Overview
- Disney published a behind-the-scenes video on Wednesday showing the under-seat carriage system that stages The American Adventure at EPCOT.
- The clip documents a 150-ton rolling carriage beneath the theater that hydraulically lifts and indexes show sets and carries all 35 animatronic figures out of guests’ sight between scenes.
- Engineers built a dedicated assembly for the Benjamin Franklin figure to reproduce a stair-climbing motion and his historically informed, gout-affected gait.
- The Frederick Douglass scene uses a set-rise trick and a mechanically driven tiller arm described as 'free animation,' while George Washington and his horse gain realism from subtle environmental effects such as a fan moving hair and clothing.
- The video highlights creative choices behind the show, including a scene based on a Dorothea Lange Great Depression photograph, and frames the attraction as a long-running blend of theatrical engineering and storytelling that emphasizes ordinary Americans.