page_title: Soarin'
section_title: Ride design
hierarchical_section_title: Soarin' / Ride design
caption_attribution_description: Soarin' - Disney California Adventure
context_page_description: Soarin', also known as Soarin' Around the World, Soaring Over the Horizon and Soaring: Fantastic Flight, is a flight motion simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea. The ride employs a mechanical lift system, a
  projected presentation on an 80 ft concave 180-degree dome screen, artificial scents and wind to simulate a hang gliding flight over several locations across six continents around the world. Many consider it to have been the first flying theater.
  The original iteration of the attraction, known as Soarin' Over California, was an opening day attraction at Disney California Adventure on February 8, 2001. The initial version took guests over several locations in California and included a pre-show tribute to the history of California's aviation industry. Due to its consistent popularity, Soarin' Over California was duplicated at Epcot in Walt Disney World as Soarin' in 2005. The original Soarin' Over California returned to Disney California Adventure for a limited engagement for June 2019. Its popularity led Disney to extend the run through the end of August of that year.
context_section_description: Soarin' was first conceptualized in 1996 as "Ultra Flight," a name which can still be seen on the tower consoles of the California Adventure attraction. It was to feature an OMNIMAX screen with an inverted track allowing guests to fly over California's landmarks. The attraction would have three load levels and the system would operate on a horizontal cable, much like a dry cleaner's rack. This plan was abandoned, however, when it was determined that the construction and labor costs for that design would be prohibitive. It seemed that Soarin' wouldn't become a reality until engineer Mark Sumner developed a different idea for the ride vehicles, using an Erector Set and string to create a working model.  This design would allow Disney to efficiently load guests on one level instead of three, thus cutting construction and labor costs greatly.
  Each ride vehicle consists of three rows of seats under a wing-like canopy, and has a capacity of 87 guests at a time. After guests have been safely restrained in the vehicle using standard lap belts, the canopy descends slightly and a cantilever system lifts the chairs forward and into the air with the guests' feet dangling freely. The vehicle is lifted forward so that guests look into a large, concave movie screen onto which aerial views are projected.  The scenes for the original film were shot with an IMAX HD frame rate - 48 frames per second, twice the conventional output for regular films.  Since the vehicle is moved forward toward the center of the dome, guests can only see the images projected on the screen and experience the sensation of flight.  The ride structure contains about one million pounds (454,000 kg) of steel, and 37 tons (33.5 metric tonnes) are lifted during each ride cycle.
  To enhance the illusion of flight, subtle vertical movements of the seats are synchronized to the film. Sensations of horizontal motion are created using a combination of vertical carriage movement and turning the image on the screen. In addition, scents complementing the various scenes are injected into the air streams blowing on riders. These scents now include rose blossoms in the Taj Mahal scene, the aroma of grass in the Africa scene, and a sea breeze scent in the South Pacific scene in the updated show.
caption: Three rows of seating for the ride
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.2.00", "Image DateTime": "2010:06:26 17:47:46", "Image ExifOffset": "184", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "800", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11051", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:04:02 18:33:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:04:02 18:33:25", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1584963/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-4/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "4294967295", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "21", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "21", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}