King Olav V had grand visions for his country. He felt that his loyal subjects were extraordinary, and he wanted the world to know it. The Norwegian king had fought bravely during World War II, and his leadership had caused his people to feel the same of him. He earned the nickname “Folkekongen,” which loosely translates as The People’s King. It was a mutual admiration society that King Olav V wanted to share with the world.
When the opportunity arose to pay for a pavilion at EPCOT Center, brave Olav persuaded his government to spend $30 million on the project. Through this investment, everyone visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth would know of the culture and heritage of Norway. It was a bold plan that involved recurring payments of $200,000 annually for a decade in exchange for a massive increase in awareness for Norwegian tourism. And everything that the country’s greatest leader of the 20th century did to give his people the awareness that they deserved all paled in comparison to what happened in the wake of an ice princess singing an inspirational song about overcoming the growing pains of life.
The Norway Pavilion is now an odd amalgam of respectful representation of the history of a great nation and a celebration of Disney branding. Here are four reasons to visit the World Showcase’s most incongruous pavilion, the one that’s spiked in popularity in recent years.
The design
King Olav V and his government were instrumental to the construction of this pavilion. They had to be. They were only one of three countries who planned to share the space at first. Disney envisioned this place as the Denmark Pavilion, with a focus on LEGOs. Then, they expanded the idea to a larger Scandinavian project. Neither of these builds would use Norway as the focus but rather an afterthought. Then, Disney execs discovered that many foreign countries found the idea of a showcase pavilion unbecoming and pointless.
Where others saw ridiculousness, Olav V saw opportunity. While his ambition wouldn’t match the results of the first 25 years, the Norway Pavilion certainly had his fingerprints all over it. The honest evaluation is that the Morocco Pavilion is the only other location at the World Showcase with the same attention to detail as Norway. Not coincidentally, those are the two places where the leader of the country was intimately involved in the planning and construction of the site.
The Norway Pavilion covers 58,000 square feet of space at the World Showcase. The entire structure has a theme, something that would warm Walt Disney’s heart if he’d lived to see it. This pavilion is modeled as a Norwegian village, with homey, atmospheric touches sprinkled throughout the buildings. It uses several major styles of authentic Norwegian architecture that mirror actual places in the country.
For example, the valleys of southern Norway have a style known as Setesdal architecture while the country’s capital, Oslo, has a distinct style for its palace and mansions. The pavilion integrates all of these concepts through interconnected buildings. Imagineers emphasized the theming by using classic Norwegian fairytale characters like wooden trolls as accompanying artistry on the buildings. A walk through this pavilion is like taking a look at the greatest hits of Norwegian architecture.
The food
You’ll have two options for meals at the Norway Pavilion. Neither of them is your usual Walt Disney World fare. This pavilion emphasizes authenticity everywhere, and that carries into the restaurants. The quick service location is Kringla Bakeri og Kafe. You don’t have to speak the language to know that baked goods are a point of emphasis here. The School Bread is the stuff of myth and legend. The restaurant also offers quick bites and light meals such as Norwegian charcuterie and ham and apple sandwiches. Many foodies swear by Traditional Kjøttkake, a meatball dish. If you’re eating here, grab the Viking Combo to have a little bit of everything.
The star of dining at the Norway Pavilion, however, is the table service offering. Akershus is the Disney’s savant’s answer to Cinderella’s Royal Table. While everyone loves eating inside Cinderella Castle, Akershus has just as many princesses available for Meet and Greets. It also has better food. It’s an (expensive) buffet with a combination of serving station and an ordering menu. The serving station features a brown cheese called Gjetost that is Lose Your Mind delicious. You can look at the menu options here. Whatever you want for dinner, I heartily recommend the Rice Cream dessert.
One final pro tip about Akershus: It’s an excellent breakfast choice. When you start your day here, you’ll look your best for the photographs, something that will NOT be true later in the day. We recently went there for lunch in the wake of a monsoon. The poor princesses didn’t want anybody touching them and ruining their costumes, but they had no choice. Meanwhile, our pictures looked like we’d just lost a bet on Splash Mountain. The point is that you’ll look better first thing in the morning. Plus, after you’ve finished eating, you are right beside Frozen Ever After. If you nail the timing on this, you’ll be at the front of the line when Epcot opens.
The character meeting
Are you familiar with Anna and Elsa? These are characters from an unheralded Disney movie called Frozen. It slipped through the cracks during the holiday season of 2013, earning a modest $1.27 billion worldwide. It was barely even the largest release of 2013 and the number one animated movie of all-time.
If you can’t tell I’m being sarcastic, I’m worried about you.
Frozen is the dominant force in Disney theme parks over the past five years. For a time, a theme park tourist couldn’t walk 10 feet in a Disney park without seeing an Anna or Elsa costume. Frozen was the unofficial sponsor of Halloween 2014. Even a few years down the road, its presence is still felt and will continue to matter as release approaches for Frozen 2. While it’s unlikely to have the same impact as Frozen, Let It Go is already an unquestioned staple in the Disney music library. Frozen has entered that special Disney pantheon reserved for true classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and Beauty and the Beast.
At the Norway Pavilion, Disney faced a tough call. That wanted to honor the wishes of King Olav V while also capitalizing on the tremendous popularity of Frozen. While they haven’t disrupted any of the existing architecture and only altered one store dramatically, they did build an entirely new area in the wake of Frozen. The Royal Sommerhus is a specially designed meet and greet with the sisters who are the backbone of Frozen. Meeting Anna and Elsa is going to be a thing with the current generation of under-18 women for basically the rest of their lives. It’s a seminal event for them, and that fact alone guarantees that this character meeting spot will maintain appeal for many years to come.
The ride
No matter how wonderful the architecture is at the Norway Pavilion, the entire perception of this section of the World Showcase is different now. It’s the Frozen area, and King Olav V wouldn’t be that upset if he knew the reason why. Sure, Frozen’s based on a fictional place rather than a real city in Norway, but the impact is the same. Tourism in Norway has skyrocketed in the wake of the movie’s release. Disney even offers extended cruises to this part of the world now…and they sell out.
With Frozen spiking the popularity of the Norway Pavilion, Disney park execs didn’t have much choice. They knew that Maelstrom, the existing attraction here, was a wonderful celebration of Norse mythology, which is for my money the greatest mythology ever created. Maelstrom was one of the hidden gems at Epcot or really the entirety of Walt Disney World. It rarely had a wait, had a signature moment when the boat reversed course, and provided a wonderful break during a hot day at the World Showcase.
Maelstrom had to go.
In the same space where Maelstrom once existed, Disney now offers Frozen Ever After, an extremely good attraction that celebrates all the high points of the movie in a way that also honors Walt Disney. He loved building rides as set pieces. Frozen Ever After is the best one in recent memory. The ride design offers several iconic moments from the movie, all of which build to that seminal moment when Elsa belts out the unforgettable song, Let It Go. Where Maelstrom once reversed course, Frozen Ever After now gives people a chance to hear that much more of the song. It elevates and celebrates the most popular new Disney song of the 21st century, and it still delivers many of the same highlights that Maelstrom once had.
Frozen Ever After is a masterpiece of ride design and the singularity that draws otherwise uninterested people to the Norway Pavilion.
The Norway Pavilion started with grand ambitions about introducing Americans and other world travelers to the people and customs of King Olav V. For more than a quarter-century, it worked wonderfully in that way. Then, a single movie changed everything. Today, this pavilion still offers most of the touches that honor its culture. It simply does them through the filter of Anna and Elsa. Because of this single alteration, it’s now arguably the most popular pavilion at the World Showcase, not bad for a country with a population of 5.2 million.
