Disney Updates EPCOT's Soarin' with World Celebration Ending and Other Improvements

11 days ago in "Soarin'"

Updated Soarin' Around the World Ending Scene
Posted: Wednesday November 20, 2024 10:15am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

EPCOT's hugely popular Soarin' Around the World attraction has received a notable update today, which introduces a new ending scene showcasing the recently opened World Celebration, replacing the original Future World finale.

The new ending now gives riders a sweeping aerial view of World Celebration Gardens, highlighting the central in-ground lighting effects of the EPCOT logo and the nighttime glow of Spaceship Earth with fireworks nearby.


In addition to the finale, fans have noticed that the once-notorious sloping Eiffel Tower effect has been improved. Previously, the iconic landmark often appeared bent or distorted depending on where you sat in the theater. Riders are now reporting a much more natural and upright view of the Eiffel Tower due to a wider reframing of the shot, which enhances the immersive experience of the Paris segment.

Soarin' Around the World first opened on June 17, 2016, as a reboot of the original 2005 Soarin' attraction. It takes guests to six continents: the Great Wall of China, Sydney Harbor in Australia, Monument Valley, the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Switzerland's Matterhorn mountain, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.


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JustInTime2 days ago

Manmade structures look stranger bent than the organic ones. It’s easier to adjust a the others.

osian9 days ago

Everything does. The Matterhorn, the icebergs, the sailing boats, Neuschwanstein, the pyramids, the formations in Monument Valley, the balloons, the canoes, Spaceship Earth (which becomes oval and the Mickey ears are lopsided). It's just that people fixate on the Eiffel Tower.

JustInTime9 days ago

I consider it a fix, imo. It’s not even the CGI aspect but the Taj Mahal leans like the Eiffel Tower did.

mitchk10 days ago

Well, they actually straightened out the Eiffel Tower. The only difference is you don’t go over it anymore. You just kind of see it in the distance.

MisterPenguin10 days ago

Nitpicks about perspective and CGI are so... nitpicky when you consider you're traveling around the world in one day in a hang glider. Also, Disney is shooting fireworks from EPCOT's parking lot and entrance plaza. But sure, they Eiffel Tower is still slightly bent... that's the takeaway here. 🙄

Mark Dunne11 days ago

Look forward to flying on this in January, yes the original was very good, hopefully the fixes will bring it back to what it should be, a fun attraction for the whole family . a straighter Eiffel tower :)

DisneyFanatic1211 days ago

It was one of the most memorable parts! Can’t say I haven’t requested the far corner seat a couple times to see it in all of its glory.

Disone11 days ago

I C why

flynnibus11 days ago

You are aware of the problem - but really don’t understand how it works and why so constantly put foot in mouth when trying to elaborate. Moving further out from ideal doesn’t make it worse… it also matters which direction. It’s about which axis you are moving. But whatever…. You all got it figured out in your heads. I can’t force a horse to drink

RSoxNo111 days ago

One problem is the video is already out of date... the fountain lights don't work.

tparris11 days ago

The only CGI used was to fix the broken lights and remove certain backstage areas. The video itself is brand new, you can see that the old Innoventions East building is the completely redone version we have today, with Creations Shop and Connections Cafe

LittleBuford11 days ago

You're so quick to anger that you're not even reading my posts properly. I've made abundantly clear that the choice of footage has a large bearing on the final effect. Yes, all of the footage is subject to exactly the same distortion, but how bad that distortion looks very much depends on what is being shown. That's why the Eiffel Tower now appears "fixed" (relatively speaking), even though the image is just as curved as it's always been. A single screen viewed by multiple people in different positions will always show a distorted image the further out you move from the ideal vantage point. That goes for TV and cinema screens too, though the distortion there is of a type we're all used to and can generally adjust for in our minds. Whether the screen is flat or curved, you cannot "add in correction" in the way you're implying.

osian11 days ago

Glad you've seen the light. It cannot be fixed or improved by clever technology, computer software, image processing, lenses, smoke and mirrors etc. It is already "right" for one particular position, it doesn't need any correction. Any correction will simply move the "right" bit to another position. As The Volume does with all that computing power. The only ways to improve the siuations are as I've mentioned up there somewhere: 1. Reduce the number of gliders. 2. Reduce the reliance on vertrical structures. 3. Use a flat screen. Also, as shown in post #44, the new scene still has a bendy Eiffel Tower in the right hand glider. It really hasn't been "fixed". That's why the video is misleading, it's been filmed from the dead centre, where the scene looks straight, and proclaims it as "fixed".

flynnibus11 days ago

'all the footage is equally prone' -- just stop. You are fixated on the idea of the projection surface and don't seem to understand that the source material can also intentionally be distorted to counteract that. The problem is the delta between the concurrent viewers. Where as say.. in contrast with a large 3d mapping solution... where the delta between viewers is minimized by adding distance between the viewers and the surface. The ideal point could be anywhere with a dome screen when you add in correction - the problem is trying to compromise and satisfy many perspectives CONCURRENTLY while those viewing perspectives are driven to extremes due to their physical proximity combined with extreme fields of view. For instance, if the dome screen were only 20ft across and in the same spot... they could make the image look near perfect for almost everyone. But that's just the illustrate that the issue isn't just that it's'a dome'- the issue is a concurrency of factors. Regardless - this is all pointless because of the idiots who created the scene ignored fundamentals in movie making and never should have made that shot in the first place. And now they've fixed their mistake by removing the offending shot.