The American Adventure (Attraction)

The American Adventure is an attraction located within the American Adventure pavilion in Epcot. If you are looking for the pavilion that houses the attraction see: American Adventure (Pavilion)

Attraction History

The American Adventure attraction had always been a part of the plans for EPCOT CENTER, however it's location and design changed frequently during the park's planning. Initially, Imagineers wanted to use the American Adventure pavilion as a bridge between Future World and World Showcase. The pavilion would have been two stories tall, with the American Adventure attraction located on the building's second floor. By 1979 however, Imagineers had decided that keeping America apart from the rest of the countries in World Showcase, would seem elitist, and the whole pavilion was moved to the far side of the World Showcase promenade.

The American Adventure attraction similarly went through a series of changes. When development began on the attraction, Imagineers knew that they wanted to tell the story of America, but they were not sure how to do it. Five different attraction ideas were disregarded, before the shows final form was accepted. Ideas that were rejected for the American Adventure attraction include:

• An idea, which would have made the American Adventure pavilion look like the top half of the Statue of Liberty.
• An idea for the attraction to only feature Audio Anamatronics
• A ride through attraction featuring short vignettes.
• An attraction, which focused on the characters of American folklore (ie. Paul Bunyan)

Imagineers, including show producer Randy Bright, eventually came up with the idea of using a Magic Theater. Imagineers designed the Magic Theater, so that it would be able to combine, video, audio, Audio Animatronics, and moving sets to tell the story of America. According to Bright, once Imagineers came up with the idea of the theater, wring the script for the American Adventure was much easier.

The story that Imagineers came up with, involved Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, taking guests through the history of America. Initially, Imagineers wanted to have three hosts for the pavilion, one for each century of America’s existence. In addition to Franklin (18th century) and Twain (19th century), Imagineers initially wanted to have Will Rogers host the attraction as a representative from the 20th century. After finding out however, that only 5 out of 150 college students knew whom Rogers was, they decided to stick with just the two narrators. The beginning of the American Adventure with Will Rogers as the third host, would have featured Rogers, Franklin and Twain reflection on America’s past:

Ben Franklin: America has been settled by the people of all nations. We are not a narrow tribe of men, no. Our blood is as the flood of the Amazon, made up of 1,000 noble currents all pouring into one. We are not a nation so much as a world.” Excuse me, Mr. Twain, Mr. Rogers. I am sure you recognize those inspiring words from Herman Melville. It seems they are going to preamble a new show called the American Adventure. It also seems that we three have been asked to be the central figures in the show.

Mark Twain: The three of us star in a show together? I can see it now. Hmm! I just bet Mr. Rogers would love to step on my lines.
Will Rogers: Now, now, Mr. Twain, you know that’s not true.
Twain: Why, Mr. Rogers, you know truth is the most valuable thing I have.
Rogers: Well, I guess that’s why you use it so sparingly.
Franklin: Gentlemen, gentlemen, we are not addressing the issue at hand: The American Adventure.
Twain: Frankly, I’m sick and tired about all the grousing about what’s wrong with America. We should make it fashionable again to talk about all the things that are right about this country.
Franklin: I agree. The time has come to make an optimistic statement about America and her people.
Rogers: Well, sir, not just about the days gone by, but about today’s world and tomorrow’s, too. Don’t forget, we passed from the scene a long time ago.
Franklin: Mr. Rogers, I’m sure that if anyone can offer a new perspective on America’s challenges for tomorrow, we can. I may have invented these bifocals I’m wearing but I can assure you they’re not rose colored. Don’t forget, that between the three of us there is a lot of first-hand experience during the first two centuries. We were there.
Twain: Two-hundred years, that’s an awful lot of ground to cover.
Franklin: We can each take the period we’re the most familiar with. I should host the show right through the birth of a new nation.
Twain: I can cover the growing expansion of the American frontier.
Rogers: I sorta guess things have been kinda crazy in the 20th century. Changes faster than any of us could keep up.
Twain: Just look around us. Decaying cities, pollution, crime. I’d rather put my crystal ball in reverse.
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.

Despite technical problems and changes to the shows plot, Imagineers completed the American Adventure on time. The show opened with the rest of the pavilion on October 1, 1982 (EPCOT CENTER's opening day). The show remained unchanged until 1993, when all new Audio Anamatronics were added. The Golden Dream's montage, which features famous Americans was also updated. In 2007, the montage was once again updated, now including footage of the firefighters who raised the American flag at Ground Zero (after the September 11 attacks).

Show Plot

Opening Scene

The American Adventure begins in complete darkness; guests can however hear the voice of Ben Franklin, as he quotes John Steinbeck. As the first scene rises, guests see Ben Franklin sitting behind a desk reading with Mark Twain seated off nearby. As Twain begins to doze off, Franklin concludes quoting Steinbeck by saying:

Stained and tinted with all colors, a seeming ethnic anarchy.

