Evolution of Frozen's Olaf In Disney Theme Parks! DIStory Ep. 19! Disney Park History!

what's going on Disney fans it's Disney Dan here with another episode of disti in this episode let's relax in the summer Sun and let off some steam as we take a look at the theme park evolution of the one and only summer loving snowman Olaf frozen hit the theaters in November of 2013 and became an instant smash hit families went to see it multiple times and you were hard pressed to go into public and not hear a kid singing let it go it seemed like the entire world was slowly being swallowed up with frozen fever while the two strong female leads were a hit among young kids the one character that took the cake as being the favorite across the board for the entire family was the adorable lovable snowman Olaf voiced by the breakout Broadway star Josh GAD the Snowman character was a symbol of love family and innocence his quirky character traits and hilarious antics made him a perfect shoo-in for Disney park humor and shows and let me tell you for only being around for five years Olaf has seen and done it all so let's take a look at the evolution of Olaf both in and out of Disney theme parks around the world just ahead of the actual release of frozen in theaters Disney's California Adventure debuted a new winter version of their signature nighttime spectacular world of color which they called world of color winter dreams this show featured the first in park appearance of Olaf in the form of a projection Olaf would continue on with a nice small musical montage scene before the show transitioned into the next scene featuring Bambi this short appearance and world of color would be the first of many frozen themed projection pieces to be used in various nighttime shows around the world including castle shows and firework displays [Music] across the way from California Adventure in Disneyland's Fantasyland area a special meet-and-greet opened alongside the film's release in late November 2013 transforming a small gift shop next to the exit of Pinocchio's daring journey the Disney Parks team brought to life a little bit of arendelle inside of Disneyland's Fantasyland the new royal reception allowed park guests to meet Princess Anna and Queen Elsa for photo ops autographs and warm hugs with the film's massive success it goes without saying that this mean grete had huge lines that snaked around the outside of the makeshift show building to entertain the guests waiting hours in the hot Sun an adorable little Olaf animatronic was built into the rooftop over the entrance of the meet and greet this little robotic Olaf would hang out on the roof interacting with guests below by singing songs telling jokes and overall just being silly this was the first animatronic version of Olaf and he hung out in the parks for approximately one year before Anna Elsa and the whole frozen gang made their way back over to Disney's California Adventure for a bit of frozen fun you in January of 2014 frozen took over a small corner of Disneyland's California Adventure Park and a new attraction called frozen fun this special and mercifui heavily themed open walk round area in least age 17 building a space usually reserved for special events the new building was called Olaf's snow fest where guests could meet Anna and Elsa enjoy musical performances special photo ops and more the area also featured a rather thrown together sing-along that unfortunately led to the permanent closure of Muffit vision 3d at the Disneyland Resort but I'm not totally bitter about that at all good no that's not definitely not here for the frozen fun special event the first walk round Olaf was introduced the likeness of this Olaf to the film version was near-perfect utilizing the 3d models from the film the team was essentially able to 3d print and oversized replicas for the head of the costume and rounded it out with a perfectly sculpted torso and feet all of Olaf's signature look was covered here from the three black buttons to the tall Twiggy hairpiece in the few times I met Olaf while he's been a costume character it's been clear to me that this bright snowy costume was a massive challenge to keep clean and white despite the constant sticky hugs from dirty kids covered in cotton candy and corndog ketchup this Olaf look was so near perfect that his walk-around costume still hasn't changed to this day he can be found in almost every Disney park resort around the globe for meet-and-greets and continues to be a guest favorite where better to nexi frozen take over than disney on ice just shy of the film's one-year anniversary in late 2014 Disney on ICE's frozen show debuted to massive success with all costumes on ice minor modifications have to be made to make quick changes easier and to account for some padding and extra ice-skating safety but Olaf remained mostly unchanged the only real noticeable difference is in these shoes which are much smaller and form-fitting how allowing for you're skating a secondary Olaf prop was built with only a lower torso section for a fun gag like we see in the film where Olaf falls apart unfortunately it seems like his remote controlled Olaf body was quite difficult to maneuver in early 2015 a brand new version of Olaf made his debut appearance at disneyland hong kong in a new unique show called Olaf's adventures performed on a special mobile cart designed for puppet shows this new puppet Olaf is probably one of the ugliest Disney creations I have ever seen straying so incredibly far from the source material I'm honestly not sure how this design even got remotely approved to be in the parks Olaf is of course joined by Sven and a few other random animal puppets to sing a few songs entertain guests with some jokes and gags and while all the other puppets look pretty decent there is just something a little unsettling about this weird Olaf one in mid-2015 a brand new Olaf's summer cool down show debuted right in the middle of Disney's Hollywood Studios the new show is a fun musical review of frozen with a handful of songs and dances this show was the debut of a brand new articulated Olaf costume complete with mouth and eye movements because the character's head was already so large and bulky no real modifications really needed to be made to this design this new articulated Olaf continues to be used to this day for any stage show appearance [Music] leaving the parks and heading out to the open ocean the summer of 2015 introduced frozen to the Disney magic cruise ship character mean greets were held all around the boat with Anna Elsa and Olaf but a new version of Olaf was about to debut below deck this ship is one of two ships outfitted with a very popular show Disney Dream and enchanted classic the Disney magics sistership the Disney Dream was undergoing preparations for a brand new frozen musical to de beauté onboard so to make sure that the Disney magic had its own little bit of frozen fever the popular Disney Dream and enchanted classic got a fresh facelift to include a few frozen musical numbers it's here