As a Disneyland fan who is also a non-California resident without unlimited income or a YouTube channel, I have to be somewhat selective about when I choose to make my (usually) annual visits. For some folks, such a scenario might have them focusing on the summer to take advantage of school breaks, in the fall for the Halloween season, or during the holidays for the magical decorations. As for me, for the past few years I’ve focused on the early spring. That’s the time that brings the California Food and Wine Festival to Disney California Adventure—and along with it, the return of Soarin’ Over California, the attraction that ranks as my favorite thing that Disney Parks have ever created.
That statement isn’t about trying to start an argument. Everyone has favorites for reasons ranging from the ride’s sense of whimsy to technical achievement to plain old nostalgia. But I gravitated toward Soarin’ Over California since I first experienced it in 2007, and I was heartbroken when it was replaced by Soarin’ Around the World in 2016.
It has taken me a while to articulate why I consider it so singular and why it moves me in a way that feels completely unique in the Disney Parks landscape. As the attraction makes its seven-week return on March 1st, I thought I’d try.
The Multi-Sensory Experience
Plenty of Disney attractions appeal to more than just the eye; the incorporation of sound and music is intrinsic to just about all of them at this point. Soarin’ Over California takes it up a notch, combining the natural sounds of the various landscapes with a special musical background (more on that in a moment).
Then you’ve also got those scents like pine and orange that waft through at key moments, a component that takes it to another level. Sure, the bromine aroma of Pirates of the Caribbean has practically become part of that experience, but it wasn’t designed to be part of the experience.
Jerry Goldsmith’s Score
Every Disney Parks aficionado has attraction music they love, but for me, there’s something particularly powerful about the original arrangement of Goldsmith’s score that accompanies Soarin’ Over California, from the soothing string version that plays in the pre-show queue area to the majestic fanfare that launches you over the Golden Gate Bridge.
I consider it an almost perfect piece of music, to the extent that I have given instructions for it to be played at my funeral (I’m not kidding). Like the classic soundtracks of John Williams, it’s a heroic score but written for a movie in which the hero is the world around you.
Majesty and Wonder
Understandably, theme park attractions are generally created to appeal to two emotional pillars: fun and excitement. Soarin’ Over California, however, doesn’t really operate on that level. Yes, the swooping and turning of the motion simulator can provide a thrilling sensation, but it’s not a “thrill ride” in the conventional sense of the term.
The various scenes are crafted around a sense of awe, with nearly every one emphasizing the natural world and geographic diversity of California. That makes it unique even from Soarin’ Around the World, as the latter mostly focuses on human-made structures—and when it doesn’t focus on human-made structures, it tweaks its “natural” landscapes with computer-generated creatures. Soarin’ Over California, by contrast, is real-world, analog glory, and it’s breathtaking.
It’s a perfect dose of home cooking for a California expatriate.
I realize this is somewhat personal, but bear with me. Over the first 30 years of my life, I lived in every part of California, from San Diego to Orange County to the San Joaquin Valley to the San Francisco Bay area. And while I love my adopted Utah home, I miss California sometimes.
Soarin’ Over California provides a five-minute encapsulation of why it’s so wonderful and beautiful—and even for those who still live there and have to deal with the downsides like traffic and the cost of living, it’s a reminder of what you enjoy all around you, perhaps to the point that you’ve stopped noticing. If theme parks are, to a significant extent, about escapism, here’s an attraction that allows you to escape from the worst of California while still appreciating the best of it.
The Crowd Response
Not every ride is designed to give those who experience it a real chance to show how they feel when it ends, but nearly every time I’ve been on Soarin’, as the guests return to earth while fireworks explode over Sleeping Beauty Castle on the screen, people spontaneously break into applause—and because of the kind of ride it is, it’s not the applause of “I survived being scared for 2-1/2 minutes.” It’s the applause of having had an emotional experience.
That’s how I think about Soarin’ Over California: it’s not simply something that moves me physically, but something that moves me emotionally. It moves me enough that I’ll be there again this year—and, if Disney realizes what a good thing they’ve got going, every possible year after that.
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