Built our own Soarin Ride

[dreamersempire]

On July 4th my brother and I, being the Epcot fanatics we are, put on an Epcot themed celebration at his house we called "Minicot". We re-created three major elements of Epcot at his house. The highlight was Soarin, and we also did Illuminations and Mexico.

You'll find them at youtube with keyword 'Minicot' but here now (since I have 10 posts) is the actual links :)

Part 1 - Soarin Ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI)
Part 2 - Illuminations and Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc)

We're thinking about putting together a list of any ride re-creations that anyone else has done, since we posted we found a Tower of Terror re-creation that was quite extensive, and a "Phantasmic" which was a good effort. Let me know if you know of other Disney ride re-creations! :)

[MonoManBlue]

im not going to lie.....thats pretty awesome.

[TinkerCarol]

If I call you my best friends, will you come to Illinois and set this all up at my house!!! Amazing! I wish I had a neighbor like you. How much time did this all take? I can't say enough to even give it justice.

[suz_cute]

Were you officially the coolest dad on the block for that one?? Pretty impressive!

[Piglet4Ever]

That was really cool!!!!:worship:

[mmmears]

Unbelievable!!! I am SO impressed!:)

How much time did it take to build mini-Soarin'?

[Carys]

Seriously awesome!

[brocklesnar69]

oh man, that is so cool. How much did it cost to turn your garage into soarin?

[dburg30]

LOL that's cool!


And if I may say I liked your illuminations better then the real one :)

[elaine and the boys]

FABULOUS! These are my three favorite Epcot events! YOU ROCK!

[Carnator]

You should be quite proud..that was great!:goodvibes

[bwolfe]

Wow! Great work.

[ortholablady]

Wow! Those were great! You guys are very creative!

[MsDisney23]

An excellent job! :thumbsup2 Way kewl, I enjoyed it! :woohoo:

[carmiedog]

:worship: :worship: :worship:

[Pixiedust34]

You did a great job! I love the attention to detail, such as the lights at the Soarin queue! :thumbsup2

The whole event was so much fun to watch! Please keep us posted if you do more attractions.

[seashoreCM]

Could you post some (still) pictures? Video takes too long to download and show on my computer.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

[Kteacher]

:thumbsup2 those were awesome!

[tinknsnow]

That was really cool. The queue and video were excellent (though I did miss the Mickey Ears Guy). :thumbsup2

[disneymyway]

OMG! You are incredible! That is the coolest thing I've ever seen!

Thanks for sharing it with us!!! :thanks: :thanks:

[WilsonFlyer]

I've got a 1080p projector and a swing like that. You wouldn't be interested in sharing the video clip and the audio clip, would you? LOL :D

AWESOME!!!!!!!

[Lan]

Loved it:thumbsup2

[LorieR]

That was terrific!! It actually brought tears to my eyes!! :worship:

[ProudMommyof2]

Holy Guacamole!!!! That is awesome!

[alldiz]

OMG that was soooooo cool:banana: :banana:

Soaring kept stopping on youtube though.....I think it was my computer.

Great work:worship:
Kerri

[Big Vic]

Cool! :thumbsup2

[deej696]

Thats being added to the "Top 5 things Deej has ever seen list.":thumbsup2

[EpcotMatt2]

Quite impressive. :thumbsup2 But I couldn't smell the oranges?:lmao:

[ArmyWife3-4]

That rocked!!! Nice work!!!!

[mjhd]

WOW!!!! That is really cool! My dd wants to know if you had air fresheners set up in the Soarin ride lol! You are officially Epcot's #1 fan. I hope your family appreciated how truly amazing that was.

[snowwhitemom]

OMGosh!!!!!!! WOW!!!! So whats your address...... we are moving to your neighborhood!!!!! LOL That is awesome...... I truely had tears of joy in my eyes!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!!

[SueM in MN]

Since the OP doesn't have enough posts to put in links yet, I'll add some. (Have to help out a fellow MN resident)

Link to PR-USA net article (http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115601&Itemid=34)(sadly, no pictures).

Link to youtube#1 Soarin' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI)
I love the whole thing, but the pre-boarding video is :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2
I also love the surprise setting for the ending fireworks.:banana:

Link to youtube #2 Illuminations and Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc&NR=1)

That was great - Thanks for sharing.

[WendyMS]

This fellow Minnesota Disney lover salutes you!!!

---reminds me of my 6th birthday (early November) when my parents set up our entire garage as a haunted house for my party (as a surprise).

Very cool!!

Wendy:thumbsup2

[teruterubouzu]

Very fun! Your kids must enjoy having such fun loving dads.

[disneymd33]

You're kids must have had a blast putting it all together!

[fireworks fan]

We loved it! Great job-your family must have had a blast:thumbsup2

[DisDarling]

That was AMAZING!!! Great job!!!

Amy

[NewYorkRedNeck]

Have to agree. That was awesome... Way to go guys

[10_Kyle_10]

Very impressive!

[EeyoreFan1]

That is officially the COOLEST thing I've ever seen!

[Jamie77]

Can I get some fastpasses?

[kittythepoohbear]

I bow down to your greatness! :worship: :worship: :worship: That was fantastic!

[Dan Murphy]

dreamersempire, I have seen a lot of neat stuff over the past 9 years here on the DIS, these are pretty near the top. You definitely qualify as a neat Disney nut, what wonderful pieces of work and appreciation for things you and your family obviously appreciate so well. Soarin', Illuminations, Mexico!!!!! Very, very cool. I have this thread subscribed to, and have you on my buddy list, hope to see more in the future. What a neat family!! :thumbsup2

And welcome to the DIS, hope we see you often, dreamer.

[moredisneyplease]

OH MY GOSH! I'm sure non Disney folks might think this is a bit goofy but I think its the coolest thing ever!! And I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that got tears over this. Thank you for posting! :love:

[ibelieveinmagic]

WOW!!!!! Can I comeover???

