ORLANDO, Fla. — This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Flying Theater. And get this — a local company is building more of them than any other attractions company in the world.
We are getting rare behind-the-scenes access to find out the next wave of “flight.”
1. SkyFly: Soar America is under construction right now. Orlando-based Dynamic Attractions is building it in an entertainment district called The Island in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. “This is huge for us,” creative services director Steve Warner said.
2. Warner let us backstage and inside the company’s top secret warehouse in Orlando. It has prototypes and test vehicles. “We've gotten so much better at programming the flying theater and creating a motion profile that guests just feel fully immersed. That really truly is the secret to the success of the ride,” he said.
3. Dynamic Attractions has nearly 20 flying theaters around the world. They're in France, Russia, Macau, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Qatar, UAE, and the U.S.
4. The seats on SkyFly go up and down one meter, and rock back and forth 20 degrees — 10 up and 10 back. Warner emphasizes that riders can't “feel” velocity. That's one trick of the trade. “So what we really need is just the ability to change your motion and once you start that change, you can create the full sensation that you're lifting or falling throughout the whole experience,” he said.
5. SlyFly is expected to open this summer.