Elsa (Disney)

Origins and concept

Attempts were made as early as 1937 by Walt Disney to adapt Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, "The Snow Queen", into a film. The tale focuses on two children, one named Gerda, who served as the basis for Princess Anna, and the other named Kai, who is "cursed with negativity" after his heart is pierced with a shard of glass from an enchanted mirror and is later kidnapped by the Snow Queen. However, Disney struggled with creating a believable, multi-dimensional adaption of the fairy tale's title character, who was intended to be a villain. In the story, she is described as "a woman, dressed in garments of white gauze, which looked like millions of starry snow-flakes linked together. She was fair and beautiful, but made of ice—shining and glittering ice. Still she was alive and her eyes sparkled like bright stars, but there was neither peace nor rest in their glance." Disney was unable to find a way to make the Snow Queen more real and eventually abandoned film plans.

Several film executives later made efforts towards the project, including Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, Dick Zondag, Glen Keane, and Dave Goetz. In 2011, director Chris Buck began work on another attempted adaption and also faced challenges with the Snow Queen character. Producer Peter Del Vecho explained that this was primarily because she was not relatable and too isolated, having no personal connections. As a result, they could not explain her motivations. After several changes were proposed, someone on the writing team suggested making the Snow Queen Anna's sister. "Once we realized that these characters could be siblings and have a relationship, everything changed," Del Vecho relayed.

The Snow Queen, now given the name Elsa, continued to be cast as a villain, and Disney released the following synopsis for Frozen in May 2013:

When Anna is cursed by her estranged sister, the cold-hearted Snow Queen, Anna's only hope of reversing the curse is to survive a perilous but thrilling journey across an icy and unforgiving landscape. Joined by a rugged, thrill-seeking outdoorsman, his one-antlered reindeer and a hapless snowman, Anna must race against time, conquer the elements and battle an army of menacing snowmen if she ever hopes to melt her frozen heart.

Earlier manuscripts included more antagonistic actions by Elsa, such as intentionally cursing Arendelle with an eternal winter. Additionally, she is shown creating an army of snowmen similar to the original Snow Queen's army of snowflakes; the comedic character of Olaf was at the time written as a smaller snowman who was cast out by Elsa for being too unintimidating. Within two months, however, scripts were altered to give emphasis to her lack of control over her powers. Olaf was reduced to the only snowman created by Elsa, and he instead serves as a reminder of the sisters' childhood friendship. In the final version, Elsa creates a single giant snow creature that Olaf nicknames "Marshmallow" to act as a guard after being branded as a monster for her powers. According to director Jennifer Lee, the character ultimately became more of a composite of both Kai and the Snow Queen, enhancing her increasingly sympathetic portrayal. Del Vecho added, "There are times when Elsa does villainous things but because you understand where it comes from, from this desire to defend herself, you can always relate to her."

Voice

Eva Bella and Spencer Lacey Ganus were cast to portray Elsa as a young child and as a teenager, respectively. Actress and singer Megan Mullally was originally cast to voice an adult Elsa. but was replaced by Idina Menzel, a Broadway actress and singer best known for performing as Elphaba in Wicked. Menzel already knew Kristen Bell, who voiced Anna, and had previously auditioned for a lead role in the 2010 Walt Disney film Tangled. She was not cast for the part, but the casting director recorded her singing and later showed the recording to Frozen's film executives. Menzel was surprised when she was subsequently asked to audition, and she received the role after reading the script out loud. In interviews, she acknowledged similarities between Elsa, her then-current role, and Elphaba, her previous role. Namely, she said, they were both very powerful and very misunderstood individuals. She further said that she related to the characters, having hidden her singing talent from her peers at school. "I didn't want to alienate anyone," she explained. "If everyone was singing along in the car to a Madonna song, I didn't join in because when we're younger we're afraid of sticking out or showing off, when in fact we should own those things that make us really unique."

Director Chris Buck believed that Menzel's vocals would help in the portrayal of the character, saying, "Idina has a sense of vulnerability in her voice. She plays a very strong character, but someone who lives in fear—so we needed someone who could portray both sides of the character, and Idina was just amazing." Menzel was unaccustomed to working with animated films and being required to portray her character's feelings with her voice alone, though she did not find it particularly challenging. While recording, she was able to "play" with her voice, trying various tones to establish the ranges in Elsa's emotions. For example, Menzel wanted there to be a difference between the ways she sounded when she was being bold and when she was angry. She would also physically restrict her hands from moving as she recorded the film's early scenes in order to project how her character was "so afraid to move and feel anything that it would come out and hurt people".