[disney-super-mom]

That was pretty incredible! I loved it!:worship: :cool1: :worship:

Clear out your guest room 'cause, OH YEAH.....I'M THERE!:woohoo:

[sarcasticblonde]

I watched your Soarin' video and I thought it was very neat. I do have a question for you though. Did you create your own "Soarin'" film to watch during the ride? Or did you somehow find the actual one online? I ask because some of the scenes seem "familiar" and others I don't remember at all from the WDW ride. I thought maybe the ride is different at DCA? Just curious.

[Trena]

very nice! I want to come over to your house to see that!

[Desnik]

I am watching it with my kids right now and this is so amazing!!

They want a Soarin ride too!LOL

I am really curious where you got the footage?

[DisneyWorldWisher]

Very nice work! Favorited! :thumbsup2

I watched your Soarin' video and I thought it was very neat. I do have a question for you though. Did you create your own "Soarin'" film to watch during the ride? Or did you somehow find the actual one online? I ask because some of the scenes seem "familiar" and others I don't remember at all from the WDW ride. I thought maybe the ride is different at DCA? Just curious.

I believe it is a unique film, non of the scenes are the same but they are of similar settings :)

[dreamersempire]

This is pretty fun for me. Last night I posted this kind of late and went to bed and just checked to see if anyone checked out the videos. I figured the way posts move through this busy forum here it could drop off without being noticed. But thankfully it wasn't! :cool1:

I want to thank-you all for this really encouraging response, it means "the world" to us. When you decide to put in a TON of time and quite a bit of $$ you get a lot of puzzled responses from people who, well lets say don't have the same appreciation of WDW as we do :goodvibes

We'll try to answer some of your questions but the one right off the bat, the last thread was correct, we used all new film and it was intended to somewhat match the original. Our favorite is going over the waterfall and the riders seem to agree.

We were going to do the scents but didn't find a great way to do them. We did have two fans mounted up high inside the swinging bench and they came on and off at perfect times. My brothers son Eric is a techno genius and really made all that work. You really don't get a good enough shot of how we moved the bench back and forth at the right times, and it took lots of practice before we nailed down how to do that.

So I'll just say for now it took us 3 months to work it all out, the cost for everything including Illuminations and Mexico and all the Soain stuff was probably near $2000 but some of that came in long term investments like the "light-o-rama" units that were used during Illuminations, but my brother has been doing that for 3 years.

Thanks again :)

[Golf4food]

That was all freaking sweet. :) Just awesome. Thanks for sharing.

How about Pirates of the Caribbean next? :)

[Dan Murphy]

......we used all new film and it was intended to somewhat match the original. Our favorite is going over the waterfall and the riders seem to agree.......Did you video edit film clips found on the Net, or what? Really, dreamer, a fabulous piece of work there.

[DisFhan]

WAY cool, A big thumbs up!!!!!!:goodvibes :goodvibes :goodvibes

You should host a DIS meet up at your place. That would be a huge hit......

[Spanky]

Just another amazed fan. Really neat what you did for your family. I congrat you on your originality, figuring out how to do the different parts of the ride on your terf - and the name - Minicot is perfect.

[epcotbob]

Thank you for all of the great replies! :)

My brother (dreamersempire) and I are true Disney Fanatics, especially Epcot, so we had alot of fun creating a mini-version at home.

To reply to some of the questions:

We began gathering video clips off of a bunch of DVDs, essentially anytime we saw a "flyover" shot that fit the Soarin theme. Alot of the clips came from DVDs called "Over California" and "Over Arizona", we also used some from the Planet Earth series (the waterfall).

We will add some behind-the-scenes videos later showing more detail on the set-up. But in short, for Soarin we used a 13 feet wide by 10 foot tall screen and used rear-projection to allow us to get the chair right up next to the screen. We would have loved to use the actual Soarin video, but had to make our own to get the picture quality we needed.

The hallway was constructed using black poly (we were on a budget!), with blue string lights from Menards. We used a 13 inch TV attached to a TV mount for the queue video.

For the lights we used 48 channels of Lightrama christmas light controllers and strung a bunch of lights around trees, poles, gardens, etc. as well as the "leaping lights".

For the Fireworks we used a homemade 32 channel controller connected to a computer to synchronize the ignition. We wrapped the fuses with nichrome wire with the controller sending 12 volts to the ingitors in sync with the music.

Fireworks are a little tricky to get the timing right, but essentially we would trigger the fuses about 1 second before we actually wanted them to ignite to account for the delay....it worked pretty well.

We switched between 2 cameras for the fireworks show to try and capture everything.

[dreamersempire]

You should host a DIS meet up at your place. That would be a huge hit......

We have said that anyone in the Minneapolis area has a fast pass on us! Truly I couldn't think of anything more fun than having real Disney enthusiasts come out for it. I'm pretty sure Bob could pull off Illuminations again in a pinch :thumbsup2

[zuly]

:goodvibes OH MY GOD!!! that is truly magical :worship:
Hubby and I can't stop smiling ...both of you are unique and very very creative !!! keep it coming!!:thumbsup2

[i3utterfli82]

This really made me smile! Awesome job!

[SueM in MN]

We have said that anyone in the Minneapolis area has a fast pass on us! Truly I couldn't think of anything more fun than having real Disney enthusiasts come out for it. I'm pretty sure Bob could pull off Illuminations again in a pinch :thumbsup2
:yay:
Me! Me!
I'm in the Twin Cities metro area (north metro).

When I just knew you were in MN, I was going to suggest you contact Channel 5 for the On the Road program. (http://kstp.com/article/26/) I think your video you shot was better than some of the stories they show on there. (Although, I'm not sure you want to show them the fireworks that actually go off the ground :rolleyes1

[bellaDisneydncr]

This was fantastic!!! You guys are seriously amazing and i loved it!!!

[dreamersempire]

:yay:
Me! Me!
I'm in the Twin Cities metro area (north metro).

