Now is the time. Now is the perfect time to outline the Carousel of Progress facts. The long-running Magic Kingdom attraction will be closed starting July 5th for a major update that changes the timeline of scenes and adds an animatronic Walt Disney introduction. Carousel is expected to turn around during 2027. According to Walt Disney World.
We’ve got you covered with Carousel of Progress for your next Tomorrowland-themed cocktail party.
during the round
Disney lore frequently mentions that the attraction was moved from Disneyland in California to Florida in 1975, but it sounds as if the theater was flown to Magic Kingdom. In fact, the building itself was newly constructed. Big tip: The carousel originally had two stories in Anaheim and at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, but Disney World only has one level.
Walt Disney’s early concept was for the audience to stand up and move to the next room to hear the rest of the story. That all changed at the World’s Fair, where Imagineers Roger Broggie and Bob Gurr devised the familiar round theater with a movable floor. Other Bloggy projects: Disneyland Monorail, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and Omnimover ride system. Mr. Garr is still performing at age 94, with credits including Haunted Mansion, Autopia, Matterhorn and Monorail.
The original carousel and the Disneyland version moved clockwise, but the Magic Kingdom attraction moved counterclockwise. This can actually be seen in a 1967 film filmed in Tomorrowland and digitized by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. (I watched it via paelofuture.com.)
Even better: Vibrating belts/exercise machines were a laugh in the ’60s.
heard spirit
The current version of Carousel of Progress includes some familiar voices. The role of John, the father figure of the vehicle, was played by Jean Shepherd, the narrator and adult Ralphie (and screenwriter) of A Christmas Story. (Sunshine State side note: He moved to Florida in the ’80s and died on Sanibel Island in 1999.)
The attraction will also feature Legend’s voice, Mel Blanc, as Uncle Orville. Bran’s other animated characters include Bugs Buggy, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, and Barney Rubble. His Disney-related credits include Hiccup as Gideon the Cat in Pinocchio and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Finally, in a perfect Tomorrowland synergy, Janet Waldo, who played young Judy Jetson, provided the voice for Grandma Carousel.
song with name
Although this is COP101, this ride has two theme songs, both written by the Sherman Brothers. The original one and the current one was “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.”
When the show landed at Magic Kingdom, sponsor General Electric requested a new song, so “The Best Time of Your Life” was introduced and remained until the 1994 update. You may still be able to hear snippets of piped-in music in Tomorrowland today.
“Great Big Beautiful” was brought back in the latest update — 32 years ago, after all — and Disney executives say it will remain in future updates.
Hmm, or is it just hype?
Carousel of Progress’s arrival in Florida wasn’t exactly advertised in the pages of the Orlando Sentinel. One article describes the attraction as a “nostalgic look back at American family life from the 1890s to the present day.” Disney World advertising calls it a “rotating electric time machine.”
At the time, there was even more excitement about the planned Space Mountain and even the PeopleMover. Carousel of Progress made no mention of Sentinel in 1976, and it was barely mentioned until the 1980s, when it gained attention with the arrival of Epcot. A 1992 article reported that updates to Carousel were coming.
For a while, people considered this attraction to be a waste of space, and there were rumors that it would never go away because important computers were stored underneath it. The cycle eventually returned to “a beloved attraction once touched by Walt Disney.”
In 1993, Sentinel TV critic Hal Boedeker reported that Disney planned to film a scene from the movie Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney, at the attraction. (He also disclosed that Clooney’s publicist called a photo of Clooney getting a pedicure in central Florida a fake.)
The film “may help renew interest in carousels,” Boedeker wrote.
Save update
The next update, which includes a coast-to-coast move, is Carousel of Progress’s sixth renovation.
Moving the setting to California in 1967 created a new finale scene set in Progress City, the precursor to Epcot. In 1994, the current finale was installed, including VR and voice-controlled equipment, and the attraction name was expanded to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.
Disney revealed several details about the renovation, including a new timeline that begins immediately after Merry-Go-Round’s initial debut. The first act is set in the summer of ’69, just in time for the moon landing. The second act takes place on Halloween 1985 and the third act takes place on New Year’s Eve 1999.
Disney describes the finale as a “possible future” and “an otherworldly home.”
During my stay: singing, family, and dogs.
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