Soarin' Around the World!!! Did you ride it? TELL US PLEASE!!

[jlovesee]

Rode it last weekend going back this weekend for Frozen (hopefully, we live about 20 mins from disney). We loved it, I rode Soarin' for the first time when it was still only at DCA and was amazed by it then, this experience made me remember how amazing that first ride was way back when. I didn't think I would say this but yes I think I like it better then the original too.

Jennifer

 

[Katniss]

I can't wait to ride it!!!!

 

[britterbell]

I also am eager to know if Patrick is still in the preshow video??? If not... who is the replacement!

It's still the exact same pre-show movie And he still gives the "Soarin' to tower, we are clear for lift off"

 

[britterbell]

I read reports of grass and ocean scents

I read reports that the music is nearly the same - just some new orchestration that matches the style of the various locations - so if you liked the old music you should like this as well

The music is mostly the same, with some variations depending on the location. As far as scents go, they have grass when you're on the savannah, some perfume-y smell when you go by the Taj Mahal, and an ocean scent (I thought it actually smelled like the lobby of the GF) when you go by Fiji. If there are others, I definitely missed them

 

[palmtreelover08]

Just got off a couple hours ago- my herd of four (sister, DD-12 and DD's friend-14 and myself)- all loved it. We all agreed that the motion seems more intense- wether it is or not, idk, but we all thought it seemed to have "more motion" and more dramatic "soaring". Miss the orange smell- but other than that- we are big fans.

 

[HM]

We missed the old film.
The new one had way too much CGI.
The scenes are beautiful and varied but I just didn't feel like I was involved in the flight like I did with the California film for some reason.
It was nice to do, but it's no longer a huge favorite for us.

We had a nice short wait at 9:30 on Monday morning. And tried it for a second time on Tuesday night at the end of EMH. We came away feeling the same both times. Interesting that DD20 and I felt the same.

 

[CinderellaElla]

I rode it the second day it was open. I love it!! They did exactly what I had hoped they would do in terms of music; keep the main melody of the old ride and just change variations of it depending on what country you were flying over. Beautiful! The movement of the ride is a little tamer than before. There is not as much up/down, side to side movement anymore. It's pretty straight forward and just gentle gliding now in motion (which I don't like as much but my mom would love this calmer version!). I didn't notice any "smells." My husband said he thought he did in one of the beginning scenes. Oh! And I love love love the ending scene!

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

It was amazing! We loved it. The ending was so cool. Wish I could have ridden it more than once though.... Oh well, guess I'll have to plan another trip now

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

We missed the old film.
The new one had way too much CGI.
The scenes are beautiful and varied but I just didn't feel like I was involved in the flight like I did with the California film for some reason.
It was nice to do, but it's no longer a huge favorite for us.

We had a nice short wait at 9:30 on Monday morning. And tried it for a second time on Tuesday night at the end of EMH. We came away feeling the same both times. Interesting that DD20 and I felt the same.

I read somewhere that if you sit on the sides all the buildings look weird (like leaning) were you sitting on the side? We will ride it but I am disappointed they went with CGI instead of real filming for the most part. I think we will miss the DCA version as well but we'll try it once and try to request the middle.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

What is the new scent?

 

[HM]

I read somewhere that if you sit on the sides all the buildings look weird (like leaning) were you sitting on the side? We will ride it but I am disappointed they went with CGI instead of real filming for the most part. I think we will miss the DCA version as well but we'll try it once and try to request the middle.

No, we were second row, middle the first ride...which is pretty perfect. Second ride was second row, left but toward the middle. Definitely saw the Eiffel Tower and other things lean as they got closer. The CGI was just too noticeable. I love the realism of the old film.

 

[epcotty]

It's still the exact same pre-show movie And he still gives the "Soarin' to tower, we are clear for lift off"

Cool. Have to keep Puddy in there

 

[rg35]

I rode it twice this week.