When I just knew you were in MN, I was going to suggest you contact Channel 5 for the On the Road program. I think your video you shot was better than some of the stories they show on there. (Although, I'm not sure you want to show them the fireworks that actually go off the ground :rolleyes1

SueM, you're closer than you know! I sent them "Jason" an email and they sounded interested but didn't get it until after the 4th. I tried to tell them they could still come out for Soarin but no reply. I should send them this thread so they understand better how the Disney fans enjoyed it. Thanks! :)

[*disgal*]

I have wanted to move to Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina or Tennesee (my DH and I used to live in Virginia and love the south) for the longest time.

I do believe this is the first time I've wished we lived in MN!!! :rotfl: But now, we might have to think about it.

Soarin' is one of my favorite rides. I've loved it from the beginning. And Epcot is my family's favorite park........my kids just love it, even when they were younger (my personal favorite park is MK but Epcot is a close second).

If you were my kids' uncle, you would have the title "World's coolest Uncle" until the end of time! I don't use this word often because I think it is over used.........but that was totally AWESOME!! :cool1:

[vettechick99]

Holy cow! You guys are so creative! I'm stunned!

[KCmike]

Congrats on a great recreation! It was so much fun to watch and I bet funner to ride. What was the other recreations you found on utube?

[Ms.Grumpy]

OMG this is awesome! Great job, I am soooo jealous.
:cheer2:

[minijeanie]

FANTASTIC:goodvibes :goodvibes

WHAT A SHOW

How long did it take to put the soaring show together?
TOtally amazing......
You could sell tickets:rotfl: :rotfl:

[dreamersempire]

Congrats on a great recreation! It was so much fun to watch and I bet funner to ride. What was the other recreations you found on utube?

Someone posted a "Tower of Terror" re-creation like 2 days earlier than ours. They put in a LOT of work but its a little harder to watch and appreciate. There is also a "Phantasmic" re-creation but in all truth I didn't quite get it, other than they put some water fountain jumpers to lights and music.

[ROIE01581]

it is great, but beware the letter from Disney will be coming soon.

[HappyDisneyMemories]

Bravo! This is really fabulous!!! Any plans to recreate another ride? This seriously gave me chills watching what you've done!

[dreamersempire]

FANTASTIC:goodvibes :goodvibes

WHAT A SHOW

How long did it take to put the soaring show together?
TOtally amazing......
You could sell tickets:rotfl: :rotfl:

If you mean the whole ride it took a number of months. The video part alone was done and then improved and improved over a few months. I wish I could boil it down to hours but needless to say, a lot more than you'd think. ;)

[Pinnie]

Thank you SO much for sharing these with us. You are truly an amazing techno person!! And I can't even program my DVR!

thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

pinnie

[dreamersempire]

Bravo! This is really fabulous!!! Any plans to recreate another ride? This seriously gave me chills watching what you've done!

Answer is yes, though the one we want to do is a tall order and we're not sure how to pull it off. So I'll wait to say until we are sure. Thanks :cool2:

[bytheblood]

Very impressive. I voted, too - 5 stars!!!
That is very cool.

[Rora]

:worship: This is amazing!!

I'll pay you to build one of those in my backyard!!

[Joy]

All I can say is :worship: :worship: :worship:

We loved it!

[aangel0]

Awesome job!!! I am sooo impressed!:thumbsup2

[MariaEllerºoº]

Holy cow! It's awesome! What a wonderful job!!!! Can ya come to VA and turn our place into Soarin? :)

[dis-happy]

Amazing!!!! I feel like I just went around the WS while watching your video...but my feet don't hurt.

Great job!!! :thumbsup2

[KristaTX]

That is waayyyy ::yes::. I'm especially impressed with the Illuminations one :thumbsup2 .

[Debbie-TN]

Thanks. That was truly incredible!!!:cool1:

[triplefigs]

That is positively one of the most amazing and wonderful things I've seen. My DS is special needs and his hands-down favorite ride is Soarin'. We rode it over and over on our last trip. You actually brought tears to my eyes when I briefly (I could never build it) imagined DS' total joy if we had one here at our home for him. I don't think he'd ever get off of the ride.

You truly outdid yourselves! Thanks so much for sharing your Disney love with us!!!

[mom2girlsn1boy]

that was awesome, great job

[dreamergirl78]

WOWOWOWOW!!! That was sooooo awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. :goodvibes Keep us updated on new creations!

[pickles]

I bet I know who the next disney imagineer is gonna be!! :wizard:

[dreamersempire]

That is positively one of the most amazing and wonderful things I've seen. My DS is special needs and his hands-down favorite ride is Soarin'. We rode it over and over on our last trip. You actually brought tears to my eyes when I briefly (I could never build it) imagined DS' total joy if we had one here at our home for him. I don't think he'd ever get off of the ride.

You truly outdid yourselves! Thanks so much for sharing your Disney love with us!!!

Thanks again for all replies.

I sure wish you guys were nearby because we would let him ride it as many times as he liked. We're actually going to take it down soon but we talked it over and figured within a day we could have it back up so if you're ever in the neighborhood (Minneapolis) let us know :goodvibes

[jenthemom22]

Thank you so much for sharing this. Even though my next Disney trip is a couple of years away, you brought a little Disney right to me via computer. Great job! pixiedust:

[Kat73]

Okay seriously? That is just about the coolest thing ever. :worship:

[della]

You guys are amazing! All we had was a pinata at our last party!!

[grimgrinnin]

Brilliant!

I used to work in the Bank of America building in your video - in a round about way, I'm in Soarin'!!! :teeth:

These videos are gonna go viral, and Disney's gonna sue you :sad1:


grim pirate:

[dreamersempire]

Brilliant!

I used to work in the Bank of America building in your video - in a round about way, I'm in Soarin'!!! :teeth:

These videos are gonna go viral, and Disney's gonna sue you :sad1:


grim pirate:

Hehe, I like the "viral" part ;) I suppose I should take a stab at that, I'm sure most folks wonder about legal side of this. First of all, this was all done for friends and family, we didn't make a dime. Its not for commercial purposes, just for fun. We also never used more than 30 seconds of any video shot, as I understand it thats okay. We're just a few Disney nuts who enjoy rides like Soarin and really like Epcot. So I'm betting they won't be too concerned and perhaps see it as a positive :confused3 :cool2:

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

In the words of the boy on the tricycle in The Incredibles....
THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!

