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[Anthony]

The thought has always been to replace HISTA and/or Star Tours with Soarin', but maybe there's a better option. Talking about Videopolis earlier, and thinking about how WDW added it onto their existing Land pavillion...

I mean, we've got the themeing there already, a bloody great airship!



Add the hangar onto the back of the building (dig down if it's too tall) and turn the current stage/backstage area into a queue and pre-show.

The existing theatre audience area can then become a greatly-expanded restaurant seating area, brought up to ground level, with large walkways leading down to stage level where the Soarin' entrance/airship departure gate lies.



Move the current screen to hang above the very middle of the building, playing cartoons interspersed with newsreels proclaiming the thrill of flight, the innovation of the airship - and frequent arrival/departure info. Play on the modern airport in a Visionary-era time period.

For the queue/pre-show, think along the lines of the old Le Visionarium pre-show, with various flying machines hanging above and perhaps some interactive flight-based games...

http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/d ... C04709.JPG
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Finally, Videopolis is no more. Music videos aren't the feature any more, it's flight. Welcome to Aeropolis!



And Café Hyperion has several serving windows, so do they all need to serve burgers? Can't one serve Chinese, another something else? Make it really international, exciting. Show us the Spirit of Adventure!

The airships and newsreels in Up could make this very timely (if everything does, indeed, need to be tied in with the latest Pixar release). And who doesn't want Soarin' in Paris?

Edit: Oh and it'd give them reason to CLEAN the damn Hyperion!

[paul]

Oh and it'd give them reason to CLEAN the damn Hyperion!

A fantastic idea, not least for that reason!  :lol:

[luke85]

Fantastic concept Anthony! It would be perfect for Discoveryland, by being an attraction that fits the concept of Discovery! I like the idea of serving international food at different windows at the restaurant too.

I would give anything for some imagineers to read your ideas!

[The Butlin Boy]

Genious! Absolutely genious Ant! If Disney every announced this I'd be over the moon. Everything is flawless in your designs :mrgreen:

Well done and thanks for sharing this with us =D>

[Anthony]

Ahh glad you like it!

I'm surprised we never put the two together before. Technically, it's very similar to the set-up at Epcot, and it'd turn Videopolis into a real pavilion with a lot more going on than just an overpriced fast food counter, a disused stage and a few cartoons.

Cost-wise, Soarin' is still a pretty expensive addition. Does anyone have the actual figure? I've heard around $80m in the past, which for what it is makes it pretty expensive. But putting it here you'd have several advantages over say Production Courtyard, not least the fact you wouldn't need to build a queue area or theme the new building.

The guest ratings you hear from Florida and California speak for themselves. It's the top attraction in both parks. This would be the runaway hit of Discoveryland, no question. The land still doesn't have a real all-rounder E-ticket - a Pirates, Phantom or Peter Pan/Small World. Space Mountain is too thrilling, Buzz is too cheap.

Can't describe enough how much I want this... I wonder if WDI have ever considered it? They seem pretty locked on that horrible Production Courtyard location, where it'd be all squashed in the corner and very flimsily tied-in thematically. Shame.

[Cendrillon]

This is such an amazing idea! I completely agree, it would definitely give Discoveryland an attraction to rival the other big ones, and that's something it really lacks if you're not a thrill-seeker. It would also be so nice to have an attraction that fits the actual 'discovery' theme, not just this inter-galactic theme which is what the land has become.

Ahh, you've got me all excited now! They definitely need to take you up on this idea (:

[bigrossco]

i must admit this is one great idea Anthony now if only Imaginering will realiase this?

[CafeFantasia]

Only just discovered this topic.

Great idea Anthony. Soarin' would be very at home in the Videopolis theatre. Rather than hang gliding, perhaps you could be attached to the bottom of some pretend airship or balloon, like the Hyperion?

My ultimate dream attraction would be putting Soarin' in Videopolis but giving it a Le Visionarium theme. You could be flying over France with Jules Verne, to the music of Bruce Broughton. Obviously 9-Eye wouldn't be present, although perhaps she could be replaced with Omni-Eye :-)

Alternatively, how about theming Soarin' to Up? Up is the perfect intellectual property (IP) to go with the ride technology of Soarin'. It's a film about flying, about going up in the air, about escaping reality and floating off to a faraway place. Imagine seeing the journey of flying from the city to Paradise Falls, all as one continuous shot. It'd be pretty impressive. Perhaps the queue and pre-show could be set in Carl's house?

[Columbiad]

But surely that makes the attraction just as bad as Buzz Lightyears Laser Blast - in that it doesnt really fit the themeing?