During production, Menzel and Jonathan Groff, who portrays Kristoff, went to the animation studio to explain to the animators how they were approaching their characters. Animators asked Menzel questions about her singing, observed how she breathed as she sang live, and made videorecordings of her recording sessions; they then animated Elsa's breathing to match Menzel's breathing, for further realism. Her voice supplied inspiration for Elsa's most prominent song, "Let It Go". According to composer Robert Lopez, Menzel's vocal range was able to clearly convey Elsa's "low, vulnerable, fragile side" as well as her power and self-realization. Menzel commented that it was "an honor" to have the song and that she enjoyed recording it. "It's a collision of a bunch of forces that are all coming together in the right way," she explained. "The character, what she is singing and what she is experiencing; beautiful lyrics, beautiful melody and a little bit of me." Buck and Lee were also surprised by how compatible Menzel and Kristen Bell's voices were. At one point during a table read, they sang a ballad (later revealed as "Wind Beneath My Wings") back and forth to one another with so much sentiment that it reportedly left everyone who was present with tears in their eyes. Subsequently, Lee wanted Menzel and Bell to be in the same room when they were recording the important emotional scenes of the film.

Other voices

All over the world, Elsa was dubbed in 46 languages.

Dutch singer and actress Willemijn Verkaik dubbed Elsa in Dutch (both speaking and singing) and German (singing only), Spanish singer Gisela sang both for the Castilian Spanish and Catalan versions and French singer Anaïs Delva's singing lines were also used in the Canadian French version.

Both Anaïs Delva (French) and Jelena Gavrilović (Serbian) had originally auditioned for Anna's role, but were eventually called back to dub Elsa instead.

Just like Idina Menzel, four of Elsa's dubbers also played the role of Elphaba in the Musical "Wicked", that is: Maria Lucia Rosenberg (Danish), Willemijn Verkaik (Dutch and German), Mona Mor (Hebrew) and Hyena Park (Korean).

Since 2013, some local TV stations have been dubbing the movie in their local languages, creating some unofficial dubs (namely: Albanian, Arabic TV, Karachay-Balkar, Persian and Tagalog).

Design and characterization

Following the casting of Idina Menzel, Elsa's characterization underwent several alterations. According to Menzel, she was originally scripted as a one-dimensional antagonist but was gradually revised as a more vulnerable, multifaceted figure. Menzel further described her character as "extremely complicated and misunderstood". Director Jennifer Lee stated that Elsa is largely driven by fear throughout the film, while Menzel added that she was also struggling with her potential to be "a strong, powerful, extraordinary woman". Executive producer and animator John Lasseter became very "protective of Elsa" and was adamant about portraying her in a more favorable, sympathetic light. Writer and director Jennifer Lee stated on Twitter that Elsa's body language and mannerisms were "intentional to show anxiety and depression". In July 2013, Disney released images of the film's main characters along with outlines of their roles in the story. Elsa received the following description:

From the outside, Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality, she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret—she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It's a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can't stop. She fears she's becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.

Elsa's supervising animator was Wayne Unten, who asked for that role because he was fascinated by her complexity. Unten carefully developed Elsa's facial expressions in order to bring out her fear as contrasted against Anna's fearlessness. For their work on designing and animating Elsa, Unten and three other Disney Animation employees later won an award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture at the 2013 Visual Effects Society Awards: Joy Johnson, character technical director (rigging); Alexander Alvarado, look development artist (Disney's job title for texture artists); and Chad Stubblefield, modeling supervisor. FX technical director Yoo Jae-hyun worked for a year-and-a-half on creating Elsa's ice-based special effects, including effects associated with her dress.