And I thought my Disney Kitchen was cool.. You guys have me beat big time!

I wouldn't worry about the lawsuit. They rarely ever actually happen. Your just having fun on your property with no intent to profit. The only call your likely to get from Disney would be "Want a job?" :rotfl2:
Besides, We're still in a recession, Disney has bigger fish to fry! This kind of thing can only help them.
Keep up the good work!

[Lynn5700]

WOW that was so cool!!! You rock!!!

[all4disney98]

That was so great! :cheer2: :thumbsup2

[krissy2803]

That was hands down one of the coolest things I have ever seen! :worship: :worship: :worship:

[dreamersempire]

The only call your likely to get from Disney would be "Want a job?" :rotfl2:

I'll take it :thumbsup2

[epcotbob]

Hehe, I like the "viral" part ;) I suppose I should take a stab at that, I'm sure most folks wonder about legal side of this. First of all, this was all done for friends and family, we didn't make a dime. Its not for commercial purposes, just for fun. We also never used more than 30 seconds of any video shot, as I understand it thats okay. We're just a few Disney nuts who enjoy rides like Soarin and really like Epcot. So I'm betting they won't be too concerned and perhaps see it as a positive :confused3 :cool2:

If they sue us, does that mean they will take over all of our debt ? :banana:

I have to agree with my brother, it was all in good fun so I don't expect Disney to even notice.

[mickeysgirl17]

Really really cool. I love it!

[kathymc]

that was so much fun - thanks you just made my day!

[LuluLovesDisney]

Wow, you must have the best Christmas lights and parties in the neighborhood lol!

This was the best thing I've seen in a while!! I am amazed! I was imagining little orange air fresheners hanging in the back on Soarin' lol!! It looks like so much fun and you have to be one of the BEST DADs in the whole world!! I am sending the links to my fiance to watch during his lunch break so he can take notes ;)

I hope you continue to do things like this and bring the Disney magic to your loved ones (and now, thanks to the internet!) total strangers who LOVE it, too!

GREAT JOB!!

[triplefigs]

Thanks again for all replies.

I sure wish you guys were nearby because we would let him ride it as many times as he liked. We're actually going to take it down soon but we talked it over and figured within a day we could have it back up so if you're ever in the neighborhood (Minneapolis) let us know :goodvibesIf we were even remotely close, I'd take you up on your offer! Now you have my little head spinning on how I could do a mini version for him. Your Soarin' video is better than the origianl IMHO! :thumbsup2

[dreamersempire]

If we were even remotely close, I'd take you up on your offer! Now you have my little head spinning on how I could do a mini version for him. Your Soarin' video is better than the origianl IMHO! :thumbsup2

Thanks! I will admit that there are many parts I really like in our video, especially the waterfall scene. The music obviously crescendo's at that point and if you compare with that moment in Soarin I think ours is more stunning at that point. You probably can't tell but we pull the chair back at that point so you really feel like you might fall down that waterfall. And I truly love our buffalo scene, I think that also matches with the music perfectly there.

Epcotbob, my brother, can give you any advice you want on this. If you had access to a HUGE TV we could get you our video and all you'd really need is the appropriate chair and a way to "enclose" the rider(s) so they really feel like they are flying

Let me know.. :)

[MomtoGKC]

Wow - that was amazing! I kept seeing this thread but never actually clicked on it until now. My kids were enthralled!! My 7 year old had a million questions. How did he have room to make the line? Was it inside the house? Did he rock the chair while they watched? Where did he get the movies? Are they from CA or somewhere else? Hah - I know her wheels were turning trying to figure out how she could do this in her bedroom. :lmao:

[dreamersempire]

Wow - that was amazing! I kept seeing this thread but never actually clicked on it until now. My kids were enthralled!! My 7 year old had a million questions. How did he have room to make the line? Was it inside the house? Did he rock the chair while they watched? Where did he get the movies? Are they from CA or somewhere else? Hah - I know her wheels were turning trying to figure out how she could do this in her bedroom. :lmao:

Thanks and glad you guys enjoyed it :banana:

The ride was built in a pole barn (its actually still set up). The main hallway is about 60 feet long I think with blue rope lights hung from the square wall units we built with black poly. We did rock the chair and it took a little practice to get that right, especially for me, but my nephew Andrew (who was also in the queue video) did most of the rocking. We purchased some of the dvd's and got others from the library. A lot of it was Arizona, I can't recall what other states we got footage from.

As I said in my last post, if you had access to a large TV and could come up with a creative way to do the chair you could pull it off. Contact me if you have questions :)

[disneywifey]

Wow wow wow. That was great. Your video is now on my facebook page! popcorn:: let me know if the other "idea" works out! i'm sure if you got all this stuff to come to fruition, you can add another! Great work and dedication. Your families are so lucky to have such imaginative family members!

[SuperTink]

:thumbsup2 Very Cool!

[wendyinaustin]

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:
That gave me CHILLS!!! Awesome! Your kids are so blessed to have you as a dad!

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

Epcotbob, my brother, can give you any advice you want on this. If you had access to a HUGE TV we could get you our video and all you'd really need is the appropriate chair and a way to "enclose" the rider(s) so they really feel like they are flying
You may have already tried this, but you can get whats called Bass Shakers for your chair, and if wired properly, you will FEEL the big bump of the fireworks explosions at the end like on the actual ride. Bass shakers aren't speakers. They just shake really hard. I've seen them and almost used them in my home theater. I decided against it and bought a separate massive plate amp and mounted it in the end of my couch instead, and wired up a car audio bass bin with 2 10" liquid cooled Bazooka subs. So when the T-Rex walks past on Jurassic Park... you FEEL him walking by! They would work great for what you need.

