Just watched a YouTube ride through of El Rio. Thanks for the reminder. Guess I can see it both ways but the Disney (3 Caballeros) version is more my speed. If Maelstrom goes the way of Frozen, there’s clearly precedence. Again, thanks for the reminder!
May be an outlier here but agreed somewhat including the new TT overlay. But, disagree somewhat when I think about some changes including the addition of Food and Wine.
There is a VERY long discussion thread about this on wdwmagic Frozen ride replacing Maelstrom? | WDWMAGIC - Unofficial Walt Disney World discussion forums At over 3,000 posts spread over 177 pages, it’s kind of tedious to read through. A few “highlights” from this RUMOR mill:
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Disney is in negotiations with Norway to come up with $9M for refurb and operations. Most likely would be with a private company sponsor, and not the government.
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Norway is not keen on a Frozen makeover.; the $9M would be used to keep it just as it is, with some minor improvements.
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If the deal with Norway falls through, some level of Frozen retheming will be coming.
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Some of the possible “changes” being “considered”
a. Doing a Frozen overlay of Maelstrom (likely)
b. Changing Akershus to an “Anna and Elsa Coronation Feast”, removing the other princesses (easy to do and a very inexpensive change to make).
c. Retheming the outside of the Maelstrom ride to be more specific to Arendelle (probable if the ride overlay is done).
d. Building a “background” Ice Palace, similar to the Eifel Tower in France (a stretch)
e. Completely retheming the whole area and changing the name from Norway to Arendelle (this one has very little traction).
Keep in mind that these are all RUMORS. WDWMagic has a number of posters who DO have inside info, so I typically rate the info there as being slightly more reliable than a standard FB feed, but on this topic, even amongst the “insiders” there is no concensus… It will be interesting to see how this all pans out…
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From another thread:
“It is not an option for my Sept 29th thru Oct 7th trip. I tried to get a FP for it.”
Given the repeated reports of no fpps for Maelstrom from Sept 28 onward, something will be going on.
As a Mexican I liked the current Donald-ified ride better. The original Rio del Tiempo focused only on Acapulco and we have so much more to show off than that. As a Donald fan I liked the current version obviously. But as an impartial Disney fan, I always thought Rio del Tiempo was a cute IASW wannabe. It did me proud.
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Definitely interesting to hear an opinion on El Rio from a Mexican perspective, quicha! I hadn’t even considered the difference in locales between the two versions.
Just had to comment… 
As a Norwegian I can tell you right now that there is absolutely no official discussion (that I know of, and I would I say I am above average interested in anything Disney… 
) on this matter. The interview is based solely on this one guys opinion (he obviously worked at the Norwegian pavillion once), and the government refused to give a comment. I would love for it to be a discussion here though. Since my first visit in 2005 I have been hoping that Maelstrom would be updated, and especially the movie, but as far as I know it’s not something our government is considering funding.
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I agree. If this change over ‘works’ then why isn’t Morroco Alladin ville, or why isn’t there a talking tea pot in France?
I do like the Akershus change to Anna & Elsa Coronation Feast idea.
Agree to a point. Alladin is no Frozen though in many respects. Again, I’m not big on Frozen but many are and so I get it.