Producers identified the scene in which Elsa sings "Let It Go" as a pivotal point in the character's development. The scene depicts her choice to "let go" of her fear of using her powers. Character design supervisor Bill Schwab said, "Before 'Let It Go', Elsa is really buttoned up, her hair is up—everything is perfect. During the song, she gives herself permission to be who she is and everything changes—her hair is more wild, her gown is magical. She's finally free—even if she is all alone." Animators designed Elsa's appearance to reflect her metamorphosis; in the beginning, she is shown primarily in restrictive and confining outfits. Menzel said that, after accepting her abilities, Elsa's appearance becomes "very vampy", continuing, "She's quite sexy for Disney, I have to say—they're pushing the limits there a little bit! But there's a gleam in her eye and a supermodel walk that goes with it and, for me, it was fun to be a blonde because I'm not in real life." In a January 2014 interview with John August and Aline Brosh McKenna, Lee disclosed that Lasseter personally helped with conceptualizing Elsa's physical transformation: "[M]y favorite thing about it ... is the actual model for doing it was John Lasseter .... he was a huge help in talking through how we translate that emotional journey ... with the animation ... [H]e got up and he’s like, .... 'her hair goes, and she transforms, and she struts,' and he’s doing it. He’s acting it out."

The scene was also a pivotal point in the development of Elsa's character and was initially planned to depict her becoming evil. Robert Lopez, who composed the song with his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, explained, "Elsa was going to go from being this perfect princess that had tried to keep her personality down her whole life to saying, 'Screw it. I'm gonna be me.'" They had wanted to use the song as a way to gain a better understanding of the character and what she would be like if she was no longer living in fear, which ultimately resulted in her becoming much more complex. The final lyrics and Menzel's "ability to be so fragile and vulnerable and then break into this powerhouse voice" turned the plot around and led to Elsa being revised as a "good" character. She initially attempts to suppress her powers in order to avoid hurting others, particularly Anna, and when she is no longer able to do so, she banishes herself from the kingdom to protect those around her. Lead writer Paul Briggs said that Anna's support is what Elsa needs most when her secret is exposed. "The strength of the family bond is what makes this story so powerful," he explained, "because it's her sibling who's willing to look beyond her powers and stand between her and the world if that's what it takes."

Elsa's appearance had to be redesigned following her transition from antagonist to protagonist. She was originally drawn in a style similar to other Disney villains, with blue skin and spiky black hair. A few months after the film's release, visual development artist Claire Keane (the daughter of Disney Legend Glen Keane) published early concept art of Elsa that was modeled after the singer Amy Winehouse. At the time, she was imagined as having blue "bouffant" hair as well as "a deep, soulful voice and dramatic mood swings". Lasseter reportedly influenced the creation of the character's much softer final appearance, particularly in regards to her very thick platinum blonde hair, which animators found difficult to design. Art director Michael Giaimo said that while a number of strategies were proposed for Elsa's hair, Lasseter would push the animation team to continue making improvements, saying, "It's not aspirational enough. We want people to feel like this hair is a beautiful statement." During a research trip, producers found that "there are lots of braids" worn by women in Norway; they then hired a stylist from New York named "Danilo" who helped to create a style that would reflect that while still being "a little different". A new animation program called Tonic was invented to assist with the task, and the character's hair ultimately required 420,000 CGI threads. By contrast, Anna was given roughly 140,000 hairs while Rapunzel from Tangled had only required 27,000 CGI threads for her hair.

Abilities

Since Elsa is introduced as a young child at the beginning of the film, animators wanted the first glimpse of her powers to reflect her innocent and fanciful state of mind at the time. This included giving her first snowflakes a simple design. Her snow and ice patterns later become more intricate and complex when she is an adult. Co-effects supervisor Marlon West elaborated, "When Elsa finally lets go and really starts owning her cryokinetic abilities, we wanted the ice and snow that she make to get across the idea that Elsa has now grown up and become this beautiful, elegant, confident and powerful young woman."

Her ice castle, which she creates while singing "Let It Go", was designed to illustrate the maturing of her powers as well as to be "a manifestation of her feelings to the world". The palace is initially beautiful; however, after she is made aware of the destruction she has inadvertently caused, and as she is increasingly vilified and hunted by others, it becomes darker and more distorted, with jagged icicles forming on the walls. The film's design team was uncertain about how it should look and drew out designs for various ice castles filled with snow. Lasseter suggested basing the structure and patterns on snowflakes. For example, an enormous snowflake would serve as the foundation, and the palace would be hexagon-shaped. Lasseter also wanted snowflake patterns to influence the manner in which Elsa creates the palace. "Snowflakes are these tiny little ice crystals that form in mid-air. And when there are changes in temperature and humidity, these snowflakes start growing in a pattern that's known as branching and plating," said co-effects supervisor Dale Mayeda. "[Lasseter] said 'You know, when Elsa builds her ice palace, it would be so amazing if—every step of the way as this castle forms out of thin air—it's just branching and plating, branching and plating all along the way."

