We are fast approaching our departure time and in just a little over a week I’ll be getting on a plane and be soarin’ to Walt Disney World…hey Soarin… what a coincidence. I love that ride!
Soarin’ is one of those immersive Disney experiences that I have already said I love so much.
Originally opened in Disney’s California Adventures Park in February of 2001 as Soarin’ over California, and then finally coming to Epcot in May of 2005, Soarin’ has quickly become one of the most popular attractions in all of the Disney Parks.
Ever since a disastrous family trip to Disney World in 1998, I have always used New Years Eve as my standard “most crowded day possible” at the park. This past New Years, using the Touringplans.com Line application on my phone, I checked the wait on several rides just for fun. Soarin’ had most definitely the longest wait with a nearly 3 ½ hour duration.
Slower periods have sited an average of around 60-90 minutes depending on the day and what time you go.
Luckily for me, the one time I went on the Epcot version, we went at opening time and basically ran to the ride, making us only have to wait about 20 minutes or so.
So I have only gone on this ride once and its one of my 10 favorite attractions in the park?
Absolutely!
When you first enter the queue line you get the feeling of an Airport terminal, you’ve enter into terminal “gates” the cast members are dressed as flight attendants, and of course you get your spiel from pre-flight instruction officer Patrick, played by TV’s Patrick Walburton (Seinfeld, The Tick, Family Guy)
You know you’re in good hands when David Puddy is in charge.
The ride is essentially a 3 rowed Erector set that lifts you up towards a giant Imax screen, your feet dangling in the air.
The ride starts with you in the clouds, before bursting through over San Fransisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. You follow this up by flying over kayakers at Yosemite’s National Forest. The smell of pine wisps through your nose (no, I did not imagine this.) You feel like your feet are going to skip through the water as your “glider” moves closer.
You are then taken to an orange field, avoiding hot air ballons, feeling the wind in your face, as the smell of oranges blows through.
Next, you are off to the Pacific Ocean and into snow capped mountains before flying over majestic waterfalls.
You are then taken to Palm Springs, where a golfer (Actually Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO) nearly hits you with his ball.
You fly through the Napa Valley and Anza-Borreco Desert State Park where Screamin’ Eagles (the planes not the birds) jet past you.
This, is followed by gliding over the San Diego Naval Air Station, and the USS John C. Stennis
You are then transported to Los Angeles at night, “soaring” through buildings down the highway before concluding your trip at Disneyland (of course.) Tinkerbell flies by to start the nighttime fireworks display, which you of course have more than a front row seat to.
Everything, from the movement, to the sights, to the smells, make you forget that you are on a ride in Epcot. You ARE hang gliding through California.
There is no questioning why this is one of the most popular rides at the park. It is truly one of, if not THE most immersive experiences in all of the Disney Parks.
If I was able to go on it more, I have no doubt that it would probably be even higher (haven’t I said that about some other things?) Will I try and do it again? Absolutely! Many times? Well, we’ll just see how the wait is.
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