New Soarin'

BrerGnat;2487332 wrote: 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.

BrerGnat;2487332 wrote: 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.

DizneyRox;2487335 wrote: .... 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.

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!

DizneyRox;2487347 wrote: 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.

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.

dnickels;2492978 wrote: 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.

texas211;2493019 wrote: 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.

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.

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!

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.

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