Fifty animators worked on the scene in which the castle is built, and one frame required 30 hours to render. They later extended similar techniques to Elsa's clothing. While the traditional Norwegian rosemaling was the inspiration for her costuming early in the film, her ice gown was designed similarly to her palace, with snowflakes heavily influencing the style. Her cape itself is a large snowflake.

Frozen

Elsa, princess of Arendelle and heiress to the throne, is born with the ability to create and control ice and snow. As a child, she uses her abilities to create a winter wonderland to play in with her younger sister and best friend, Princess Anna. One night, Elsa accidentally harms Anna with her powers. The king and queen of Arendelle hurriedly take Anna to a tribe of mountain trolls to be healed. While healing Anna, the trolls inform the royals present that Elsa's abilities will grow, becoming both beautiful and very dangerous so she must learn to control them. While the trolls erase Anna's memory of the incident and of her elder sister's powers in general, Elsa is traumatized by the event. The king and queen take steps to control and hide Elsa's ice powers: the castle gates are locked, Elsa is shut away in her bedroom for most of the time, she is given gloves to help suppress her powers and is told to hold in her emotions as well. Nonetheless her powers continue to grow even stronger and so she becomes fearful of harming those she cares about most. Meanwhile, her sister Anna is less happy and confused by the loss of contact with her elder sister and tries, without success, to coax her out of her room. When the sisters grow into teenagers, the ship in which the king and queen are sailing is capsized in a storm and they drown, leaving Anna and Elsa feeling even more lonely.

Three years pass, and Elsa, now of age, is set to formally succeed her father as the monarch of Arendelle. Though she is afraid of opening the castle to the large crowds, her coronation goes on relatively peacefully. However, at the reception party, Anna asks for Elsa's blessing to marry Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, whom Anna had met earlier that day. Elsa refuses to bless Hans's offer to marry Anna; he is someone she barely knows, prompting an argument between the two. Being so upset Elsa accidentally reveals her power. Upon the guests' and her subjects' horror and being accused of sorcery and called a monster, Elsa flees the castle and retreats into the icy mountains. In the process, her emotions unleash an "eternal" winter throughout Arendelle. While there, she decides to embrace, finally, all her powers and builds an enormous ice palace where she believes she can live freely without fear of hurting people. She also rebuilds her childhood snowman, Olaf, and unknowingly brings him to life.

Anna, determined to find Elsa and bring her back, travels through the mountains, encountering Olaf and a mountain man named Kristoff. They reach the ice palace, where Anna attempts to persuade Elsa to return home and mend their relationship. When Elsa ultimately resists (due to her memory of hurting Anna as a child with her powers resurfacing) Anna tells her about the state that Arendelle and all its people was left in. Horrified, Elsa lashes out and accidentally freezes Anna's heart. Now even more horrified at the prospect of hurting her sister and people with her powers, Elsa forces Anna, Kristoff and Olaf out by creating a gigantic snow creature (called Marshmallow by Olaf), that is a symbol of her desire to be alone so as to be able to use her powers without hurting anyone. After this, her ice castle evidently becomes darker and more grotesque, reflecting her torment and re-ignited fears. Meanwhile, Anna becomes weaker day by day and Kristoff takes her back to the trolls, who tell them that only an "act of true love" can save her life.

Hans and a group of soldiers attack the now ugly ice palace. Elsa seizes two soldiers who attempt to assassinate her. Hans convinces her to spare them to prove that she is not a monster. However, she is knocked unconscious and taken to her castle's dungeon. Hans visits her and urges her to end the winter; Elsa admits that she has no idea how to do so. After he leaves, she is able to break free from the chains by freezing them and escapes the cell, though her fears trigger a massive blizzard. Anna returns to the castle, believing that a romantic kiss from Hans will be the "act of true love" to save her. Instead, he informs her that his offer of marriage (engagement) had been the first step of a plot to get him the throne of Arendelle. Olaf tells Anna that Kristoff is in love with her and she believes that his kiss will cure her. They rush to find Kristoff. Hans confronts Elsa and tells her that she has killed Anna. Devastated, Elsa collapses and the blizzard stops suddenly. Hans approaches her and swings his sword to kill her, but Anna turns away from an approaching Kristoff with her last bit of strength and blocks Hans' attack as she freezes solid.

