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America Sings

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America Sings was a show at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, from 1974 to 1988. It featured a cast of Audio-Animatronic animals that entertained the audience by singing songs from various periods in America's musical history, often in a humorous fashion.

Contents

The show

The show's M.C.'s were an American bald eagle named Sam (voiced by Burl Ives) and an unnamed owl rumored to be named Ollie (voiced by Sam Edwards) . The image of Sam the Eagle, a symbol of the United States and designed by Robert Moore, was used as a mascot for The Games of the XXIII Olympiad held in 1984 in Los Angeles, California.

The show was comparable to Disneyland's Country Bear Jamboree, in that it featured a singing cast of audio-animatronics. The audience seats rotated around the stage mechanically within Carousel Theater, a building with most of the outer lower level of the building rotating. It rotated counter-clockwise, unlike its predecessor, the Carousel of Progress, which used the same system and went clockwise. The attraction was located in Tomorrowland. The characters were designed by Marc Davis. The show opened for the United States Bicentennial.

The Songs

Intro: Act 1 - The Deep South: Act 2 - Headin' West: Act 3 - The Gay (18)90's: Act 4 - Modern Times: Epilogue:

The death of Deborah Gail Stone

On July 18, 1974, just three weeks after the attraction opened, Disneyland cast member Deborah Gail Stone was killed when she was crushed between the building's rotating wall and a stationary wall. She was welcoming new audiences as they came into the theater. Stone approached too close to the area between the rotating wall and the non-moving stage wall and was caught between them. The Attraction was stopped when guests in the adjacent theatre heard her screams.

Afterwards, America Sings was closed for two days while safety lights were installed, and the theater where Deborah was killed in was closed for an entire year. Eventually, the walls were remodeled so that they would breakaway when a similar incident occurred.

Closure

After the Bicentennial, the show faded in popularity until only fifty park guests were seated at a time. America Sings closed in 1988. The Carousel Theater sat empty and motionless for ten years. During this time, the theater still looked the same, and a large sign was put up in front of the building that showed Sorcerer Mickey and text that read: "Sorry, we're closed. We're imagineering a brand new attraction." For these many years, guests have always wondered what the new attraction was going to be. For a few years, during the planned 'Disney Decade' started by Michael Eisner, a new audio-animatronic show called "Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue" was to open. It would have been an outer-space musical-variety revue featuring a troupe of Audio-Animatronics itinerant alien musicians whose spaceship has landed in Tomorrowland. However, the idea, which was part of the original 'Tomorrowland 2055' plan, eventually was scrapped due to budget.

America Sings was finally replaced by Innoventions, a version of the Epcot attraction of the same name, in 1998. Most of the Audio-Animatronic animals were moved to Disneyland's Splash Mountain log flume, which opened on Disneyland's 34th anniversary on July 17, 1989. Two goose Audio-Animatronics were taken out before America Sings even closed. In 1986, they had their "skin" removed, which leaves only a robotic skeleton, and had their heads replaced, and were used as two talkative G2 droids in the queue to Star Tours, which would open in early 1987. The rock and roll stork in the finale is now used by Imagineers for training new Animatronics programmers, acting as a final exam of sorts. The remainder of the show's Audio-Animatronics were recycled.

America Sings: Where Are They Now?

Intro: Act 1: Going South Act 2: Heading West Act 3: Gay Nineties Act 4: Modern Times

Attraction facts

References

External links


Attractions at Disneyland-style parks
Main Street, U.S.A.: The Dapper Dans | Disneyland Railroad | Disney in the Stars | Disney on Parade | Fantasy in the Sky |
Main Street Electrical Parade | Remember... Dreams Come True | Walt Disney World Railroad | Wishes | World Bazaar
Fantasyland: Cinderella Castle | King Arthur Carrousel | Mad Tea Party | The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | Matterhorn Bobsleds | Mickey's PhilharMagic |
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride | Peter Pan's Flight | Pinocchio's Daring Journey | Skyway | Sleeping Beauty Castle | Snow White's Scary Adventures | "it's a small world"
Tomorrowland: Adventure Thru Inner Space | America Sings | Autopia | Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters | Captain EO | Carousel of Progress | Delta Dreamflight |
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage | Honey, I Shrunk the Audience | If You Had Wings | Innoventions | PeopleMover/Tomorrowland Transit Authority | Magic Journeys |
Rocket Jets/Astro Orbitor | Rocket Rods | Space Mountain | Star Tours | Stitch's Great Escape! | The Timekeeper
Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad | Country Bear Jamboree | Pinewood Indians | Rivers of America
Adventureland: Indiana Jones Adventure | Jungle Cruise | Pirates of the Caribbean | Raging Spirits | Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
Other: Club 33 | Critter Country | Fantasmic! | The Haunted Mansion | Liberty Square | New Orleans Square | Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin | Splash Mountain

 

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