New Soarin'

[PETE FROM NYC]

The old ride had the smell of oranges.
Does the new version have any smells?

[Zippy 1]

We did not smell anything when we rode it last week

[andypooh]

rode it at California Adventure a few days ago. I believe Roses and maybe Oranges? Maybe someone else can tell me for sure. Definitely a nice smell when we flew over the Taj Mahal

[BrerGnat]

There are four smells. Roses, "dirt", something "tropical", and one more that I can't recall.

No orange smell this time.

[baldburke]

There are four smells. Roses, "dirt", something "tropical", and one more that I can't recall.

No orange smell this time.

The smell of dirt? Interesting...

[BrerGnat]

The smell of dirt? Interesting...

Yes...it's an earthy smell during a scene with an animal stampede of sorts.

[Terra]

I wondered this as well. I really hope we can get back one day! This was my son's favorite attraction. Earthy smell would be neat IMO!

[azcavalier]

I read an article that said the new version was supposed to be full of smells, including suntan lotion. The impression that the article gave me was that there would be smells with almost every scene. It didn't say that, but it listed off at least four or five different smells that were supposed to be part of the attraction.

It also said that since the ride capacity has increased 50%, that wait times were short enough that the interactive part of the queue had been removed. Is that the case? What are waits like?

[TikiLounger]

Aw! I hope there are smells! I really loved the pine and orange smells in the old version. The "beach" smell was nice too, although I live in a seaside area and I can say for certain that the beach doesn't really smell like that...at least not at low tide. ;)

My daughter and I are heading back in mid/late Sept. We can't wait to ride this new version of Soarin'! I'm pretty sure I read that they kept Patrick's pre-show spiel. Phew! I'm glad to hear that the interactive part of the queue has been removed. It was fun the first couple of times, but after that? not so much. I turned into just an annoying reminder that we had a long wait ahead of us.

[Fangorn]

I read an article that said the new version was supposed to be full of smells, including suntan lotion. The impression that the article gave me was that there would be smells with almost every scene. It didn't say that, but it listed off at least four or five different smells that were supposed to be part of the attraction.

You know, we rode Soarin' at DCA on the 20th. I honestly don't recall ANY smells. Perhaps that part wasn't working (I can blame anything on the heat that day - only 111 degrees in the shade).

While I did appreciate the changes, and the scenes are beautiful, I think overall, the original has more cohesiveness to it. The new version just seems like a hodgepodge of travelogues with not much to glue it together. I'm sure I'll learn to like it more over time, but for now, I was a tad disappointed. DW and I both didn't feel we needed to go on it again, even though the line was short (very low crowds due to the heat).

Just my opinion.

Steve

[allgiggles]

We rode at Epcot last week. The smells I remember are grass, earthy, floral, and ocean.

[DizneyRox]

Yes...it's an earthy smell during a scene with an animal stampede of sorts.
I'm pretty sure that's definitely not what a herd of elephants smells like...

[BrerGnat]

I'm pretty sure that's definitely not what a herd of elephants smells like...

LOL...yeah, it definitely smells better than what it should. It's actually a very pleasant smell. I liked it.

[Altair]

Can't comment on the smells, but from the on-line videos there appears to be way too much CGI in this. Most of the scenes have a fake feel to them.

[BrerGnat]

Can't comment on the smells, but from the on-line videos there appears to be way too much CGI in this. Most of the scenes have a fake feel to them.

It definitely looks better in person than on videos. I do find the CGI "add ons" to be distracting, and in some instances, alarming as they pop up loudly out of nowhere. Most scenes are pretty convincingly real. There is one scene, though, that is very obviously CGI. I think they should have just chosen a different location to film rather than resorting to CGI. There are so many beautiful places in the world.

[allgiggles]

It definitely looks better in person than on videos. I do find the CGI "add ons" to be distracting, and in some instances, alarming as they pop up loudly out of nowhere. Most scenes are pretty convincingly real. There is one scene, though, that is very obviously CGI. I think they should have just chosen a different location to film rather than resorting to CGI. There are so many beautiful places in the world.

I totally agree with all of this. I didn't watch any videos before we went because I wanted it to be a completely new experience but I did read a lot of "too much CGI" comments. And other than the few obvious "add ons" that made me jump, I really didn't notice a lot of CGI. I suppose if I had specifically been looking for it and had convinced myself it was going to feel fake before we even experienced the ride I might have noticed more. I chose to just enjoy it for what it is. We all really liked the new film (though we also wished we still had the option to see the old one) and look forward to experiencing it again on future visits.

[DizneyRox]

It definitely looks better in person than on videos. I do find the CGI "add ons" to be distracting, and in some instances, alarming as they pop up loudly out of nowhere. Most scenes are pretty convincingly real. There is one scene, though, that is very obviously CGI. I think they should have just chosen a different location to film rather than resorting to CGI. There are so many beautiful places in the world.
You're talking about the Taj Mahal scene I presume... If I were to guess, I'd say 60-70% of the meat of the entire film is CGI. I'm sure most if the locations themselves were really filmed, but, for example, the polar bears, whale and ice breakup are all presumably CGI. Sure, that would be next to impossible to catch on camera, but that's why then it shouldn't be in the movie.

