RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
The transitions in Star Wars are cheesy/dated too. I haven't seen them in person but let's not pretend that we're watching Citizen Kane. It's still a theme park ride.
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Soarin' Expansion and new Soarin' Around the World film
- Thread starter danlb_2000
- Start date
wdizneew
Well-Known Member
I don't know about you but I'd prefer that the transitions show me sitting in an airline first class suite where I'm sipping on cocktails and eating a 5 course meal until we arrive at the next destination
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
If only Disney had some sort of group of creatives who could be tasked with coming up with such ideas and executing them.
As far as transitions go, there isn't much you can do. They either do the cute CGI cuts, do a hard cut or some kind of dissolve or crossfade. So, I'm OK with that. The general use of CGI is OK, I guess. But, the only thing that bothers me is an entire scene (Taj Mahal) that just looks seriously fake. It just stands out from the rest like a soar thumb. I mean, I'd rather that they have used another "real" location instead.
I also think they might have missed an opportunity to do a "Star Tours" style mix up option. If they had filmed more locations, they could have placed them into a random playback generator. This way, every time you fly, you never know what scene you are going to see next. And of course, no two rides are likely to be exactly the same. (doesn't Star Tours have something like 57 different combos?)
Who knows? Maybe this could still be in "Soarin's" future! I have to think that Imagineering must has at least talked about this idea during the production meetings.
Cliff
I also think they might have missed an opportunity to do a "Star Tours" style mix up option. If they had filmed more locations, they could have placed them into a random playback generator. This way, every time you fly, you never know what scene you are going to see next. And of course, no two rides are likely to be exactly the same. (doesn't Star Tours have something like 57 different combos?)
Who knows? Maybe this could still be in "Soarin's" future! I have to think that Imagineering must has at least talked about this idea during the production meetings.
Cliff
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
A reason for not randomizing is that the musical score has to both flow and change with the transitions. While it is already more segmented than the original version of the score, it still has a flow to it. Notice it builds up with the Iguazu Falls scene and climaxes with the Eiffel Tower scene.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Easily addressed because things would not be random... You'd simply get different segments (which are designed for that slot) vs the same segment every time
But it would mean making a lot more segments. Simply jumbling up the ones they have would make no sense
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
While difficult, changing the music isn't impossible. The new score features different instrumentation but largely the same score. I could see the same music with different instrumentation working for randomization.
Brian Swan
Well-Known Member
Visually the randomization could be done easily, but there would probably be no "transitions"; you just hard cut or fade to black between each segment. Musically, it would be a bit more challenging. Each segment would have to be composed as a mini stand-alone musical idea; they would all have to be in the same key and cadence at the end. It would be like composing a theme and set of variations; a "fixed" opening would establish the theme, the middle portion would be the random assemblage of "variations", and it would end with a fixed coda to bring the piece to its finale. The overall effect, however, would be like beads on a string vice a sweeping panorama. An interesting "trick" would be to have each segment end on the dominant or subdominant of the key, and then start each section on the tonic of to complete the cadence. This would Aurally cause each segment to naturally lead into the next. But of course this would have to be completely mapped out before the project was ever started...
doctornick
Well-Known Member
One way to do randomization is to just have 2 or 3 different films. If you get Film A, you see a specific 13 locations. For Film B, you get a totally different 13 locations. For Film C, 13 other ones. It is random which film you are assigned in a specific ride, but you get a whole established film.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
I still haven't seen this yet (I'll be doing the DCA version next week), but I know a lot of you have criticized the transitions. This must just be a theme park geek thing as everyone that I know who has ridden it has came away - first thing they say talking about how amazing the transitions are.
Just thought i'd provide a little prospective.
Just thought i'd provide a little prospective.
*Q*
Well-Known Member
I'd support that.
They could just use the original score and it would work great.
halltd
Well-Known Member
I rode this last night for the first time...after avoiding this thread since it debuted so I wouldn't know anything about it. Overall, I LOVED it. I thought it was an amazing update from the original while still remaining true to the concept. A couple of comments:
- The "OMG that thing's going to hit me" transitions got old after every single one was the same. A couple of those are cool, but that many?
- I didn't know about the Taj before riding, but it definitely read CGI when I rode...nothing else really did.
- The fireworks in EPCOT's parking lot didn't bother me that much. The Mickey was kind of a cute touch.
- The new scents are AWESOME!
- LOVE the new score.
- I love how a couple scenes made it feel like you were flying really fast which added a nice new dynamic to the ride.
- Even though I don't think it's longer, it seemed longer, which is cool.
- I LOVE that Patrick is still around.
- I really wish they'd leave the screen black when you enter the theater, when the ride raises up, after the last fireworks punch, and while the ride is lowering back down. I think that was the best effect during the original attraction and the experience of going up and down is not nearly as exciting as it once was.
