Okay so this is actually happening. Disneyland Paris finally confirmed the exact dates Annual Passholders can experience World of Frozen before everyone else crashes the party, and honestly it’s about time because the speculation has been driving people crazy for months. March 15, 18, 23, 24, and 25 are your dates, with Gold Pass holders getting that sweet exclusive March 15 access while everyone else waits their turn. But here’s the real story that’s getting buried in all the preview hype: March 29, 2026 is the day Walt Disney Studios Park literally ceases to exist. Gone. Erased from history. The park that opened in 2002 and never quite figured out what it wanted to be is getting completely rebranded as Disney Adventure World, and from what Disneyland Paris is showing off, this isn’t just a name change. We’re talking about almost doubling the park size, adding a whole Kingdom of Arendelle that cost more money than most countries’ GDP, and introducing technology that sounds like science fiction but is apparently real and ready to debut in less than three months.
The preview date announcement came after Disneyland Paris promised back in November 2024 that Passholders would get early access but conveniently didn’t mention when.
DLP Report (@DLPReport) shared, “⚠️ Breaking: Disneyland Pass previews have been officially announced for the opening of Disney Adventure World:
– March 15: Disneyland Pass Gold Only
– March 18, 23, 24 and 25: All Passes”
⚠️ Breaking: Disneyland Pass previews have been officially announced for the opening of Disney Adventure World:
– March 15: Disneyland Pass Gold Only
– March 18, 23, 24 and 25: All Passes pic.twitter.com/0rPvuvCY4x— DLP Report (@DLPReport) January 16, 2026
Classic Disney move, right? Get everyone hyped, make the promise, then leave people hanging for months wondering if they should plan trips or wait for details. Now the details are here and the internet is absolutely losing it over the fact that Gold Pass members get a full three days head start before other Annual Pass levels even get through the gates.
Let’s Break Down This Preview Situation
March 15 is Gold Pass only. If you don’t have the premium pass tier, you’re not getting in. Period. This is Disney rewarding the people who drop the most cash on annual passes by giving them first crack at everything. March 18, 23, 24, and 25 open up to all Passholder levels, which means those four days are going to be absolute chaos compared to the exclusive Gold Pass preview. More people, longer waits, bigger crowds at the new restaurants, you get the picture.
But even Passholders aren’t the first ones in. Cast Members get their Test & Learn previews starting February 28 and running through March 12. That’s almost two full weeks of Cast Members riding Frozen Ever After, testing the new restaurants, figuring out how the robotic Olaf works, and generally making sure everything functions before paying guests show up. Smart from an operations standpoint, but also means Cast Members get to experience this stuff before the people who’ve been paying for annual passes all year. The irony isn’t lost on anyone.
Then March 29 hits and the general public floods in. That’s when Disney Adventure World officially opens and Walt Disney Studios Park becomes a footnote in theme park history. Twenty-four years of existence, most of it spent being the lesser park that people only visited because it was included in their multi-day tickets, all ending with a rebrand so massive that barely anything from the original 2002 version survives.
Walt Disney Studios Park Never Stood a Chance
Let’s be brutally honest about what’s happening here. Walt Disney Studios Park failed. It never connected with European audiences the way Disneyland Park did. The whole concept of showing guests how movies are made sounded good in boardroom presentations but turned out to be mind-numbingly boring in practice. People don’t want to see soundstages and learn about cinematography techniques. They want to ride stuff, eat themed food, meet characters, and feel like they’re inside the stories.
Disney figured this out eventually, hence the complete transformation that’s been underway for years. Marvel Avengers Campus opened and was immediately more popular than half the attractions in the rest of the park. Worlds of Pixar brought actual energy to areas that used to feel lifeless. Now World of Frozen is coming in as the headliner that’s supposed to justify the entire Disney Adventure World rebrand.
President Natacha Rafalski called March 29 “a historic milestone” and talked about “the most ambitious transformation in our resort’s history.” Translation: we’re finally fixing the park that should have been built this way from the beginning. The €2 billion investment plan backing this expansion is basically Disney admitting they got it wrong in 2002 and are now spending massive amounts of money to correct course.
