Disney Shares Sneak Peek at Making of Soarin’ Across America for US Semiquincentennial in 2026

In Summer 2026, Soarin’ Across America will debut at EPCOT in Walt Disney World and California Adventure in Disneyland, as part of the Walt Disney Company’s extended celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. Disney has pulled back the curtain and offered a behind the scenes look at work on the new version of this fan-favorite attraction.

This news comes as part of the “Disney Celebrates America” announcement, which covers the ways that the company is joining a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the United States (or the Semiquincentennial–rolls right off the tongue!).

“Disney Celebrates America” kicks off on Veterans Day 2025 and continues through the Fourth of July 2026 weekend, bringing together different parts of Disney to honor America’s past, celebrate the present, and inspire its future. Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland will feature heavily in “Disney Celebrates America,” which will be highlighted by Soarin’ Across America. Here’s what the Walt Disney Company has shared with the new film for the popular ride…

“When production wrapped almost a decade ago on Soarin’ Around the World, we started thinking about where we might go next with the format,” Tom Fitzgerald, Portfolio Executive Creative Director and Chief Storytelling Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering, said. “

A trip across the United States felt like a natural next flight for Soarin’ to take, and the 250th anniversary of our nation provided the perfect opportunity to ‘book the flight.’” The new Soarin’ Across America flight experience will take guests on a breathtaking journey from coast to coast, highlighting some of the country’s natural beauty and iconic cityscapes.

Soarin’ Across America is set to launch at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort in Summer 2026, offering guests a unique opportunity to celebrate America’s diversity and grandeur from a bird’s-eye view. (No specific date has been shared for Soarin’ Across America’s opening, but our expectation is that it’ll be closer to July 4, 2026 than it will be Memorial Day.)

“As always with Soarin’ films, the biggest challenge is choosing where to go, and what locations would work best in this unique film format,” Fitzgerald said. “Now with the 250^th celebration, we’ll immerse our guests in a celebratory flight that spans from sea to shining sea!”

Soarin’s attraction format raises guests high into the air in front of an immersive, 80-foot projection dome for a virtual tour of spectacular aerial footage that simulates the graceful motion of flight.

Bernice Howes, Executive Creative Media Producer for Walt Disney Imagineering, stepped in to oversee how the new sights and scenes would be captured for Soarin’ Across America.

Before hunkering down with advanced camera and aerial technology to capture new stunning scenes of America, Howes and team mapped out which locations to capture and tested equipment.

“We sought out satellite maps to display a realistic visual of the locations,” Howes said, “and set up aerial paths in order to understand our filming location needs and how one location transitions into the next to tell the story.”

From there, Howes and Scott Sohan, Principal Visual Effects Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, and team set out on a series of camera, lens, helicopter, and heavy-lift drone equipment tests to figure out the exact specifications needed to use a unified set-up for filming all the new scenes.

“We then gathered all the needed equipment to go on location — 33 cases in total! — to ensure we had everything we needed while we are out in the middle of nowhere, including spares on all the equipment,” Howes said.

“Our goal was to offer guests a sampling of the diversity of America’s beauty and urban wonders with the hope it would paint an emotional portrait for the nation’s Semi-quincentennial celebration,” Fitzgerald said.

For Howes, there was a specific roadmap of how to construct the new film for the attraction to deliver on that creative vision.

“Contrasting shots of different American locales — scenic wonders, amazing cities, and the beauty of the coasts. The use of the physical landscape of the United States as a unifying element,” she explained. “Then, using continuous camera movement to smoothly transition between these scenes, linking them together to show the geographical ‘whole’ of the nation, from natural locations to large cities to national monuments that represent America the beautiful.”

Howes concluded, “The film’s creation is designed to embody America’s spirit for today’s guests and future generations.”

Soarin’ Across America is a tribute to the country’s past, present, and future. As Disney continues to innovate and celebrate milestones, Soarin’ Across America stands as a testament to the company’s commitment to storytelling, technological excellence, and honoring the spirit of the United States.

Our Commentary

For starters, if you’re not familiar with Tom Fitzgerald, he’s one of the most senior Imagineers, having been around since the Horizons days at EPCOT Center. He’s been involved with a wide range of projects, well-received and reviled, over the decades at EPCOT, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.

The “Chief Storytelling Executive” title seems new-ish, but he’s been overseeing projects as Portfolio Creative Executive for over a decade. That was his role when he oversaw Soarin’ Around the World back in 2016.

For those who are unfamiliar with the background on Soarin’ Around the World, it was created for the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, where it’s known as Soaring Over the Horizon. It’s such a tentpole attraction there that they’re current adding a third theater. A few years later, the current version was cloned at Tokyo DisneySea:

I suspect that the second incarnation of Soarin’ wouldn’t exist in the U.S. parks but for Shanghai Disneyland footing the bill. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the preferences of Chinese consumers dictated some of the creative choices made in Soarin’ Around the World, and certainly the locations that are included and excluded.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is probably fair to say that China and Japan will not receive the Soarin’ Across America film at any point. The attraction is located in Mediterranean Harbor as opposed to American Waterfront at Tokyo DisneySea, so it doesn’t make thematic sense there. (Otherwise, I could see TDS totally celebrating the United States Semiquincentennial.)

