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

[Andrew M]

Probably logistically a challenge. Unless it’s random and you don’t know what you are getting until the ride starts. Otherwise you need two different lines… that guests can choose which one they want.

How about random scenes at each cut.. Orange Groves, CGI Taj, Fighter Jets.. ! Soarin': The Adventure Continues!

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Probably logistically a challenge. Unless it’s random and you don’t know what you are getting until the ride starts. Otherwise you need two different lines… that guests can choose which one they want.

Exactly…just like Mission:Space…you choose…with the differences in the scents, I don’t know that the individual theaters will be able to switch…that could be a logistical nightmare

 

[DisneyCane]

Indeed. The way around the problem is not to film a vertical structure that takes up the entirety of the screen.

Or they could have filmed with lenses that distort the image on the image sensor paired with projection lenses that un-distort the image to match the curvature of the screen. The issue is a flat image being projected on a concave screen so any straight line gets bent to the shape of the screen.

 

[osian]

Or they could have filmed with lenses that distort the image on the image sensor paired with projection lenses that un-distort the image to match the curvature of the screen. The issue is a flat image being projected on a concave screen so any straight line gets bent to the shape of the screen.

No, the issue cannot be solved. The method you've described is already used and it produces an undistorted picture at precisely one focal point. As with all Omnimax screens, Imax domes, planetariums etc,the further from the focal point you sit, the more distorted the image.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

How about random scenes at each cut.. Orange Groves, CGI Taj, Fighter Jets.. ! Soarin': The Adventure Continues!

You can’t do that without filming a new movie because the scents of Cali won’t sync up with the world version an apples and oranges (pardon the pun) problem…it’s 2 different formats. If they refilmed the entire 2 movies, and combined them, they could “pick and choose” the parts needed at random…I don’t think the 2 movies can be combined maybe I’m wrong?

 

[DisneyCane]

How about random scenes at each cut.. Orange Groves, CGI Taj, Fighter Jets.. ! Soarin': The Adventure Continues!

I wonder if the orange groves in the film still exist or if they've grown houses like almost all of the Orlando vicinity? Soarin' over CA might me more of historical documentary now than a present day flyover!

 

[Drdcm]

I never did this ride before they added the curved screen. Did that add anything to improve the ride or did it just distort the image for everyone who wasn’t in the center?

 

[osian]

I never did this ride before they added the curved screen. Did that add anything to improve the ride or did it just distort the image for everyone who wasn’t in the center?

It's always had a curved screen, and the image was always distorted if you're not in the centre.

 

[DisneyCane]

It's always had a curved screen, and the image was always distorted if you're not in the centre.

Since Soarin' Over CA didn't have many vertical structures it wasn't nearly as noticeable. That, and the (what were they thinking) CGI Taj makes "the World" far inferior. Also, the pacing of the original with the score was much better. The only thing improved is that there is some sort of transition between scenes.

 

[UNCgolf]

Since Soarin' Over CA didn't have many vertical structures it wasn't nearly as noticeable. That, and the (what were they thinking) CGI Taj makes "the World" far inferior. Also, the pacing of the original with the score was much better. The only thing improved is that there is some sort of transition between scenes.

It's not just the Taj -- there's other bad and easily noticeable CGI in World too.

 

[LittleBuford]

I never did this ride before they added the curved screen. Did that add anything to improve the ride or did it just distort the image for everyone who wasn’t in the center?

It's always had a curved screen, and the image was always distorted if you're not in the centre.

To demonstrate @osian's point, here's a comparison of the Golden Gate Bridge as it appears when viewed from the side in the original Soarin' film and how it actually looks:

 

[Smiley/OCD]

To demonstrate @osian's point, here's a comparison of the Golden Gate Bridge as it appears when viewed from the side in the original Soarin' film and how it looks without distortion:

Yes, but you’re swinging in on an angle and it looks more normal as opposed to that awful Eiffel Tower that’s pointed towards Switzerland and Italy…no one is arguing that the technology and the screen shape is to blame. That’s 100% true. People are saying it’s a bad show and bad optics. That’s also 100% true.

 

[LittleBuford]

no one is arguing that the technology and the screen shape is to blame.

Actually, not everyone seems to be aware that the issue has been there from the start, which is why I was providing a visual to demonstrate the point made by @osian.

 

[Drdcm]

To demonstrate @osian's point, here's a comparison of the Golden Gate Bridge as it appears when viewed from the side in the original Soarin' film and how it actually looks:

Thanks. I hadn’t done it and thought they used a flat screen before updating it. Probably because I misread it somewhere. I have no idea why I thought that was the case…

 

[MrPromey]

But i would show up for Castle Cake 2.0 anytime!

Quick, I'll distract them while you run!

 

[MrPromey]

When my girls were little, we used to love “kicking” the kayakers, dodging the golf balls in the Palm Springs scene and as I said the scents were so much better!!

As an aside, about a year ago, the state of California made a commercial using the Queen song
“Don’t Stop me Now”… Google that ad…tell me it doesn’t look familiar…

I always liked when the fighter jets passed overhead and your vehicle rocked from it.

... not because of anything thematic there - just the effect of it feeling real.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Yeah, California doesn't really make sense at EPCOT.

That said, I think this is fine as a temporary measure if they're going to use this time to fix the world film (or create a new, better one).

Could definitely see them filming a new ending.

 

[MrPromey]

Until Soarin around the world came around, I didn’t actually know the attraction at Epcot was Soarin over California. And imagine a lot of other people felt the same, that Soarin was just a great attraction and not a great Californian attraction.

You must not have paid very good attention to the preshow.

 

[fgmnt]

It'll never happen but I wonder how much it would cost to run a film of natural wonders, limited to either North America or the whole world.

 

[HauntedPirate]

or for you to politely ask to sit in one of the central gliders.

I smell an upcharge…