I'd almost give them the elephants (which are probably all CGI as well, but more believable that the scene could be real) only to blow it with the cheesy transition.

There's something off with the music as well, can't put my finger on it, but overall it's not as majestic as the original film, maybe due to the film.

There are better worldly locations to be filmed. and maybe that's why the forced transitions between scenes. They could probably randomize locations easily to make it more reridable. It didn't have trouble attracting crowds in the past though, and now the lines pale in comparison to those at Frozen. Checking the app, Soarin is almost a walk on these days; yes, I'm sure the third theater has something to do with it, but building that might have been a little premature.

[allgiggles]

.... Checking the app, Soarin is almost a walk on these days; yes, I'm sure the third theater has something to do with it, but building that might have been a little premature.

I'm just curious....what days were/are you seeing Soarin' as "almost a walk on"? We were there 6/20-27 and I never saw wait times anywhere close to what I would consider a walk on. I never even saw it less than about an hour. I just checked an actual wait times chart (that is broken down in 15 minute increments) at another website/blog and the average standby wait time for the week of 6/17-24 was 59 minutes with only a handful of times being under 50 minutes. We would have loved to ride Soarin' a second time during our week (we rode it the first day in the parks) and kept checking both MDE and Lines to watch for short wait times and they just never happened any of the days we were at Epcot or our down day.

[DizneyRox]

A few days ago, the app had Frozen listed as 120 minutes one night and Soarin at 15. 15 on any ride is for me, a walk on, but when you're talking about a ride that used to have 120+ minutes waits, I cut it more slack. I used to go at this time every year, which is usually one the the busiest times of the year. Wait times 2-4 hours for rides like Soarin, Test Track, Peter Pan, etc is surprising, but expected. With those possibilities, even an hour is a treat!

[allgiggles]

A few days ago, the app had Frozen listed as 120 minutes one night and Soarin at 15. 15 on any ride is for me, a walk on, but when you're talking about a ride that used to have 120+ minutes waits, I cut it more slack. I used to go at this time every year, which is usually one the the busiest times of the year. Wait times 2-4 hours for rides like Soarin, Test Track, Peter Pan, etc is surprising, but expected. With those possibilities, even an hour is a treat!


Got it! Thanks for responding. I was worried that I had missed an opportunity. I would have taken a 15 minute wait to ride it again, but never saw that when we were there.

[dnickels]

Apologies for reviving an older thread, but I've finally been able to ride the new Soarin' a few times and wanted to throw in my two cents.

I think they overdid the CGI aspect as well. There are so many beautiful locations in the world, and to me that would have been enough. It just feels cheesed up with the fake sailboats, fake animals, fake guys rowing (I could keep listing the fake stuff here, but you get the idea) and of course all the 'gotchas' coming right at the screen.

[texas211]

Apologies for reviving an older thread, but I've finally been able to ride the new Soarin' a few times and wanted to throw in my two cents.

I think they overdid the CGI aspect as well. There are so many beautiful locations in the world, and to me that would have been enough. It just feels cheesed up with the fake sailboats, fake animals, fake guys rowing (I could keep listing the fake stuff here, but you get the idea) and of course all the 'gotchas' coming right at the screen.

Way too many gotchas. I just wish they would have taken the old movie, digitally remastered it, and put it back.

[baldburke]

Way too many gotchas. I just wish they would have taken the old movie, digitally remastered it, and put it back.

Great idea! I'm surprised they didn't do like Star Tours with a number of interchangeable scenes for lots of different experiences...new and classic.

[Doofenshmirtz]

The Eiffel tower seen is bad, I mean real bad!!!! The curvature of the screen makes the Eiffel tower look like it is leaning. I was not a fan of the cheesy transitions either. Over all it was a 6 1/2 out of a 10.

[sacandjac]

The smells I remember are roses over Taj Mahal, earthy/dirty over African Savana, ocean/fresh smell over Fiji-I didn't catch the 4th smell that I see people referring to. We loved the new Soarin and did do it back to back in September without fastpass. Woo Hoo!

[SleepinB]

Recently, rode Soarin' two times at EPCOT. I was surprised when I did not notice any smells at all. But I was more disappointed in the number of CGI renditions of the main buildings in a number of scenes. Not having real footage of the historical structures took a lot of the wonder away for me. In addition, the curvature of the screen affected the scenes much more than before. Tall buildings and structures were curved and bent.

I was very excited to see a new Soarin' in HD clarity, but came away disappointed in the final product.

[ransam]

I only remember smelling the Roses. Guess i'll have to go back.....