Description says:

Connect these bass transducers like ordinary speakers to your home theater system or to a standard automotive amplifier (sold separately). When properly installed, Bass Shakers cause the area mounted upon to resonate and vibrate with the dramatic intensity of deep bass, so you'll feel a deeper connection to your favorite movie or video game. Low bass is mostly felt, rather than heard, so this resonation is perceived as clear and deep bass without the damaging effects that often accompany big sound pressure levels.

[Dan Murphy]

Dreamer, now that you have more than 10 posts, maybe add the actual links in your original post. Just a thought.

Had to look at them again. :thumbsup2 :woohoo:

[dreamersempire]

Dreamer, now that you have more than 10 posts, maybe add the actual links in your original post. Just a thought.

Had to look at them again. :thumbsup2 :woohoo:

Great idea, thanks for reminder. Done :thumbsup2

[epcotbob]

You may have already tried this, but you can get whats called Bass Shakers for your chair, and if wired properly, you will FEEL the big bump of the fireworks explosions at the end like on the actual ride. Bass shakers aren't speakers. They just shake really hard. I've seen them and almost used them in my home theater. I decided against it and bought a separate massive plate amp and mounted it in the end of my couch instead, and wired up a car audio bass bin with 2 10" liquid cooled Bazooka subs. So when the T-Rex walks past on Jurassic Park... you FEEL him walking by! They would work great for what you need.

Description says:

Connect these bass transducers like ordinary speakers to your home theater system or to a standard automotive amplifier (sold separately). When properly installed, Bass Shakers cause the area mounted upon to resonate and vibrate with the dramatic intensity of deep bass, so you'll feel a deeper connection to your favorite movie or video game. Low bass is mostly felt, rather than heard, so this resonation is perceived as clear and deep bass without the damaging effects that often accompany big sound pressure levels.

I've never heard of those before, but that would definately be a great addition to the ride! I'll check into it.

We also considered using some electric actuators to automate the chair movement....but ran out of time, so I just had my son push the chair back and forth.

[spooky1]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - COOL! :banana:

[hellokitty86]

Wow! Those were great...Thanks for sharing!!!

[dreamersempire]

Going to answer a few questions..

Took over 3 months for us to plan and execute. Its actually built in a pole barn. Plans for next attraction? Well we have talked about bringing back an old favorite plus improving on this next year. We really wanted to make a mechanism to move the bench up into the mini omnimax we built, but there wasn't enough time or money this year. We're also talking about doing High Def next year and ofcourse to new scenes. I just heard from the techno wizards, my brother and son, that we are doing Illuminations to a different song next year. Thought that might disappoint a few of you but we've actually been doing it to same song for like 3 or 4 years now and with the same crowd coming every year we need to mix it up a bit.

Also, here is the press release (http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/6/emw1056894.htm) we put out to try to get some local stations to come out, which didn't quite happen :confused3

And I did put the youtube links in the first post now. :)

[Luis Rodriguez]

My english vocabulary just escapes me right now!! That's just wonderful!!
(And the safety's video's presenter is perfect!!)

Congratulations!!

Regards,

Luis

P.S. BTW, The falls that appear in your video seem to be the "Salto Angel" (Angel Falls) located at the South part of my country (Venezuela). They are the world's highest, being a little over 3200ft high.

[SteamboatStevie]

Good sirs, I salute you.
I thought I was a Disney-phile, but you have made me realize that I have so much more to aspire to. :worship:
It brings me so much joy when I think of how just one place in central Florida can bring so much happiness to so many people (including friends and families thousands of miles away who are willing to spend countless hours and money trying to recreate the magic they've experienced there).:goodvibes
It was an awesome tribute, and must have been one heck of a 4th. How fantastic it must be to be one of your kids.
Keep up the great work, and for all of us who can't make it to MN in the summer, keep us updated on all future endeavors! :thumbsup2

[cmwade77]

I have to say that these are cool.....I would say I wish that people here would do something similar, but considering that on most nights we can hear Disneyland's fireworks says a lot.
I am sure that if you put a "press release" on here, you will get several takers.

[epcotbob]

My english vocabulary just escapes me right now!! That's just wonderful!!
(And the safety's video's presenter is perfect!!)

Congratulations!!

Regards,

Luis

P.S. BTW, The falls that appear in your video seem to be the "Salto Angel" (Angel Falls) located at the South part of my country (Venezuela). They are the world's highest, being a little over 3200ft high.

Yes, that clip is Angel Falls! It really is a spectacular site and seemed to fit well with the crescendo point of the Soarin song. I would love to see the falls in person sometime!!

Thank you for the kind comments!!

[epcotbob]

I want to say a big THANK YOU! to all of the great comments on this forum. It's just been great fun for my brother and I to share this with other WDW enthusiasts!

Our families really enjoyed it, but it takes a true WDW fanatic to fully appreciate what we were trying to accomplish.

Another note: I hope to have a behind-the-scenes video up on youtube in the next couple of days that will go into the technical details of the set-up, we are editing it now. I think you will get a kick out of detail that went into the set-up.

[Zippa D Doodah]

Amazing!

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn261/undertaker512/RicFlair-8.jpg

[epcotbob]

Could you post some (still) pictures? Video takes too long to download and show on my computer.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Sorry we didn't do this earlier, here is a photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bobrice/Minicot

[RllngRckBrw]

This is awsome. Disney fans always seem to amazeme. Keep em comming.

[myprincessgirlisa]

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

a bunch of us watched it at work...made the rest of the day SO much nicer!!!

so Im itching to see how you did the illuminations??
were the lights pre programmed to a computer??

you guys are AWESOME!!!!
I hope you continue to do more !!!!!!:goodvibes

[dreamersempire]

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

a bunch of us watched it at work...made the rest of the day SO much nicer!!!

so Im itching to see how you did the illuminations??
were the lights pre programmed to a computer??

you guys are AWESOME!!!!
I hope you continue to do more !!!!!!:goodvibes

Thanks! Thats cool that you were able to enjoy it with some coworkers :) Epcotbob will chime in I'm sure, and he is about to post a "how we did it" video in the next few days. And yes, its all computerized, I don't know the software he used but it sends the signals to the light-o-rama control units that heat up a lead that is connected to the fireworks. A few posts earlier Bob posted a link to some of the pictures.

