Why Is Soarin Such A Monstrous Hit At WDW?

[Micoofy Duck]

I mean you either have a few hour wait, you have to rush over in the morning to get a fast pass.. I mean why is Soarin such a monstrous hit?

Your thoughts.

[ecdlanddude]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it always have huge lines at DCA? I believe it does, or at least did when it was as old as the Epcot version. I think it's just because it's an impressive attraction.

[Peabody]

Broad appeal. 3 year olds love it, great-grandma loves it. No other recent E-ticket ride in Orlando has had such a broad appeal. Too many have been pretty narrow (When's the last time great-grandma rode Mission Space?)

[lazyboy97O]

Everybody loves Disneyland, even when at Walt Disney World.

[WDW1974]

Uhm ... likely because it is a high quality attraction with broad appeal across all demos.

(just a guess)

[JoseyDisney]

Because we love it!!

[Bill]

Because it has a fairly bad capacity.

[kcnole]

Broad appeal. 3 year olds love it, great-grandma loves it. No other recent E-ticket ride in Orlando has had such a broad appeal. Too many have been pretty narrow (When's the last time great-grandma rode Mission Space?)

Which is the problem with most of Disney's "New" attractions. They've focused way too much on their E-tickets being thrill rides that they're leaving out the demographics which once made WDW great.

I remember when I was a kid that you could visit WDW with a family consisting of mom and dad, young kid, teenager, and grandparents and be able to ride the majority of the rides together as a group and everybody love the rides. It seems that either WDI doesn't know how to make many wonderful attractions that reach everyone anymore or more likely, some guy with an MBA thinks they need to be thrill rides for the park to succeed.

It's so sad that Walt's great mandate for the parks has fallen aside on many of the design decisions lately, that it should be a place where parents can bring their kids and have fun "TOGETHER". Too often it's you go ride that ride while I wait here for you since it's too rough for me anymore. I want to see WDW get back to being a place where everyone can ride the attraction together and laugh, scream, smile together.

[flynnibus]

Too many have been pretty narrow (When's the last time great-grandma rode Mission Space?)

Which is the problem with most of Disney's "New" attractions. They've focused way too much on their E-tickets being thrill rides that they're leaving out the demographics which once made WDW great.

I see how you guys are trying to be analyitcal and basically infering its popular because nothing else fits.. so it gets it by default.

I can tell you that guests that went with me enjoyed Soarin because of the ride itself... nothing to do with 'it was the only one there...' or anything of the sort. They made us go back to EPCOT numerous times *JUST* to ride soarin. We could be in Blizzard Beach which has things for everyone.. and they'd want to go back to Soarin.

The ride is popular in its own right.. not because other attractions can't be enjoyed by certain people.

[petesimac]

1. It's a great ride;

2. There are precious few rides that the whole family can ride together at Epcot;

3. It's still relatively new -- some are riding it for the first time;

4. As someone else mentioned, like Dumbo, the rider turnover is veeeeery slow;

4. It's a great ride.

[WRDup]

Everybody loves Disneyland, even when at Walt Disney World.

Exactly!

[WRDup]

We could be in Blizzard Beach which has things for everyone.. and they'd want to go back to Soarin.

Are you really comparing a (one day) classic E-Ticket attraction to water slides at a Water Park?

Bold move... But Im not buying it!

[MickeyMaxx]

For me, it always reminds me of how amazing Circarama was as a little guy in the early 60's. Some visits to Disneyland, I would barely get out of Tomorrowland to see other attractions. Between watching a 360° movie, trips to the moon, imagining a great big beautiful tomorrow, shrinking to smaller than an atom, riding the highway in the sky, and exploring liquid space, (repeat all the above until last call), what more could a boy ask for?

So there is a nostalgia element for me, but I've ridden it dozens of times on both coasts, and it's the only ride, I can recall, where upon landing, the audience breaks into applause, nearly every time!

[steamboatpete]

Soarin' is a great ride, and it is a truly unique attraction. There's nothing like it except for its clone at the original park.

[aimster]

I can't understand why it's a hit period. I'm probably the only person who found it kind of boring. Yeah it was neat but WDW needs their own version of the film. Maybe then I'd like it better.