Soarin’ Across America Preview Dates & Details!

Attention, aviators! Soarin’ Across America will take flight later this month, and Walt Disney World has announced dates & details for Annual Passholders to get a sneak peek of the reimagined ride at EPCOT before the general public. We have all of the info, plus speculation about soft openings & more.

Soarin’ Across America is the marquee addition during “Disney Celebrates America,” and also part of “Cool Kids’ Summer,” apparently. The new bi-coastal offering created for the US Semiquincentennial will showcase the United States—from sea to shining sea—highlighting some of the country’s natural beauty, like Grand Canyon National Park, and iconic cityscapes.

Soarin’ Across America will be brought to life with the iconic elements that make Soarin’ unforgettable – the flight, the sights and scents, along with the score–it’ll feature a new orchestration of the classic Soarin’ musical theme. Walt Disney Imagineering is hard at work capturing more than a dozen breathtaking locations for the new flight.

As previously announced, Soarin’ Across America opens on May 26, 2026 at EPCOT. Walt Disney World has also announced that the final day to experience Soarin’ Around the World will be May 13, 2026.

Swapping the films can be an overnight process, with one version being shown one day and another the next. The longer timeframe between Soarin’ Around the World closing and Soarin’ Across America opening suggests the underlying attraction will get its first proper refurbishment in a decade. It is overdue. Even so, it probably won’t need a ~2 week closure.

And now we know that there will be previews in between. Let’s start with Cast Member previews, since those are first…

Soarin’ Across America Cast Member Previews

Starting May 6, 2026, eligible Cast Members and Disney Employees will have an opportunity to register for Disney Cast Life Previews taking place during select days in May. Registration will be available on Cast Life Web / App.

Previews will take place on select days in May. Registered Cast Members and up to three Guests are invited to attend #DisneyCastLife Previews. Cast can register for only one preview experience at each attraction with Guests.

These Cast Member Previews provide access to Soarin’ Across America during the registered preview window and a park ticket to enjoy each park. Dates have not yet been set for the Cast Member Preview of Soarin’ Across America; they typically occur earlier than AP or DVC previews, but have also overlapped in the past from time to time.

Annual Passholder Previews of Soarin’ Across America

Enjoy the natural beauty and iconic cityscapes of the United States in this simulated flight that takes you from sea to shining sea. Soarin’ Across America lands at EPCOT on May 26.

Annual Passholders can experience preview flights of Soarin’ Across America on May 19 and 20, 2026.

To participate in the preview, Passholders may join the standby queue during normal operating hours (subject to capacity). Unlike Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, Soarin’ Across America will NOT use a virtual queue for previews. It will be standby-only.

Soarin’ Across America AP Preview Info

• Passholders must have a Walt Disney World Annual Pass with valid admission on the preview date and may need a theme park reservation depending on the time of visit. Applicable pass blockout dates apply. Theme park reservations are limited and subject to availability, and reservation requirements are subject to change
• Passholders must enter the theme park where they have a reservation prior to visiting another theme park. Or, Passholders may visit a theme park without a reservation after 2:00 PM (except Magic Kingdom Park on Saturdays and Sundays).
• Offering, dates and hours are subject to change or cancellation without notice or liability.

Although these weekdays in mid-May 2026 could very well end up being ‘Good to Go’ Days for Annual Passholders, we’d nevertheless recommend hedging your bets and making park reservations for EPCOT ASAP. If I recall correctly, there was no ‘run’ on EPCOT park reservations last year for the Test Track 3.0 previews, but there was for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure the previous year.

Soarin’ Soft Openings?

While we don’t yet know Golden Oak, Club 33, or Disney Vacation Club Member preview dates for Soarin’ Across America, we can safely surmise that they will only last 1-3 days in total. We’d also hazard a guess that Cast Member previews will either occur before or simultaneous with AP previews of Soarin’ Across America.

All of this would be consistent with the last attraction to do similar previews, which was Test Track 3.0 at EPCOT. That had Cast Member previews, followed by DVC and Club 33/Golden Oak, and finally, Annual Passholder previews. There was one day for DVC, one day for Club 33/Golden Oak, and then 6 days for Annual Passholders. Following that, there were soft openings.

