February 14 - A Soarin' good time

**Lou Mongello** · 02-15-2005, 04:02 PM

February 14 - A Soarin' good time

I recently strapped into a seat on Soarin' at Epcot and took a high-flying, absolutely sensational spin above the wondrous state of California. Let me tell you, it was fantastic fun and made me even more excited about our upcoming Happiest Celebration on Earth.

It's easy to see why this ride, based on Soarin' Over California at Disney's California Adventure, is one of Disney's most popular attractions. Combining cinematic artistry with cutting-edge motion-based technology, Soarin' invokes all the senses as you glide through the air, over mountaintops and cities, over ocean and orange groves. You feel the wind in your hair and even pick up the fragrant scent of orange blossoms and pine trees.

Opening at The Land pavilion at Epcot this April, Soarin' vividly illustrates the rich landscape and topography of the Golden State and should nicely complement the pavilion's agriculture and ecology theme. As you know, this ride is coming to the Walt Disney World Resort as part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth, honoring of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. We'll celebrate the best of Disney theme parks around the world by importing blockbuster hits from across the globe into all four of our parks.

I previewed Soarin' along with members of the Walt Disney World Creative Partnership, a group of top Disney leaders representing many different and creative aspects of our business. This wasn't just an opportunity for us to have a little fun, although we did enjoy ourselves. We also got an up-close look at the inner workings of what is sure to become one of our most thrilling, creative theme park additions.

I encourage all of you to "soar" over California during the Cast Member previews of this attraction scheduled for early April (operating dates and times will be posted shortly on the My Disney TEAM portal). Clearly, Soarin' is the kind of innovative, immersive experience that makes our company so magical and so distinguished in our industry.

Al Weiss
President
Walt Disney World