Patrick Warburton surprises guests with appearance at Soarin'

mickEbluMar 22, 2024

I think the wait times would self regulate after the newness of California being permanent again wears off. If you have California at 60 min and World at 20min a lot of people are going to jump in line for World even if they’d rather see California. But I agree that randomization would be the right move. Not sure doing the one line for each version thing would work on a lightning lane ride. It doesn’t seem like Disney has any plan on doing any of this. They seem perfectly content just rolling out Soarin Over California every year for Food n Wine. I still haven’t made a point to ride it. Screen rides are inherently at a disadvantage with me. Let alone when they are dark n grainy. Also doesn’t help that my daughter isn’t tall enough to get on. Even with lightning lane the family is splitting up for an hour to ride this ride as it’s such a slow loader.

PiratesMansionMar 22, 2024

I'm curious to check that out myself, and might have done so this past Sunday if I could have figured out the timing of everything that day a bit better (I was in town for the last performance of My Fair Lady). I've done several Flyovers at this point: the normal one playing in Vegas (Wild West?), Iceland, Hawaii, America, etc. I will say that they are all well-made and executed films, and the essence of the overall experience feels quite similar, at least in part because of a number of overlapping names and companies involved. They've certainly worked better than whatever that Soarin' knockoff in Branson was trying to do and than the unfortunate Europe in the Air that once existed at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. That said, while I've enjoyed each Flyover film a fair amount, I still find that SOC has them beat as an overall film package, even as some of those installations have had impressive preshows and what certainly felt like longer runtimes. For me, Soarin' over California becomes greater than the sum of its parts based on how skillfully it was executed, and even as I enjoy and am impressed by other Flyover installations, none of them has lived up to the original experience for me. This may well be nostalgia talking, as I haven't done SOC since 2015. I'm hoping to visit the resort next March to re-experience SOC in person; it'll be interesting at that point to see how well it holds up. It might also be a matter of novelty-now that I'm used to the ride system and know what to expect, it'd take a special combination of elements to recreate the wonder I felt the first time I did SOC. I'm looking forward to catching the Chicago film at some point. That said, as much I love Chicago, I am a little skeptical that it alone can equal the diversity of scenery of SOC-and there's certainly not enough interesting scenery in IL to equal California beyond the city. Still, I'd love to be proven wrong!

MisterPenguinMar 21, 2024

SoC be like...

TP2000Mar 21, 2024

How many times can you fly over the Wrigley Building and Sears Tower? Or did they zoom in close on the kids looting the Macy's on Michigan Avenue and get some confirmed identities?

BalooChicagoMar 21, 2024

I did Flyover Chicago (a Soarin’ knockoff) last weekend. Granted, it’s twice as long, but the film put both versions to shame (and I love over California)

TP2000Mar 19, 2024

I've got to leave soon for the barbershop for a full cosmetic rejuvenation haircut, but I've been trying to find good comparison photos of circa 1999 Soarin' locations versus how they look now in 2024. Here's a decent one for LA's skyline... Los Angeles skyline 1999 Los Angeles Skyline 2024 But it's that flight over the Harbor Freeway through downtown LA that would be the most different. And all of the nightime shots would look different now that we've mostly switched over entirely to LED lighting in cities. Instead of the yellow and orange halogens that were in mass use in 1999, the lighting now is brigther and crisper and often pure white. That's what ages the Soarin' footage the most, almost subconciously, is the use of orange-tint lights that look old to our 2020's brains now trained to see whiter and crisper LED light ranges.

TP2000Mar 19, 2024

It's actually 25 years, as much of the footage was shot in 1999-2000. The ride opened to previews in January, 2001 remember. Which reminds me of a funny thing when they brought back America The Beautiful for rescreens in Tomorrowland in the 1990's, after the circa 1982 American Journeys was retired. America The Beautiful had shots of random Americans circa 1966 visiting Colonial Williamsburg or walking the streets of New York, etc., and several ladies in particular had these fabulously tall bubble flip hairdos from when it was filmed in 1966. It was a riot! But clearly dated it as 30 years old. Agreed. I got some photos texted to me of suburban San Diego last week, and the hills and trees look fabulous! I'm looking forward to heading back to SoCal in a few weeks for a visit. The possibilities are endless! But something tells me if the Governor can round up all the homeless and clean the streets to spotless just before the arrival of a delegation from Communist China, they'd do the same if they found out WDI was going to send an HD camera crew in there to capture street level California for the whole world to see. Best to keep those cameras high in the sky, at the vantage and distance where things look better in downtown LA and San Francisco and San Diego.

CaptinEOMar 19, 2024

That's a great idea to reshoot the film. As much as I like it, it's 20 years outdated at this point. The same period of time as those 60s circlevision movies being there in the 80s. A new Soaring Over California film will be great. The whole state looks wonderful with all the rain and snowfall from the last 2 years. Coachella is a great idea. Imagine they show all the tents in Downtown LA of the 2020s. Better yet imagine if they filmed during the 2020s riots in Downtown LA.

TP2000Mar 19, 2024

I miss it 20 years ago when Soarin' Over California got plopped into Epcot's Future World for some bizarre reason, and all the WDW regulars would say stuff like "They should have a Soarin' Over Florida/Kansas/New Jersey/Ohio/Random Flat State!" Soarin' Over California is perfection, and I can't think of any other state in this great nation that can match it for its breadth of natural and manmade beauty that translates perfectly to this ride. Sorry, Ohio. My condolences, Florida and Pennsylvania. That said, it's long past time to remake Soarin' Over California with current HD technology and reshoots of stuff that's changed. Downtown Los Angeles and San Diego look nothing like that now, you could do something fun with Coachella instead of a random Palm Springs golf course, that shot of Lake Tahoe that was ruined by fog needs to be redone, etc., etc. It's just a shame that the Walt Disney Company only makes 8 or 10 Billion Dollars in profit every year, or they might be able to redo this movie for people paying $104 for a one day-one park ticket. :(

Figments FriendMar 17, 2024

This is why Disneyland still rules. 🙂 -

AndyS2992Mar 17, 2024

Would it though? I think CA is awful. Random jump cuts, poor picture quality, laughable sped up LA scene and such. At least World addressed these issues, ignoring the bendy Eiffel Tower that is.

EmmanuelMar 16, 2024

They can but they know if you give people the choice, CA will be the most preferred and that will have a very long wait compared to the line for World. What they could do is do what they do at MB, Star Tours, etc and just randomize it so that you don't know which one you get until your flight takes off. This will also shorten the ride title to simply "Soarin" since a lot of people call it like that anyway.

CaptinEOMar 16, 2024

How would that work? Two lines? Or just have fate decide where they place you? I think the only way it can work is one show in the daytime, one at nighttime.

ConsumerMar 16, 2024

Actually, there is. The reason is because Soarin over the World is bad and Soarin over California is good. I hope that answers your question.