Assuming a similar cadence, affiliation previews of Soarin’ Across America could be over as early as May 20, 2026 or as late as May 22, 2026. Either way, the window is clearly there for soft openings of Soarin’ Across America ahead of the official debut date of May 26, 2026.

As we’ve discussed previously, Walt Disney World originally announced that Soarin’ Across America would open “by” Memorial Day 2026 at Walt Disney World. In consulting a calendar, that would mean on or before May 25, 2026. Not one day later.

It’s usually the case that new attractions opening for Memorial Day actually debut on the Thursday or Friday beforehand, which is why we assumed the “by Memorial Day” verbiage was used. Although it’s the officially announced date and the first one with hours on the park calendar for the attraction, I’m still not entirely convinced that Soarin’ Across America is opening on May 26, 2026.

My expectation is nevertheless that Soarin’ Across America debuts on or around May 22, 2026 as a ‘surprise and delight’ treat for guests visiting over Memorial Day weekend. Obviously, that’s not official, but seems likely. It’s the type of thing Walt Disney World would do.

If that ends up being accurate, I would expect Walt Disney World to publicize the early opening of Soarin’ Across America with an official announcement or pop-up in the app (or posted wait time) as opposed to letting it be unpublicized.

There are operational upsides to having a soft opening as opposed to an earlier official debut. One is counter-programming to Smugglers Run, which debuts its new mission with Baby Yoda and Mandalorian on May 22nd. Another is keeping Soarin’ off Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and allocating all of that (needed) capacity to standby for the first few days.

Honestly, I’m expecting many/most of the new Summer 2026 offerings to soft open ahead of May 26, 2026. I wouldn’t be surprised if half (or more) end up soft opening May 22nd. And not having to mess with the Lightning Lane for the holiday weekend is a compelling justification for this approach (it worked really well with Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin).

Of course, all of this is purely speculative on my part. But it’s the type of ‘distinctly patriotic’ decision that Disney would make sense ahead of Memorial Day. Regardless of when it debuts (quietly or officially), Walt Disney World has already confirmed that Soarin’ Across America will be open for all extra hours at EPCOT…

Soarin’ Across America Extra Hours

Soarin’ Across America will participate in Early Entry beginning with its opening day, May 26, 2026, opening to on-site hotel guests starting at 8:30 am. It will then be available to everyone else for regular rope drop at 9 am. Aside from that one day (and maybe even then), it’s expected that Cosmic Rewind and Test Track will remain the top priorities for Early Entry. You might want to make it over to Soarin’ earlier than normal, but it’s not going to be the #1 rope drop priority for summer.

Starting Monday, June 1, 2026, Soarin’ Across America will also be available during Extended Evening Hours (ExEH) from 9 pm to 11 pm. Note that ExEH is only available to guests of select on-site resorts, which excludes Values and Moderates but includes a couple of third party hotels, plus all Deluxes and DVC. June 1st is the first ExEH after Soarin’ Across America officially opens, so there’s no gap in the schedule here.

Finally, Soarin’ Across America will be available for After Hours at EPCOT starting June 11, 2026. As with ExEH, this is the first After Hours following the debut of Soarin’ Across America, so there’s no delay in the new-look attraction joining the ride roster for this hard ticket event.

Okay, let’s review: version of Soarin’ that celebrates America, officially opens on May 26, 2026 at Walt Disney World; Annual Passholder test flights ahead of that on May 19 and 20, 2026; Cast Member, Disney Vacation Club, and Club 33 previews around then; and a window for soft openings starting around May 21-23, 2026. Anything else? Oh yeah, have a nice flight!

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Your Thoughts

Thoughts on Soarin’ Across America offering Annual Passholder previews May 19 and 20, 2026? What about potential soft openings? Do you hope this version sticks around indefinitely? Would you prefer to see Soarin’ Over California or Soarin’ Around the World…or all three versions in rotation? 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!