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I rode on 6/18 and essentially agree with all your comments. I really liked that I felt like I was moving a couple of times which never happened to me on the old one. One minor thing, I remember being distracted by how bendy the Eiffel Tower looked.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Might have been just a hot day and it was wilting a little. Water it and it will perk right back up again.
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
My wife and I finally rode the new version yesterday. I had stayed away from reading about it and my wife doesn't ever read message boards.
Holy CGI Batman. Was this directed by George Lucas? It looked to me like all of the animals were CGI, not just the ones used for transitions. The Taj Mahal looks like a graphic from a video game from 10 or 15 years ago. They couldn't do better than that? It looks terrible and the fake people walking around by it are even worse than the building.
So much for the perfect laser projection eliminating the issues that were there with the IMAX films. We were in theatre B and there was dirt on the lens or something that made a dark spot just to the left of center of the screen. There were also 2 weird spots/artifacts near the very bottom of the screen that I noticed in one scene. They were like dark circles with aqua jagged outlines. I don't know if they were there the whole time because I was paying attention to the scenes. I was also expecting it to be brighter.
I can see what they were trying to do with the transitions but they got annoying. During the ride my wife asked me "why do they keep throwing things at me?"
Overall, I liked the original version much better. What made it great was "Soarin'" over beautiful scenery. To make it exciting they had people doing activities in the scenes and some subtle CGI. The golf ball was an exception but that was one moment of something flying at you as a little surprise. The fake fireworks at the end were also noticeable but it was almost made to look like a Walt Disney Pictures animated title before a movie.
The overuse of CGI in this version distracted me from the scenery. The CGI reflections of the CGI fireworks off of Spaceship Earth made Spaceship Earth look like it was CGI.
The only scene that was very cool and better than most of the original was the Great Wall of China scene when it made you feel like you were "riding" down the great wall on a rollercoaster.
If they put the original in one of the theatres and gave you a choice of which to ride, I'd choose the original every time even at twice the wait.
Holy CGI Batman. Was this directed by George Lucas? It looked to me like all of the animals were CGI, not just the ones used for transitions. The Taj Mahal looks like a graphic from a video game from 10 or 15 years ago. They couldn't do better than that? It looks terrible and the fake people walking around by it are even worse than the building.
So much for the perfect laser projection eliminating the issues that were there with the IMAX films. We were in theatre B and there was dirt on the lens or something that made a dark spot just to the left of center of the screen. There were also 2 weird spots/artifacts near the very bottom of the screen that I noticed in one scene. They were like dark circles with aqua jagged outlines. I don't know if they were there the whole time because I was paying attention to the scenes. I was also expecting it to be brighter.
I can see what they were trying to do with the transitions but they got annoying. During the ride my wife asked me "why do they keep throwing things at me?"
Overall, I liked the original version much better. What made it great was "Soarin'" over beautiful scenery. To make it exciting they had people doing activities in the scenes and some subtle CGI. The golf ball was an exception but that was one moment of something flying at you as a little surprise. The fake fireworks at the end were also noticeable but it was almost made to look like a Walt Disney Pictures animated title before a movie.
The overuse of CGI in this version distracted me from the scenery. The CGI reflections of the CGI fireworks off of Spaceship Earth made Spaceship Earth look like it was CGI.
The only scene that was very cool and better than most of the original was the Great Wall of China scene when it made you feel like you were "riding" down the great wall on a rollercoaster.
If they put the original in one of the theatres and gave you a choice of which to ride, I'd choose the original every time even at twice the wait.
Biff215
Well-Known Member
Just rode it yesterday and liked it well enough but not as much as the original. This one felt slower to me and less exciting. The CGI and transitions were okay, I just didn't walk out wowed like I did with the original. Still happy they updated it to something that better fits Epcot.
TimeTrip
Well-Known Member
Got to ride this finally tonight. I must say I was let down. I agree with the post a few above. Way way too much CGI. Does anyone have a definitive list of what was CGI? Most of the time I felt like I was watching a video game.. And not live footage.
Some moments that I thought fell in thus category. The arctic... Polar bears obviously, but the calving of the ice as well, made me wonder how much of the scenes were 'real'.
The great wall seemed fake at a certain point as well, maybe they jacked up the color saturation? The precision movements at the top of the Matterhorn and even the Eiffel tower gave off a faked vibe as well. Obviously the taj mahal, the whale, the kites. Were the rowers CGI also?
I miss the original!
ETA: updated to be Matterhorn.. Not Kilimanjaro
Some moments that I thought fell in thus category. The arctic... Polar bears obviously, but the calving of the ice as well, made me wonder how much of the scenes were 'real'.
The great wall seemed fake at a certain point as well, maybe they jacked up the color saturation? The precision movements at the top of the Matterhorn and even the Eiffel tower gave off a faked vibe as well. Obviously the taj mahal, the whale, the kites. Were the rowers CGI also?
I miss the original!
ETA: updated to be Matterhorn.. Not Kilimanjaro
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