The Torch of The American Adventure

Maybe it is my penchant for the nostalgia of my youth or the pride and patriotism I feel for this country I live, but whatever it is, The American Adventure is definitely my favorite attraction in World Showcase at Epcot. Now, my favorite part of the 29 minute show occurs at the end when Robert Moline's music starts playing "Golden Dream" and Randy Bright's lyrics start tugging at your heart. The visuals make your heart swell even more as a montage of notable Americans from the past sixty to seventy years, fades in and out before your eyes. At the crescendo, the images all fade away to make way for the iconic scene from The American Adventure. That spectacular image is of our hosts, Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, appearing inside the ring of the torch of the Statue of Liberty. The music is still playing as these two great Americans continue to philosophize about our past and our future. As the show ends, Mr. Franklin leaves us all something to ponder by quoting the novelist Thomas Wolfe,

To all people, regardless of their birth, the right to live to work, to be themselves, and to become whatever their visions can combine to make them. This is the promise of America.

This final scene of Franklin and Twain on the torch of the Statue of Liberty is not only the most remembered scene from the show, but, one of the most utilized images in books, blogs, magazines, and other materials when The American Adventure is described. Anyway, this got me thinking, "hey, the torch doesn't look like that today!" Now, I am not a New Yorker definitely not an aficionado of the Statue of Liberty. I guess I've always taken this scene for granted. But, I wonder how those under maybe 30 years old view this scene? Has this scene seemed a little different to them? Do they even notice? Well, I decided to do some research on the torch and The American Adventure.

The Statue de la Statue de la Liberté, or The Statue of Liberty to Americans, was a momument given by France to the United States in 1886 to celebrate our centennial. The famous French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi was commissioned to design the statue with the year 1876 determined as the completion date. The statue was to be presented to the American people on July 4, 1876. Unfortunately, due to many delays in the development of the statue, along with the 1875 start Bartholdi got, this did not happen.

Bartholdi decided to construct the statue out of copper and indeed finished the right arm and torch in 1876. Therefore, this part of the statue was sent on to the United States where it was put on display in 1876 for the American public at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Later, it would be put on display at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The remainder of the statue was not completed until 1884. Lady Liberty was then broken into 350 individual parts so it could be shipped aboard the French frigate Isère. The statue reached its destination, New York Harbor, on June 17, 1885. Although a decade past its original target date, the statue was unveiled on Liberty Island by President Grover Cleveland and officially dedicated to the United States on October 28, 1886, to commemorate the centennial of the signing of our Declaration of Independence. This enormous gift represented the friendship France and the United States built during the American Revolution.

The statue has always been a warm and welcoming sign to immigrants coming to this young nation to make a new beginning for themselves. But, for about 16 years, from 1886 to 1902, the Statue of Liberty servered a dual role as a lighthouse. It was the first lighthouse in America to use electricity and could be seen by boats about 24 miles out.


Now, lets zero in on the torch. Keep in mind, that statue, including the torch, was made out of copper. This is where it gets interesting. In 1916, approximately $100,000 worth of damage occurred to the statue in the Black Tom explosion. Later that year, the Mount Rushmore sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, modified the copper torch by cutting away most of the copper of the flame and replacing it with glass panels. A light was also placed inside the flame at this time giving it the illusion of a real flame at night. However, because of these modifications, the torch starting leaking rain and melting snow which drastically increased the rate of erosion to the statue.

Fast forward 60 years to July 1976. This is when Disney announced that it would move forward with Walt Disney's plans for Epcot. This second theme park, which would become known as Epcot Center, was broken into two parts--Future World and World Showcase. At first, Disney Imagineers planned to put the American Adventure pavilion in the middle of Future World. Thank goodness that didn't happen. Instead, it became the focal point, or weinie, of World Showcase and flanked by other nations' pavilions to each side around the lagoon.

The architect Imagineers wanted this pavilion to have a sense of grandeur and be inviting to guests, and above all, be America's mansion. The show Imagineers also wanted to create this same type of emotion with The American Adventure attraction by making it America's show. The unifying theme of the show would be that America, as Richard R. Beard states in his book, Walt Disney's Epcot Center Creating the New World of Tomorrow, is a "nation of pioneers, dreamers and doers, driven by the kind of venturesome and restless spirit that feeds on challenges, revels in milestones, thrives on innovations." So, it is no wonder that the Disney Imagineers chose to use the torch, which signifies enlightenment, in the closing scene of The American Adventure which is the most recognizable feature of the Statue of Liberty.


The American Adventure was one of the original attractions that made its debut on October 1, 1982 when Epcot Center became opened. Now, keep in mind that this final scene of The American Adventure is supposed to be set in the present day where Mr. Franklin and Mr. Twain are pondering America's past and future. Well, the torch at the time the attraction was designed was the retrofitted one by Borglum. It wasn't until 1984 renovation of the Statue of Liberty that the torch was replaced by a solid copper torch, the same as the original. It was then given a gold leaf coating. This is the torch that is there today. The original torch with the glass paned windows can be found in the museum at the lobby of the Statue of Liberty.

As for The American Adventure, it has only gone through a revovation two times since it debuted. The first was in 1993 where it received all new animatronics as well as a new version of the theme song. The second was in 2007 where the final montage received an additional 45 seconds of footage with the most notable being the 9/11 terrorist attacks on The World Trade Center and the brave men and women of the NYPD and FDNY.


So, that explains why the torch in The American Adventure looks the way it does. It is based off of the torch held by the Statue of Liberty in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the attraction was designed. That torch was the original copper torch built by Frédéric Bartholdi and then retrofitted with glass panels and internal light by Gutzon Borglum. It does make you wonder though, when the next renovation/refurbishment of The American Adventure occurs, will the Imagineers update the torch? And, if they do, will they also display the old torch somewhere else in the pavilion? What do you think?

If you would like more information on the Statue of Liberty, please visit the National Park Service's web page for the Statue of Liberty.

NOTE ON IMAGES:

1. The first image I took in the Fall 2008.
   
2. The image of the torch in the lobby of the Statue of Libery was borrowed from the following web site: http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/libertyfacts/LibertyTorch.htm
   
3. The image of the new torch was borrowed from the following web site: http://www.statueliberty.net/Statue-of-Liberty-Torch.html
   
4. The last image was scanned from Richard R. Beard's book.