[CafeFantasia]

But surely that makes the attraction just as bad as Buzz Lightyears Laser Blast - in that it doesnt really fit the themeing?

Kind of. I think Up is a better thematic fit for Discoveryland than Toy Story. Up is set in the past (1930s) so it has that romantic, nostalgic feel to it, whereas Toy Story has more of a present day, reality feel to it. And like I said, Up is a film about airships, and flying, and explorers, and adventure, and discovery.

Sure, Up has nothing to do with going into space, but not everything in Discoveryland is related to space exploration (e.g. Hyperion airship, Nautilus submarine). In my opinion Discoveryland is really about travelling to faraway places in unusual vehicles. Up fits within that idea, moreso than Toy Story.

I wonder what they could call the attraction?

• Carl & Russell go Up
• Carl & Russell's Flight
• Carl's Voyage to Paradise Falls
• Journey to Paradise Falls
• Soarin' Up
• Soarin' to Paradise Falls
• Soarin' to South America
• Soarin' with Carl & Russell
• Soarin: The Spirit of Adventure

Keywords: Walt Disney Imagineering, WDI, Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris, Euro Disneyland, Up Ride, Pixar, Up, New Ride, Future Attractions, Coming Attractions, Idea

[lil-shawn]

Kind of. I think Up is a better thematic fit for Discoveryland than Toy Story. Up is set in the past (1930s) so it has that romantic, nostalgic feel to it, whereas Toy Story has more of a present day, reality feel to it. And like I said, Up is a film about airships, and flying, and explorers, and adventure, and discovery.

Sure, Up has nothing to do with going into space, but not everything in Discoveryland is related to space exploration (e.g. Hyperion airship, Nautilus submarine). In my opinion Discoveryland is really about travelling to faraway places in unusual vehicles. Up fits within that idea, moreso than Toy Story.

Isn´t discoveryland dedicadet to the visionairs of the past like jules verne and leonardo da vinci?
i don´t think up would be great in discoveryland, also toystory is wrong there.

Why not keep the theme how it is suposed to be and put soarin with an visionairs theme, its all about
flying and in the past there were a lot of guys who dreamed about flying and tryed different stuff...
in my opinion this would bring the old theme back and would fit perfect in that way.
we don´t need another attraction with a pixar overlay, they are all suposed to be in WDS....

[JelleP]

Isn´t discoveryland dedicadet to the visionairs of the past like jules verne and leonardo da vinci?
i don´t think up would be great in discoveryland, also toystory is wrong there.

Why not keep the theme how it is suposed to be and put soarin with an visionairs theme, its all about
flying and in the past there were a lot of guys who dreamed about flying and tryed different stuff...
in my opinion this would bring the old theme back and would fit perfect in that way.
we don´t need another attraction with a pixar overlay, they are all suposed to be in WDS....

I completely agree with you, Discoveryland is dedicated to people like Jules Verne and NOT to Pixar. We, indeed, have the WDS for that...

[CafeFantasia]

Sure, Discoveryland is/was supposed to be dedicated to Jules Verne and Leonard Da Vinci. But if you look at what all the attractions have in common today, they're all about travelling in vehicles/machines to faraway places. I know Up isn't a perfect match for the land, but the fact is, Disney aren't going to build any more Jules Verne themed attractions.

[Columbiad]

I think an Up themed Soarin attratraction would be beautiful in WDS.

I'd love to see ride inspired by other Retrofuturtic stories, like H.G Wells.
War of the Worlds or the Timemachine, anyone?

[Wonderlicious]

I think that putting Soarin' into Videopolis would be perfect. In my fanboy imaginary Magic Kingdom park, one idea for Discoveryland/Tomorrowland includes a structure like Videopolis, which would indeed feature Soarin'! I think that Soarin' would be a good fit there, as it fits in with the idea of air travel, and a pre-show/queue film putting the ride into context (the builder of the airship, how his next endeavour was a fantastic glider) would be perfect. Considering how popular Soarin' has been in California and in Florida, it wouldn't even need to be themed to a film to be a cash cow.

As for Buzz Lightyear, I don't see the ride itself as a problem; sure, it's not quite an E-ticket (maybe a C or D-ticket), but it's fun. What I do find problematic is that it doesn't really belong at the front of Discoveryland alongside the Vernian attractions. It would have been better in the area behind Space Mountain near Star Tours, possibly bordering on Autopia, as Pixar could fit in well with the theme of post-WW2/new millennium visionaries. I understand that the Visionarium was on its last legs once Renault had pulled out and that it would be prime real-estate, but it ought to have been transformed into something more fitting to the theme of discovery and potential future. Even Innoventions would have been more fitting, as shamelessly commercial as it is.