong Disneyland. Those rides take animatronic realism to another level, and now EPCOT’s Frozen Ever After is getting a piece of that upgrade.

Tiana

So what’s actually changing? Disney has confirmed that Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff will all receive updates to their animatronics. After nearly ten years, the projected faces on these characters will be replaced. The new designs will draw inspiration from the incredibly lifelike figures seen at World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland. The goal is a more true-to-film look that better matches how these characters appear on screen, and honestly, we’re very excited about it.

Frozen Ever After animatronics (EPCOT)

About the dates, again, Disney shared that Frozen Ever After will temporarily close for refurbishment on January 26th, 2026. The attraction is expected to reopen in February 2026 with the updated Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff Audio-Animatronics in place. Disney hasn’t shared an exact reopening day yet, but the closure appears to be relatively short.

©Disney

If Frozen Ever After is high on your priority list, this is something to keep in mind while planning your EPCOT visit early next year. The good news is that these updates should make an already beloved ride even better, and we can’t wait to see the final result.

Hong Kong Disneyland Animatronics

We’ll be keeping a close eye out for an official reopening date and more details as Disney shares them. Make sure you stay tuned to DisneyFoodBlog so you don’t miss any updates on this refurbishment and everything else happening around Walt Disney World.

FULL GUIDE to World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland

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Are you excited to see the updated Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff animatronics when Frozen Ever After reopens, or are you more nervous about the temporary closure? Let us know in the comments.

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