Soarin’ Over California was one of the world’s most loved attraction that wasn’t a coaster. Sadly, it got removed and replaced with a tour of the world ride. But good news came today. Soarin’ Over California will be returning temporarily. Here is some more info:

 

They ought to just bring it back for good at DCA. It fits much better with the theme of the park.

I am a big fan of Soarin and when the new film was announced I was looking forward to it, because I always felt that a version which covered the entire planet would be amazing.

Then I saw the movie, the transitions are really over done, its fine a few times but frankly its better to just cut between the scenes instead of adding a bunch of CGI which gets thrown at the screen.  I always thought the golf ball bit was the worst part of the original film, and they took that and expanded it to every 20-30 seconds.  Even worse an entire sequence is CGI, they were not allowed to film at the Taj Mahal so the entire scene is CGI.  Why fake it, just pick something else to include.  The Eiffel Tower scene looks very bad off axis.  If you are in the middle of the theater it looks straight but for half of the theater or more which is off to one side or the other it looks extremely curved due to the projection dome.

Personally I wish they would cut out the scenes which look terrible, mostly the Taj Mahal, and the Eiffel Tower.  Remove the more distracting CGI.  Plus I would love to see them film more scenes and make the ride random.  The projection system is totally digital, there is no reason why the movie needs to be the same every time you ride.

For now though I kinda wish this change was permanent.  The original really was the best.