Then in a little time, we became more alike than we were different.
In society, not great, but fitted by our very thoughts for greatness.

Franklin and Twain then begin to banter about humility, before Twain says that the American Adventure should begin with Franklin. Franklin corrects him, saying that the story of America began even before him. As he speaks, images of ships crossing the ocean, and then a picture of the Mayflower reaching America are shown.

New World Bound

At this point, the attractions first song, “New World Bound” begins to play. As the songs play, images of pilgrims coming to the new world are shown. The song tells the story of the troubles that the pilgrims faced, both coming to America and surviving there. The lyrics to New World Bound are:

♫ There's a land cross this ocean,
I'm waiting to see.
A land for these people
who dream to be free.
So stand by the mainsail,
the fierce storms will race
aloft with our king mates
King Neptune we'll face.

You think that these landlubbers
never would last,
this cargo of pilgrims,
twelve weak for the mast.

It's "Land ho!" me hardies,
at last we've arrived.
and praise be to God,
nearly all have survived.

But look o'er this wilderness,
brings me to dread,
that the first bitter winter
ill leave 'em all dead.

They call themselves pilgrims,
these poor wretched souls.
With a dream to be free,
in the new world, there goal. ♫

The Deceleration of Independence

After New World Bound ends, Ben Franklin informs guests that America was not an easy place for settlers. Franklin then continued that in the future decades America would face a new problem, a growing separation from Great Britain. Colonists are then shown on the screen, rallying against Britain and debating what to do. Franklin informs guests that:

First we spoke out with our voices, then we spoke out with action, with a growing defiance, that led to the Boston Tea Party.

At this point the screen goes dark, and a large glass scroll comes down from the ceiling. The scroll is proclamation from King George III, telling the colonists that in response to the Boston Tea Party, Boston Harbor will be closed. As colonist’s debate revolution, Franklin tells guests that finally it was time for action. As the glass scroll is removed, guests see Thomas Jefferson sitting in his loft, working tirelessly. Benjamin Franklin then climbs up the stairs into the loft. After an exasperated Jefferson then proclaims that John Adams should have been the one to write the Declaration. After some reassurance from Franklin, Jefferson announces that the Continental Congress was able to ratify a final version of the Declaration of Independence. He then reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In the Days of '76

As scenes of the American Revolution are shown on the screen, guests hear the traditional song In the Days of '76. The song begins:

♫ In the days of '76, my boys, we never must revere That every man takes his musket up and fight for freedom dear. We'll hit the flanks Of the Redcoats' ranks as Yankee volunteers.

Oh, tis a great delight to march and fight, But it's getting tough, I fear... ♫

As the first verse ends, pictures of patriot soldiers at Valley Forge are shown on the screen. The soldiers are heard complaining about the lack of food and supplies, as In the Days of '76 concludes:

♫ In the days of Valley Forge, my lords, forever we must hail We fight the cold with bags on our feet, as the lobster backs regail

Oh, the time will come When they'll be on the run As their ships will homeward sail.

Oh it's a great delight to march and fight Along the victory trail... 'Tis a great delight to march and fight Along the victory trail! ♫

At the conclusion of the song, the images of the revolutionary war stop. Guests are then shown an image of the 13 united colonies, as Benjamin Franklin comments:

In the end, we the people, prevailed and achieved perhaps our greatest dream.

Thirteen very different colonies became the United States of America, and we were free to become an entire nation of dreamers and doers.

Westward Expansion and the Civil War

Following the end of the Revolutionary war, Mark Twain takes over as the show's primary host. Twain announces that America is Westward bound, and heading to new frontiers. As images of horses, Indians, frontier men, and a panhandler flicker across the screen, Mark Twain tells Ben Franklin:

Yes sir, Dr. Franklin, you founding fathers gave us a pretty good start, don't ya know.

We still had some things to learn the hard way.
It seems a whole bunch of folks found out "We the people", didn't yet mean all the people.
Folks like Frederick Douglas.

— Mark Twain

At this point, Frederick Douglas is shown on a raft, floating down the Mississippi River. Douglas then speaks to Twain directly saying:

Even amidst the cricket song here along Mark Twain's beloved Mississippi, I hear the noise of chains and the crack of the whip. Yet there's hope.

Hope born from the words of Harriet Beacher Stowe.
Uncle Tom's Cabin has given our nation a key, which can unlock the slave prison to millions.
Anti-Slavery is no longer a thing to be prevented.
It has grown too abundant to be snuffed out, like a lantern.

— Fredrick Douglas