Soarin' Extremely Overrated

[ShayBells]

Have you ever leaned forward and looked down... Talk about but than I have a crazy fear of heights and only being in a seat belt seems strange to me.

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[kathy884]

I rode it for the first time this past October and loved it. It's my new favorite WDW ride. My second favorite is Tower or Terror, and my third favorite is Mickey's Philharmagic.

We had a one day park hopper on a Sunday and I waited almost a full hour for this ride. Do note that we spent the morning at the MK with minimal lines due to the evening party event and the only other long line I stood in was for lunch at "Be our Guest" that day. That was almost an hour too. We only got to Epcot at about 6:30 p.m., were offsite so no Magic Band FP+ reservations, and no fastpasses (FP-) were left. // In the line we had fun chatting with people who we met who were from New York and New Jersey (we are from the Midwest, but have family there) and the line time actually went by pretty fast.

Why I liked it:
-- Something the whole family can enjoy together
-- Stunning photography
-- Nostalgic (We've visited some of those places in California)
-- Unique (First time I did a ride like this.)
-- Clever (Boarding like on an airplane)
-- DS wanted me to try it since I had never been and wanted to wait in the long line because he thought I'd love it and I did

I can see, though, if you have done the ride before you wouldn't want to stand in a long line to do it again, but that goes for most rides, no matter how much you like them. I totally get that you might choose to do something else with your time. We were only interested in doing two things at Epcot -- This and Test Track and we had short lines at Test Track because we went during Illuminations.

 

[Princess Katherine]

I completely agree, I have never liked Soarin'. I came to Disney for Disney not to be shown an advertisement for California. IMHO of course.

Katie

 

[khaleesi]

I don't get these kind of posts.

 

[DisDance]

I love the ride, too. My daughter and I have ridden it MANY times at this point, and it just always makes me feel good. But if I *was* getting a bit jaded about it, my last trip would have fixed that--we were in a row with a group of young teenagers (I'd say 13-15) who had never ridden it before. In fact, I'd feel pretty safe guessing that they'd never been to Disney or anything like it before. Their obvious delight in the ride was just a joy. It reminded me of everything I love about the ride.

Had a similar experience on Everest yesterday,I was a single rider with a family of 3, seeing how much fun they had made my ride even better. Really is magical isn't it?

 

[KathyFP]

It's way to short and the feet dangling diminishes the effect a lot.

Wait for the front rows - easy solution to the feet dangling. We always wait for front row section B.

 

[DanInMN]

Soarin is great, but not quite as good as the real thing. I am a flight instructor in my spare time... http://alphazulullc.com

 

[sixxmum]

Wait for the front rows - easy solution to the feet dangling. We always wait for front row section B.

I mentioned this to spouse, but he finds the top of the screen visible in the top row, so his feeling is that it doesn't much matter. That being said, we love this ride.

The great thing about WDW is that there is something for everyone.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I have always loved the idea of flying over beautiful scenes. The real thing would be better, but my only experience has been in a jet looking down on tiny buildings. The first time I rode, I was top row center, and it felt like a dream come true. I have only had that perfect location a couple times -- when I request top row I end up in the far corner -- but from any seat it makes me feel like a child again. I enjoy the feeling of flying and the scents. The rest of my family has gotten a bit bored of it, but I probably never will.

I've used a fastpass every time, so I've never experienced "the line." I think that everyone has heard that Soarin' is a "must-do" and feel like they would miss something essential if they don't ride, regardless the wait. I believe this would change if one or two exciting new "most ages" rides were added to Epcot. Then, I can go back to riding two or three times/trip.

 

[carrie1626]

While I do think that they should redo the film, probably in HD....there is something about that ride that I love. Besides the beautiful music and smells, there is something about when the lights go down and you hear "Soarin' to Tower..." And the vehicle tops go down.....I get butterflies....

Me too!

and to the OP: I feel like I'm going to fall out of my seat no matter what row I'm in!!

 

[Katelly]

Me too!

and to the OP: I feel like I'm going to fall out of my seat no matter what row I'm in!!

While I do think that they should redo the film, probably in HD....there is something about that ride that I love. Besides the beautiful music and smells, there is something about when the lights go down and you hear "Soarin' to Tower..." And the vehicle tops go down.....I get butterflies....

I love Soarin' but I swear I've never heard the "Soarin' to Tower" bit or even noticed when the vehicle tops go down! I must be so excited to ride that I'm totally oblivious to that! I just asked my husband if he noticed that part and he said "yeah?", as if uh, how could you not notice.

