Soarin' Around the World Closes May 13 at EPCOT to Make Way for Soarin' Across America

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Soarin' Around the World

Posted: Thursday March 12, 2026 2:45pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Soarin' Around the World is closing at EPCOT at the end of May 13, 2026. That's your last chance to ride the current film before Disney takes the attraction offline to prepare for the switch to Soarin' Across America.

Soarin' Around the World

The closure gives Disney just under two weeks of downtime before the new film opens on May 26. During that period, the Land Pavilion attraction will be unavailable.

Soarin' Around the World has been running at EPCOT since 2016, replacing the original Soarin' Over California film. May 13 marks the end of a ten-year run for the globe-spanning version of the ride, which takes you over locations including the Matterhorn, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Wall of China.

If you have a trip planned before that date, it's worth building Soarin' into your plans if you want a final ride.

The new film, Soarin' Across America, opens May 26 and focuses entirely on U.S. locations, including the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon filming

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ToTBellHop14 hours ago

Where else are we supposed to sit if our flights are delayed?

dmc49314 hours ago

It was there last weekend

Casper Gutman1 day ago

Did they remove the padded seating and phone recharging area from the Soarin’ exit queue?

osian3 days ago

Late 70s/early 80s, there were Cine 180s all over the place and, my personal favourite, the larger and more enveloping Cine 2000 in Alton Towers! There was also a Cine 360 which projected onto the upper half of the dome, and a 3D version.

flynnibus3 days ago

The dome is used for immersion - to allow the viewer to be closer to the screen and 'wrap' around them to widen the field of view. If you have a flat screen, you have a problem where the viewer starts looking 'across the screen' instead of at it. Try standing up close to your TV and look left or right and you'll get the idea :) The curved screen long predates Soarin'. Curved screens are actually more effective at brightness than flat.

lazyboy97o3 days ago

The dome format predates Soarin’ Over California by a couple decades and its purpose was for immersion.

osian3 days ago

I would have thought the dome system was primarily for immersion rather than technical issues with brightness.

DisneyCane3 days ago

I think it would have required a larger wall for the same effect but they could have avoided the image distortion using a flat screen. I assume the dome shape was for brightness using the original IMAX film projectors. With film you couldn't just keep increasing the bulb wattage because after a certain point it would melt the film. The laser illumination isn't infinite either but it can be managed with active cooling of the imaging chips. Back in the 90's AMC Theatres went through a concave (torus) screen phase. I remember several movies where columns or other straight objects would bend like Superman was doing a demonstration.