Here is something interesting bringing more infos about the Soarin' ride envisioned for Disneyland Paris Adventureland, as you've learned yesterday from my article about the report posted by Geoffrey on his Facebook page. When i read this, i had some doubts that it was a real good idea to put a Soarin' ride at DLP Adventureland but Geoffrey posted yesterday a comment to my article which gives more infos about the theming and / or storyline that WDI seems to envision for this ride. You may have read his comment at the end of yesterday's article HERE but i repost it below.
"From what we have heard, the Soarin' ride will be themed with some ties with Indiana Jones (the planes travels scenes) and will have a very 40's spirit in it. And from what I understood, the opening and ending scenes would be different from the US version of the "Soaring over Horizon" movie to better tie with this style, while the rest might be the same : flights over old historical places. Finally, one important thing about the location: we said ( ndr: in the report ) it could be built behind the Indy Temple, but there are other places available than the one they kept for Indiana Jones Adventure. One that could be far better to hide the huge show building, and I'm sure you know guess where..."
So, what d'you think, folks, do you think a Soarin' ride could find its place at DLP Adventureland with this kind of Indy story line? Which will explain by the way why they will put it also at Shanghaî Disneyland Adventure Isle... Personally i'm still not totally convinced - not by this kind of "Indy" storyline, i think it will work fine - but mainly because of the huge "machinery" of Soarin'. I'm talking about what you can see on the picture below, coming from The Theme Park Guy.
I mean, with the best "Adventureland" storyline in the world there is no way they can theme this huge machinery ( or i don't know how we can call it ). You'll tell me, people will not care as they'll look at the movie. Sure, but you'll admit that it would better fit eventually in Discoveryland than in Adventureland. The 1940's "plane" storyline will help for sure, but i still think - wrong or right - that the transition between an exotic world outside and the inside machinery of Soarin' might be a bit hard to swallow... Now, don't get me wrong, i'm sure DLP or SDL Imagineers are aware of this and will do their best to create a great theming inside, but i still need to see it to believe it can "work"...
As for the ride location, if they can build the Soarin' show building backstage, on the other side of the railway track, and keep intact the land that they've kept so far to build Indiana Jones Adventure that would be perfect... who knows, may be someone some day at DLP will finally have an epiphany and realize that bringing IJA at DLP Adventureland would be a great idea.
Pictures: copyright Alain Littaye : The Theme Park Guy
I'm willing to give this a change. Maybe the entrance is like a '40's airport with grass field and inside is like an old aircraft hangar...
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Littaye,
ReplyDeleteyou have done an incredible job with your DLP book and with your blog. I really enjoy reading it, but honestly you and your sources aren't very trustworthy when it comes to new rides. I know plans change in big corporations, especially if they are having financial problems like ED SCA, but hardly any of your predictions turned into reality. You have done so many articles about the future of DLP and until now only Ratatouille got built.
So I don't trust you anymore when it comes to new rides and other future related DLP things. I'm sure none of the projects mentioned in the last article will see daylight and the same will happen to this Indiana Jones Soarin' Ride.
I'm really sorry to say that, but you have lost a lot of credibility in recent years.
Best regards,
a loyal reader of your blog who has been disappointed too often by your assumptions.
I really don't like the Soarin' attraction and the thought of DLP wasting lots of money on one upsets me. There are so many attractions that the resort needs before thinking about such a boring one. However I like the thought of an Indy inspired travel attraction.
ReplyDeleteWho's saying that the Soarin' machinery must or will be visible?
ReplyDeleteEnvision the loading area like you're boarding a airplane. At each sitting row there are doors that stand between you (the boarding area) and the seats (the inside of the plane).
Unfortunately there's no room on the other side of the railway track, since DLP stores its trains over there in a huge hangar.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they're not sacrificing Indy Adventure, I'm willing to have an open mind about this one. But it'll be an enormous task to cover up the HUGE Soarin' building. If it's done in a way that doesn't put a scar on the great theming of Adventureland, then why not build it? But to be honest, I have no idea how they'll be able to do this.