Moments later, Anna begins to thaw, as her choice to save her sister rather than herself constituted the necessary "act of true love". Elsa realizes that love is the key to controlling her powers and is able to end the kingdom's eternal winter. Summer returns to Arendelle, Elsa regains the throne and is able to use and safely control her powers, while the sisters' bond is restored. She exiles Hans back to the Southern Isles to face punishment from his family and cuts off trade with the Duke of Weselton's town for his earlier behavior towards her.

Frozen Fever

Nearly a year after the events of the first film, Elsa tries to make Anna's 19th birthday as perfect as possible a way of making up for the years they spent apart. To do so, she works heavily with Kristoff, Sven and Olaf to make this a reality. Upon making sure that her surprise party in the palace courtyard is ready, she leaves Kristoff in charge while she goes to get Anna. However, Elsa starts to come down with a cold as she leads Anna on a treasure hunt to find all the gifts that have been made for her. Without realizing it, each sneeze she makes creates small snowmen called "snowgies", which create trouble for Kristoff, Sven and Olaf. As Anna notices Elsa's cold getting worse, she tries in vain to get Elsa to stop exerting herself, even taking medicine from Oaken in case Elsa gets sicker. Unfortunately, Elsa's cold cause her to become very tired and behave in a seemingly intoxicated-like manner, and she nearly falls from Arendelle's clock tower only for Anna to save her. Upon finally admitting to Anna that she is indeed sick after the previous incident, she allows Anna to escort her home feeling she has ruined everything, and finds that the party has gone off successfully for Anna (as well as discovering her snowgie creations), and still slightly intoxicated, she ends the party by accidentally sneezing into the birthday bugle horn, which inadvertently sends a gigantic snowball all the way to the Southern Isles and hits the now-demoted Hans, causing him to fall into a pile of horse manure. Afterwards, Anna tells a now bed-ridden Elsa that she has given her the best birthday ever by letting her take care of her.

Once Upon a Time

Elsa appears as a recurring character in the fourth season of the television series Once Upon a Time, where she is portrayed by Georgina Haig.

At the end of the show's third season finale, "There's No Place Like Home", Emma Swan (Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter) and Captain Hook accidentally bring back an urn from Rumplestiltskin's vault after their excursion into the past. The urn releases a blue liquid that coalesces into Elsa. She takes off her glove and destroys the urn with an icy blast. She strides out of the barn, leaving a trail of frozen ground. In the fourth-season premiere, "A Tale of Two Sisters," Elsa's story is shown in the present day as well as flashbacks taking place two years after the events of the film. In the past, she discovers that her and Anna's parents set off not on a diplomatic mission, but on a journey to Misthaven—the "Enchanted Forest" where most of Storybrooke's fairy-tale residents came from—to discover more about Elsa's powers, with Anna's travelling to Misthaven to find out more about her parents' voyage. In the present, Elsa is frightened by her sudden exposure into the town of modern-day Storybrooke and re-conjures Marshmallow for protection. Marshmallow is defeated by Regina Mills (the Evil Queen), while Elsa discovers a necklace she gave long ago to Anna in Mr. Gold's (Rumplestiltskin's) shop, leaving her resolved to learn what happened to her sister.

As the season progresses, Elsa befriends series protagonist Emma Swan, Emma and the series' central cast resolving the help Elsa find Anna. The group eventually discovers that a figure named the Snow Queen (a more faithful adaptation of the original fairy tale's character) is somehow responsible for Elsa's trapping in her urn, a woman with similar powers to Elsa. They soon discover that the Snow Queen is Elsa's aunt, Ingrid, who was forgotten from Arendelle when Elsa's mother, Gerda, used the power of the troll king to erase everyones memory of her, not wishing for the world to remember how Ingrid accidentally killed their third sister, Helga. Ingrid soon discovered a prophecy that stated she would one day have the love of her sisters again. With Ingrid's sisters dead however, she believed she would be forced to create new sisters. For this, she chose Emma and Elsa. Ingrid had stalked Emma her entire life in preparation for the prophecy to become true, and manipulated events in Arendelle to bring Elsa to her. Being convinced that she could only gain their love when she was the only one left, she obtained a mirror capable of bringing out the worst in people (the mirror coming directly from The Snow Queen fairy tale). If a piece of the mirror were to get in someones eye, they would see nothing but hatred in the world. Ingrid had planned to use this on everyone in Storybrooke (dubbed the Spell of Shattered Sight), forcing all of its citizens to kill each other while she, Emma, and Elsa remained immune. Ingrid had also used this to her advantage on Anna, forcing Anna to trap Elsa in the urn they originally found Elsa in.

