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

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Honestly what it really needs is to become Soarin' Over Polynesia Starring Moana

Soarin’ over Wish starring whoever the princess is from that movie that nobody has seen.

 

[DisneyCane]

Most important thing - whatever's coming next needs the original soundtrack. MASTERPIECE

The issue is designing visuals that go with it. It was the combination that made Soarin' over CA an emotionally engaging experience.

Besides the obvious and sometimes laughably bad (Taj Mahal) CGI, the biggest issue with "around the world" is there is no emotional attachment partially because the music doesn't really match the images.

 

[LittleBuford]

I have to say that I’ve never quite understood why people think the Taj Mahal in Soarin’ looks fake. To me, it looks very much like the real building, which I’m lucky enough to have visited (and I’m certainly not insensitive to bad CGI: the rowers in the Polynesian island scene look terrible to me).

 

[mastromjm]

The issue is designing visuals that go with it. It was the combination that made Soarin' over CA an emotionally engaging experience.

Besides the obvious and sometimes laughably bad (Taj Mahal) CGI, the biggest issue with "around the world" is there is no emotional attachment partially because the music doesn't really match the images.

I absolutely adore the themes by Jerry Goldsmith, and Disney was right not to mess with them, but it feels like the visuals came first for Around the World. From there Bruce Broughton (excellent composer in his own right) had to cut and paste the themes with ethnically-appropriate instruments for each scene. So the transitions are super weird and feel like "oh, we need an erhu because now we're in China" etc. I feel like they could build a much better show within the confines of the existing score - or maybe write something wholly new if it can match the brilliance?

 

[osian]

I have to say that I’ve never quite understood why people think the Taj Mahal in Soarin’ looks fake. To me, it looks very much like the real building, which I’m lucky enough to have visited (and I’m certainly not insensitive to bad CGI: the rowers in the Polynesian island scene look terrible to me).

I'm with you on that! It might be the flat-looking walls and windows at the front behind the arches, but they look like that in real life. And CGI could create better models than that if the flatness wasn't real. It's said that the Paris scene is all CGI too. There, I've come out, with something that I've kept quiet about in the face of public opinion. But, you know, CGI is very good these days and it's difficult to tell what's real and what's fake. The obvious things to me are the elephants, polar bears, rowers, balloons, and all the transitions. And I do wonder about the camel and horse riders, people in general, and the waterfall mist. SoC had its share of computer generated objects too.

 

[LittleBuford]

There, I've come out, with something that I've kept quiet about in the face of public opinion.

Feels good, doesn’t it?!

 

[osian]

Feels good, doesn’t it?!

It's wonderful to just let it......no, I'm not going to do it.

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm with you on that! It might be the flat-looking walls and windows at the front behind the arches, but they look like that in real life. And CGI could create better models than that if the flatness wasn't real. It's said that the Paris scene is all CGI too. There, I've come out, with something that I've kept quiet about in the face of public opinion. But, you know, CGI is very good these days and it's difficult to tell what's real and what's fake. The obvious things to me are the elephants, polar bears, rowers, balloons, and all the transitions. And I do wonder about the camel and horse riders, people in general, and the waterfall mist. SoC had its share of computer generated objects too.

Yeah, it's the elephants that leaped out as jarringly bad to me (not the only thing, but the worst).

 

[DisneyCane]

I have to say that I’ve never quite understood why people think the Taj Mahal in Soarin’ looks fake. To me, it looks very much like the real building, which I’m lucky enough to have visited (and I’m certainly not insensitive to bad CGI: the rowers in the Polynesian island scene look terrible to me).

To me, the rendering of the Taj Mahal scene looks like something out of Assassin's creed III on a PS3 console. There is definitely other noticeable and not great CGI in the film (on the drive?) but nothing hits you in the face like the Taj Mahal does. It is laughably bad.

 

[ToTBellHop]

To me, the rendering of the Taj Mahal scene looks like something out of Assassin's creed III on a PS3 console. There is definitely other noticeable and not great CGI in the film (on the drive?) but nothing hits you in the face like the Taj Mahal does. It is laughably bad.

I just don’t understand its inclusion if they couldn’t film there.

There are other iconic buildings. Or just fly through a rainforest in India so it better fits in The Land. Tall buildings don’t work on this screen.

