Soarin LIVE reports!

[jimim]

Wrongpost

 

[jimim]

Oh boy.. I'm going to have to really disagree with the positive reviews of this ride. We thought it was terrible.

The pros: we rode fast pass and the queue seemed more appealing. We rode concourse c which I assume is the new one.. It was fine. Exact same pre show video. Scents were grass,, ocean and flowers. The video is clear. Similar score.

The cons: everything else. The video is terrible. The screen is curved, but the video is not formatted with that it mind, so everything is curved and leaning. Very badly. It's CGI.. Noticably. The animals and people are bad. I would hazard a guess that the entire thing is CGI. The transitions are things being thrown at you. My husband said there was wind when this happened, but that is the only response of the ride. Did not feel nearly as swoopy as the original. My husband thinks upper management should be upset at this ride.. I agree.. I'll be switching my other soarin fastpass. I don't need to ride that again.

You dont shoot for CinemaScope. The director shoots at any aspect he chooses 2.40 down to whatever. Usually 2.40 now. when u view you have to make sure everything is setup proper. Regardless of aspect shot at a picture can look perfectly fine on a curved screen. to make it look right the projector has to be at the top of the screen down to the middle. If it is higher than the screen and there is no vertical shift then you get keystone effect. What u are seeing. When directors shoot they shoot at a specific format but with proper projector placement the picture aspect is proper. This is coming from someone who has a scope screen in their home and knows how to set it up. I bet they have the projectors way up high and angled down and there is not enough vertical shift or any at all to correct for keystoning.

 

[jennyl772003]

You think that it's all CGI? Wow.

It's maybe not ALL CGI. But there is a lot of it. I think I perceived so much fakeness to it that even the real bits appeared fake to me.

 

[jennyl772003]

You dont shoot for CinemaScope. The director shoots at any aspect he chooses 2.40 down to whatever. Usually 2.40 now. when u view you have to make sure everything is setup proper. Regardless of aspect shot at a picture can look perfectly fine on a curved screen. to make it look right the projector has to be at the top of the screen down to the middle. If it is higher than the screen and there is no vertical shift then you get keystone effect. What u are seeing. When directors shoot they shoot at a specific format but with proper projector placement the picture aspect is proper. This is coming from someone who has a scope screen in their home and knows how to set it up. I bet they have the projectors way up high and angled down and there is not enough vertical shift or any at all to correct for keystoning.

I'm glad to hear that moving the projector may fix the distortion. It was really awful.. Unfortunately, the video content itself is bad too.

 

[jimim]

I'm glad to hear that moving the projector may fix the distortion. It was really awful.. Unfortunately, the video content itself is bad too.

Im there in a week. I can easily tell what's up with the picture. I set up scope screens a lot. It's so easy. I bet they have the projector pointing down like every other one in Disney. Not like a lot of those matter bit with this its all about placement with a screen so large. I can't wait to see what projects they r using. The new barco's for true 4K are awesome. I doubt they r used for those cause when they were tenovAting they weren't out yet. They prob have a lisense with someone anyway like Sony.

 

[allybabba98]

Okay so it is okay to talk about it?? We just rode it today waited in stand by which was only 30 minutes. I get the impression that if you liked the original Soarin you will still enjoy this one. I agree with previous posters about the animals, it is to bad that CGI was needed to create this.
At the same time this has never been my favourite ride, it is enjoyable but Test Track would still be my first choice for FP for Epcot.

 

[maryj11]

Anyone know when the lines start forming? We have a pre park Garden Grill reservation hoping to beat the rope drop crowds.

 

[Geoff_M]

You think that it's all CGI? Wow.

Not all CGI, but we saw it today and all three of us agreed that the use of CGI was over the top and very obvious. I'm just happy they kept the old score. I also liked the new ending.

 

[WillAustin]

Oh boy.. I'm going to have to really disagree with the positive reviews of this ride. We thought it was terrible.

The pros: we rode fast pass and the queue seemed more appealing. We rode concourse c which I assume is the new one.. It was fine. Exact same pre show video. Scents were grass,, ocean and flowers. The video is clear. Similar score.

The cons: everything else. The video is terrible. The screen is curved, but the video is not formatted with that it mind, so everything is curved and leaning. Very badly. It's CGI.. Noticably. The animals and people are bad. I would hazard a guess that the entire thing is CGI. The transitions are things being thrown at you. My husband said there was wind when this happened, but that is the only response of the ride. Did not feel nearly as swoopy as the original. My husband thinks upper management should be upset at this ride.. I agree.. I'll be switching my other soarin fastpass. I don't need to ride that again.