Back in Arendelle, Anna (who has woken up from the spell) tried to track down a device known as a wishing star, which will have the power to bring her and Kristoff to wherever Elsa is. It was apparently the necklace Elsa had given Anna long ago, Elsa using it to bring Anna and Kristoff to Storybrooke. However, the Spell of Shattered Sight had already begun, and the only ones immune to it were Elsa, Emma, and Anna (Anna because it was already used on her a while ago). Tracking down a note written by Elsa and Anna's mother right before her death, the three bring it to Ingrid. It reads that Gerda forgave Ingrid for all that had transpired and still loved her, Ingrid realizing this was what the prophecy meant by regaining her sister's love. Realizing there is no point in killing the town now, the Snow Queen kills herself using the mirror, which deactivates the curse, though a bit of it remained in Storybrooke, reinstating the town line, making it impossible to return to town if you are to leave it.

With the help of Rumpelstiltskin, they are able to discover a door that will lead back to Arendelle, though they will not be able to return, as the door will disappear after its use. Anna and Kristoff depart, while Elsa and Emma share a tearful goodbye before returning to Arendelle with her little sister to attend the long-awaited wedding between Anna and Kristoff. In "Poor Unfortunate Soul", it's revealed that, when Blackbeard attacked Arendelle, Elsa shrunk and trapped him and the Jolly Roger inside a bottle, unknowingly trapping Ariel inside as well.

With the introduction of Frozen characters, the season 4 of Once Upon a Time saw a 31-percent increase in ratings from the autumn of 2013 (9.3 million viewers), marking its best ratings in almost two years.

Frozen holiday special

Elsa will appear in a Frozen holiday special along with Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf, scheduled to air on ABC in 2017.

Merchandise

In December 2013, Disney began releasing "Musical Magic Elsa and Anna Dolls", which played their signature songs that appear in the film. Numerous other doll versions of Elsa were released for purchase, including fashion doll sets, mini dolls, plush dolls, and Elsa-as-a-toddler dolls. A dress up costume for children was modeled after Elsa's ice gown along with gloves similar to ones she wears in the film. Together with Anna, she was depicted on various Frozen-inspired dishware such as plates and coffee mugs. Other Elsa-inspired merchandise includes luggage, nightgowns, and home décor. Additionally, simplified versions of the film were adapted to children's storybooks, including one with voice audio and another called A Sister More Like Me that was illustrated by Brittney Lee. Elsa and Anna also both appear as playable characters in Disney Infinity through the use of their corresponding figurines.

In early 2014, most Frozen merchandise, including dolls and dresses, were sold out nearly everywhere, including Disney stores and theme parks. In early November 2014, Disney announced that it had sold over three million Frozen costumes in North America alone, of which Elsa was the no. 1 best-selling Disney costume of all time, followed by Anna at no. 2. Hallmark created a Queen Elsa Christmas tree ornament after much interest was expressed when the Olaf ornament was announced in 2014.

Theme parks

In November, before the release of Frozen, Anna and Elsa began making appearances at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Florida and California through meet and greets. In Walt Disney World, the attractions were set up in the Norway Pavilion of Epcot in recognition of the Scandinavian cultural elements that went into the film's design. In Disneyland, a winter-themed cottage was set up in the Fantasyland section, with a talking audio-animatronic Olaf sitting on the cottage roof. In February 2014, these meet-and-greet sessions were extended indefinitely, with wait time to meet the princesses frequently exceeding two hours, which is longer than any previous Disney characters. Additionally, Elsa, Anna, and Olaf were given a Frozen-themed float for Disneyland Paris' Disney Magic on Parade. On March 9, 2014, the three made appearances again on their own Frozen parade float in Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom theme park. On April 20, 2014, Anna and Elsa moved from Epcot to the Princess Fairytale Hall at Magic Kingdom, with wait time to see the characters amounted to three hours, compared to Cinderella's and Rapunzel's 15 minutes.

Elsa's performance of "Let It Go" became the central feature in Disney California Adventure's Winter Dreams, a 30-minute, winter-themed adaption of the nighttime show World of Color, which showcases scenes from Disney films. Disneyland Paris' nighttime spectacular, Disney Dreams!, also added Elsa's performance of "Let It Go" to their attractions, and she was given a similar role during the Magic Kingdom show, Celebrate the Magic, with her singing interspersed with scenes from the movie.

