Soarin’ Across America Behind the Scenes: How Disney Built It in Under a Year

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Disney just dropped a 20-minute behind-the-scenes episode covering how Soarin’ Across America was built — and it’s packed with details you won’t find anywhere else. The episode, part of the Disney Unscripted series, covers aerial filming, ride programming, music, scent design, and how the entire attraction was put together in under a year to hit a hard America 250 deadline. Here’s everything worth knowing from the Soarin’ Across America behind-the-scenes video.

Quick Summary

• The full Disney Unscripted episode “How Disney Created the NEW Soarin’ Across America” is 20 minutes long
• The entire show was built in under a year — a record for the Soarin’ team
• America 250 created a hard deadline that drove the compressed timeline
• Tom Fitzgerald, WDI chief storytelling executive, is the main voice in the video
• New scents, new music, and new fan effects were designed for each scene
• Soarin’ Across America is open now at EPCOT; opens at Disney California Adventure July 2, 2026

Under a Year to Build: The Production Timeline

The most striking detail in the video is the timeline. Tom Fitzgerald, creative director and chief storytelling executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, confirms the entire Soarin’ Across America experience was built in under a year — a record for the team.

The hard deadline came from America’s 250th anniversary. There was no flexibility on the date, so the production had to compress every phase. As Fitzgerald puts it: “Sometimes an idea’s just waiting for the right moment to happen. And that moment happened to be this.”

How the Film Was Edited and Sequenced

The behind-the-scenes video shows the editing process in detail, including how sequences were chosen and refined. An early version had New York feeling disconnected from the rest of the film — the production team worked to smooth the transition from New York into Maine so the flight felt continuous. Washington D.C. went through multiple versions before the final cut was chosen.

The Grand Canyon sequence was designed intentionally to feel like hitting an air pocket — the ride profile includes a deliberate dip timed to match the footage. For the Los Angeles nighttime scene, the team focused on getting the helicopter transition after the white flash to feel natural, with fireworks effects timed to the physical motion of the carriages.

The Music: Bruce Broughton’s New Arrangement

The score for Soarin’ Across America is a new arrangement of Jerry Goldsmith’s original Soarin’ music, composed by Bruce Broughton. Broughton appears in the video and calls it “a really good ride,” noting the team “took it up a notch.” The score was mixed and tuned directly from the carriages while the team was suspended in the theater — meaning the sound you hear on the ride was dialed in from the exact position you’ll be sitting in.

Ride Programming and Fan Effects

The video gives a rare look at the ride programming process. The team spent two-hour sessions suspended in the carriages in the dark, scene by scene, fine-tuning the fan effects for each location. The Alaska sequence required the most work — at one point, the team jokes about needing their jackets because extended fan testing at full wind intensity gets genuinely cold.

Two specific sequences are highlighted: the cattle drive kite scene required a specific spike in airflow to match the feeling of the kite pulling upward, and the Grand Canyon dip was paired with a surge of wind to sell the air pocket sensation. These effects are the result of hours of manual iteration in the dark, adjusting each moment until it feels right.

New Scents for New Locations

Soarin’ Across America introduces new scents for the locations that weren’t in the previous versions. The Louisiana bayou scene uses what the team describes as a primeval, earthy scent. The cattle drive scene reuses the grass scent from the Africa sequence in Soarin’ Around the World — the team felt it translated perfectly to open rangeland, and it’s a smart practical choice that happens to work creatively.

The New Attraction Poster

The video also covers the new attraction poster design, which features the Statue of Liberty, an eagle, and the American flag. The designer explains the concept behind the flag: it’s represented as the ground itself — crops and landforms taking the shape of the American flag as you fly over America. Additional location-specific posters are placed throughout the queue, so the detail work continues even before you board.

Where to Watch and When to Ride

The full 20-minute Disney Unscripted episode is available now on Disney’s YouTube channel. Soarin’ Across America is open now at EPCOT. If you’re a Disney California Adventure guest, the attraction opens there on July 2, 2026. Watch the behind-the-scenes video before your next ride — it makes every scene hit differently when you know what went into building it.

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