that the very first articulated Olaf puppet was debuted the hand rod puppet design featured a stationary body wrapped in a fleece like fabric similar to the walk round version seen in the parks with a fun fully articulated head the arm rods were controlled by a puppeteer below the pile of white snow with their other hand up through the body into the snowman's head to move it around the design and the angle of the puppeteer that had to operate the Snowman left him with a kind of like a dozen chin wrinkles and made kind of for a really weird sense of movement but this puppet Olaf concept would continue to be refined and perfected over the years [Music] shortly after the debut of the new Olaf puppet on the seas a brand new show was announced for Hong Kong Disneyland the incredibly magical stage show Mickey and the wondrous book in the show Mickey would go on an adventure into a giant storybook accompanied by Goofy and Olaf to provide fun bits and gags between each of the scenes this show actually featured three different unique Olaf puppets the first being a basic Bunraku design with the puppeteer accessing the mechanics from the back of Olaf's head and controlling the body with a single rod at the back of the torso Olaf's arms would kind of loosely flap around as his body bounce back and forth the second Olaf was a basic hand rod design similar to the one seen on the Disney Magic the major difference here was that this design and I specifically rigged carrot nose that could slide off the face and be pushed back on it's kind of simple but a super adorable gag finally the third and coolest Olaf puppet showed up right before the giant Disney Princess medley here only the lower torso of Olaf would slowly wander onstage wobbling back and forth us it aimlessly searched for its head before going back off stage eventually Olaf would end up being sucked back into the book where he would be reunited with Anna before the end of the show [Music] [Applause] [Music] the closing of Aladdin at Disney's California Adventure z-- Hyperion theater and early 2016 cleared the way for a brand-new stage show to take its place frozen the new show would feature the entire story of frozen retold in a Broadway like setting with fully staged production numbers now previously when Olaf was on stage he was either a walk around costume or a puppet controlled by a cleverly hidden puppeteer behind a rock under a buffer or draped in black and carefully lit the new Hyperion show changed all of that with a full walk around Olaf puppet that was strapped in front of a cleverly costumed puppeteer cast member Olaf's mouth and eyes were controlled with a specially rigged handle that stuck out of the back of his head his arms shared a large looped rod that allowed one-handed control of both of us stick limbs to give the character's body some life and bounce a harness was strapped to the performer with a special metal loop that hung down between his legs and attached to the back of Olaf's torso his feet were then each independently attached to the performers feet this new clever design gave Olaf an insane amount of life and personality watching the show the puppeteer on stage simply vanished as you were transfixed with this incredibly lifelike Olaf wandering on stage and cracking jokes in June of 2016 a new ride experience opened at Epcot Norwegian pavilion frozen ever after the special movie themed darkride replaced the incredibly popular Maelstrom with a new extended track packed full of unique animatronics included in these animatronics were several Olaf designs that could walk skate and chat with guests the articulation and movement was really lifelike and amazing the special fabric used for his skin would glow under the black lights and combined with the projected animated eyes it gave him personality and life that was really impressive [Music] late 2016 saw the debut of a brand new frozen musical out on the open sea on the Disney wonder cruise ship the show frozen a musical spectacular drew a lot of inspiration from the Hyperion show but changed things up a bit including a new look for the Olaf puppeteer the hard-shelled puppet body and unique trigger handle control for the head were all identical to the Hyperion belt but this musical took a more themed approach to the puppeteer instead of just making him look like a citizen of arendelle he was done up as a full-on ice miser giving the impression that real frosty snow magic was the reason behind the Olaf puppet coming to life we really really love this design and feel like the choice was a lot better than the one made for the Hyperion the intense theming gave us something fun to look at when her eyes occasionally wandered up from the puppet then in March of 2018 after years of speculation wait workshops and previews frozen the musical open on Broadway with a brand-new and completely unique Olaf design embracing the concept of Olaf wandering down onstage similar to the puppet like design of the Hyperion used the new Olaf took this to a whole new themed and stylized level the new design ditched the mechanical trigger in the back of the head instead allowing the puppeteer to perform and operate them out of his hands and triggering the eyes with a mechanic inside of the head with his fingers the arm rod body feet rig were mostly identical to the way the hyperion puppets were built but the biggest change came in the form of Olaf's body the hard-shelled kind of ideal was ditched in favor of a new skin and design that looked like olaf was carefully and perfectly crafted and knitted out of yarn and if you look closely a gentle subtle snowflake sweater pattern can be seen on his torso the puppeteers costume is also a little bit more themed fitting with a subdued yet prominent white coat and hat making sure that you are never confused about who and what this actor is doing on stage the bright white outfit and puppet stand out nice and boldly on stage amongst all the other really beautiful costumes and sets it's so much fun he's like a classic vaudevillian clown but he's also like a Shakespeare clown whereas he you know we're wearing he serves as the the conscience of the play he's all knowing and all naive at the same time which brings us to today so what is your favorite version of Olaf despite being a new character only a few years old he has seen some really great looks and some really not-so-great looks so let us know in the comments below which has been your favorite Plus please subscribe to our channel and check out some of our other fun distres thanks for watching guys and as always you rock

Channel: Disney Dan

Views: 425,076

Rating: 4.8571429 out of 5

Keywords: Disney, Disney Dan, Disney Parks, History, Toys, Toy Unboxing, Funko, LEGO, Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Theme Parks, DIStory, Theme Parks, Amusment Parks

Id: T6VQml11lcE

Length: 15min 11sec (911 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 29 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/KarmasBitch1990]

Olaf is just my favourite. Thanks for sharing!