I instantly think of the crashed plane at Tokyo DisneySea's Lost River Delta.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous ( second message above ): Yesterday's post about future projects was about a report not written by me but by Geoffrey, so for once the predictions are not from me. As for the previous articles i've written among the years, as i always say, it was a view of what the park had envisioned to do at that time, even if they didn't had the money to do it. I can't be blamed on something on which i don't have any power of decision, and again, all i do is to report ( just like Geoffrey did last Sunday ) what are the plans they have in mind at a specific time. Too many things are happening all the time in big corporations, so any changes in their plans should be a no surprise. I, personally, know that all what i've written was right, i.e these were really their plans at the time i did the articles, but the money was not there. Now, if Geoffrey is right with the new financial plan/loan from the WDC, then may be this time DLP projects will become a reality. Let's hope so!
ReplyDeleteUm, plans change. Doesn't mean when released the info is false. Just saying. Don't kick the messenger. Come on, the reaction is a bit over the top.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's funny to see folks trying to justify this because they're desperate for a ride.
Building a Soarin' style attraction will make DLP stand apart from the other European parks. I think it can work great in Adventureland and I would love to see it coming to Europe.
ReplyDeleteAs for the theming, they can theme the inside to something adventurelike. As for the machinery, well, I'm sure they will come up with something for that. The do this with all the attractions and ride systems.
And don't forget it will be sort of dark when you board the vehicles, no-one will see the machinery. How often do people complain about the painted-on Starspeeders in Star Tours or the more that visible track in the Indiana Jones coaster?!
To anonymous: I was the first to comment on the credibility of those 'future plans' (and I still don't believe in most of them), but Alain has a good point. A lot of stuff gets planned, but DLP lacks the money to build it. And sometimes it's a good thing they don't have the money, so the most absurd of them don't get build at all.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Alain should have put the word 'rumours' in the title of the article (written by Geoffrey), but apart from that he's right: don't shoot the messenger.
My personal credo on this is simple: once DLP starts groundbreaking works, then I believe the rumours are actually planned and getting build. Before that happens, all those projects are just fantasies on paper. Nothing more, nothing less.
I put some thought in 'how to build Indy's soarin' adventure' today, and I think I found a way how they could hide the building in an Adventureland-friendly way.
ReplyDeleteBad news first, I really think that they might plan to built it on the Indy Adventure open space (and not on the backstage area between Colonel Hathi's and Temple of Peril, because not practical and too complicated).
How to hide the huge Soarin' building? Simple, by using (what I call) the PotC-trick ... let me explain.
On the outside they might simply build a huge temple like the one once planned to hide the huge Indy Adventure building. So guests enter the temple, walk through the temple, then 'exit' the temple and walk towards a small airfield (all of this happens inside the buiding) where the load/unload is located.
Just like in PotC where you enter the fort, walk through it, then 'exit' it to walk towards a lagoon where the load/unload is located (all inside the building).
Alain's sources are no different from anyone else's sources, it's unfair to single him out for "predictions" that have not come true -- plenty of others made many of the same ones. And I'm sure that AT THE TIME they were indeed real potential plans, that just didn't work out for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, love to hear every single rumour, no matter what happens. Why? Because it's fun! Thanks for the blog Alain! Keep up the good work! :)
Alfred
PS I have been reading your blog for maybe 5 years now, and I love it!
Since they're talking about building a new indoor theatre in Fantasyland, how about repurposing Videopolis to accommodate Soarin'? The building is already themed as an aviation hangar.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Richard! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt would make much more sense to build "Soarin" in Discoveryland, and name it "Around the World in 80 Days", and give it a Jules Verne Victoria Theme. DLP already has an Indy themed ride.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent idea, Richard. It could be tied to Jules Verne theme.. And if they have the plan for the return of the original SM.. They could fix the biggest mistake in DLP (messing up Discoveryland)
ReplyDeleteBuzz really should move to WDS.