Pros

• Added an interactive trivia game to the standby queue, played on your smartphone's browser. This was cool for me because I got to impress my young kids by answering questions first or answering X in a row correctly. You are given a code and these achievements are displayed on giant TVs throughout the queue. I answered a lot of questions first - earned a lot of "wow dad" points with the kids. Not to brag or anything.
• Third theater has really cut down standby wait times.
• Completely new HD movie looks great. No more cuts and pops that were evident in the old film and projection system.

Cons

• Same annoying Patrick Warburton pre-show video. I hate his stupid affectation. It doesn't fit in with the ride at all.
• The new film is way too heavy-handed with the CG effects. You knew in the original film that it was basically all real, that the shots were all carefully set up and filmed. There are things in the new movie that just seem too fake (see third bullet point, which is related). For example, there's a shot of the Taj Mahal that is completely CG because you can't fly over the real Taj Mahal. There's nothing about it that is remotely believable, and it completely lacks the kinetic feeling of any of the scenes that were at least shot on location. With all the wonders of the world, I have no idea why they would include a scene that is completely CG rather than choosing a location they could have filmed at.
• Addition of CG transition effects that are designed to make you "jump"...for example, a plane flies into the scene at the last moment like it's going to crash into you. This stuff scared my 7 yo ds (who used to LOVE the old Soarin') into crying at the very beginning of the ride. I guess I would just be wary about kids that liked old one not liking the new one (especially if they are not that adventurous or tend to be nervous/worriers).
• I miss the orange grove.

 

[JeninTexas]

Just got back and we rode it twice. Once with FP and once in the stand-by line right before closing. We sat on the first row both times and it was great! Especially the ride at the end of EMH because the crowd was so enthusiastic. Everyone was clapping and cheering and having a great time. We all thought it was great, and one of the best rides at Disney.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Seems a lot better, but I thought shorter? Could be my imagination since I enjoyed it more love the pop out surprises too. Some of the scenes do remind me of the old version

 

[Accident]

I actually found it to be longer.. It's nice but it's a bunch of places that needed to be filmed really high so you get a little edge of your seat, also there is some camera movements like around great wall of china where your dipping and for me, it feels like your about to slide out of your seat..

The big thing seems to be they transition between scenes with something that fills the screen suddenly. An eagle, elephant throwing dirt, whale jumping in front of you, etc etc etc. It can be a little startling if you don't notice it coming and screamers are making it so more jump when it does..

 

[fla4fun]

I really loved the old Soarin, particularly the score. I have visited the new Soarin once so far, and although it's good, I think I still prefer the old one. Although I appreciate that they tried to use the old score as sort of a base to launch the new score from, the music doesn't feel like it propels the action like the old score and movie. It also felt like they tried to be too ambitious and show too many sites in the limited amount of time they had. I would have preferred that the movie be a minute longer and give a few extra seconds to some of the scenes. I did really like the swooping over the Great Wall - that was fun! I am sure I will re-ride, but probably not as often as I used to (especially since I really liked the new Frozen ride, so my FP+ choice will be there for a while).

 

[RainbowCrow]

I rode this past week and was seated on the right edge of the screen. Everything was warped and it was too distracting for me to enjoy the experience at all. We used a FP and still waited 40 minutes. I have to say that my experience with the new Soarin' was pretty much the only major disappointment during the whole 10 day trip.

If we were seated near the center it may have been better but there is no way to control this, really. DH loves Soarin' and he was bummed too. I don't know that I will bother to ever ride this again. It wasn't worth the time for me.

 

[sleepingbeauty17]

Rode last week, liked it but didn't love it. I would say I didn't like it any more or less than the original. Like many I thought there was too much CGI, the Taj Mahal looked very fake. However, the transitions from place to place were much smoother, rather than sharply cutting to the next place you'd go into a cloud or there would be a spray of water that blended the two together. The smells were alright, felt a little Yankee Candle to me, there was a grassy smell in the savannah part, a rosewater type smell at the Taj Mahal, and an ocean smell in Fiji, they were more subtle than the original ones I thought. I noticed a big difference with the screen, much clearer and more realistic. The third theater seemed to be helping the lines, we went both at RD and at night with a FP and both times the wait was around 40-60 minutes, so long but not too too bad.

 

[tinkerhon]

We thought it was longer as well --- loved the whale scene !!!