This should mean that Imagineering is only taking the preferences of American audience into account when creating Soarin’ Across America. That alone could result in different creative choices, as could catering to evolving consumer preferences, which have arguably changed in the last decade.

It’s also interesting to me that Soarin’ Across America was announced as a limited-time offering for the 250th Anniversary of the United States. That could just be marketing-speak to generate FOMO and bookings next summer, which is one of the slower seasons at Walt Disney World.

It’s safe to expect that Soarin’ Across America will be shown until at least Summer 2027, and more likely a full 18 months as part of its original run. Following that, assuming it’s well-received, the new film could easily be extended “by popular guest demand” through 2029.

My expectation is that this is pretty close to the baseline scenario. I would be shocked if Soarin’ Across America ran for only a year. This isn’t like bring back OG Soarin for a limited run, which has virtually zero cost to Disney and is a savvy nostalgia play. They’re investing significant money into Soarin’ Across America and most guests do not visit annually.

Tokyo Disney Resort’s version of Soaring will be 10 years old in 2029. It still remains one of the most popular rides at Tokyo DisneySea, and is directly monetized with Premier Access line-skipping. My suspicion is that it’s only a matter of time before OLC foots the bill for another new version. In fact, Soarin’ Across America’s announcement could be exactly the impetus for that.

Of course, a new film could remain exclusive to Tokyo DisneySea for ~5 years. Such exclusivity deals are made on a case-by-case basis and are more likely to apply regionally, meaning Shanghai Disneyland is more likely to be restricted in such a scenario than EPCOT or DCA.

A new film being commissioned by OLC could open the door for Walt Disney World and Disneyland to get another new global version of Soarin’ within the next decade. Until then, maybe there’s a rotation of Across America, Around the World, and Over California.

In any case, my big concern when it comes to making Soarin’ Across America is that it’s actually filmed on location and not generated in a computer. This has been the biggest downfall of Soarin’ Around the World, and I would argue that American audiences have much more CGI Fatigue than we did back in 2016. Obviously, there are many reasons for the poor box office performance of superhero and other blockbuster films since, but the visuals are one among that many.

Although I don’t dislike Soarin’ Around the World as much as some of its detractors, the CGI, cheesy animals, and distortion has worn on me over time. Even though it’s not even a decade old, I think Soarin’ Around the World has aged worse than the much older, but also more natural Soarin’ Over California. The latter benefits from its footage being real, whereas the extensive CGI of the new version has dated itself much sooner.

There’s a lot of CGI in Soarin’ Around the World, and it mostly isn’t too distracting. Unfortunately, there are also several places where it or the distortion is a problem. Save for one glaring exception that I doubt was even filmed on location at all, this isn’t entire scenes.

It is due to the addition of little details to the scene, such as people, boats, balloons, or–mostly–animals. The CGI animals don’t necessarily look fake. They don’t have that early 2000s Scorpion King kinda cheesiness, but you do get the feeling that someone at WDI learned CGI and got a little carried away.

Distortion is also a problem in several scenes aside from the now-fixed Eiffel Tower segment. There’s a reason distortion isn’t as pronounced in the original Soarin–because instead of architecture and linear elements, the attraction primarily features geography that can mask distortion better. It also tended to keep the framing wider to avoid curvature issues with off-center seats.

Given all of this, my ‘wish list’ for the filming of Soarin’ Across America is that the scenes focus primarily on the natural beauty of the United States, as opposed to architectural. Only 2 of the 12 locations should be urban. I’d also love to see less emphasis placed on creating clean transitions. That didn’t age well in Soarin’ Around the World–the cuts in Soarin’ Over California look better.

Finally, all scenes should actually be filmed on location. America’s natural beauty is so stunning that it doesn’t need to be ‘enhanced’ with CGI. If there’s a place where a flight permit can be secured, choose somewhere else! Maybe the National Park Service won’t grant access to specific locations–well, there are 63 national parks in total and over 400 National Park Service sites. Pick another one! Can’t get the Grand Canyon? Settle for Horseshoe Bend! Can’t get any NPS sites? Look at state parks or other locations. Being able to film a scene should be a necessary prerequisite for featuring a location.

Ultimately, I’m pleased to see Imagineering get the chance to film Soarin’ Across America. I just hope they have learned from their mistakes and don’t view Soarin’ Around the World as a massive success just because it has high guest satisfaction scores (and it does–the attraction concept is so good that it could be Soarin’ Over Scranton and guests would love it).

I also love that fan-favorite attractions at EPCOT and Disney California Adventure are getting love. This is precisely the type of plussing that should be occurring on a regular basis, somewhat similar to what we’ve seen at Star Tours in recent years. The original Soarin’ is one film that stands the test of time, just like Impressions de France, which is still shown in EPCOT over 40 years later.

I hope the same ends up being true for Soarin’ Across America, and we eventually end up with a rotation of Soarin’ films that can be played seasonally or for special events, etc. Maybe even give guests a choice for their departure, or have a randomized element to it. Technology will continue to open a lot of doors as production becomes easier and more efficient–and Disney will need something to continue distinguishing itself from the many Soarin’ copycats around the country.

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Your Thoughts

Are you excited for these new Soarin’ Across America at EPCOT and DCA? Pleased to see Imagineering have the chance to enhance existing attractions? Would you prefer to see a rotation of Soarin’ films eventually? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!