The Norway Pavilion Epcot

Me at the entrance of Kongeparken!

You can reach the stars if you just believe!

When I was in New York my previous boss at Kongeparken amusement park back in Norway called me one morning and offered me the position as operations manager for attractions and food & beverage.

I have been working in Kongeparken for the last 4 years before coming down here this year, and now I will get to use everything I´ve learnt in Disney this year to put a high focus on guests and good show standards back home as a manager.

It will be a year with no vacation and a lot of working, but this is what I live for, so no problem.
I will start my new job the 7th of December 2011, so just a few days after finishing my program in Disney. Kongeparken is open for Christmas celebrations.

In November the rest of the leadership team is coming down here to Orlando and we have a week with training and attending the IAAPA-conference.

So yesterday me and a friend of mine went to the Halloween event in Magic Kingdom, and we loved it.

You can find some pictures of the event here. 

Its not so very scary! Its actually very fun!
The park is themes in halloween colors and everyone walk around dressed up like princesses or something just a little scary, I didn’t see anyone dressed up like a serial killer or something alike.

Its a special event that cost money besides the regular park ticket, so even Cast Members have to pay to get in, but it’s definitely worth it. Its a night of the villains of Walt Disney World, in the end of the day there is also a special fireworks called HalloWishes. You can go around and do some of the rides and trick or treat for candy around the park, pretty cool.

As you might already know, the Norway pavilion has a big lack of updating of the pavilion due to Disney´s fight against Norway government about payment and involvement in the pavilion operation.

In my opinion, the pavilions biggest problem is the movie and bad maintenance of the ride Maelstrom.
The movie is from 1988 when the pavilion opened and shows the guests a Norway with 80´s fashion, old computers and don’t give Norway a decent reputation as the well technologically advanced country we are. I do really like the movie though, because its good made and shows the timeline from the Vikings till the new oil-era that made Norway so rich.

Norway don’t have anything to do with the pavilion anymore, after we sold out in 1992 and stopped contributions in 2002, which led to Disney using our restaurant as a Princess Storybook Dining location.

Everyone wants a new movie, Norway and Disney, and the subject have been discussed many times, the problem; money!
Disney wants 17 million dollars to make a new movie, Norway is not willing to pay that much when Disney is the only one making money out of the pavilion, and the pavilion is very well run.

I understand both sides in this conflict, first of all Im curious why it would cost 17 million dollar to make a new movie.
I understand that Disney wants Norway to participate, because if Norway didn’t have to pay anything then all the other countries could do the same thing and then just leave all responsibility to Disney for doing everything. That is not the thought for World Showcase, its suppose to be an arena where the countries themselves are suppose to represent their culture and heritage. I think its a shame Norway don’t contribute anything to the pavilion anymore.

I understand that Norway don’t want to pay 17 million dollar to a billion dollar company that makes a very big amount of money on the operation of the pavilion.

But what Norway have offered to Disney, is free usage and the rights to a movie that Norway made for the expo in Shanghai; Norway Powered by Nature. Its a beautiful 11 or 5 minute film that presents Norways nature and history. Disney said no to this, because they want to make their own stuff to avoid any problems with copyrights etc… Sort of understandable, but not a good enough excuse when Norway would like to give Disney the rights to the movie.

So Disney, please get a grip on reality and do something so that our guests can experience Norway the way it is today…

You can watch the movie here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpf8MfQm8rY   (the 5 minute version, that could easily replace todays movie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B2ZWfrAZw4 (the full 11 minute version, I believe this is great too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxIPyF4ydo  (todays pavilion movie)

My other problem with the pavilion is the ride and poor maintenance done by Disney.
The ride needs updating and strongly maintenance. If something breaks, its broken and will be like that for ever.
The ride used to be pretty much more adventures and good, I mean I still like it, but it used to be so much better.

The up ramp is old and you feel it by all the sounds and shaking in the boat. The Viking scene is not coordinated anymore and the speakings is bad. Theres missing a storyline between the Viking village and horn scene. The trolls are old and the seawater troll is not suppose to go so much up, there used to be smoke in the troll scene, I want that back, fog on the water with the trolls coming up would be so cool to get back. If its because people are allergic to the smoke, its possible to get smoke out of water that don’t give any reactions to people. The little polar bear have been missing for over 6 months now, he was just suppose to go and get some new fur… The big polar bear used to move more, Im also missing smoke in this scene. When you hear the rapid water there were suppose to be movement in the boats so you felt like you were in a storm/maelstrom, but this have never worked, the equipment is there, but they never got it to work in 1988. The nature scene is fun, but the boat here also makes bad mechanical/hard movements, the picture of the fjords is dirty and ruins a little of the show Disney is suppose to give. The North Sea scene used to be wilder and more like the North Sea, Im pretty sure there were small raindrops coming down, and I know there used to be bigger waves, but the wave machines stopped working some years ago and never got replaced/fixed. People should get a few drops of water on them on this ride, its suppose to be a High Seas Norwegian Adventure….

Had a blast vacation in Washington DC and New York from the 4-12th September.

I really enjoyed watching all the big monuments and history of the cities and walk around in areas Ive only seen on TV.
Here are some pictures from my DC trip:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150274535616227.331273.619951226&l=1d02708b3c&type=1

Right now Im sitting at the Orlando International Airport waiting to board my flight to Washington DC, its been exactly 9 months since I came to the states today, and Im finally getting away from Florida and Disney for a while to take a little more care of myself.

Ill be in DC for about 3 days, then Ill head over to New York until the 12th of September.

Im going to be living at a hotel right next to the White House in DC, then Ill live on Times Square while in NY.

Booked some tours around DC and NY already, like the UN, museums, Captiol etc… And Ill attend at least two concerts while in NY, Paramore and my Favourite band; Within Temptation, which I never been to a concert with before… Really looking forward to having some days off and travel the states a little, which is one of my goals when Im down here.

There will hopefully be some blogposts throughout the trip, depends if I got the time. Now they’re boarding my flight… See you real soon!