[izzy]

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!!:worship: :worship: :worship:

That was freakin' unbelievable! Honestly, I think your Soarin' was actually better than Epcot's version. (It certainly seemed longer, which is a good thing!)

So, what's next? Reconstruct Spaceship Earth complete with the original ride? Perhaps a nod to the past with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?

[teruterubouzu]

So, what's next? Reconstruct Spaceship Earth complete with the original ride? Perhaps a nod to the past with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?

LOL. My vote is Horizons! You can buy blueprints on eBay.

[SkyGirl]

You are my favorite kind of people!!!

That was incredible! :dance3: :hippie: :banana: :yay:

[wdwgirl03]

Oh. My. Goodness.

That is seriously awesome.

[missmun52]

Wow, What can I say.......AMAZING!!

[lundve]

totally cool!

[Rustysmom]

Wow, that was amazing!!!

[epcotbob]

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

a bunch of us watched it at work...made the rest of the day SO much nicer!!!

so Im itching to see how you did the illuminations??
were the lights pre programmed to a computer??

you guys are AWESOME!!!!
I hope you continue to do more !!!!!!:goodvibes

Thank You!

We will get a behind-the-scenes video up in a few days, but yes we used computerized light controllers made by light-o-rama, the same units used for animated Christmas light displays.

The units allow us to read in a music track and animate the lights to the music. There is a sequence editor and we worked on the show ahead of time, so at showtime all we have to do is hit START.

The fireworks were connected to a seperate computer that controlled a homemade relay board connected to the printer port. I used a software package called Vixen Lights that, like light-o-rama, allowed me to read in a music track and trigger the relays on a timeline. The relays were ultimately connected to some nichrome wire on the fireworks to ignite it.

We just had to hit the START button on both computers at the same time, then sit back and enjoy the show.....the computers ran everything from there. Same automation concept as the real illuminations, just on a much smaller scale.

Here is a picture of the 2 computers used during the show:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bobrice/Minicot/photo#5238894593915224738

Here I am trying to get all of the wires hooked up:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bobrice/Minicot/photo#5238894570253641922

[SueM in MN]

LOL. My vote is Horizons! You can buy blueprints on eBay.
I think he'd need a bigger pole barn:rotfl2:

Since I now know I am nearby the "Soarin' Constructors", I'd volunteer to help:banana:

[the_princess]

That was really cool!!!!!!!!!

[MissyDVC]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I SO wish you were our neighbors! It is so great to see people who live Disney after they have left the parks. I know I do:thumbsup2 Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us:goodvibes :cool1: :woohoo: :hug: :love: :banana: :flower3: :cheer2: :yay: :wizard: :worship: :cloud9: ;)

[jade1]

Wow, that is great. Cant decide if I'm more impressed with you guys, or less impressed with WDW. Cant see much difference compared to Soarin.

[amygirl2727]

This is amazing. VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE! :goodvibes

[hipchickie]

I can't let my family see this :laughing: They will want to do it too

[schmoopypoo]

I can't let my family see this :laughing: They will want to do it too
Oh my gosh....I seriously was just going to say the same thing :lmao: Everything is just truly amazing :worship: Great job!

[we're all mad here]

I watched it with my DD5, let's just say my DH would :rolleyes: if he saw us. DD was on my lap with her arms wrapped around me, and when the castle with the fireworks at the end she got excited and I started to tear up. That was amazing. Definantly my WDW fix for the day!:goodvibes

[seashoreCM]

Super awesome! Something to add to my home theater being planned but I'll either have to set it all up in my breezeway and back yard (as opposed to my basement) or do without the fireworks.

[Jubilee]

Our hero!!!! My husband and I were just rolling at the timing on the fireworks for Illuminations. It was soooo good. And hey, when they have the globe down for revamp, it will probably look just like your reenactment :rotfl:

[disneyplanningdad]

I think you should also post this on this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27188145#post27188145&highlight=

"You know you've been to Disney too many times when..."
I was very skeptcal going to your video but you did a great job.

[estherhead]

My dh is totally not allowed to see this. He will be out buying lights tomorrow! Also, I recognized the Planet Earth footage. I LOVE Planet Earth and knew right away which was which. That waterfall scene is great.

Good, good job! Very inspirational.

[Sleeping Becca]

Congrats! That was amazing! I can't imagine the amount of work that went into that! You nailed everything, even the queue and ..... "enjoy your flight". The film itself is a masterpiece in an of itself. Love love love it!

Illuminations was equally impressive, the timing on the fireworks and the lights was awesome, I don't know if people realize how hard that is to do.

Crazy awesome! Unbelievable! But yeah, most people will and probably already do, think you are bonkers. You guys are bonkers, make no mistake, but so are we!!!!!

[ireland_nicole]

i don't have anything useful to add, but I just had to repeat, WOW! I am totally amazed!!!

[epcotbob]

Congrats! That was amazing! I can't imagine the amount of work that went into that! You nailed everything, even the queue and ..... "enjoy your flight". The film itself is a masterpiece in an of itself. Love love love it!

Illuminations was equally impressive, the timing on the fireworks and the lights was awesome, I don't know if people realize how hard that is to do.

Crazy awesome! Unbelievable! But yeah, most people will and probably already do, think you are bonkers. You guys are bonkers, make no mistake, but so are we!!!!!

Thank you Becca and others for your great comments! :)

The response from WDW fans has been really fun for us and really makes all of the effort worthwhile.

I think it takes a true Disney enthusiast to really appreciate what we were trying to pull off. Some of the more detailed elements like the queue video, hallway with lights, and fireworks timing is most noticable to those who know the Disney parks well.

Your right, others think maybe we are just a little bonkers!

[dreamersempire]

Yesterday was tough day as Bob and I tore down Soarin. :scared: We piped some great Epcot music while we worked, which we always enjoy.