I'll agree with some of this. Some of the animal CGI is very obvious. I also didn't like several of the scene transitions. Most of it felt quite a bit more mellow than the original, less intense if that makes sense. It was still fun for us, but not wait in line for multiple rides fun.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Anyone know when the lines start forming? We have a pre park Garden Grill reservation hoping to beat the rope drop crowds.

Not sure, but I heard that on the first day it re-opened, people were making breakfast ADR's just to get into the park and get on the soarin line - and didn't even go to breakfast.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

I rode it tonight and had a great time. The scents are a little less memorable than the old orange grove and pine forest, but they were fine. None of the scenes looked distorted or curved to me. I totally loved the ending.

 

[gap2368]

yep I did soaring 2x saturday the wait was not that bad ( I think 50, and 45 minutes) I do miss the orange groves smell a lot I think with 3 theaters the lines are moving a lot faster

 

[Spanky]

I use to always wait for top row center section as I felt it was the best place to watch the film. Now the two side sections move closer to the screen and I found it very distracting to keep seeing people out of the corner of my eye. I think maybe the top row on the side sections is now the better place to sit. So before we were a straight row that moved upward now the two side rows swing in to make a wide 'C'. Did anyone else notice this?

 

[jerseygal]

I rode it tonight and had a great time. The scents are a little less memorable than the old orange grove and pine forest, but they were fine. None of the scenes looked distorted or curved to me. I totally loved the ending.

Can't wait till October!

 

[gap2368]

I use to always wait for top row center section as I felt it was the best place to watch the film. Now the two side sections move closer to the screen and I found it very distracting to keep seeing people out of the corner of my eye. I think maybe the top row on the side sections is now the better place to sit. So before we were a straight row that moved upward now the two side rows swing in to make a wide 'C'. Did anyone else notice this?

yes I was front row both times I went first I was in the center on the end and I could see the next section over the next time I was in the front row bit the left section and could not see any others section but I was all so in the middle of the row so that might have something to do with it.

 

[LoverDisney]

I hope get a fastpass for our August trip or might consider RD. I love Soaring but can't imagine waiting over 1 hour for it.

 

[maryj11]

Not sure, but I heard that on the first day it re-opened, people were making breakfast ADR's just to get into the park and get on the soarin line - and didn't even go to breakfast.

I wonder if they are still doing that? Anyone know?

 

[Klayfish]

I just rode it yesterday with my family. The one negative I will agree with is that there is a lot of distortion ("bending") in the video of objects. That was weird. Yes, we noticed some things were CGI, but so what? Wasn't like they were doing CGI of things that were otherwise impossible, like many movies do. Beyond that, it was a lot of fun. New things to see and a new experience. I rode the old one many times and never was there a round of applause at the end of the ride like the one there was yesterday. The ending is fantastic, much better than the old one.

I'd really like to see them fix the distortion, but otherwise I give it two thumbs up for sure. Maybe my standards are low, who knows. I just come to WDW for time with my family and entertainment to escape the hustle of daily life. And it does just that.

Haven't had time to read this thread, so I apologize if it's duplicate, but how many hidden Mickeys did you guys see? I wasn't "looking" for them because frankly I was just watching the ride, but I noticed two.

 

[Flametamr]

I read there are two. The first is at the Hot Air Balloons. The second is at the ending in the Fireworks.

 

[Geoff_M]

I just rode it yesterday with my family. The one negative I will agree with is that there is a lot of distortion ("bending") in the video of objects. That was weird. Yes, we noticed some things were CGI, but so what? Wasn't like they were doing CGI of things that were otherwise impossible, like many movies do. Beyond that, it was a lot of fun. New things to see and a new experience. I rode the old one many times and never was there a round of applause at the end of the ride like the one there was yesterday. The ending is fantastic, much better than the old one.

I'd really like to see them fix the distortion, but otherwise I give it two thumbs up for sure. Maybe my standards are low, who knows. I just come to WDW for time with my family and entertainment to escape the hustle of daily life. And it does just that.

Haven't had time to read this thread, so I apologize if it's duplicate, but how many hidden Mickeys did you guys see? I wasn't "looking" for them because frankly I was just watching the ride, but I noticed two.

Actually, the humans in the canoes in the ocean looked very CGI to me.