When you go to Disneyland, there are a few major celebrity appearances you expect to see and hear. Tom Holland portrays Peter Parker/Spider-Man when you go on WEB-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Anthony Daniels voices C-3PO when you go on Star Tours. But there are a handful of celebrity appearances that might be a bit more surprising on your first visit. One of the best, which has become truly iconic over the years, is “Chief Flight Attendant” Patrick Warburton who appears to give you boarding instructions on Soarin’ Around The World at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Patrick Warburton has been the voice of Soarin’, one of Disney California Adventure's best attractions, since its first incarnation, as Soarin’ Over California and the original version has now returned for a limited time at Disney California Adventure as part of the annual Food and Wine Festival. A group of very special Disneyland Resort guests were surprised when Chief Flight Attendant Patrick appeared not on a screen, but in person.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Patrick’s Soarin’ performance is a pretty popular one among Disneyland and Epcot fans. There are some iconic lines, which he repeats during the video here, such as “Nice work, pal” which, as part of the attraction, he says to a small child who has successfully buckled his seat belt. He also refers to the “little beauties” of a guest walking into the ride, a reference to the fact that even Mickey and Minnie ears need to go in the under-seat compartment.
And for an extra bit of Disney fun, Warburton seems to channel a bit of Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove when he goes off on the safety belts for a few seconds. It’s the Disney role the actor is probably best known for by those who aren’t familiar with his performances in Disney Parks.
Brining in the "real people" as been a fun way that Disney Parks has celebrated various moments. Mark Hamill appeared on Star Tours not that long ago.
And yes, I did say performances, plural. There is one other place at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World where Patrick Warburton can be heard, but not seen. He is the voice of the droid doing the full body scanning of guests as they board Star Tours. Getting Warburton to stop by that right would have been a bit more complicated, but it would have been just as awesome.
Fun fact, the story goes that John Travolta, an actor with a well known love of flying, was the actor originally chosen to host Soarin', but scheduling conflicts prevented him from being able to film the scenes, and Warburton was chosen instead. Travolta would have been good, but it's hard to imagine he would be quite as popular as Patrick Warburton is today.
