Soarin' Isn't Taking Off

tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One of Soarin's theaters has been down since yesterday. As a result, Epcot only distributes FastPasses for about thirty minutes at park opening; and the ride's queue is about 80-120 minutes after that. I don't know what the problem actually is or how long it'll take to fix.

If you're going to Epcot soon, get there at rope drop and RUN to Soarin'!
 
J

Jose Eber

New Member
I don't remember if there were major problems like this over at DCA when it first started out -- but I imagine projector problems aren't too hard to fix since the tech isn't that brand new/unique. What are these --- IMAX projectors? Fairly common.
 
D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
Depending on what the projector problem is, it's not that it is hard to fix, it's how long does it take to get a replacement part. Once it goes down, they have to determine what is wrong and then order a replacement. It is possible that they couldn't get a part ordered in time for it to get there today.

Now, if the projector did something to the film, that could take a while because they'll have to get a new print made.
 
Mecha Figment

Mecha Figment

New Member
i can pretty much asure you that they have at least two extra copies of the film in the event that the film wears out. I use to work in a attraction 4D theater here in the atlanta area. When a film plays that much.. it wears down over time and sometimes breaks. so is cost effective to have replacement film on hand. Now grant it Imax reels are HUGE. but i'm sure they have some stored in a vault.
 
J

Jose Eber

New Member
I'd imagine they'd have important spare parts on property much like they have their spare parts to attraction systems -- so, maybe this is a big deal.

Still, I would imagine even if a print is damaged, they'd have a spare one! (at least I would have a backup!).

who knows.
 
disneywy

disneywy

Member
I am sure they do have a spare, but might not always be in the right place at the right time. I remember once PhilharMagic's film broke and a new copy had to be flown in from California that day.
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Unless DCA is also running a stock spare... with Epcot`s being so new it is possible they wern`t prepared (stupidly, considering moving parts are involved) to have a spare film ready at WDW so soon after opening.

There again of course if the Omnimax projector itself developed a fault, parts will need to be flown in from Canada, assuming they are available off the shelf at IMAX.
 
R

Rotel1026

Active Member
As many times as they run that film a day, and considering how long they expect to be doing that, you'd imagine they'd have the movie on a hard drive that wouldn't take as much wear and tear.
 
Bluewaves

Bluewaves

Well-Known Member
you can't show an imax movie off a hard drive, there isn't a digital projector that can handle imax as imax is an entirely film based technology.
 
mmssbrg2

mmssbrg2

Active Member
I think he's just talking about storing it on a hard drive, not presenting it from the hard drive. I'm sure it was transferred from film to a digital format for editing and transferred back to film. The final product (prior to being transferred back to film) is probably stored digitally somewhere for backup purposes.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
Mecha Figment said:
i can pretty much asure you that they have at least two extra copies of the film in the event that the film wears out. I use to work in a attraction 4D theater here in the atlanta area. When a film plays that much.. it wears down over time and sometimes breaks. so is cost effective to have replacement film on hand. Now grant it Imax reels are HUGE. but i'm sure they have some stored in a vault.
Click to expand...
Must be the $D attraction at Stone Mountain? I went there this summer. A good attempt at a 4D film but nothing could beat a Disney one. Some of the effects didn't work at all.
 
D

DisneyCane

Well-Known Member
mmssbrg2 said:
I think he's just talking about storing it on a hard drive, not presenting it from the hard drive. I'm sure it was transferred from film to a digital format for editing and transferred back to film. The final product (prior to being transferred back to film) is probably stored digitally somewhere for backup purposes.
Click to expand...
I can guarantee you that the only part of that film that was scanned for anything and printed from the digital copy was the part where they added tink and the fireworks. It is extremely expensive (and slow) to scan and laser record film at IMAX resolution. There is nothing about the Soarin' film that would need digital editing tools. It's just a bunch of simple scene changes. I'm sure they did everything they could conventionally (cutting the negative and splicing it together) and only used digital where they absolutely needed it (to add in digital effects).

If they have to print a replacement film, it's not something they can just go do even if they had it stored digitally. There are only a few labs worldwide that do it (especially for 70mm film). Same for making a new print off the negative. There are only a few labs that handle 70mm film.
 
Mecha Figment

Mecha Figment

New Member
raven said:
Must be the $D attraction at Stone Mountain? I went there this summer. A good attempt at a 4D film but nothing could beat a Disney one. Some of the effects didn't work at all.
Click to expand...

congradutlations.. you win a cookie.. it was the 4D tall tales theater.. i worked there some with the regular film and the special christmas film.


but i mostly worked at the railroad.
 
R

Rotel1026

Active Member
mmssbrg2 said:
I think he's just talking about storing it on a hard drive, not presenting it from the hard drive. I'm sure it was transferred from film to a digital format for editing and transferred back to film. The final product (prior to being transferred back to film) is probably stored digitally somewhere for backup purposes.
Click to expand...

Actually, I was talking about digitally projecting the movie to save wear and tear on not only the film but any other moving parts. But I hadn't realized there are no digital projectors that can handle the IMAX format. I saw Star Wars 3 this past summer in a digital projection theater and the print was amazing, no scratches or any other noticeable wear on the film. Shame they can't do that with this movie.
 

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