Dash of summer snow, awe-inspiring landscape help shape the Kingdom of Arendelle

The world’s first and largest World of Frozen theme land will open on November 20 at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

A team of experienced Imagineers has spent years of effort and hard work to bring authentic recreations of the Kingdom of Arendelle from Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen film series.

In the happily-ever-after story of the World of Frozen, peace and prosperity has returned to the kingdom.

Elsa has embraced her magical powers, and she and Anna have created a "Summer Snow Day" to the delight of Arendelle – commemorating the day that Anna saved her elder sister and the kingdom with an act of true love.

Amanda Chiu Nga-yan, senior producer of Walt Disney Imagineering Asia, said the team tailor-made the storyline for Hong Kong, where it never snows.

“Snow may come up on people’s minds when they think of the Frozen film series, so we tried to integrate summer elements into the theme park,” Chiu said.

The Imagineer team borrowed the natural and unique backdrop of Lantau Island to create an awe-inspiring landscape that transports guests to Arendelle, seamlessly blending man-made landforms and the existing environment.  The village of Arendelle features iconic landmarks that appeared in the films, such as North Mountain, Elsa’s Ice Palace and Clock Tower.

Beneath the iconic clock tower, visitors can find the entrance to the Frozen Ever After boat ride, which features Walt Disney Imagineering's fully electric Audio-Animatronics® technology developed by Walt Disney Imagineering.

Chiu said the team did countless calculations and simulations so that characters like Anna, Elsa and Kristoff are able to face every visitor throughout the boat ride.

“We watched the two Frozen films frame by frame to ensure the park’s details cohere with the films, and our guests can have a brand-new adventure in Arendelle,” she said.

The architecture in Arendelle is based on real-world examples, inspired by the Norwegian village of Balestrand and the city of Bergen in the 1840s.

Wood is utilized as a primary building material in Balestrand’s architecture, with a strong focus on geometric shapes, and asymmetrical architectural designs that were influenced by the 19th-century “dragestil” style of architecture.

The houses in Arendelle are built in blue, purple, green and yellow, which are the major colors of Elsa’s and Anna’s dresses.

“Building asymmetric architectures is not easy at all,” said Vincent Lai Wing-him, senior architect of Walt Disney Imagineering. “Since the Kingdom of Arendelle is not modern architecture, what is more important is how we recreate it with modern architectural technology.”

Moel Halim, design manager, said the team even went to Norway for site visits to understand the details of the Norwegian wooden houses.

To comply with Disney's safety standards and Hong Kong’s building regulations, the team eventually explored other materials to recreate the wood-like appearance.

“There is a lot of ice ornamentation, or what we called Elsa’s Ice Magic in the park that we recreated with designated glass,” Halim said.

“We also spent time exploring suitable materials and UV painting to make sure the Ice Magic has a transparent feeling like real ice while fulfilling safety requirements.”

Lai said the three-meter-high Friendship Fountain is the most complicated installation in the park, as it took the team around two years to create.

“We have Elsa’s Ice Magic installed as the ornament, but at the same time it is a fountain that has multiple functions, such as light effects as well as sound effects and audio guides, so it was quite a challenge to include all components in a limited space,” Lai said.

Overcoming challenges with technologies

World of Frozen is the largest expansion project since Hong Kong Disneyland opened, and it comes with some challenges amid the pandemic, said Joyce Chih Chung-nga, construction manager of field operations, at Walt Disney Imagineering Asia.

 The theme park is the first project to fully apply the “building information modeling” (BIM) system, which optimizes the progress of planning and designs.

To speed up the construction process, the team used the “modular integrated construction” (MIC) method for Arendelle Castle, as well as the track of the Frozen Ever After ride.

Chih said the pandemic had changed the team’s way of communicating with their mainland and US counterparts using teleconferences or Zoom.

“Since we also used the MIC method, we could check with our mainland counterpart from time to time on the progress of the pre-assembled parts,” Chih said.

On the village side, there is a restaurant and souvenir shops – Northern Delights, a candy shop, and Tick Tock Toys & Collectibles.

Walking through the King Agnarr Bridge, guests can see the Arendelle Castle.

In Arendelle Forest is the first-ever Frozen-themed roller coaster, Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs and Playhouse in the Woods.

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