On May 16, 2014, it was announced that Disneyland would debut a Frozen pre-parade featuring Elsa, Anna and Olaf. It premiered June 13, 2014, and preceded performances of Mickey's Soundsational Parade. From July 5 to September 1, 2014, as part of 'Frozen' Summer Fun show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Anna and Elsa will appear in a horse-drawn sleigh making their way down Hollywood Boulevard, alongside Kristoff and skaters, skiers and ice cutters in the Anna and Elsa's Royal Welcome section. The sisters also made appearances in For the First Time in Forever: A "Frozen" Sing-Along Celebration, where they were joined by royal historians to retell the history of Arendelle; and "Frozen" Fireworks Spectacular alongside Kristoff and Olaf, a fireworks display set to the music of Frozen. In response to strong demand, Disney Parks subsequently announced on August 7 that Frozen Summer Fun would be extended to September 28.

On August 19, 2014, it was initially announced that Elsa & Anna's Boutique (replacing Studio Disney 365) would open mid-September in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort. The opening date was later changed to October 6, 2014, and the store name was changed to "Anna & Elsa's Boutique". The location includes products inspired by Anna, Elsa, and Olaf.

While there had not been any official announcements from Disney regarding a coronation for Anna and Elsa, it had been announced in late August 2014 that a special character meal would be held by a group of travel agents in the morning of September 24, 2014. While not officially organized by Disney, the event, called My Royal Coronation, would feature the official Anna and Elsa characters owned by Disney with assistance from the company. On September 12, 2014, Walt Disney World announced that a Frozen attraction was scheduled to open in early 2016 at Epcot's World Showcase in the Norway pavilion, replacing the park's Maelstrom ride. The attraction features the kingdom of Arendelle with music and scenes from the film, as well as meet-and-greets with Anna and Elsa. Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf will make appearances in Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, offered during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom in November and December 2014 (from November 7 to December 31). Also starting from November, every night Elsa will use her powers to transform Cinderella Castle into an ice palace.

On November 13, 2014, prior to "A Sparkling Christmas" Evert, Anna and Elsa began meet-and-greet sessions at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Beginning December 20, 2014, the Anna and Elsa meet and greet at Disneyland Resort was moved from Disneyland park to a new location in the Disney Animation Building called "Anna and Elsa’s Royal Welcome" in Disney California Adventure. In addition, the Storybook Land Canal Boats at Disneyland were updated to include the village of Arendelle from the film, including Anna and Elsa's castle and Elsa's ice palace. Officially starting January 7, 2015, Elsa began making appearances alongside Anna and Kristoff at Disney California Adventure in "For the First Time in Forever—A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration" in Hollywood Land as part of the park's "Frozen Fun" event. Also starting January 7, Anna and Elsa made appearances in a Frozen play at the Royal Theatre in Disneyland park.

Beginning May 22, 2015, Disneyland debuted a new nighttime parade called "Paint the Night", which includes a Frozen float featuring Anna, Elsa, and Olaf, as part of the park's 60th anniversary celebration.

Cosplay

Elsa has become very popular in the cosplaying community. Cosplayer Anna Faith is well known for cosplaying as Elsa at charities, comic-cons, and other events.

Critical reviews

The character of Elsa was widely praised by reviewers for her multifaceted, evolving personality. Matt Goldberg of Collider.com commented that she was "an incredibly sympathetic character" while Deepanjana Pal of First Post (India) praised the decision to rewrite her as a protagonist and said, "Elsa is no evil, frosty vision of twisted and toxic maternity like the original Snow Queen. She's a young woman in difficult circumstances, frightened, trying to understand her abilities and burdened by expectation and convention. It's easy to sympathise with her and marvel at her ability when she builds her spectacular palace in the mountains. Next to her, Anna is very much a child who needs to grow up and she does in the course of the film." Stuff.co.nz's James Croot compared her "humiliation and exile" to that of Simba in The Lion King. Katherine Webb, a reviewer for Wall St. Cheat Sheet, said that the scenes depicting Elsa gaining confidence and individuality delivered "an exciting message to send to young girls looking for a new princess role model". Gary Wright of Rotoscopers state "Her mental anguish and uncontrollable powers define modern feminism. Elsa represents the boundless female spirit- strong and graceful, with the power to change the world."

