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 for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

with plans to open a ride in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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 simulator, motion simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure, Epcot, Shanghai Disneyland, and Tokyo Disn ...

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 Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

’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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. 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 wor ...

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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Acquisition by Pursuit and Expansion

In December 2016, Soaring Attractions sold FlyOver Canada to the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

based travel and events company, Pursuit, a subsidiary of

Viad Corp Viad Corp provides experiential leisure travel and face-to-face events in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates via two divsions: GES and Pursuit. Pursuit (formed in 2017) includes travel attractio ...

. 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