I was very surprised that Fly Over Canada was featuring a Fly Over Taiwan as a limited time showcase. Being a transplant from Taiwan and not having visited Taiwan for over a decade... I jumped on the opportunity (3 days after it first opened) to go see Fly Over Taiwan. Before this, I actually never even been to Fly Over Canada and the closest I've experienced this type of a ride was in Disney's California Adventures - Soaring Over California.The experience begins after the attendant scanned my ticket. Since I bought the ticket online (you can save money by buying online), I showed the online ticket on my phone to the attendant. She then took me to a photo wall (it's a green screen) to take a picture. You'll get to see the picture at the end of the ride at the gift shop and it will be for purchase. After the photo, there is a waiting area with tv screens that features trivia questions about Taiwan.
While waiting for the doors of the theater to open... I was trying to figure out some of the trivia questions. For the most part, I got them all right. The only question I didn't get right was how many hours it takes to drive around the Island of Taiwan. I think the answer they gave was 7 hours... I definitely think that it takes longer... more like 10 hours because of traffic.
After the doors opened, there will be a room full of projectors that projected videos all the way around the room. For Lunar New Year, the center of the room had a buddha statue and the video that played was explaining the significance of the Lunar New Year and the story behind some customs (like how "nien" was a monster that people would use fireworks to scare away). I thought this part was cool.
When the short video in the project room is finished, an attendant led the audience through a hallway (decorated with Lunar New Year Decorations) to a line up area where they showed a quick safety video. They split the group up into numbers and took people to different seats and levels of the actual theater of the experience.
The Actual Experience
I was very surprised at how big the theater was. After putting my bags in the compartment beneath my seat, I fastened my seat belt and off we went. Photos and videos weren't allowed during the actual show, so I couldn't take any to describe it. However in a nutshell, the show began with the seats leaving the floor and accelerating (or so I felt) through the stars into Taiwan.
The opening scene was Kaohsiung where the audience got to experience briefly the busy port city. After that, there was a scene featuring the canyons of Taiwan and the vast mountainous landscapes followed by scenes of tea farms. At certain points, there would be smells from the scenes that comes out as the seats moved up and down to simulate an experience of flying on paragliders. At one point, the scene took a dive into the underwater world, where it showed the vast amounts of marine life that Taiwan has to offer. Soon after, we were flying over a festival in Taiwan where there were fireworks and then into Taipei. The total duration was around 8 minutes, but it was exciting!
It showed highlights of Taiwan and I was very surprised at how well the footage was shot. Especially during the scenes of the mountains or the tea farms. It definitely brought memories of Taiwan into my head and made me want to go back and visit. Once the show finished, we proceeded back through a hallway and into the gift shop. Overall it was pretty awesome (but not cheap for 8 minutes).
In A Nut Shell:
- It was definitely a well rounded "touristy" experience. I can see that this would be a very good place to bring friends that are out of town to visit.
- Not the cheapest for the amount of time the experience was for, but for the occasion, it was worth it!
Tips:
- Book your tickets online! For BC residents, it's 20% off and on days where there's not that many people, it's cheaper. https://www.flyovercanada.com/events-promotions/soar-over-taiwan/
- Take public transit... finding parking downtown can be expensive and time consuming. Even though the show itself only lasts 8ish minutes, there's a pre-show and some waiting time. Over all, you can easily be spending 30 minutes here (not to mention you actually have to walk to the end of Canada Place).
- It was pouring rain, so unless you have brought an umbrella, be prepared to get rained on. They have spaces beneath the seats of the ride
No comments:
Post a Comment