FlyOver Iceland gives birds-eye view of stunning landscape

I swear I felt my feet touch the pounding force of the waterfall as we swooped past it. I couldn’t be sure though as my eyes were squeezed tight and my muffled shrieks drowned out any other sound.

With a lifelong fear of heights, the soaring flight over rivers and glaciers, across brilliant green fields and through the city centre was a bit of an endurance feat. But the steep banking through canyons courtesy of the stunt pilot took me to the edge.

It did no good to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t actually in the helicopter flying over Iceland; I was in a most amazing, electrifying new attraction that simulates flying like a bird over the country at close quarters.

FlyOver Iceland, like its sister attraction in Vancouver — FlyOver Canada — and others opening in Las Vegas in 2021 and Toronto in 2022, has been described as a mash-up between an IMAX movie and a Disneyesque ride. But it’s neither, and so much more.

Buckled in, the state of the art seat platforms glide forward in the dark theatre until you’re dangling in mid-air. That’s your first taste of the sensory experience. A massive 20-metre cylindrical screen immerses you in the footage and the seat platform — with six degrees of motion — follows the action on screen. The 3D experience includes sound, touch and smell with the heady bouquet of wildflowers filling the room as you fly across a meadow, wind and spray hitting your face as you swoop past the aforementioned waterfall, and a crescendo of music as fireworks blast in Reykjavik as you zoom down the main street. The show creators even worked in the jostling of the seats to simulate when an errant firework hit a drone camera during filming.

“The show is all about you being the bird that’s flying through the air,” Dave Mossop, the Canadian director of the film, says in one of four videos explaining how FlyOver Iceland was made. “The pilot is the eye of the bird that’s flying through this place. All his moves with the stick and the pedals is exactly what you feel as the viewer.”

One of the key creators of the attraction is creative director Rick Rothschild, who has 30 years experience at Walt Disney Imagineering. “I think humans dream to free fly. So flying first and foremost is what we’re bringing to guests. To truly lift you from the ground. How did we do it? It’s all magic, you know.”

More than 100 hours were spent in the helicopter to film 30 scenes. Only 20 made the final cut and it was a tough decision to decide what was dropped, according to David Barry, president of Pursuit, the North American company which created the attraction in partnership with Esja Attractions ehf.

“You put your energy, your heart, your soul, your efforts into telling a great story, to capture it to the greatest extent we can. The most powerful, iconic scenes that we can. Is it iconic? Is it unforgettable? Is it inspiring? It comes down to the amount of time and what shots are going to fit.”

One of most spectacular images in the film is the aforementioned waterfall scene at Aldeyjarfoss. It took hours of planning to get the timing right and to ensure the safety of the kayakers on the 20-metre-high falls. The water level was exceptionally high when filming, adding an extra layer of risk, explains Mossop, who co-founded Whistler-based Sherpas Cinema with two Calgary high school buddies.

“The Aldeyjarfoss is renowned by the world’s best kayakers as one of the most dangerous waterfalls in the world because it’s such high volume of water going over the edge, so to shoot that was really intense. The guys who came to do it are some of the best in the world and they were pretty jacked up before and after the thing and we were really thankful it went well.”

Mossop said each shot in the film is about 20 seconds long but filming took months of planning, permitting and preparation. “Sometimes you only get two chances, maybe three with some of these stunts so you better get it right the first time, so that adds an element of challenge.

“Each shot is an amazingly wonderful, choreography challenge that takes a huge amount of preparation. I’m coming from an intense kind of backcountry and action sports outdoor documentary filmmaking background. I’m used to working with these … action sports athletes and what they do is inherently dangerous, so a huge part of it is setting up a great safety net for them and an environment where they feel really comfortable and they are able to do their best in that environment and achieve a dangerous stunt safely.”

Mossop directed the filming for the Vancouver FlyOver attraction and is also leading the shoot for Vegas and Toronto.

“This is some of the most exotic and privileged work I get to do; basically sit in the front of a helicopter with a latte in my hand and tour around the world and see the most beautiful places. It’s an unbelievably dreamy job and I feel so fortunate to work with the people I do, in the places I do.”

He acknowledged something special about this project. “Iceland is second to none.”

Even Icelanders who worked on the project said they saw their country with new eyes.

“I’ve travelled all over Iceland but there were places in the film I’ve never seen before. I’m so proud of my country,” says Agnes Gunnarsdóttir, general manager of FlyOver Iceland, who admitted to having tears the first time she saw the film.

While the flight ride is undoubtedly the star of the show, the creators of the attraction wanted to put guests into the right frame of mind before they took their seats. They enlisted Montreal’s renowned multimedia and design studio Moment Factory to create two multi-sensory pre-shows to introduce Iceland, its history, people and mythology. And who better to guide visitors than its own resident troll.

Sú Vitra (the Wise One) is the brainchild of renowned illustrator Brian Pilkington, lord of the trolls if there is such a thing.

For 40 years, British artist Pilkington, who lives in Iceland, been creating the gnarly creatures for books. But rather than the scowly, mean-spirited trolls of lore, Pilkington’s are more lovable and mischievous. He created Su Vitra specifically as FlyOver’s storyteller.

“It was Rick’s (creative director Rothschild) idea from the very beginning to include a troll. In FlyOver Canada, there’s a moose… In Iceland we don’t have a lot of large animals, but trolls speak to us, they are a part of our childhood… It was Rick’s idea that we must somehow incorporate a troll to keep it true to Iceland,” said Eva Eiriksdottir, FlyOver Iceland’s manager of marketing and brand experience.

Pilkington’s son Daniel came on board during the digital creation of the troll for the pre-show. He was then asked to fabricate a life-size version to preside over the reception/gift shop area.

Incredibly realistic, with veiny hands and tufts of arm and chin hairs painstakingly added one by one, it took six months to build her. There was a lot of trial and error and repeated moulds of clay and silicone before Pilkington, a 3-D artist and modeller, felt they were on the right track.

“I worked on it at night and in my spare time. I was working most days until 12 or 1 a.m. and then back at day job work at 8 a.m. and then 4 to 12 or 1 again. So that was about six months except for a couple of days off.

“It’s a labour of love.”

The attraction operates daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Prices are 4.49 ISK ($47 Cdn) for adults and 2.245 ISK ($23) for children 12 and under.

It’s a 10-minute walk from downtown but there is also a free shuttle that passes by the Harpa Concert Hall on its way to the Grandi neighbourhood and FlyOver Iceland.

Pursuit is a collection of lodges, attractions and travel experiences in the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, Montana, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Reykjavík Iceland.