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Hi, Mr. Dawson, I'm here at the
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Disneyland Resort ahead of the arrival
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of Soarin' Across America, and I have
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the privilege today to talk to Tom
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Fitzgerald about this attraction. I'm
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super excited to do this.
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>> to talk about it. Talk about how this
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came about and and some of the fun
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moments as you were creating this. Sure.
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Well, for Imagineering, we're always
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looking to the future, and I it's
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probably I think a decade ago that when
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we finished Soarin' Around the World, we
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said, "Where do we want to go next? What
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would be a great What would be a great
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next step?" And we said, "What about
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going across America?"
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and now the 250th celebration of America
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has gave us the window of opportunity
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for this flight to take off. Love it. Um
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we did it in a year, which was
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incredibly fast. Um it's a show that
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goes from sea to shining sea.
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>> Mhm. Um goes from morning to night, so
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you have a journey that you go.
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>> cool. And it's got a variety. It has
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some scenes that are obviously very
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instantly patriotic. Oh, there's the
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Statue of Liberty. There's the mall in
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Washington D.C. There's Mount Rushmore.
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There are places that are instantly
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identifiable. That's New York City. Oh,
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that's Los Angeles and and Hollywood,
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the Hollywood sign. That's Waikiki.
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There's Hawaii. I love it. And then
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there's some places that we wanted just
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represent the feel of the breadth of
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America. Oh, that's a beautiful fall
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foliage moment. That could be many
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places. Oh, there's a rugged Atlantic
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coastline. That could be many Oh,
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>> Wow. There's the south in a bayou. So,
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we wanted to have the flavors all come
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together to give a a portrait really of
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what we think is so special about
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America. So, you do all this in a year.
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There's thousands of places you can
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pick. And it's a few minutes long. So,
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you get a basically a dozen. Here we get
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a baker's dozen cuz we said, "What if we
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>> Well, you you start by saying, I "What's
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What's your conceit?" I want to go sea
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to shining sea. Okay, that means I'm
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going to go from the east to the west.
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To start Okay, the logic we Yeah, the
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story Okay, our logic will be roughly
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let's go east to west and then pop back
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for Florida at the end
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and then how do we how do we want to
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start? Hey, we have an opportunity. Why
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don't we start in a different way? What
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if we had a shot that could rise with
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the audience up into the clouds? So we
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added a you know, a spectacular Artemis
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t-shot that starts the show. And then it
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really is that process of saying
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you really have to select. You you can't
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do everything you but you have to do
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enough that gives you a feel that at the
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end of it you say yes, I felt like that
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was a portrait of of America. I love
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>> technology is definitely improved
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through the years. I'm thinking back
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even to circle vision years and years
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What was the process like of
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I mean we saw the picture of the
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helicopter, but like what was that like
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going through all of these locations?
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>> So we started with technology because we
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were shooting in a year. We actually did
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virtual scouting. So for the first time
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rather than go to every location with a
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crew and plan out the shots, we did it
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So that when we went to the locations,
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we knew what we wanted. We knew exactly
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how to get it because we were moving at
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a at a fast click. Cameras get better
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and better and better. The resolution
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gets better with each show we do, but
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we're still shooting with helicopters.
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We did one drone shot. Okay. Um but
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we're still shooting with helicopters
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and that's what gives you the feel of
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soaring. That that's what gives you that
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and and really, you know, working with
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the pilots. The pilot's the director.
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Whatever the whatever the helicopter
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sees, that is what we're going to see on
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the screen. So working our team working
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very closely with our pilots to make
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sure we got exactly the shot that we
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wanted and I think we did almost 900
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helicopter passes to get the 4 and 1/2
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minute show that you did and our team
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traveled I think 28,000 miles which is
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the the circumference of the planet. So
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we went around the world to shoot across
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the USA. There's something poetic about
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Soarin Across America. You basically
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soar around the world.
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What was the shot that as you're
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thinking about this now that it's
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complete that you're super proud of and
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that really maybe it's a memory, maybe
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it's how it turned out?
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You know what? It's hard. It's like
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choosing your favorite child. I I was
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thinking that as I was saying
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>> I do like them all. They all had their
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I would say one of the most fun things
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for me was bringing Patrick Warburton
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back to do a very special introduction
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for this show. We know what a fan
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favorite he is and how he is a part of
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what Soarin is. He's part of the DNA. So
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bringing him back to play a very special
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introductory role in this um where he is
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now a pilot. He's graduated.
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But also the fun and the wink of him
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getting to introduce his younger self.
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Because even the safety video for our
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fans is something they hold near and
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dear. So being able to add something
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while still keeping the memories that
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they know and love is a very tricky act.
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But I think we pulled it off and he is
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such a delightful person.
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I love it. So final question. What is
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something that you really hope people
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take away after they've experienced
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Soarin Across America?
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I hope that guests really have an
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appreciation and realize just how
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the USA is. Just how how diverse our
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landscapes are, how magical our spaces
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are, how vibrant our cities are
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and that in 4 and 1/2 minutes you just
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get sort of a concentrated feel of of
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what makes this place so great.
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Well, thank you so much. You can
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experience Soarin Across America
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starting on July 2nd at the Disneyland
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Resort and I think May 26th if I'm
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correct at Walt Disney World. And you
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won't want to miss it. It's going to be
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beautiful and we look forward to seeing
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you there. So make it a great week
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everybody. Keep kind. We'll see you in