Good news is that Bob almost has the "How we built it all.." video done and we will post. Plus someone found something very interesting in the Soarin video, we'll wait and post that at the same time. :thumbsup2

[epcotbob]

The Behind-the-scenes video is now up! Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3At6o90KOI

On a funny sidenote, someone pointed out a completely unplanned Hidden Mickey in the Soarin video re-make. We were shocked :eek: as it was completely unplanned...but it's there! I was going to post the location in the video, but it might be fun for people to seee if they can find it....

[smiles&grins]

I believe the only word for this is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

[mickeywatch33]

The behind the scenes was awesome to watch! The engineering behind your illuminations show is unbelievable! Great job! and thank you for letting us Disers share this Dis moment!

Don't stop now...what other attractions are you brewing up in Minicot?:thumbsup2

[epcotbob]

The behind the scenes was awesome to watch! The engineering behind your illuminations show is unbelievable! Great job! and thank you for letting us Disers share this Dis moment!

Don't stop now...what other attractions are you brewing up in Minicot?:thumbsup2

Thank you! We had a number of inquiries about how we set it all up, so that's why we put together a behind the scenes video. It's been fun to share it with you all! :)

[3DisneyBuggs]

Awesome!!

[basas]

Next time you can invite us over to give it a try!;) :thumbsup2

[WendyCFG]

OMG... WOW... AMAZING... Won't you be my neighbor?

AWESOME!!! You Rock... don't know what else to say... nothing I say will do it justice...

WOW!!!

[d1gitman]

do you adopt?

actually, i am waiting to see Tower of Terror next...that would take the cake!

[dreamersempire]

do you adopt?

actually, i am waiting to see Tower of Terror next...that would take the cake!

That happens to be the one other ride re-creation we are aware of. These guys put a ton of work into this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkfXrR7g5JA).

I think because of the way they filmed it, its a little harder to enjoy as a film, but still incredible amount of work none the less.

[epcotbob]

Next time you can invite us over to give it a try!;) :thumbsup2

For sure! We are only a little west of the Twin Cities....

We will probably do another re-creation for next years 4th celebration.....not quite sure what it'll be yet...but we'll let you know! :)

[mommykds]

My kids & I just watched your video on Youtube & were totally AMAZED!!

You are very creative!!!

I hope your kids know how cool their Dad is!!!

:worship: :worship: :worship:

[SueM in MN]

The behind the scenes video was even better than the videos showing your attractions themselves (if that is even possible). :banana: :banana: :banana:
It was fascinating to see how you did everything!:cheer2:

[PNO4TE]

On July 4th my brother and I, being the Epcot fanatics we are, put on an Epcot themed celebration at his house we called "Minicot". We re-created three major elements of Epcot at his house. The highlight was Soarin, and we also did Illuminations and Mexico.

You'll find them at youtube with keyword 'Minicot' but here now (since I have 10 posts) is the actual links :)

Part 1 - Soarin Ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI)
Part 2 - Illuminations and Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc)

We're thinking about putting together a list of any ride re-creations that anyone else has done, since we posted we found a Tower of Terror re-creation that was quite extensive, and a "Phantasmic" which was a good effort. Let me know if you know of other Disney ride re-creations! :)

:worship: I am moving to Minnesota! You all are amazing. :goodvibes

[doodle]

Just watched your Soarin' - so great. I had to punch my husband and ask, "Why haven't you built me a Soarin'?" :lmao:

[Dan Murphy]

Words are not sufficient to describe those behind the scenes clips. Again, what a dedication of love for Disney. You guys are unbelievable. And once more, thanks so much for sharing.

[loveWDWalways]

Wow! That is amazing. You have so much talent :thumbsup2 !
I wish I knew how to do something like this! I've just finished watching the Soarin' one, and now I'll be moving on to the rest. Can you imagine how much easier having something like this at home would make waiting between trips?

[ckret01]

Holy Cow! That was amazingly fantastic!:worship: Get a room ready for me I'm moving in :lmao:

You guys are awesome and the amount of work and detail that went into what you did is truly unbelievable! Excellent job....it gave me the chills :)

[Linzybrooke]

That was incredible!!!! Makes me want to move back home to MN so I can give you a hand next time!

[rayelias]

On July 4th my brother and I, being the Epcot fanatics we are, put on an Epcot themed celebration at his house we called "Minicot". We re-created three major elements of Epcot at his house. The highlight was Soarin, and we also did Illuminations and Mexico.

You'll find them at youtube with keyword 'Minicot' but here now (since I have 10 posts) is the actual links :)

Part 1 - Soarin Ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI)
Part 2 - Illuminations and Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc)

We're thinking about putting together a list of any ride re-creations that anyone else has done, since we posted we found a Tower of Terror re-creation that was quite extensive, and a "Phantasmic" which was a good effort. Let me know if you know of other Disney ride re-creations! :)

I want to party at your house. That freakin' ROCKS!
:thumbsup2

[lucas]

WOW!!!!!!!! :goodvibes

[cindy404]

Hello all!

[drag n' fly]

I want to be adopted.:love: They turned my favourite ride of all time and made it better!:yay:

[BrerMom]

In the words of the boy on the tricycle in The Incredibles....
THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!

And I thought my Disney Kitchen was cool.. You guys have me beat big time!

I wouldn't worry about the lawsuit. They rarely ever actually happen. Your just having fun on your property with no intent to profit. The only call your likely to get from Disney would be "Want a job?" :rotfl2:
Besides, We're still in a recession, Disney has bigger fish to fry! This kind of thing can only help them.
Keep up the good work!Exactly the thought I was going to post!! EXCELLENT job!!!

[slk537]

How amazing~!!!!!!!

If you ever have a DIS meet, count us in! We're not too far to the east :thumbsup2

[tonilea]

Words escape me. I just can't tell you how impressed I am.

[YouJustBideYourTime!]

Hay, your fireworks show is fantastic! I can't imagine how you put that together. Good job <3:wizard:

[bluerendezvous]

Super cool! What a great family!

