Soarin' at Epcot

MattyMitch

Active Member
Original Poster
Knowing how some other attractions' pre-shows operate, that's actually surprising...

Edit to add: Though now that I think about it, Star Tours' seems to be linked to the ride cycle rather than making sure the grouping is done first, and they have ride safety info in theirs...

-Rob

I guess its just up to the cm who assigns you to each loading area to try to get as many people there before video starts. When I was there in July we were all there and the video took a few minutes to start
 

R2D2 1982

Member
They have a countdown watch when the flight takes off. The video starts at the 1:06 mark so they need to group all the seats in 3 and a half minutes basically.
 

sjhym333

Well-Known Member
The Soarin preshow is connected to the theater show and begins when the CM inside the theater starts the show itself. Until that happens the preshow will just continue to show clouds and background music. CM's are trained to keep an eye on the preshow and they are supposed to avoid loading people after the safety instructions begin but that is not mandatory.

An E-Stop is designed to bring the show to a sudden stop so that they gliders stay in the air. This is only used in an emergency when either a guest or equipment is in danger. The other stops are designed to bring the gliders safely to the ground. An E-stop requires the gliders to manually be brought down by maitenance.
 

aaronml

Well-Known Member
Fun Fact: the orange scent used on Soarin' (which we may never experience again depending on what changes in Soarin' Around the World.) is scent Orange 248B by Scent-A-Vision in Huntington Station, NY.
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
This is from TPR and is Soarin' over California but it is the control panel so I was wondering if anybody could make sense of it?

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/soarin_0.png

I haven't seen this before, but based on what other ride control systems look like... The left-hand side is mostly intercom and other communications. The phone is obviously for calling elsewhere in the building or other locations in WDW. The microphone on the gooseneck is for live announcements. Where those announcements are broadcast depends on what buttons are pressed. (If I were to guess, there'd be one for just the theater, one for the pre-show area, and one for entire building)

Ride controls are the right-hand side.

-Rob
 

raven

Well-Known Member
I've used RAC procedures on Soarin' several times and @Rob562 is correct. Light control is also the bottom on the left hand side. The monitors are for watching guests as they are in the carriages when they are in the air. Cameras are positioned behind the perforated screen in order to watch them.
 

MattyMitch

Active Member
Original Poster
I've used RAC procedures on Soarin' several times and @Rob562 is correct. Light control is also the bottom **** on the left hand side. The monitors are for watching guests as they are in the carriages when they are in the air. Cameras are positioned behind the perforated screen in order to watch them.

So is there only a few buttons? I would imagine there would be:
Entry doors
exit doors
start show
e stop
ride stop
Seatbelt lock?

I am guessing but I assume the rest are status lights
 

raven

Well-Known Member
So is there only a few buttons? I would imagine there would be:
Entry doors
exit doors
start show
e stop
ride stop
Seatbelt lock?

I am guessing but I assume the rest are status lights
Correct. Those controls are pretty standard for these types of attractions. Lots of safety features and alarms run automatically but a light/alarm will activate if something is amiss. For instance, if the entrance or exit doors are opened after the rise has been activated, the movie will continue but the ride system will stop and hold its position until the alarms are cleared. There is also a computer screen showing all activated switches, breaks, doors, etc with the time and date they were tripped and the location of the signal. Almost all Disney attractions have this as well.
 

Prog

Well-Known Member
Sorry to bump a bit with info that might not even be relevant to the original question, but I take it anyone in this thread probably doesn't mind a bit of mechanical learning.
When I worked on stage crew in high school, we used a very crappy hydraulic genie lift. This thing was a pile of crap to begin with and had seen better days. Minors should not have been using it, nobody should have been using it the way we had been, and the horrendous state of the outriggers meant that nobody should probably have been using it period. But I digress. Anyway, in the event of a complete power failure or e-stop, the hydraulics would freeze where they were and the electronic controls in the bucket would cease to function. There was a manual valve that someone on the ground could activate to recall the lift. I imagine that all hydraulic systems have something to that effect.
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
The ones in Soarin' are diesel lifts (like the one below) so separate power isn't an issue.

http://www.boomlifts4sale.com/media/boomlifts/original/601web.jpg

I think they were talking about the ride carriages and it's hydraulics, not the service lift.

While I have no knowledge of the intricate details of the ride system, since they're raised hydraulically, an emergency release/bleed valve in the system wouldn't be surprising. But in a severe breakdown situation it'd likely be the last resort. (They'd want to get the ride control system to get them down)

-Rob
 

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