Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Iceland in Winter: FlyOver Iceland

Flyover Iceland is a relatively new attraction in Reykjavik and it seems very popular with the locals. Our tour guide, our bus driver for the city tour, and other locals recommended this attraction, but always cautioned that it's pricey for its duration. All of that was true; Flyover Iceland provides an exhilarating overview of Iceland's natural features, but it doesn't come cheap for the total amount of time spent on the ride. At the time of this writing FlyOver Iceland is "#2 of 796 things to do in Reykjavik" on TripAdvisor (and 4.9 rating based on almost 300 Google reviews).

FlyOver Iceland is styled like a really good amusement park ride. In fact, the "flying" style is very similar to California Grand Adventure's Soarin' Over California / Soarin' Around the World ride and Disney World Epcot Center's Soarin' Around the World. I liked the setup of Flyover Iceland a bit better because the rows of seats were longer and not stacked as deep. I did not see anyone else's legs dangling from their seats above me and only had the massive movie screen in my main viewing area. Mists, scents, and other effects contribute to this ride.

Like many of the modern amusement park rides, FlyOver Iceland has staging areas to move the participants along before enjoying the main attraction. These preliminary presentations are fairly interesting, but I could see one wishing to "fast forward" through them if riding this ride multiple times over a short duration of time.

The overall experience takes approximately 30 minutes and the ride itself is under ten minutes. However, that ten minutes is spectacular and exhilarating!

This is the only way to enjoy sweeping vistas of some of Iceland's greatest natural features in so short a period of time and in such weather and climate controlled comfort. To see these numerous locations in person would require a significant investment of time and money. When you throw in the different seasons represented in the film, it makes for an ever more difficult-to-reproduce experience. The film is very high resolution on a large screen and it does feel like you're sweeping from one breathtaking vista to the next.

After disembarking from the ride, there is a map that shows the numerous features seen during the ride. It's an impressive collection that made me wish for more time and money to go see all those spots in person.

I recommend Flyover Iceland to anyone visiting Reykjavik and the locals seemed to be embracing it as well. Although pricey for the amount of time spent, there's no way I can think of to see so much of Iceland in so little time. When you add in the feeling of soaring over these dramatic vistas, it makes for a very fun ride and a nice overview of Iceland's beauty in different seasons.

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