Built our own Soarin Ride

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
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
 
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.. :)
 
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:
 
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 :)
 

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!
 
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.
 
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:
 
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.
 
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 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. :)
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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!!
 
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.
 
Amazing!

RicFlair-8.jpg
 



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