Recreating "America Sings"

One of my favorite lost attractions at Disneyland was the show "America Sings."  This show, housed in the old Carousel of Progress Building, premiered in 1974 as Disneyland's salute to the country's bicentennial.  The show stayed there until 1988, when it was closed down and most of the characters moved to Splash Mountain.  For you younguns' who don't remember the show, here are video links to the show.

Here's part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

and part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo&feature=relmfu

Now comes along James Lopez, a Disney animator who is an uber-fan of the attraction. In fact, James is such an fan that he is spending most of his free time creating an animated version of the attraction!   Check out the video below of the opening scene... it's obviously a work in progress, but there is some great finished animation in there:
Animated version of Disneyland's 'America Sings' Attraction (Act 1) from James Lopez on Vimeo.

Interesting trivia about the ride:

• Two singing geese were removed from the attraction two years before it was closed.   Their feathers were stripped and they became working droids in the Star Tours pre-show.  One of them was still singing a modified version of "I've been Working on the Railroad," while he worked on the starspeeders.
• This attraction was a Disneyland exclusive, and was never built at any other Disney Park.
• The rock and roll stork from the attraction is now housed at Imagineering, where it is used as a kind of final exam in the training of new programmers.

• There were 114 animated characters on this attraction, the most audio-animatronic characters ever assembled for a Disney attraction.
• Del Monte was the original sponsor.
• For the morbidly curious, yes, someone actually was killed on this ride.   For the details go to http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/amersing.asp   I ain't discussing that here.

"Goodbye, until next post" goes the weasel!