FlyOver Chicago is now open at Navy Pier.
After send guests gliding over the Canadian Rockies , hurry through the Icelandic fjord , and navigating across the Grand Canyon , the filmmaking team behind the immersive attraction FlyOver is transporting riders to the hustle street of Chicago . open March 1 at Navy Pier , FlyOver Chicagomakes the Windy City ’s bizarre urban landscape painting the star rather of the lush natural habitats previously boast at FlyOver outposts in Vancouver , Canada ; Las Vegas , Nevada ; and Reykjavik , Iceland .
Inside a space formerly fill by an IMAX field of operations , the nine - minute film titledBelieve Chicagois projected on a stain - new 65 - foot spheric projection screen in front of 60 suspended seats that swoop , cutpurse , and tilt in unison with aerial footage to evoke the tactual sensation of flight of stairs , along with essence like winding , mist , and odour . ( If you ’ve ever been on the Soarin ’ ride at a Disney stem park , the sensation is nearly monovular . )
The journey is get up for guests into three parts , beginning with a gallery of famous Chicago options and residents before move onto a pre - show theater of operations where a 360 - degree pic introduces visitors to the City by the Lake through moving words , music , and visuals . Once strapped into the flight nates , the movement is visually dramatic but not jolt like a roll coaster or claustrophobic like a VR experience .
Courtesy of FlyOver Chicago
Filming the city presented the originative team with challenges they had n’t yet encountered when shooting wholesale mass , lakes , and deserts . for appropriate eye - popping footage of Chicago , they needed to trade their camera - mounted chopper for a lawnmower - sized drone pipe that could meander around dense architecture at 140 miles per 60 minutes .
“ I ’ve been doing these FlyOver films since 2011 , ” says author , director , and associate creative director David Mossop . “ I was terrified about how on Earth we were going to tell a write up about Chicago using a helicopter . That ’s the only shaft we ’d really used up until that point . I realized that with some technical invention , we could make Chicago our just show ever . ”
Mossop of production companySherpas Cinemaand his squad beg Gabriel Kocher , a physicist and universe - champion drone archetype , to aid make and flee a tv camera drone that would be capable of diving thousands of foot , enduring g - force , and continue in signal stove for farsighted shots . They settled on a Red V - Raptor 8 K camera and boost their footage to 14 K using AI . The answer is a high - tech thrill that hit riders sense like they are an airborne superhero who skims over sidewalks , wall - ride skyscrapers , floats through pyrotechnic , and rapid growth over the Chicago River .
Courtesy of FlyOver Chicago
For the movie maker , showcasing Chicago from perspectives never seen before — and not just taking guest on an quotidian melodic line enlistment — was preponderating . Mossop and his gang spent several years roaming around Chicago with a much small drone , attempting to retrieve smudge that most people could not access . They found hundreds of locales and finally whittled them down to a intermixture of well - known and not - so - well - have it off spot .
“ One of the locations that really stand out to me is the [ Chicago ] Board of Trade building that was made renowned in [ filmmaker Christopher Nolan ’s ] Batman plastic film , ” Mossop allege . “ There ’s a Ceres statue on the top of the building . No one can get up there , so we compensate her sojourn before dive down like 600 feet . It ’s a highlight for me . ”
Other iconic landmark inBelieve Chicagoinclude the Willis Tower , Marina City , Cloud Gate ( know as The Bean ) , North Avenue Beach , Salesforce Tower , Lake Shore Drive , and — of course — Navy Pier . Mossop recognise that one of the most hard locations to film was the Chicago Theatre because it commemorate the first meter the FlyOver originative squad ventured indoors . Yes , they picture out how to fly a lawnmower - sized dawdler inside a historic theater of operations .
FlyOver Chicago , which be an calculate $ 40 million , is settle in a 48,000 - square - foot space directly across from the Chicago Children ’s Museum at the west entrance ofNavy Pier . ( Do n’t discombobulate it with theNavy Pier Flyover , a transportation department projection that create an grand biking - and - walk path atop DuSable Lake Shore Drive along the Lakefront Trail . )
Tickets for FlyOver Chicago start at $ 24.95 for adult and $ 14.95 for children age 11 and new with military discounts available . All guest must be 40 inches or taller to ride , and children long time 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult or guardian long time 14 years or over while present at FlyOver Chicago .
