[[Image:amricanadventureryman.jpg|400px|thumb|Herb Ryman concept art for the American Adventure pavilion,]]
With a goal of creating a theater that would be “alive and moving” <ref name="vid1”vid1"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT8dbXhN1G8</ref>. Imagineers eventually came up with the idea of using a “Magic Theater” <ref name= "mouseplanet"> https://www.mouseplanet.com/9905/Will_Rogers_and_the_American_Adventure </ref>. The theater was designed so that it would be able to combine: Audio Animatronics, video, audio, and moving sets to tell the story of America <ref name= "mouseplanet"/>. With the infrastructure and form of the attraction now settled on, Randy Bright and his team set about writing the shows script. Early on, Bright proposed the idea of focusing on “dreamers and doers”, a theme that would guide the show's development <ref name="vid2”> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8WTTQzuDZge</ref>. Bright and professor of history at UCLA D. Allen Yarnell would meet late at night at Imagineering to work on the show. One of the concepts that they took into account was the overcoming of adversity, while also not wanting to whitewashing the country's history <ref name="vid2”/>. Bright also noted that the show focused on a series of individuals using their own words.
With the infrastructure and form of the attraction now settled on, Randy Bright and his team set about writing the shows script. Early on, Bright proposed the idea of focusing on “dreamers and doers”, a theme that would guide the show's development <ref name="vid2"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8WTTQzuDZge</ref>. Bright and professor of history at UCLA D. Allen Yarnell would meet late at night at Imagineering to work on the show. One of the concepts that they took into account was the overcoming of adversity, while also not wanting to whitewashing the country's history <ref name="vid2"/>. Bright also noted that the show focused on a series of individuals using their own words.
In order to help set the various scenes which were to be depicted in the American Adventure, Imagineers initially wanted the attraction to have three hosts, with each host representing one of the centuries that America had existed for <ref name= "Korkis"/>. The three men chosen to guide guests through the story of America were Benjamin Franklin (18th century), Mark Twain (19th century), and Will Rogers (20th century). Although promoted in concept art by Disney <ref> http://progresscityusa.com/page/57/ </ref>, it was eventually decided that Will Rogers would not appear as one of the attraction’s hosts (although he would appear in Audio Animatronic form in the 20th century scene), leaving the duo of Franklin and Twain as the sole narrators. This decision was made after Disney discovered that only 5 out of every 150 college students knew who Will Rogers was <ref name= "mouseplanet"/> and they could not come to a consensus on a replacement. Randy Bright later contemplated that the events of the 20th Century were too current to properly find a representative for <ref name= "mouseplanet"/>
'''Franklin:''' Now, stop that nonsense. Those good old days that everybody speaks of, they were no utopia either. Mr. Twain, those Mississippi shores you walked as a boy were also walked by slaves. And Mr. Rogers, how about the lawlessness and violence of your glorious West?…And in my time, few children lived to be adults. If I may quote you from my own Poor Richard’s Almanac: ‘The golden age never was the present age.’ Mr. Twain, if you want to go back, go right ahead, but from what I’ve seen, the 20th Century has an incredible amount of positive things that are simply taken for granted. <ref name= "mouseplanet"/>}}.
The score of the American Adventure attraction was carefully created by composer Buddy Baker, who combined known, period specific songs, with new tunes written specifically for the attraction<ref name="vid2”vid2"/>. The score was then recorded by the Philadelphia Symphonic Orchestra before being mixed by engineer Bob Zalk <ref name="vid2”vid2"/>. In total, it took 18 months to mix the attraction's music, sound effects, and narration into the final sore <ref name="vid1”vid1"/>.
Like the attraction's score, the artwork used within the attraction was specifically curated. Bright noted that they did not want to use "modern art" in the 18th and an 19th century scenes <ref name="vid1”vid1"/>. Instead, Disney created new artwork that was stylized to look like it was from the correct period. In a similar fashion, photographs and motion pictures were not used until the scenes set in a time where these technologies had been invented <ref name="vid1”vid1"/>.
Despite technical problems and changes to the shows plot, the American Adventure was completed in time for EPCOT Center’s opening day on October 1, 1982 <ref> http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/epcotgrandopening.html </ref>. The show then remained unchanged until 1993, when all new Audio Animatronics were added (which featured more fluid movements) and the attraction’s Golden Dream montage was updated <ref name= "Martin"/>. In 2007, the montage was once again updated <ref name= "Martin"/>.