
Exploring the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks trails is great, but with nearly 40,000 acres of sensitive and protected wildlands, only the birds truly get to see it all. Now you can fly over the land, too, in a new virtual helicopter exhibit at Discovery Cube Orange County in Santa Ana.
Irvine Ranch Conservancy partnered with Discovery Cube to develop a 5-minute film called “From the Mountains to the Sea: Journey Over the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks.” The project incorporates footage from an actual helicopter flyover with footage shot closer to the ground with a remote-control aerial camera.

Inside the helicopter exhibit, visitors will get the feeling they are inside a real helicopter, thanks to a wrap-around screen and realistic helicopter sounds. The tour “takes off” from Discovery Cube and flies over OC Parks nature preserves in Weir, Fremont, Limestone and Black Star canyons before heading to Upper Newport Bay, Bommer Canyon in the City of Irvine and Crystal Cove State Park.
For more information, visit www.discoverycube.org/oc/.