Wednesday, October 31, 2007
America Sings
One Disneyland attraction I miss is America Sings, a tribute to American music. For the unfamiliar, it had a central stage divided into six parts. A ring of six theaters circled them, scooting around to the next stage for each act.
I never tired of it. The characters (designed by animator Marc Davis) were cute. Even bit characters, like the Boothill Vultures and the donkeys have personality. Well animated too*, considering this was early seventies technology. It had a real cartoony feel. Characters and props pop out of nowhere. Or drop into place. Storks ride bicycles. A horse drives a car. Geese dance the CanCan. In my opinion, the show is more sophisticated and well crafted than some of the newer Disney attractions.
That being said, the weasel does get annoying.
*this video was shot towards the end of the show's run, and a few characters are broken or missing. For example, in the "Goin' South" section, you'll see the geese turn and look at a barrel. That's where a fourth goose once stood. He'd already been moved to a new gig as a Star Tours robot. Most of the other characters were recast in the Splash Mountain attraction in 1991.
With the visible pints of beer and the guy arrested for public drunkenness, I can kind of understand in part why the attraction was likely retired, at least in part.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this though! I had no idea this existed being so familiar myself with Disney World.
Thanks for the comment, Ghost.
ReplyDeleteIf you're familiar with Disney World, you 're probably familiar with the Carousel of Progress. That was in Disneyland's Tomorowland for several years. When that show moved to Disney World, America Sings replaced it. Both shows worked the same way, except America Sings spun counterclockwise, while the Carousel of Progress spins clockwise.
It's true the dated "modern" music and the drunk guy might have contributed to the shows retirement. After it closed in '88 the building was empty for years. They were toying with putting in a new show but in the end they turned it into a remarkably lame museum-expo called Innovations.
The innovations is indeed lame. When I was in there a few years ago. A couple of the products that were on display were by companies that had recently gone out of business.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Victor. That's funny how Innovations is sporting stuff from defunct companies. How bad!
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