Soarin' image quality

[Tom Morrow]

Hate to start another negative thread, but the quality of the image at Soarin' is looking pretty dismal these days. Dust on the screen has been a problem for a while, but now the image has become even more blurry, grainy, and on my last ride, grid lines kept appearing across the screen. Has anyone else seen that? And what would cause that?

Soarin' needed new projectors two years ago. I fear that they will use the current setup until "Soarin' Around the World" finally happens, and who knows when that will happen?

 

[stevehousse]

Is Soarin printed film or digital? If it's actual print, a good cleaning is in order...or a new print made...

 

[Tom Morrow]

Is Soarin printed film or digital? If it's actual print, a good cleaning is in order...or a new print made...

IMAX film

 

[alissafalco]

The quality of the film hasn't been good for a while, as well as a dusty screen. I think you're right about probably nothing being done until the new film comes out.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Another example of running something into the ground before addressing it...

Constant maintenance is a thing of the past with this management. Yes, Iger, that's another shot at you.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I'm hate to say it but I rather have Eisner back

 

[TB4244]

I noticed the grid lines too, I'm assuming they are part of the screen construction. Its most noticeable at the beginning of the film in the clouds if you look down.
But the film quality is quite bad, there's a lot of dirt on it. The LA at night section has always been blurry because, according to our guide on the Undiscovered Futureworld tour, they had a 4 minute window to fly over the city and LAX and only after they discovered that the camera hadn't been focused properly. Sadly they didn't get a second shot at it, so as a solution they sped up the film so you don't notice as much.

Surely though when the third theatre is constructed it will go digital, with the updated film. I guess thats why they haven't bothered cleaning or restoring it?

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The film has been in awful condition since at least 2010 when I first saw it (last WDW visit prior to that was 1997 long before it was made). I'd imagine it has been in poor condition for even longer before that as well. It just continues to degrade more and more as well. I'm guessing they have no intention of addressing this until a new film and/or third theater are made, if this even occurs at all. It's sad because it's desperately needed.

I'm hate to say it but I rather have Eisner back

He made some unquestionably stupid mistakes that ended up causing lasting damage to the company (now beyond repair), I've not intention of either defending or forgiving his mistakes regardless of whether others choose to. Eisner brought his misfortune on himself, his egotistical power hungry alterations to the corporate structure were what allowed Iger and company rise to power in the first place.

But I give credit where credit is due, yes I would much rather have Eisner running the company than Iger. No question. The good stuff he did was truly great and showed he did care about the parks. And at least near the end of his reign he was showing clear signs of acknowledging his mistakes and taking obvious steps to begin fixing the problems he caused. He hired Matt Ouimet to restore Disneyland, and was responsible for approving Everest for Animal Kingdom (flawed though it was, it's the last real E ticket WDW has gotten to date). We'll never know whether he would have been able to restore the movie and TV business to its former glory. One wonders whether he had plans to reform that division as well, but I really can't blame the corporate leaders for being alarmed at his decision to burn bridges with Pixar (he already sort of did this in the 90's by driving Katzenberg out, contributing to the creation of Dreamworks). Pixar was basically keeping the animated movie division alive at that point, Disney's own animation department wasn't in a position to keep the company going with the critically and financially poor movies they were doing at the time (Chicken Little and Home on the Range). The question is whether Eisner cut ties with Pixar because he had a grand plan up his sleeve, or if it was just another arrogant power hungry move by him. I'd like to have seen Eisner in full-on desperation mode, that would be something. For the parks however, he was beginning to show signs of making things right again.

So i'd have granted Eisner at least a few more years to see whether he could clean his mistakes up and get the company back on track. He deserved it far more than Iger did at least (who is consistently voted back into power in spite of being an infinitely less successful leader even in the eyes of Wall Street). Though I personally believe the company could do better than either Eisner or Iger, there are more worthy leaders out there. Ones who could satisfy both amazing quality and bountiful financial success.

 

[Doodlyday]

Does anyone notice how the Soarin' film looks like it's flickering on and off between frames?

 

[Chef Mickey]

This is a shame. The entire ride is based on image quality and they've completely let it slip to sub-standard.

I could somewhat understand if they've got a complex problem, like a yeti malfunction or an entire ride system is broken, but this is essentially a projector. You've got to believe they have some way of replacing that film relatively easily or at least cleaning it. IMAX has to have some process of cleaning it up and I'm sure Disney could work with them to make it happen.

My guess is they are just too cheap and/or lazy to do it. It still plays, so good enough.

 

[Bugz]

It is awesome, Cant say anything bad about it

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I'm hate to say it but I rather have Eisner back

Supposedly he's rumored to be the Golfer that swings the Hidden mickey golf ball while you fly by...

Also it seemed really weird when he posted a pic on his instagram standing in front of SDL's tron coaster when he has nothing to do with the company...

 

[Tom Morrow]

It is awesome, Cant say anything bad about it

I guess you have pretty low standards for quality then, or you haven't ridden in a long time.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Does anyone notice how the Soarin' film looks like it's flickering on and off between frames?

Yep, I noticed that. That plus grid lines on the screen flickering in and out is what prompted me to start this thread. The image was dusty and grainy for a while, but on my last ride I felt that it has deteriorated beyond acceptable.

 

[PhilharMagician]

The video quality has been crappy for many years. You see hairs flickering throughout parts of it and dark spots projected onto the image which are most likely dust inside the lens. This stuff should have been addressed years ago.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Soarin is still one of my favorites, but if my local movie theater had image quality problems like they do with soarin I'd stop going there. You should expect more from Disney. At the very least image quality on par with normally acceptable theater projection.

 

[marni1971]

Imax calls for a clean room standard for the projection booth. The Epcot booth does not meet the criteria.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Was not aware of that. I was a projectionist at our local AMC theater back in the mid to late 90's, but we were not an IMAX theater.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I still personally liked Food Rocks better. I still want that to re-open with new AAs in the current Circle of Life theatre.

 

[NelsonRD]

I'm hate to say it but I rather have Eisner back

It is not the responsibility of the CEO to manage how much dust is on the Soarin' film, or how many ceiling tiles are missing from small world, or how many light bulbs are out on the boat in Splash Mountain. He relies on the trust of his management team to keep the day to day operations of the levels below him successful.

Iger is aware of issues with Soarin' and has appropriated funds to address it, both in refreshing the attraction with a new updated film, and increasing capacity. What else do you think he should do?