Soarin' Ver.2 - A thought exercise.

[ronDisney]

Hey all…
In a bout of sadness, brought upon by frequent Disney-daydreaming and the spirit dimming effects of knowing that we (my family and I) can’t exactly just pick up and go to the world, I thought I’d focus some energy to a thought-exercise.

Now to those who read the subject title and are thinking: "THEY"RE CHANGING/UPGRADING/ETC. SOARIN?!!"...NO!! No changes are coming to Soarin’…at least none that either the general public, or the insiders privy to rumored information, are aware of. This is actually...as I said...a thought-exercise of sorts.

For the sake of this thread let’s focus on the Soarin’ specifically in WDW which opened around 2005 and is supposed to be the exact same experience as the one in Disneyland. Over the years, I’m sure the countless rides, may have started taking a toll on the projected film. In this age of 1080 High Definition and high quality digital film projection etc etc etc, the film itself is starting to show just the tiniest bits of wear and tear.

While taking a walk with my wife and discussing (what else?) Disney… It was this thought of the film’s wear and tear that brought the question to my attention. So, if you could (or had) to revamp the attraction how would you do it?

Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE this attraction. It’s one of the most calming attractions for me, yet spurs this emotional feeling whenever I ride it. It just seems to embody that Disney-Epcot-ish feeling for me. And that musical score…AWESOME!!!!

I’m not sure I would change much of the physical portions (queues) of the attraction itself. I’m not a big fan of the waiting that happens once the combination of the standby and FP lines occurs, but given the space, I’m not sure if any improvements could be made, other than making it a little more cosmetic. Like perhaps adding more tv’s and videos to the ceiling of the waiting areas, to keep people in line occupied for the last couple of minutes before being divided up into the seating arrangements.

For me the major changes would come in the Soarin’ film itself. With the attraction being in Epcot and in close proximity to the world showcase…I was thinking…why not upgrade Soarin’ (over California) to Soarin’ over the WORLD. Imagine…Soarin’ THROUGH the Eiffel Tower in France, or right next to Big Ben in London. You could float over the Great wall of China, get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty in United States, and then perhaps over Niagra Falls in Canada. Not sure what could fly over in Japan…perhaps a wildly lit City landscape like Akihabara? And what about Morocco? Maybe you could take a short flight over one of its landscapes? Then there’s still Mexico, Norway, and Germany. I was thinking the Autobahn in Germany, but not sure what visuals would look nice for Norway or Mexico. And of course, at the end, you fly over Epcot during Illuminations, or perhaps Magic Kingdom during Wishes.

The attraction currently stands at a 4:51min duration time, but if Disney wanted to incorporate all the countries featured in the world showcase it may need to increase the duration by perhaps another minute or so.

The other thing that I think might be improved is the transition between visuals. Instead of just cutting abruptly to the next scene, maybe they could work in some kind of flight through clouds or something. Just so that the transition goes a little more smoothly.

Now of course, one of the great things in Soarin are the scents. But, given the worldly nature of the revamped attraction I’m not sure what scents they could start placing into the ride, especially given some of my proposed world visuals. I mean what would flying through the Eiffel Tower “smell” like? Hahahaha. But perhaps some of you might know a way to incorporate some scents to the scenes, I proposed, or come up with completely different scenes (with scents).

And so, I leave the exercise to you. What changes would you make?

 

[Cherinva]

As much as the thought of soaring over the world sounds awesome, I really like Soarin the way it is. I spent 5 years on the West Coast and have some very fond memories which comes to life when I ride this attraction.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

I have to say I like this idea. Pick a scene from most of the world showcase countries. It would be beautiful. Now, after just watching the olympics, my humorous side would like to have the Queen parachute by to replace the hang-gliders, pink dress and all...

All sorts of beautiful scenery in those world showcase countries. Very good idea.

Of course, I love the CA version, too. Maybe I would just have to go enjoy the beautiful SoCal weather to see the CA version.

 

[idofabric]

We just got back from Disneyland...I like the line/lead in to Soaring so much better there...It takes my (former) Aerospace major DH so long to get to the ride because he wants to read all the photo captions and look at all the cool stuff in the "barn" as you go into the ride.
I have always liked the orginal line lead in better in Cal. then in FL.
And we noticed that the film in Cal was in much better shape, no dark piece of fuzz on the film like there is in Fl.
We rode this in Cal about 8 years ago, talked to a Disney Suit at the ride who told us...orginally they were going to do a different film for Fl. one that was all over the world as they thought it would go with the ECPOT theme better, but demand for the ride was to great to get it filmed in time to open in Fl...there was about 3 of them and they all agreeded "a new different film will be coming to ECPOT..." BUT that was then, and $$$ and time does make a difference.
And the Mouse has been know to change it's mind, and CMs don't allways know everything that is desided/redesided...

