Soarin' Around the World

Soarin', also known as Soarin' Over California, Soarin' Around the World, Soaring Over the Horizon and Soaring: Fantastic Flight, is a flight motion simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea. It employs a mechanical lift system, a projected presentation on an 80 ft (24 m) concave 180-degree dome screen, and artificial scents and wind to simulate a hang gliding flight over locations in six of the world's continents. Many consider it the first flying theater. The attraction's first iteration, Soarin' Over California, was an opening-day attraction at Disney California Adventure on February 8, 2001. It took guests over several locations in California and included a pre-show on the history of California's aviation industry. It was also installed at Epcot in Walt Disney World as Soarin' in 2005. The current global version of the ride debuted at Shanghai Disneyland Park as Soaring Over the Horizon on June 16, 2016. The American versions were also replaced with the new film as Soarin' Around the World on June 17. A fourth attraction, Soaring: Fantastic Flight, opened at Tokyo DisneySea on July 23, 2019. The original Soarin' Over California has been regular rotations at Disney California Adventure since an initial limited engagement in June 2019, and its popularity led Disney to extend the run through the end of August of that year. Since 2020, Soarin' Over California has returned in continuous temporary operations as part of the park's Food & Wine Festival during the months of the season of Spring.