More than 90 percent of the original park offerings have been or will be transformed. That’s not renovation. That’s demolition and rebuild. Disney Adventure World will be an almost entirely different park sharing virtually nothing with its predecessor except the physical location.
World of Frozen Is Ridiculously Extra
World of Frozen is the kind of over-the-top theme park land that makes you wonder how much money Disney actually has to throw around. North Mountain rises 118 feet topped with Elsa’s Ice Palace. The village of Arendelle gets recreated at life-size scale with Norwegian rosemaling decorative painting on every building facade. The landscaping alone uses specific Scandinavian trees and plants to match the films. This is obsessive attention to detail taken to levels that most guests won’t even consciously notice but will subconsciously respond to.
The whole land operates under the Snowflower Festival concept, which is Disney’s way of explaining why Arendelle looks decorated and festive all the time. It’s narrative justification for permanent theming, but honestly it works because it gives the land energy and purpose beyond just existing as a frozen movie backdrop.
Frozen Ever After anchors everything. Boat ride through scenes with Anna, Elsa, Olaf, all the characters you’d expect, featuring what Disney claims are state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics and immersive projection technology. The ride goes through forests, past trolls, into the Ice Palace, ends at Arendelle Bay with fireworks. Standard Disney dark ride formula elevated by Frozen IP and presumably tons of money spent on making the tech look seamless.
But here’s where things get genuinely interesting. Disney’s deploying next-generation robotic characters in World of Frozen, including a full-size Olaf that can move autonomously and interact with guests in real-time. This isn’t traditional Audio-Animatronics where figures follow programmed routines. These robots apparently respond to their environment, engage with people, and behave more like sophisticated puppetry meets artificial intelligence than mechanical figures running loops.
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development created this in collaboration with Disney Live Entertainment and Walt Disney Animation Studios. The robotic Olaf will appear in the Arendelle Bay show and make special appearances throughout the land. If the technology actually works as advertised and doesn’t break down constantly, this could be legitimately groundbreaking. If it’s janky and unreliable, it’ll be the most expensive disappointment Disney’s deployed in years.
Character experiences include Royal Encounter where guests meet Anna and Elsa inside Arendelle Castle, passing through the Portrait Gallery for photos and personal interactions. Outside, “A Celebration in Arendelle” runs as a 15-minute show on the bay featuring characters on three Viking longships built by an actual French shipbuilder. Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the duo behind “Let It Go,” wrote new music specifically for this show. Not repurposed songs, not medleys, actual new Frozen music that exists only at Disneyland Paris. That’s either really cool or a sign that Disney will squeeze every last dollar out of this IP forever. Probably both.
Adventure Bay Is Where the Money Really Shows
Adventure Bay is the 7.5-acre lake sitting at the center of Disney Adventure World’s expansion. During the day it’s pretty lakeside views and character meet-and-greets at the West Pavilion where Mickey and Minnie wear new Victorian costumes. Standard Disney park stuff elevated by nice scenery.
At night, Adventure Bay transforms into the stage for “Disney Cascade of Lights,” and this is where Disneyland Paris is either about to blow everyone’s minds or create a technical disaster that will haunt social media for years. The show combines 379 aerial drones with newly developed aquatic drone systems performing synchronized choreography across sky and water simultaneously. This has never been done before. Not at any Disney park, not anywhere.
Add water screens, choreographed fountains, large-scale projections, lighting effects, pyrotechnics, and a 90-piece orchestra soundtrack, and you’ve got a production that’s either going to be the most impressive nighttime show Disney’s ever created or a logistical nightmare that breaks down constantly. There’s really no middle ground here.
The soundtrack includes new arrangements of Disney songs plus an original anthem called “We Can Be Heroes.” The show draws from Mulan, Hercules, Moana, Zootopia, Up, and Marvel properties. Very on-brand for Disney Adventure World’s focus on adventure and heroism themes.
The 360-degree staging means you can watch from different positions around the bay, which theoretically spreads crowds out and gives everyone decent views. In practice, there will absolutely be premium viewing locations that fill up immediately while other spots are compromised by lighting angles or sound issues. That’s just physics and crowd dynamics.
