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AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE 2. Soaring Around the World Disney California Adventure; disneyland.disney.go.com
The Soarin’ flight simulator ride in the Grizzly Peak section of Disney California Adventure combines a mechanical lift system with three rows of seats and an 80-foot-tall concave domed movie screen. The five-minute IMAX “Soarin’ Around the World” film visits 13 places around the globe, flying so close you’ll wonder how the filmmakers got permission to capture the footage. The camera flies through towering buttes in Monument Valley and within feet of the Eiffel Tower. The short film makes subtle nods to Disney films and history, including “Cars” (Monument Valley), “Ratatouille” (Paris), “Finding Nemo” (Sydney Harbour), “Moana” (the South Pacific), Disneyland’s castle (based on Neuschwanstein) and the Matterhorn bobsled coaster (Switzerland). The original Soarin’ Over California film, which debuted when Disney California Adventure opened in 2001, occasionally returns for limited runs.
JEFF GRITCHEN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Socially-distanced riders inside Space Mountain at Disneyland on April 30. The resort’s parks were closed for 412 days due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
1. Space Mountain
Disneyland; disneyland.disney.go.com
Disneyland; disneyland.disney.go.com While it’s no surprise that Disney dominates the best amusement park ride category, it is shocking the top three attractions remain unchanged from last year’s lineup. Not even the order has changed. Space Mountain holds on to the top spot once again this year. The 1977 indoor roller coaster takes riders on a high-speed journey through the dark with many twists, turns and dips. After more than four decades of thrills, the popular coaster consistently has one of the longest lines in Disneyland. The past year will go down in Disneyland history as one of the most unusual with the Anaheim park closed for 412 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The attraction typically spends part of the year in Hyperspace Mountain mode, with a Star Wars overlay that was first introduced during the 2015 8
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
Season of the Force event. Scenes of X-Wings, Starfighters and even the Millennium Falcon flash on the interior walls of Space Mountain as riders race through the dark aboard the indoor coaster. In past years during Halloween, a Ghost Galaxy overlay has filled the ride with paranormal activity with the help of projections, lighting and sound effects. Riders walk through a futuristic space station before boarding the coaster train in a mission control center. NASA Mercury and Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper helped design Space Mountain so the ride would feel like an actual space flight. Through the years, the coaster has introduced onboard audio, added new ride vehicles and undergone a complete retracking.
— Brady MacDonald
It’s no surprise that this ride is one of the top attractions in OC, because it remains a charming boat trip into a pirate’s lair that seems to be timeless after more than 50 years in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square. Its popularity is only enhanced by the fact that visitors get 15 minutes of cool, watery pleasure off their feet that often provides a respite from brutal heat in the park. And the hit movies starring Johnny Depp based on the ride only add to the appeal. Disney replaced the previous “buy-a-bride” scene that some found offensive with a newer scene starring a feisty red-haired female pirate named (what else?) Redd. This is the last ride that Walt Disney himself had a hand in creating, although he died before it opened, so to the most ardent Disney fans, it’s sacred ground. To tired parents everywhere, it’s a chance to cool off and rest their tootsies.
THE BEST OF ORANGE COUNTY SEPTEMBER 2021
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