American Adventure - War Wagon

[forbidden donut]

When I took the backstage magic tour one of the technicians there said that overnight the hydraulic pressure will bleed down causing the AA's to slump over, and when they start the system up the next morning all the AA's will slowly rise to a upright position like some zombie graveyard scene.
He said it could be quite unnerving.

 

[ONUpolarbears]

Watching the War Wagon in action during a show is one of the top things I would love to be able to watch in-person some day.

-Rob

You and I both!

 

[Hoop Raeb]

There are 10 sets on Carriage 1

There are 2 sets on Carriage 2

There are 6 stationary sets.

There are 33 AA figures.

Very cool. So it only moves once then? I've got to listen for it next time.

 

[Alektronic]

Very cool. So it only moves once then? I've got to listen for it next time.

There are 5 different positions that Carriage 1 moves to.

 

[mattfusf]

I don't recall if there are pictures, but the book Building a Better Mouse by Steve Alcorn has some great stories about the design and build of AA in particular as well as a few other EPCOT attractions.

Matt

 

[Lex the Robot]

Hi folks, I found this thread while searching for some info on American Adventure. On some forums they jump on you for necroposting, on some forums they dislike you creating new threads when an old one already covers the info, but since this was the most solid info I could find, I want to begin things here.

I was watching a video of the American Adventure last night on YouTube. I haven't seen it in person since 2010.

Something felt 'off' about some of the animatronic figures, but I couldn't quite place it.

So, here's the burning question...

Are all of the AA's in AA the same size?

And are they all LIFE-SIZE?

Because I swear some of them look like they might be scaled-down figures.

My reasoning is that if they made some of them half-size or 3/4 size or whatever, they would make certain scenes seem farther away and more grand in scale. Plus, they could fit a lot more of them on the war wagon.

Just curious.

Thanks,
Lex

 

[marni1971]

I’ve never heard they’re not true size, but it would make some sense.

 

[britain]

I don’t know but in all the behind the scenes pictures and footage I’ve seen as the figures are being worked on by the Imagineers, they look life size.

Plus, all of Disney’s expertise at the time was in “life size” animatronics. Making figures 3/4 size would mean new ways to make head/mouth/eye mechanisms work, wrists and fingers, etc.

Easier to build a hefty war wagon than to reinvent tech that they’ve already got down really well.

 

[Lex the Robot]

But the bigger the war wagon, the bigger EVERY aspect of the show building has to be, and that's going to start hitting them in the pocketbook.

Sort of like in the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors. Some genius realized that since there were no humans in the shot for the Plant's lyric portion of 'Suppertime', it would be cheaper to build a miniature set and redress the prototype of the smaller 'Feed Me' puppet than to build another larger puppet with lip-sync capability.

Plus, weren't smaller-scaled AAs being used in Horizons around this same time, for the Pepper's ghost holograms?

It's not all of the ones in American Adventure that look odd, just certain ones. Which ones do we definitely know are visible at full-size with humans in the photo?

Lex

 

[Figments Friend]

My impression over the many years I have seen the show in person is that all of the figures are life sized and not scaled back.
That is just one of the many reasons this Show is so amazing to see....everything is right there, and as big as life.

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