Disney Imagineering really asked themselves, “Do you want to build a snowman?” And soon, fans of the Frozen franchise sidekick can meet the Josh Gad-voiced buddy in robot form. The World of Frozen lands at international Disney Parks will offer a unique opportunity to see a life-size unmeltable snowman melt hearts and greet park guests, and Olaf’s arrival will coincide with the World of Frozen opening in Disney Adventure World at the Disneyland Paris resort on March 29, 2026, as shared by the Disney Parks Blog. He will also make special, limited-time appearances in the first World of Frozen that opened at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
The latest episode of We Call It Imagineering dives into the work within Research and Development that aims to bring Disney stories and characters to life in unforgettable ways for theme park guests. From the Walt Disney man-sized animatronic to the adorable Star Wars BDX droids, Disney Experiences continues to add to its fleet of entertainment robots.
It would be worrisome if we were thinking that maybe there was any sort of chance of a robot uprising, but surely, humans have totally learned how to avoid that, right? Imagineering has at the very least not only made sure these new theme park robots are friendly but also just so freakin’ cool. And yes, let’s just fully admit that it’s eerily uncanny to see them poke and prod these robots to get them to learn how to react and move like us.
© Disney Experiences
But that apprehension kind of melts away from the sheer awe of seeing the outstanding achievements, which get us closer to a world with droids, which is exciting, at least. The Olaf sounds and moves just like in the Frozen movies, and the work that goes into making machines full of grace is an art form. It’s not about adding skin to a program; it’s about the level of immersion the Imagineering tech teams put into their creations to help them learn how to move among us.
So shush the Jeff Goldblum voice in your head saying, “Scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should…” and look at the robot that learned how to do the moonwalk in the video below alongside some really impressive future tech coming to theme parks.
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