Soarin’ Around the World

Soarin’, Soarin’ Around the World, Soaring Over the Horizon, Soaring: Fantastic Flight. One attraction, four different names, four different themes and backstories.

This flight motion simulation attraction debuted as Soarin’ Over California as an opening day attraction in Disney California Adventure on February 8, 2001. Imagineer Mark Sumner came up with the idea after playing with an erector set. Originally it was located in Condor Flats, one of three mini-lands found in the larger Golden State. During Extreme Makeover: California Adventure Edition, the Golden State name was dissolved and the land was split into Pacific Wharf and Grizzly Peak. The part of Grizzly Peak that used to be Condor Flats then became Grizzly Peak Airfield. Slightly confusing, I know, but so is the majority of DCA’s history.

After listening to flight attendant Patrick Warburton’s safety spiel and then buckling into their hang-gliders, guests are lifted up to 40 feet in the air and surrounded by a giant projection dome. A fantastic, and now iconic, musical score was created by Jerry Goldsmith for their trip over the Golden Gate Bridge, Lake Tahoe, Malibu Beach, and even Disneyland.

This popular attraction was soon replicated in Walt Disney World’s Epcot in The Land pavilion. It opened on May 5, 2005 as simply Soarin’ (since the attraction was now located in Florida and they thought it would be weird to have California in the title despite the attraction being centred entirely around California?)

In 2016, some major changes came to the attraction. Beginning with the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, the entire film had been reshot to feature locations from around the world, not just California. Opening with the rest of the park on June 16, 2016, Soaring Over the Horizon, located in Adventure Isle, debuted this new film. The next day, both Soarin’s in DCA and Epcot changed to the new film. Epcot kept the name Soarin’ and DCA changed to Soarin’ Around the World. On July 23, 2019, Soaring: Fantastic Flight opened in Mediterranean Harbor at Tokyo DisneySea.

So despite each of these four attractions showing pretty much (but not quite, more on this later) film, each attraction has its own unique theme which is shown in the showbuilding and backstory.

DCA’s theme has always been centred around the early days of aviation. The attraction is located in an old-fashioned airplane hangar and the queue features the Wings of Fame, an homage to the history of aviation with photographs and biographies of both famous pilots and aircraft. Guests with a fondness for aviation will love the amount of history they can learn just from standing in line for this Disney attraction. Cast Members here wear airfield crew costumes.

Epcot’s theme has more of an airport feel where guests originally boarded flights to California, and now flights around the world. They board at gates onto Flight 5505 (a nod to the opening date of May 5, 2005) and Cast Members wear flight attendant costumes. The queue, though not nearly as interesting as DCA’s in my opinion, uses infrared technology so guests can play interactive games. A third screen was added during the 2016 refurbishment.

Shanghai Disneyland’s attraction takes place in an ancient observatory with a backstory that ties in with the rest of Adventure Isle. This land is home to the Arbori Tribe and their mythical creatures who protect different realms, including the thunderbird Q’otár who protects the skies. The observatory is home to an ancient portal that allows guests to travel around the world.

Tokyo DisneySea’s attraction takes place in the Museum of Fantastic Flight. It is hosted by the spirit of aviation innovator, Camellia Falco. Her greatest achievement was the vehicle called Dream Flyer, which is the hang-glider guests ride in during the flight.

When the original Soarin’ opened in 2001, Disney used current state-of-the-art technology. But by the 2016 refurbishment, the technology had become quite outdated. Instead of using whatever the latest was at the time, Imagineering created even newer technology since what they were wanting didn’t exist. Disney has a history of doing this for many technological advances including Circle-Vision 360° back when Disneyland opened in 1955. Imagineering not only updated the camera used to film the new footage, but also the projection used in Soarin’ as well.

The filming for the updated Soarin’ took over a year to get the “postcard-picture shots” needed for the attraction. One crew went on location and would send footage back to another crew at the Imagineering home base in Glendale, California. They would quickly edit the footage so if they needed to request any additional shots, the team on location could easily get them. Since the Imagineers were not able to properly edit the footage on a flat screen, they created a mini-dome screen on which one person at a time could view the footage. They would also head over to DCA at night to watch the film on the actual Soarin’ screens after the park closed to guests.

The updated film included some nods to Disney including the actual Matterhorn Mountain, Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle (which was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle), and the section of the Great Wall of China where the 1982 Wonders of China Circle-Vision 360° film was shot for the China Pavilion in Epcot.

As mentioned, despite the majority of each of the Soarin’ Around the World films being the same, there are a few different scenes unique to each park. The ending scene of the one in DCA takes place in Disneyland. In the original Soarin’ Over California, this scene took place during Christmas time, but now it’s just a regular day at Disneyland. The ending scene in Epcot takes place in Epcot, and the ending scene in Shanghai Disneyland takes place in the city of Shanghai since the park was not built yet at the time of filming. In Tokyo DisneySea, the Paris scene was replaced with a scene of the city of Tokyo (because that Eiffel Tower is just a little wonky), and the ending scene takes place in Toyko DisneySea.

Last summer for the month of June, DCA did a throwback to Soarin’ Over California and brought back the original film for a few weeks.

Which of the different Soarin’s have you experienced? Did you like Soarin’ Over California or Soarin’ Around the World better? Do you have a favourite showbuilding of the four?