Sunday October 5th 2014 will be a day that will go down in history as a sad day for many Epcot fans. On this day a long time World Showcase attraction closed in Maelstrom and a new show opened in place of Off Kilter.
The Canadian Lumberjacks show started its “soft opening” to many mixed reviews, I felt the show needs so work but could turn into something fun. I have seen lumberjack shows at local fairs before and this one was along the same level with less room to move.
Overall not a solid replacement for the fan favorite Off Kilter, but everything has to change as they say.
On the topic of change, we come to what turned out to be one of the largest outcries I have seen for a attraction closing in a long time, Maelstrom. Now I will say that I have always been a fan of this attraction, I think more than anything I was a fan for the cheese factor, but alas a fan none the less.
I arrived shortly before the attraction opened and the queue was already posted a 65 minute wait.
As the day went on the posted wait time would grow to as high as 130 minutes with never a empty queue.
With the clock getting closer and closer to 9pm it was time to take one final ride!
While Maelstrom the attraction may have always been a bit of a cornucopia of images from Norway all mixed together, one of my favorite parts of the attraction was the ‘Spirit Of Norway’ that most guest would often bypass.
And so with the clock hitting 9pm it was time to close the doors.
For those of you that loved Maelstrom, may it ever live in your heart. For those of you that didn’t love Maelstrom, Frozen is coming! And remember in the words of the great Dr. Seuss — ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’