FlyOver is a

flying theater A Flying Theater is a themed entertainment technology and adjacent show style. It is a type of simulator ride which consists of one or several motion systems and a large screen. This type of attraction is also known as Panoramic Flying Theaters. T ...

attraction. The first FlyOver attraction, FlyOver Canada, opened in 2013 at

Canada Place Canada Place is a building situated on the Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel, the Vancouver World Trade Centre, and the virtual flight ride FlyOve ...

in downtown

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. The ride takes guests on a virtual flight across Canada, utilizing ride equipment that launches up to 61 people at a time into a 19m (62 foot) diameter spherical screen and employs wind, mist, and scents to enhance the experience. It has since opened at the

Mall of America Mall of America (MOA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway ...

in the US, and downtown Reykjavik, Iceland, and in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

with plans to open a ride in

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History

FlyOver Canada

FlyOver was conceived by Vancouver entrepreneurs Stephen Geddes and Andrew Strang, who wanted to bring a new tourist attraction to downtown Vancouver. They were inspired by the

Soarin' Over California ''Soarin, also known as ''Soarin' Around the World'', ''Soaring Over the Horizon'' and ''Soaring: Fantastic Flight'', is a flight motion simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea. It e ...

ride located at Disneyland and Epcot. They wanted to create a ride that would attract a wide demographic and showcase the diversity of Canada. In 2013, they, along with financier Aquilini Developments, formed a partnership called Soaring Attractions. The ride is located in an old Imax theatre at

. Soaring Attractions invested $16 million to develop the ride On June 29, 2013, the ride opened as FlyOver Canada. The ride takes guests on a virtual flight across Canada, utilizing ride equipment that launches up to 61 people at a time into a 19m (62 foot) diameter spherical screen and employs wind, mist, and scents to enhance the experience. It became the largest new tourist attraction to open in the region at the time.

FlyOver America

Soaring Attractions then went on to open a similar ride in Bloomington, Minnesota’s

with the title FlyOver America in 2016. The estimated cost for the second ride was $20 million US. The ride opened on April 19, and includes footage of Minneapolis, Lake Calhoun, Red Wing, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine. Beginning in June 8, 2017, the FlyOver Canada film was featured as an alternating attraction at FlyOver America. Currently, as of February 10, 2020, a FlyOver Hawaii film has occupied the alternating attraction slot.

FlyOver Iceland

FlyOver Iceland was opened on September 1, 2019 in Reykjavik’s Grandi Harbour District. FlyOver Iceland was Pursuit’s first FlyOver attraction located outside of North America. FlyOver Iceland provides a similar experience to FlyOver Canada with multi-sensory

special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual w ...

s and a 20-metre spherical screen. FlyOver Iceland showcases the film Legends of Iceland, along with a series of films available at the other locations.

FlyOver in Las Vegas

On September 1, 2021, the ride opened as FlyOver in Las Vegas. The ride’s film, “The Real Wild West”, uses a moving platform with six degrees of motion as well as wind, mist, and location-specific scents to elevate the experience as the seats are suspended above landmarks across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Acquisition by Pursuit and Expansion

In December 2016, Soaring Attractions sold FlyOver Canada to the Phoenix based travel and events company, Pursuit, a subsidiary of Viad Corp. In 2017, Pursuit announced it would be developing a FlyOver ride in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland in cooperation with Esja Attractions. FlyOver Iceland opened in September 2019. In February 2019, Viad announced plans to develop a FlyOver ride in Las Vegas, which opened on September 1, 2021 with a FlyOver The Real Wild West ride film with the Iceland film being an alternating attraction. In July 2019, Viad announced plans to develop a FlyOver ride in Toronto.

Awards

Strang and Geddes were previous winners of the Business in Vancouver Forty under 40 award.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.flyovercanada.com, FlyOver Canada official website
''In Park Magazine''
Tourist attractions in Vancouver Amusement rides introduced in 2022