[Mic_n_Min]

We have said that anyone in the Minneapolis area has a fast pass on us! Truly I couldn't think of anything more fun than having real Disney enthusiasts come out for it. I'm pretty sure Bob could pull off Illuminations again in a pinch :thumbsup2


Me! Me! Me! I would love to join you for a party- what fun!!! :cool1: Your videos are so awesome! Dads of the Year to both of you! :worship:

[Tarheel Tink]

DH and I want to be your neighbors!!!
Amazing and wonderful!
Thank you!:thumbsup2

[Poohbear123]

Totally Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup2 Can you Imagine....riding it ANY time you want with NO lines!!!:banana:

[liznboys]

Bravo!!! That was fantastic! I can't imagine the work that went into all of it. Just wonderful, great job!!:goodvibes

[epcotbob]

Thank you for all of the fantastic replies!

How great it would be to have a bunch of Disney fanatics for neighbors! :cool1:

We could have house-to-house gatherings with different elements of Disney at each house! :banana: :banana:

[SueM in MN]

Thank you for all of the fantastic replies!

How great it would be to have a bunch of Disney fanatics for neighbors! :cool1:

We could have house-to-house gatherings with different elements of Disney at each house! :banana: :banana:
:thumbsup2 :goodvibes

[Rella Bella]

:worship: :worship: :worship:

I totally agree!!

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1332/1thk6161jg7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Thanks for sharing your magic!! What an amazing idea!

[Dan Murphy]

The Behind-the-scenes video is now up! Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3At6o90KOI

On a funny sidenote, someone pointed out a completely unplanned Hidden Mickey in the Soarin video re-make. We were shocked :eek: as it was completely unplanned...but it's there! I was going to post the location in the video, but it might be fun for people to seee if they can find it....At 4:19-4:20 on the beach??

[gk90]

I see it at 4:20 as well, to the lower right of the screen--the scene right after the beach--is it a field with melting snow?

And congratulations on your effort, some truly breathtaking scenes there! I love the buffalo and the waterfalls.

[L107ANGEL]

Wow, just wow!! :worship: :worship:

[JulyGirl]

Oh my goodness!! I can't think of a better way to wind down after a hard day at work!:love:

[dreamersempire]

Thanks again for your feedback :goodvibes

And just to confirm, yes, the Hidden Mickey is at 4:20 :yay:

[epcotbob]

I see it at 4:20 as well, to the lower right of the screen--the scene right after the beach--is it a field with melting snow?

And congratulations on your effort, some truly breathtaking scenes there! I love the buffalo and the waterfalls.

Yep! The field with the melting snow.....it's not a perfect Mickey....but darn close!

One element of Soarin we forgot to mention in the videos was the fans. We had 2 small fans suspended above the chair that would turn on at the first fly-over shot, and then turn off at the end.

We talked about adding scents, but didn't have time to figure out to trigger them at the right times.....

[dreamersempire]

We were interviewed on this British Disney Podcast (http://disneybrit.podbean.com/) and thought some of you might enjoy it. It also has lots of great info from a "UK" perspective :thumbsup2

[dreamersempire]

A while back we posted our Soarin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI) and Illuminations (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc) videos at youtube and really enjoyed the response here and at youtube. We were pleased to be contacted by a Soarin "Pilot" whe said he and other Soarin workers approved our re-creation, and he recently posted this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbQ_QQW-Uk) and I thought it was a great look behind the scenes at those nicely dressed workers who usher us on and off this great ride. Thought some of you might enjoy this!

[L107ANGEL]

A while back we posted our Soarin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI) and Illuminations (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc) videos at youtube and really enjoyed the response here and at youtube. We were pleased to be contacted by a Soarin "Pilot" whe said he and other Soarin workers approved our re-creation, and he recently posted this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbQ_QQW-Uk) and I thought it was a great look behind the scenes at those nicely dressed workers who usher us on and off this great ride. Thought some of you might enjoy this!
Very cool!

[TLinden16]

This type of thread is a better fit on the theme parks community board, so I'm going to move it over there now.

[Dan Murphy]

....We were pleased to be contacted by a Soarin "Pilot" whe said he and other Soarin workers approved our re-creation, and he recently posted this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbQ_QQW-Uk) and I thought it was a great look behind the scenes at those nicely dressed workers who usher us on and off this great ride. Thought some of you might enjoy this!That was really wonderful, dreamersempire. Thanks so much for sharing that video, along with your others. The CM's in that video sure do have that Disney 'look' about themselves. Really enjoyed watching it.

[tikkycole]

Dude those recreations are awsome. I really liked illuminations. Great for holliday events.

[dreamersempire]

Thanks much for your comments, its appreciated. My brother and I have come up with a concept for next years event, we borrowed some of the concept from Horizons, so if you were an old Horizons fan we think you'll like it :woohoo:

[dreamersempire]

The behind the scenes was awesome to watch! The engineering behind your illuminations show is unbelievable! Great job! and thank you for letting us Disers share this Dis moment!

Don't stop now...what other attractions are you brewing up in Minicot?:thumbsup2

FWIW - We decided against putting on Minicot this year. As you can probably imagine the time and $$ commitment is pretty big, and we have neither this year. Hope you will enjoy hopping on our 2008 Soarin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzMQAVWxpI&feature=channel_page) ride again!

And ofcourse theres our Illuminations and Mexico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SUveq5opc&feature=channel_page) too :goodvibes

[ilovejsparrow]

WOW-- I am so impressed. That's the coolest thing ever.

[dreamersempire]

WOW-- I am so impressed. That's the coolest thing ever.

Hey, thanks! It was a lot of fun and a great memory :goodvibes

[Amanda_the_awesome]

Great work very creative. It would be interesting to see what else you could do.

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks again, and maybe next year!! :thumbsup2

[dreamersempire]

Great work very creative. It would be interesting to see what else you could do.

We we're throwing around the idea to do Horizons. Bet you could never imagine how?

[Caribbeanprincess]

WHOA.

I just found this and I'm glad I did! You made my day!

:worship::worship::worship:

[AmberLuvsWDW]

Wow!