Soarin

Wackdawg · Aug 31, 2015

It's great that there will be a new film for Soarin and it will be out with a projected Spring 2016 release date, but will they be shutting the attraction down for refurbishment to do this and for how long if so. I figured there has to be some sort of adjustments that need to be made to the presentation and the seat movements.

GreatLakes · Aug 31, 2015

I believe it will be down but it isn't so much the seat movements that are the cause, I am fairly certain the current theaters still use film projectors while the new movie will be digital.

The movement programming should be able to be done in a simulator with a very short test period in the actual theater. Once the digital projection system is in future changes should be able to me made in a much shorter time frame, possibly over night or a few days at most.

rteetz · Aug 31, 2015

Wackdawg said:
It's great that there will be a new film for Soarin and it will be out with a projected Spring 2016 release date, but will they be shutting the attraction down for refurbishment to do this and for how long if so. I figured there has to be some sort of adjustments that need to be made to the presentation and the seat movements.

It will likely have to go down for a refurb but I wouldn't expect it to be too long. We also don't know when it will happen. I don't think it will be in spring at least in WDW as they are building the third theater and have to get the other two over to digital format.

Tinkerdreams · Aug 31, 2015

I don't believe Soarin will be shut down. Once the third theater is complete, I think it will open and they will shut down one of the two original ones to refurb. Once that one is complete, they'll shut down the 2nd original. I wouldn't think it will take a lot of time to do the upgrade - maybe a month each.

OKW Lover · Aug 31, 2015

Its possible that they could do the switch over without a shutdown. They are currently building a 3rd theater, presumably with the newest technology. Once that's complete they could then shut down one of the existing theater at a time to convert them.

Don't know if that's how it will actually happen though...

rteetz · Aug 31, 2015

Tinkerdreams said:
I don't believe Soarin will be shut down. Once the third theater is complete, I think it will open and they will shut down one of the two original ones to refurb. Once that one is complete, they'll shut down the 2nd original. I wouldn't think it will take a lot of time to do the upgrade - maybe a month each.

Yes but in order to get all three theaters working together I think a short refurb will be needed. I've heard the queue will need to be changed a bit. I don't think it will be a long refurb tho.

rteetz · Aug 31, 2015

OKW Lover said:
Its possible that they could do the switch over without a shutdown. They are currently building a 3rd theater, presumably with the newest technology. Once that's complete they could then shut down one of the existing theater at a time to convert them.

Don't know if that's how it will actually happen though...

That's how it is supposed to happen.

Wackdawg · Aug 31, 2015

I would hope the 3rd theater would be up and operational before shutting down one of the others before refurb. Just makes more sense that way.

a742246 · Sep 1, 2015

Wackdawg said:
I would hope the 3rd theater would be up and operational before shutting down one of the others before refurb. Just makes more sense that way.

I agreed, with Disney you never know! But one thing for sure in the end it will be better.

JACKNAG · Sep 2, 2015

I hope it doesn't shut down completely either

quandrea · Sep 2, 2015

Soar in will shut down January through May. I am having a dessert party in October with a Soarin ride mix in. My planner advised I pick Soarin over test track because the ride is going to be down for my next visit. My ride mix in will be my last opportunity to see the current film. I think she's a pretty good source.

Wackdawg · Sep 2, 2015

Well as long it is up and running by May 7th I will be happy. Otherwise EPCOT could get a little crazy with just TT as a good tier one attraction.

Wackdawg · Sep 2, 2015

Unless of course the Frozen attraction is up and running by the time they work on Soarin then that might off set things a bit.

rteetz · Sep 2, 2015

quandrea said:
Soar in will shut down January through May. I am having a dessert party in October with a Soarin ride mix in. My planner advised I pick Soarin over test track because the ride is going to be down for my next visit. My ride mix in will be my last opportunity to see the current film. I think she's a pretty good source.

Now that I don't see because I don't think the third theater will be completed by January. I don't think we see a change to the new film until the third theater is completed.

peg110 · Sep 2, 2015

rteetz said:
I don't think we see a change to the new film until the third theater is completed.

With concern about which movie you will see (for example people wanting to see the new version and not the old version or vice versa), I think it could be problematic for Disney to have 2 different movies running at the same time. I think they should have a digital copy of the old movie, put that in the new theater, then they can convert the 2 old theaters to the new format, at which time they could then switch all theaters over to the new movie. Or they could hold of the "Switch" to the new one until at least the first "Old" theater is set up for digital, that way the second old theater would be down for the refurb and when it comes up, it would have the new movie too.

DanBoris · Sep 2, 2015

peg110 said:
With concern about which movie you will see (for example people wanting to see the new version and not the old version or vice versa), I think it could be problematic for Disney to have 2 different movies running at the same time. I think they should have a digital copy of the old movie, put that in the new theater, then they can convert the 2 old theaters to the new format, at which time they could then switch all theaters over to the new movie. Or they could hold of the "Switch" to the new one until at least the first "Old" theater is set up for digital, that way the second old theater would be down for the refurb and when it comes up, it would have the new movie too.

I think this is the way they will do it. They are currently running a digital version of the current film in DCA, so It shouldn't be a problem to bring it Epcot.

rteetz · Sep 2, 2015

peg110 said:
With concern about which movie you will see (for example people wanting to see the new version and not the old version or vice versa), I think it could be problematic for Disney to have 2 different movies running at the same time. I think they should have a digital copy of the old movie, put that in the new theater, then they can convert the 2 old theaters to the new format, at which time they could then switch all theaters over to the new movie. Or they could hold of the "Switch" to the new one until at least the first "Old" theater is set up for digital, that way the second old theater would be down for the refurb and when it comes up, it would have the new movie too.

Yes I think that is how it will be done.

PACVII · Sep 4, 2015

Any construction time frames I think of with Disney I go with dog years in reverse. So if one would feel it should be completed in one month you muiltply by 7 and come up with seven months to complete. Seems to work well. Given a time frame of 18 months to expect toys land to be built and comes out to just over 10 years. See right on. Lol.

Boski · Sep 15, 2015

Orlando Theme Park News reporting Soarin will close in Jan for 4-6 months. Here is the link: http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/09/epcot-update-living-with-land.html

It makes little sense to me why they would not wait for Frozen to open to help disperse the crowds.

kapstar · Sep 17, 2015

I can't believe they would be so foolish as to close Soarin' for 4-6 months. With half of HS dark due to future construction, it would be crazy to do the same to Epcot with Innovations West and Soarin' both closed.

It might be a deal breaker for us. Cancelling an April 23-May 1 2016 trip.

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