Still...it would thrill me if it was a bit like Star Wars. Maybe a few different films of Europe/Asia/? the world and a Space shot of the world and a closing of different Disney lands all over the world?
Bet it would cost a ton, but the film is getting old. Heard the room it is shown from is dust/moisture controlled?

 

[Max Rebo]

I like the idea.

While the notion of "Soarin' over the World" certainly makes the most sense from an Epcot standpoint, I personally would rather see "Soarin' over America." I think this is mainly because I have far more personal and emotional connections to places in America than I do for places across the globe. I'd love to see scenes featuring the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, the National Mall, the lakes of Minnesota, the cornfields of Iowa, downtown Chicago, the Mississippi River, etc. But that may just be me.

I also think the Soarin' movie should at least loosely focus on land use, seeing as how the attraction is located inside The Land pavilion. The current film does this for the most part. Really, "land use" is a pretty broad subject.

Last, I would keep the current music. It's the best score at WDW.

 

[ronDisney]

idofabric:
That's certainly an intriguing idea...use the Star tours tech to create a possible "multi-possibility" flight to observe various world icons (Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, etc), as well as endings in different Disney areas around the world (DL, WDW, Disney paris, Tokyo, etc). The transitional cloud effect I proposed could certainly be used in that idea. Plus multi-possibility flights, would mean that they could still create an attraction with the same duration time, and create demand for re-riding in order to see other places. Not, that it needs extra incentive for that anyways.

Max Rebo:
I completely agree with your comment about the score. You can't improve on perfection. That score is just amazing!!!


The thing about this idea that I would fear is the fact, that in changing Soarin' one would be effectively taking something already wildly popular and hoping to improve it. In those cases, you create quite the possibility that you may make things worse, rather than better.

Still...as I said...it's just an exercise in thought.

 

[ronDisney]

For me the major changes would come in the Soarin’ film itself. With the attraction being in Epcot and in close proximity to the world showcase…I was thinking…why not upgrade Soarin’ (over California) to Soarin’ over the WORLD. Imagine…Soarin’ THROUGH the Eiffel Tower in France, or right next to Big Ben in London. You could float over the Great wall of China, get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty in United States, and then perhaps over Niagra Falls in Canada. Not sure what could fly over in Japan …perhaps a wildly lit City landscape like Akihabara? And what about Morocco? Maybe you could take a short flight over one of its landscapes? Then there’s still Mexico, Norway, and Germany. I was thinking the Autobahn in Germany, but not sure what visuals would look nice for Norway or Mexico. And of course, at the end, you fly over Epcot during Illuminations, or perhaps Magic Kingdom during Wishes.


And so, I leave the exercise to you. What changes would you make?

Now...i'm sure there were many people prior to this post in 2012 that were thinking the same thing. I just find it amazing to see how Soarin' over the world has actually become reality!!!

Seeing a clip of the new Soarin' film from the Shanghai version...I'm sooo happy that Disney decided to merely rework the original score, and not replace it with something entirely new. Such a great attraction soundtrack.

Obviously, it being a video, I can't say what scents (if any) are being used...but I do hope that the scent effect is still present when the Disneyworld and Disneyland version open up. Looking forward to hearing the reviews, and i can't wait to experience it for myself. Sadly, economy, expenses, and prices are all conspiring to keep me and the family from visiting as often as we would like. I'm guessing our next visit is still years away. Maybe 2018?

 

[ronDisney]

For me the major changes would come in the Soarin’ film itself. With the attraction being in Epcot and in close proximity to the world showcase…I was thinking…why not upgrade Soarin’ (over California) to Soarin’ over the WORLD. Imagine…Soarin’ THROUGH the Eiffel Tower in France, or right next to Big Ben in London. You could float over the Great wall of China, get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty in United States, and then perhaps over Niagra Falls in Canada. Not sure what could fly over in Japan …perhaps a wildly lit City landscape like Akihabara? And what about Morocco? Maybe you could take a short flight over one of its landscapes? Then there’s still Mexico, Norway, and Germany. I was thinking the Autobahn in Germany, but not sure what visuals would look nice for Norway or Mexico. And of course, at the end, you fly over Epcot during Illuminations, or perhaps Magic Kingdom during Wishes.


And so, I leave the exercise to you. What changes would you make?

Now...i'm sure there were many people prior to this post in 2012 that were thinking the same thing. I just find it amazing to see how Soarin' over the world has actually become reality!!!

Seeing a clip of the new Soarin' film from the Shanghai version...I'm sooo happy that Disney decided to merely rework the original score, and not replace it with something entirely new. Such a great attraction soundtrack.

Obviously, it being a video, I can't say what scents (if any) are being used...but I do hope that the scent effect is still present when the Disneyworld and Disneyland version open up. Looking forward to hearing the reviews, and i can't wait to experience it for myself. Sadly, economy, expenses, and prices are all conspiring to keep me and the family from visiting as often as we would like. I'm guessing our next visit is still years away. Maybe 2018?