PART 10:
Next stop today is Soarin.’ If we can find it. I don’t know why I have such a mental block about the layout of Epcot even after looking at a map. Lowell navigates us across the park in the direction of The Land as fast as my developing blisters will allow. Everyone loves Soarin’ and I am sure we will be no exception. In fact, I already like it because they encourage you to take off your shoes while you ride, and I could go for that about now. When I see the top of the building and it matches the shape shown on the map, I feel more confident that we are going the right way. But reaching The Land is like viewing a distant mountain range. We walk and walk and it doesn’t seem to get any closer. In fact, I begin to think the distance between Test Track and The Land is inversely correlated to our walking speed. It doesn’t pay to hurry; the faster we walk, the farther away it is. This must be how Lewis & Clark felt. I check my pedometer to see if it is counting in reverse.
We finally reach The Land, and find the attraction on the second floor. There may be a long line by now since we rode Mission Space and Test Track first, while other people headed straight to Soarin.’ We walk briskly through the queue until we catch up with the rear of the line, and I am pleasantly surprised. There isn’t a huge crowd ahead of us and I don’t think we will need to wait very long. The line presses forward and a CM counts off how many will enter the next show. Unfortunately she stops four or five people in front of us. I am disappointed that we have to wait, but that’s because I haven’t spent enough time on the DIS Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies board, and don’t know any better. After we return home I read about the dreaded Foot View Rows and learn that only the front row escapes a view of dangling feet. We are about to score the best seats without knowing how lucky we are.
Months before our trip I watched a TV program that showed how Soarin was designed. The one thing that sticks in my head is that an Imagineer designed the ride operation at home over a weekend. Using an Erector Set. Yes, with a lowly Erector Set he constructed a seating system that rotates riders high up to view a gigantic movie screen. That is fascinating.
Unless you focus on the words Erector Set.
Because then it sounds just a bit disconcerting.
I promise myself I will not think about the ride being designed using a child’s toy while I am 40 feet up in the air. Besides, only the ride concept, the model, was built from an Erector Set, not the ride itself. As far as I know. And if any parts break down, they are replaced with real heavy duty parts. Not pieces from an Erector Set. Right?
Before long, the cast member waves us forward with a smile, and Lowell and I head for our seats. I can hardly wait to take off my sandals and deposit them in the net compartment. Now barefoot, I wiggle my toes happily, not educated enough to pity the poor souls behind me who will get to study my blister collection while soaring over the landscape of California.
Now that I am better informed, I have a plan. Next trip, we should paste funny messages on the soles of our shoes. When we point our toes down people can read the bottoms of our feet for a little extra entertainment. Or better yet, maybe camouflage is the way to go. We can paint our feet and lower legs sky blue with puffy white clouds, and discreetly blend in with the scenery. Walt would approve. Painting ourselves to match the sky is what he would call “plussing an attraction,” which he defined as giving the public a little more than they actually hoped for or expected.
Our seats begin to rotate upward into viewing position and I am relieved that I don’t hear rubber bands humming or a whiney little motor. No whickety whickety whickety sound as we ascend. Lowell and I are midway across the first row of seats so we can’t look down over the sides to see just how high up we are when our seats stop moving. I have heard that looking over the edge makes some people nervous. Even people who do not know the Erector Set story.
Then the landscape of California unfolds around and below us and I forget about everything but the grandeur of the scenery and the feeling of freedom and exhilaration as we fly with the ease and grace of a bird. I understand now why people say they wore a silly grin throughout the ride. I am wearing that grin.
We fly effortlessly over a river and swoop so low I can almost feel icy water splash my toes. We sail over a vast green carpet of dense forests. We pass snow covered mountains and marvel at towering waterfalls. The wind blows gently in our faces as we soar over orange groves and I smell the scent of oranges in the air. We pass over acres and acres of vineyards. We cross a desert, fly along the rocky coastline and watch ocean waves break against the shore. It feels so real. It is a total experience rather than just a ride, and when we approach
Disneyland and fireworks spread across the sky, I want to clap with delight. No man-made attraction like Disneyland can compete with the beauty we have seen as we soared over California, but Disney captures the wonder and excitement of so much that is beautiful in life, that it seems an appropriate finale, just the same. Where else can you glimpse the mysteries of space, or life under the seas? Where else can you experience many cultures in far away lands all in one day? Where else can you travel into the past to view times gone by, then step into the future to see wonders yet unknown. Yes, Disney deserves to be part of Soarin.’
It’s time to leave. I fumble inside the net pouch for my sandals while a new group of people pour in to claim our seats. I wish we could ride again, but the people who are already impatiently waiting for me, or taking seats around us while I stuff complaining feet into my shoes, don’t look agreeable to that idea. I give a moment’s thought to saying in a worried tone, “Did you know this ride was made from an Erector Set,” but I doubt that would work anyway, and decide against it. We reluctantly head for the exit.
I’m glad that for our first time we had the best seats with no dangling feet to spoil our view. We had the front seat for Test Track, too, which made the experience more enjoyable. Maybe the Lucky Fourteens’ good fortune isn’t confined to being consistently blessed with good weather wherever we go, maybe it’s about being in the right place at the right time more often than not. I walk out of the theatre still pondering that interesting theory, still high on the pleasure of Soarin, and filled with a happy contentment. If I could develop the ultimate Soarin’ I would make a movie that reached into people’s memories and portrayed the happiest moments of each viewer’s life so they could soar over those scenes, reliving people, places, and experiences. Maybe someday the Imagineers will develop a technology to do just that.
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novdisneydreams: Hello again, I'm so glad you are still reading and enjoying my reports, and thanks for confessing that I'm not the only one who is as athletic as dryer lint. In gym I hated "apparatus" most and was afraid I would kill myself on the horse or parallel bars. I always volunteered to be the "spotter." No one ever got hurt with me on guard! 
Oh and GOTTA LOVE the "message on the bottom of your feet" idea for Soain'! I'll be back at The World in a few weeks and I'm already thinking about messages to write on the undersides of my feet. Hows about "This Space........For Rent"?!
Can't wait for this next segment!
At first I read this as your DH was the salad man, as in he was wearing the cucumbers, etc and the waiter didn't notice. LOL! Sounds like you keep each other laughing. Thanks for another great installment!
