Changes

Due to the overwhelming success of Soarin' Over California, Disney executives decided to make a copy of the attraction in Walt Disney World. Although Soarin' was initially going to be located in World Showcase, Disney eventually decided to put the attraction in The Land pavilion. The decision was due to the fact that their was no real tie in for the attraction in World Showcase, and also [[Food Rocks]] which was located in The Land had seen a decrease in popularity. With the location determined, Disney began construction for the attraction on October 10, 2003.

In order to fit Soarin' into The Land pavilion, a new show building was created. The old Food Rocks theater was walled, off to create a hallway through which guests could reach the show building. The show building was designed to blend in with the nearby [[Imagination!]] pavilion, so that it would not take away from the pavilion architecture. The addition of Soarin' added 58,895 sq feet to The Land, already the largest pavilion in Epcot. On January 3, 2004, Food Rocks closed, and later in the year programming and testing of Soarin' began. In January of 2005, the entire The Land pavilion closed in order to facilitate the addition of Soarin'. During this time, changes were also made to Living With the Land, the food court, and the color scheme of the pavilion. Finally on, May 5, 2005 Soarin' opened to the public.