The American Adventure (Pavilion)

World Showcase, Epcot

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Description

The American Adventure, a 108,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion, at Epcot's World Showcase is perhaps the most spectacular of all. Featuring live entertainment, restauants and shops, it is also home to one of the finest Audio-Animatronic shows ever created, The American Adventure.


Details

Attractions

The American Adventure

Dining

Liberty Inn
Fife & Drum


Quotes from wall plaques inside the American Adventure

Entrance Hall

1. West Hall: AMERICA HAS BEEN SETTLED BY PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS.
ALL NATIONS MAY CLAIM HER FOR THEIR OWN. WE ARE
NOT A NARROW TRIBE OF MEN . . . NO, OUR BLOOD IS
AS THE FLOOD OF THE AMAZON, MADE UP OF A THOUSAND
NOBLE CURRENTS ALL POURING INTO ONE . . . WE ARE
NOT A NATION SO MUCH AS A WORLD.

from REDBURN by Herman Melville

Painting #1 (BILL FLEMING)....Indians & Pilgrims in fields at harvest time.

Painting #2 (HERB RYMAN)......Ellis Island, immigrants (1890-1900) silhouetted against the Statue of Liberty.

Painting #3 (SAM MCKIM).......Thanksgiving Dinner--Modern family hosting Asian/Oriental immigrant family.

2. East Hall: YOU WHO HAVE BEEN BORN IN AMERICA, I WISH I COULD
MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS LIKE NOT TO BE AN
AMERICAN--NOT TO HAVE BEEN AN AMERICAN ALL YOUR LIFE--
AND THEN SUDDENLY WITH THE WORDS OF A MAN IN FLOWING
ROBES TO BE ONE, FOR THAT MOMENT AND FOREVER AFTER.
ONE MOMENT, YOU BELONG WITH YOUR FATHERS TO A MILLION
DEAD YESTERDAYS--THE NEXT YOU BELONG WITH AMERICA TO
A MILLION UNBORN TOMORROWS.

from SONG OF AMERICA by George Magar Mardikian

Main Hall

1. South Wall: BRING ME MEN TO MATCH MY MOUNTAINS.
BRING ME MEN TO MATCH MY PLAINS.
MEN WITH EMPIRES IN THEIR PURPOSE,
AND NEW ERAS IN THEIR BRAINS.

from THE COMING AMERICAN by
Samuel Walter Foss

Painting #4 (CLEM HALL).......Building of skyscrapers (1930's)
focus on Indian steelworkers.

THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES THERE WERE MEN WHO TOOK
FIRST STEPS DOWN NEW ROADS ARMED WITH NOTHING BUT
THEIR OWN VISION.

from THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand

Painting #5 (JACK M. SMITH)...Wagon train heading west.

WHAT KIND OF MAN WOULD LIVE WHERE THERE IS NO DARING?
I DON'T BELIEVE IN TAKING FOOLISH CHANCES, BUT NOTHING
CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT TAKING ANY CHANCE AT ALL.

first sentence from THE WARTIME JOURNALS OF CHARLES A. LINDBERGH;
second sentence from THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS by Charles A. Lindbergh

Painting #6 (BOB MCCALL)......Modern space explorations, focus on all types involved in development and machinery (e.g.: shuttle, astro-nauts, technicians, and designers.)

Painting #7 (MIKE LLOYD)......Deck of clipper ship during storm with view of sister ship on star- board.

2. East Wall: OUR GREATEST NATURAL RESOURCE IS THE MINDS OF OUR CHILDREN.
from WISDOM MAGAZINE, Vol. 32, 1959, article--Walter Elias Disney

Painting #8 (GUY DEEL)........Teacher and children under tree with construction of schoolhouse in background.

WHAT AFTER ALL HAS MAINTAINED THE HUMAN RACE ON THIS
OLD GLOBE DESPITE ALL THE CALAMITIES OF NATURE AND
ALL THE TRAGIC FAILINGS OF MANKIND, IF NOT FAITH IN
NEW POSSIBILITIES AND COURAGE TO ADVOCATE THEM.

from JANE ADDAMS SPEAKS by Jane Addams

Painting #9 (CLEM HALL).......Medical assistance from several doctors being provided to South American children and their parents in plaza area.

Painting #10 (CLEM HALL)......Political campaign in rural Minnesota: 1910.

3. North Wall: OUR WAY OF LIVING TOGETHER IN AMERICA IS A STRONG
BUT DELICATE FABRIC. IT IS MADE UP OF MANY THREADS.
IT HAS BEEN WOVEN OVER MANY CENTURIES BY THE PATIENCE
AND SACRIFICE OF COUNTLESS LIBERTY-LOVING MEN AND
WOMEN.

from TIME, August 26, 1957, article--Althea Gibson


Painting #11 (BLAINE GIBSON)..Focuses on teamwork in some sporting activity, e.g. baton being passed in a relay race.

Painting #12 (TOM GILLEON)....Massive airplane manufacturing efforts (1942) with men and women (focus on women).

THERE ARE THOSE, I KNOW, WHO WILL REPLY THAT THE
LIBERATION OF HUMANITY, THE FREEDOM OF MAN AND MIND,
IS NOTHING BUT A DREAM . . . THEY ARE RIGHT. IT IS
THE AMERICAN DREAM.

from THE NATIONAL PURPOSE (a debate in the NEW YORK TIMES, May 30, 1980) by Archibald MacLeish

Upper Lobby

1. West Wall: I THINK THE TRUE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA IS BEFORE US.
I THINK THE TRUE FULFILLMENT OF OUR SPIRIT, OF OUR
PEOPLE, OF OUR MIGHTY AND IMMORTAL LAND IS YET TO
COME . . .

from YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN by Thomas Clayton Wolfe