My favorite part of Soarin' is when you're flying over the river where the people are rafting. I always have flip flops on at Disney, so for Soarin' I leave them on the floor and have bare feet. I always reach my toes down as if I can touch the water and kick and splash it......love that!!

 

[dae3dae3]

I agree that the ride is pretty lame. They hang you in the air and show you a poor quality grainy movie.

I would actually like to go on a ride. Not watch a movie of what it would look like to go on a ride. This just seems like a way for Disney to cheap out by building a fancy theater and selling it as a ride.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I love it. But I loved it the moment they put it in DCA. I grew up near California and DL so a lot of it is close to home for me. I also think its an amazing ride and my kids LOVE it. That said, I would never wait more than 20 minutes for it, but I refuse to wait longer than that for any ride. I think the lines for it are ridiculous. Also the queue is horribly boring. I prefer the queue in DCA and its placement there makes much more sense to me.

This.

Soarin' is fun, but it makes *much* more sense in Anaheim, where you're flying over footage of the state you're actually in. It would make more sense in Epcot if they had kept the original name, Soarin' Over California, and make it more explicit that it was a California-themed ride.

Team Disney Orlando did the opposite. They decided to make almost no direct references to California, even in the ride's name. Patrick just tells you you're flying to California and that's it. So people unfamiliar with it line up for it, ride it, and go, "Huh? Oh, I guess we're flying over California." And then they wonder why they should care that at the end they're flying over Disneyland, when Magic Kingdom is five miles away.

It's *so* different at DCA. The entire land, ride building, and queue are themed specifically to the same theme as the film, itself--aviation in California. It helps the ride make a lot more sense. And when you see Disneyland at the end, considering that the front gate of Disneyland is about 100 yards away from Soarin' Over California's ride building, everybody applauds. Everybody. Almost. Always. Applauds.

There's just no way the same magic could translate from Anaheim to Orlando. Orlando deserved its own site-specific version of Soarin', or a better theme to help the ride film make more sense to Epcot visitors.

 

[Bluestars]

This is one of my favorite rides. I love the sensation of flying over beautiful scenery. It's good to know there are people who dislike the ride as it helps keep the lines shorter.

I have never waited an hour to ride it though. I've always used either a fast pass or at Disneyland I've used the single rider line. I don't think any ride is worth waiting an hour.

 

[DisDance]

I love the music! Makes the whole experience more powerful

 

[csmith041177]

I agree that there are things that could be improved on Soarin. However, it is without a doubt one of my favorite attractions in all of WDW. I never miss it.

 

[pieface]

It is one of the best rides at Disney. It is an engineering master work of art. I can't believe that you don't like this ride.

 

[rpw2014]

I haven't been to Disney since 2007, but I can tell you that Soarin was one of my favorites then...and near the top of my list with our planned return in October 2014.

 

[fauntleroy53]

DH & I rode Soarin for the first time in November. We stopped by after riding the Land ride and saw a 90 minute wait. So that night, I went online and got FP's for the next day. We wanted to see for ourselves what was worth such a long wait.
We had no idea what to expect.We walked right on into the staging area. Making it sound like an airplane ride just confused us more. We ended up in the first row. Then I had to take off my Birkenstock sandals,put them in the netting under the seat and the woman next to me showed me how to seat belt myself in (DH was on the left end,next to me & followed my lead). We looked at each other with deer in the headlights eyes..take off my sandals??? seat belts?????? What did we get ourselves into??????
Then we started to move.. I'm extremely afraid of heights and never do motion rides,so you can just imagine how I reacted to the first 20 seconds. Then I reminded myself that I'm actually safe and enjoyed the rest of the ride. It seemed short compared to the pre-ride hype.
It was exhilarating . Amazing. DH couldn't stop talking about for quite awhile afterwards.
Even with my height fears and motion ride issues, I'm looking forward to another ride the beginning of Feb., when we return for a week.
It was so cool. True fun.

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I always ride it when we go but to be honest I don't get the huge draw. The screen looks out dated and the "effect" of flying does not feel all that cool, and if your not In row 1 you get to see feet in front of you. Not a bad ride but I do not get the kind of attention and praise people give it. Thoughts?

I do enjoy the ride. I agree with you it needs a update badly. I thought it looked old from the last time i was on it.