News Soarin' Over California returning to EPCOT for a limited time

JohnD

Well-Known Member
Martin Short alone had 4 attractions 2 being in Epcot. Making of me at WoL and O' Canada.
The 1990s Phylicia Rashad is still in DINOSAUR but apparently for not much longer. Gary Sinise (Forest Gump) was the narrator for Mission:Space then replaced by Gina Tores (911). Let's not forget Walker Kronkite, Jeremy Irons, and Dame Judi Dench for Spaceship Earth. (I know Lawrence Dobkin was the first. Don't know much about him.)
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Just saw SOC this weekend. My kids have seen SATW dozens of times, this was their first time seeing SOC. Their takeaways - the smells were much better (more of them, and they were stronger), but the lack of transitions were jarring and they like SATW better. So I guess they are the minority. They liked it, they just prefer the other.

As I have said on this thread before, I think park fans here overestimate the popularity of SOC vs SATW. My impression is that while SOC might be slightly better rated, most park guests would consider them pretty similar and equal.
 

BraveGirl

Well-Known Member
As I have said on this thread before, I think park fans here overestimate the popularity of SOC vs SATW. My impression is that while SOC might be slightly better rated, most park guests would consider them pretty similar and equal.
Yes, that's what my kids said (10 and 13 years old). They have spent a lot of time in California bc we have family there, so they were excited to see it for that reason but other than that they said they were basically the same. They just liked the transitions better in SATW which is why they prefer that one.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
Temporary changes and overlays are always crowd-pleasers. That Disneyland transforms its Haunted Mansion every year for Halloween and Christmas doesn’t mean people dislike the regular version.
Sure sometimes things just get tired... and need to go. But if the film wasn't liked, it wouldn't be worth bringing back. People aren't going out of curiosity. And Disney has done it multiple times at DCA. It's not about saying the new version is 'disliked' it's saying the old version is liked enough to be excited to see it INSTEAD of the new.

Seasonal overlays are a poor comparison. There are many more elements that drive that.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
But if the film wasn't liked, it wouldn't be worth bringing back. People aren't going out of curiosity. And Disney has done it multiple times at DCA. It's not about saying the new version is 'disliked' it's saying the old version is liked enough to be excited to see it INSTEAD of the new.
I didn’t say anything to the contrary. Of course the old film is liked. I’m not sure why you think I believe otherwise.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
I didn’t say anything to the contrary. Of course the old film is liked. I’m not sure why you think I believe otherwise.
You talk in circles when people address the statements YOU MADE. (about a film being disliked or not).

I'll go back to the start... You said "we don’t actually have any data on what the majority of guests think" -- To which I say We do.. we have Disney's actions to bring it back.. REPEATEDLY.. and not as some seasonal tradition.. and have EXPANDED where they are doing it. Disney has data on what guests think :)
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
You talk in circles when people address the statements YOU MADE. (about a film being disliked or not).

I'll go back to the start... You said "we don’t actually have any data on what the majority of guests think" -- To which I say We do.. we have Disney's actions to bring it back.. REPEATEDLY.. and not as some seasonal tradition.. and have EXPANDED where they are doing it. Disney has data on what guests think :)
I meant we don’t have any data as to which film most guests prefer. That should have been clear from the post I was responding to. I have never implied, much less said, that the old film is disliked.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
IIRC I think that question came up and @lentesta said that both versions rated virtually the same among guests they have surveyed.
Yep! I shared his post earlier in this thread, but here it is again:
Pre-schoolers rated the old version as 4.5 stars (rounding to the nearest 0.5). Every other age group had it exactly the same. I'd call them even.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Yet Disney keeps bringing it back and selling it as a benefit. That should tell you what Disney has measured from it's audience.

That the audience likes both films and doing "something different" periodically is a way to drive interest even if it is something that was previously around?

Specific to this... since Epcot is the site for the "celebration" of Disney 100 for WDW, it probably seemed like an easy lever to pull to bring "something" to Epcot on the cheap. And they can justify with some notion of "Disney started in California so we are celebrating our roots" or whatever.
 

Andrew25

Well-Known Member
I've lived in Florida all my life... no idea why people want Soarin' Over Florida lol

There are 3 places that are dramatic visually... but that's it. But you could definitely make a better world version
 

Cmdr_Crimson

Well-Known Member
Temporary changes and overlays are always crowd-pleasers. That Disneyland transforms its Haunted Mansion every year for Halloween and Christmas doesn’t mean people dislike the regular version.
And we have been waiting since 2003 last Holiday Hoedown for at least a new Country Bear Jamboree. I wouldn't have mind seeing Vacation Hoedown again..And that had no offensive songs at all..
 

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
Yep! I shared his post earlier in this thread, but here it is again:
That may be how people answered in a survey but the reaction that I have witnessed to both CA and The World would argue otherwise. Until the very end of the run, a significant number of people in the theater would give an ovation to CA and I'd hear comments all the time about how great it was. On my rides of The World, there was, at most, a handful of people who gave a golf clap.

While the two versions might rate the same as standalone choices in a survey, I would be willing to bet that if you had a group of people selected to experience both back to back (having half experience CA first and half experience The World first) and then take a survey comparing the two, that CA would come out on top by a wide margin.

I've lived in Florida all my life... no idea why people want Soarin' Over Florida lol

There are 3 places that are dramatic visually... but that's it. But you could definitely make a better world version

Agree about FL. On the world version, the issues are (aside from the rubber buildings), WAY too much CGI, the ridiculous looking CGI Taj Mahal, too much focus on made made objects and pacing that doesn't have the proper ebbs and flows in excitement matched to the score.

If they focused more on natural landscapes and did a storyboard to have it match the unaltered original score and dumped a lot of the CGI they could make a world version as good or better than the CA version.
 

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