 

[LittleBuford]

To me, the rendering of the Taj Mahal scene looks like something out of Assassin's creed III on a PS3 console. There is definitely other noticeable and not great CGI in the film (on the drive?) but nothing hits you in the face like the Taj Mahal does. It is laughably bad.

Having seen the real thing, I respectfully disagree.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Having seen the real thing, I respectfully disagree.

I think we all agree that the real thing is impressive. But they don’t show the real thing. The entire thing is obviously CG. At least the polar bear is a small part of the screen, not the whole thing.

They need to run the visuals for this and Mission:Space through a PS5 to get everything up to at least 2020s standards. If I’m going to ride a video game, make it look better than what I have at home.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think we all agree that the real thing is impressive. But they don’t show the real thing. The entire thing is obviously CG.

As I said, it doesn’t look obviously computer-generated to me. On the contrary, it passes for the real thing in my eyes, such that I used to think it was filmed with a drone (even if digitally touched up).

I realise mine is very much a minority opinion in these parts, and I’m not sure what to make of the situation given that A) I don’t think others are lying, and B) I don’t think I have poor visual judgement. But I can’t pretend it looks bad to me when I really don’t perceive it that way.

 

[DisneyCane]

As I said, it doesn’t look obviously computer-generated to me. On the contrary, it passes for the real thing in my eyes, such that I used to think it was filmed with a drone (even if digitally touched up).

I realise mine is very much a minority opinion in these parts, and I’m not sure what to make of the situation given that A) I don’t think others are lying, and B) I don’t think I have poor visual judgement. But I can’t pretend it looks bad to me when I really don’t perceive it that way.

Since I haven't yet seen the real Taj Mahal (hopefully one day), I can't really dispute what you say. However, to me (who hasn't seen the real thing) it is the worst looking CGI, by far, in any version of Soarin'.

To my eyes, it looks like a poorly done digital matte painting done on a low budget TV show.

 

[LittleBuford]

Since I haven't yet seen the real Taj Mahal (hopefully one day), I can't really dispute what you say. However, to me (who hasn't seen the real thing) it is the worst looking CGI, by far, in any version of Soarin'.

To my eyes, it looks like a poorly done digital matte painting done on a low budget TV show.

As I said, I’m baffled by the disconnect between my perception and others’ and really don’t know what to make of it! It seems like you view the Taj Mahal as I do the Polynesian rowers (they’re the only effect I find truly egregious).

 

[DisneyCane]

As I said, I’m baffled by the disconnect between my perception and others’ and really don’t know what to make of it! It seems like you view the Taj Mahal as I do the Polynesian rowers (they’re the only effect I find truly egregious).

The glacier calving also stands out to me because, having seen the real thing, there is no way you could time a moving shot to it happening.

 

[Mark Dunne]

Most important thing - whatever's coming next needs the original soundtrack. MASTERPIECE

I don't think there's ever been a better track of music in WDW, and of course never remove Patrick from pre show, ''Nice work pal ''

 

[Epcot82Guy]

As I said, I’m baffled by the disconnect between my perception and others’ and really don’t know what to make of it! It seems like you view the Taj Mahal as I do the Polynesian rowers (they’re the only effect I find truly egregious).

I have to agree. (And not to pile up on you or discredit your view at all!) The Taj is by far the biggest offender to me. I always thought they had filmed a scene and had to scrap it, rendering it totally in fairly poor CGI. But, that's how the human eye and brain works...

 

[Skibum1970]

I don't think there's ever been a better track of music in WDW, and of course never remove Patrick from pre show, ''Nice work pal ''

Completely agree. I always look forward to Patrick's pre-show and the music is perfect. I prefer the California version because it looks more real and, as stated above, really resonates with me. The scents, the soundtrack, and visuals all combine perfectly. Around The World feels like it was shoehorned in and doesn't connect with me.

 

[solidyne]

As I said, it doesn’t look obviously computer-generated to me. On the contrary, it passes for the real thing in my eyes, such that I used to think it was filmed with a drone (even if digitally touched up).

I realise mine is very much a minority opinion in these parts, and I’m not sure what to make of the situation given that A) I don’t think others are lying, and B) I don’t think I have poor visual judgement. But I can’t pretend it looks bad to me when I really don’t perceive it that way.

Fwiw, I'm with you. The Taj doesn't look entirely fake to my eyes.