The premise of Soarin’ Over California was always to provide the sensation of flight for theme park guests. Imagineer Kathy Mangum described it thusly: “The genesis of the idea goes back to our dream of being able to fly, along with the impressive natural beauty of California” As originally envisioned, however, Soarin’ was determined to be impossible by Disney Imagineers in 1996. The ride was initially conceptualized as a hang gliding simulator. The infamous “dry cleaning idea” presumed that individual seats would rotate on a moving conveyor, with guests hanging from hooks like laundry. Alas, designer Barry Braverman noted that it “had all kinds of problems.” Presumably, theme park visitors don’t enjoy feeling like they just came out of the dryer.
Several other strategies were examined, all of which had the same intended goal of giving the rider a great IMAX view plus the sensation of flight. None of them was deemed feasible. In the end, inspiration came from an unlikely source. Imagineer Mark Sumner happened to discover his childhood Erector Set during a weekend visit to his parents’ house. While playing with his forgotten toys in the attic, Sumner was struck with inspiration. He returned to work with a functional design on the following Monday morning and promptly became known as Mr. Erector. Okay, nobody ever called him that, but his creative solution was immediately adopted.
The only difference between the model he displayed during that Monday meeting and the ride we have today is an apparatus built from a million pounds of steel capable of lifting 37 tons. The underlying design of the Erector Set prototype remains the same, though. Guests all board at once and then are simultaneously lifted to the appropriate level for their part of the IMAX viewing screen. It’s an elegant solution to a seemingly impossible problem.
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