Travis Bean of Cedar Falls Times suggested that Elsa's ice powers, a "personal oddity" that made her self-conscious, as well as her selflessness in withdrawing into isolation in order to avoid hurting others allowed children to connect more with the plot of Frozen. Laurie Levy from Chicago Now wrote that her young grandchildren "admired Elsa for being smart, strong, magical, and powerful" and did not care that she had no romantic subplot. Magdalena Lachowicz, a film critic for The Heights, opined that Elsa's relationship with Anna was the most important part of the movie, and Stephen Holden of The New York Times liked that, in departure from traditional Disney formula, it was a sibling's love rather than romantic love that was able to "thaw the icy heart of the frightened Elsa". Tony Hicks of San Jose Mercury News wrote, "[Anna's] confusion and Elsa's anguish as she shuts herself away from the world—and her sister—is palatable." Emma Koonse of Christian Post opined that together the sisters were Disney's "most lovable and charismatic characters yet", and Debbie Lynn Elias of Culver City Observer commented, "Elsa and Anna are like two sides of a coin, both strong, albeit one through power and confidence and the other through clumsy sticktuitiveness and love."

Several reviewers commented that Elsa was more interesting than Anna, Frozen's primary protagonist. ABS-CBN writer Fred Hawson described Elsa as "an incredible character with a unique and interesting predicament because of the powers she possessed" and expressed the opinion that Frozen should have focused more on her rather than Anna. Samra Muslim of The Express Tribune wrote that it was her presence that kept viewers "hooked" throughout the movie, elaborating, "Her character is complex and sympathetic and deserved to be explored even further. Instead the story revolves more around the relationship of the two sisters and Anna who is the typical, feisty, charming Disney heroine and her love trysts—instead of the alluring Elsa."

The character was not devoid of criticism. Charlotte O'Sullivan from the London Evening Standard gave a more negative assessment of Elsa, saying that she "resembles one of those brittle mentors on The X Factor. Purple eyeshadow, tiny waist, kitten heels". Anna Smith of The Guardian disliked that both Elsa and Anna were drawn with slender figures and large eyes as is typical of Disney princesses. Slate's Dana Stevens wrote that "it's impossible not to thrill to Elsa's surging sense of power" but criticized the choice to illustrate her growing confidence by changing her appearance; Stevens further expressed concern that the switch from the character's modest coronation gown to "a slinky, slit-to-the-thigh dress with a transparent snowflake-patterned train and a pair of silver-white high heels" and a hairstyle that suggested "come-hither bad-girl seduction" was overly sexual. Christy Lemire compared Elsa to Carrie White, another well-known fictional female who unleashes magical powers when agitated.

"Let It Go"

Idina Menzel also received praise for her singing, with Amon Warmann of Cine Vue saying her voice "positively soars in these musical ballads". Reviewers frequently focused on her performance of "Let It Go", described by Entertainment Weekly's Marc Snetiker as "an incredible anthem of liberation" in which Elsa decides to no longer fear her powers. Various critics said that Menzel had been a "powerhouse" during the scene; Linda Barnard from The Star commented that Menzel "can shatter icicles with her powerful voice".

Matt DeTruck of The Rochester City Newspaper wrote, "Menzel should be credited for providing as much power and passion to this performance as she did in her most famous role." Donald Clark of Irish Times added, "Elsa's flight to the glaciers triggers a song that, in its defiant paean to self-reliance, could play comfortably beside camp showtune anthems such as I Am What I Am and Don't Rain on My Parade. The opening and closing choruses of Let It Go end with a sly, spat-out refrain: 'The cold never bothered me anyway!' You go, girl." Nasim Asl of The Oxford Student continued, "Menzel, especially, steals the show with her performance of 'Let It Go'. Her Wicked-esque belting out works perfectly with such an incredible animated sequence—the building of the ice castle really demonstrates the prowess of Disney animation, and results in, arguably, one of the most spectacular power ballads seen by any animated character, ever."

Accolades

In December 2013, Elsa and Anna were both nominated for Best Animated Female by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, with only Anna winning the award, a few weeks later. Elsa won all three awards out of three nominations at the 2013 Visual Effects Society Awards, including Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture for her ice palace, and Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture for her blizzard. Her signature song, "Let It Go", won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards, and also received Golden Globe Award, the Satellite Awards, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, and the Houston Film Critics Society Award nominations.

Time ranked Elsa as the most influential fictional character of 2014.