Adventure Way Brings the First Park Bar
Adventure Way is the new main avenue connecting everything, and it’s packed with stuff Disney clearly wants people to spend money on. Raiponce Tangled Spin is a new spinning ride themed to the Lantern Festival with Mandy Moore’s recorded voice doing announcements. It’s a spinner. With lanterns. And Tangled music. You know exactly what you’re getting here.
The real story is The Regal View Restaurant & Lounge. Table service dining where you eat with Disney Princesses in an elegant setting featuring hand-crafted porcelain from Royal Delft, official supplier to the Dutch royal family. Some Princesses are wearing new costumes never seen at Disneyland Paris before. The restaurant has views of Adventure Bay perfect for watching the nighttime show during dinner.
But the Regal View Lounge is the actual headline because it’s the first bar located inside either Disneyland Paris theme park. Ever. In the resort’s entire history, there has never been a bar inside the parks where adults could order cocktails while wandering around. Now there is. Signature drinks inspired by Disney Princesses, live piano music, views of the lake and World of Frozen. This is Disney acknowledging that European guests expect alcohol availability in theme parks the way American parks have traditionally avoided it.
Fourteen total food and beverage locations line Adventure Way. La Terrasse Panoramique has bread bowls. Café Luminosity offers hot dogs with four signature recipes and cinnamon rolls. Multiple kiosks and chalets sell filled brioche rolls, stuffed potato waffles, and Disney Princess-themed desserts. Disney clearly studied what works at other parks and decided Adventure Way needed serious dining capacity to handle crowds.
The Lion King Land Is Already Under Construction
Disney Adventure World opens March 29 but the expansion doesn’t stop there. An Up flying carousel is coming to Adventure Way eventually. More importantly, construction started in Fall 2025 on a completely new Lion King themed land that will become the park’s fourth major area.
The Lion King land will feature a water-based attraction with next-generation Audio-Animatronics bringing Simba’s story to life with music from the 1994 film. This is Disney doubling down on the strategy of immersive lands based on popular animated properties. Frozen works, Lion King is even more universally beloved in Europe, so build a whole land around it and watch the crowds pour in.
The ongoing expansion proves Disney views Disney Adventure World as a long-term project rather than a one-time fix. The €2 billion investment covers what’s opening in March plus future additions that will keep the park evolving for years. It’s the anti-Walt Disney Studios Park approach: instead of opening incomplete and hoping it works, Disney’s building systematically with clear plans for continued growth.
What This Actually Means for Your Trip
If you’re an Annual Passholder, you need to jump on preview reservations the second they open because these dates will fill instantly. Gold Pass holders have one exclusive day. Everyone else has four days competing against thousands of other Passholders who’ve been waiting months for this access. The math doesn’t favor you getting your preferred date unless you’re fast.
For regular guests planning trips, avoid opening week if you want reasonable crowd levels. March 29 will be absolute chaos. The following weeks won’t be much better as everyone who couldn’t get preview access descends on the park. If you want to experience Disney Adventure World without fighting massive crowds, wait until at least mid-April or later.
World of Frozen will dominate wait times for months. Frozen Ever After will likely have multi-hour waits from day one. The Arendelle Bay show will have prime viewing spots fill up 30-plus minutes before showtime. Character meet-and-greets with Anna and Elsa will require patience or strategic planning. This is the reality of new Disney lands: everyone wants to experience everything immediately.
The preview dates are your answer if you want to beat the worst crowds. Passholders getting five days of access before general admission means slightly lower capacity and theoretically better experiences. But make no mistake, these preview days will still be packed. Just less packed than opening day.
Get your reservations locked in as soon as humanly possible, plan which experiences are your priorities, and accept that you won’t do everything in one day. World of Frozen alone could eat an entire visit if you try experiencing everything it offers. Add Adventure Way attractions, dining, the nighttime show, and exploring the rest of Disney Adventure World, and you’re looking at multiple days to see it all properly. Budget your time accordingly and remember that Walt Disney Studios Park is gone forever, so whatever nostalgia you had for that mediocre park needs to die along with it. Disney Adventure World is the future, and based on everything they’re promising, it’s going to be a significantly better future than what came before.
