There’s a great, big, beautiful WDW update
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress to get a major overhaul
The Disney Parks and Experiences division is in the midst of a $60 billion infusion of new capital that will yield a trove of grand, new attractions and lands, including an expanded Avengers Campus and a “Coco”-themed ride at the Disneyland Resort in California along with a Villains Land and a Tropical Americas land at Florida’s Disney World. The Mouse is also refreshing many of its existing attractions such as Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, which now stars The Muppets, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Soarin’ Across America at both EPCOT and Disney California Adventure.
The company recently revealed additional details about another makeover: Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. The classic Magic Kingdom attraction is set to close on July 6 to begin work. Fans of the show (I count myself part of that group) will be pleased to know that, with a projected 2027 reopening, tomorrow’s just a dream away.
Before we get around (see what I did there?) to what’s on the way, let’s take a look back at the Tomorrowland staple. The show debuted as part of General Electric’s Progressland pavilion at the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair. It was one of four breakthrough attractions that Walt Disney introduced at the expo, which also included “it’s a small world,” the Ford pavilion’s Magic Skyway (which sent passengers in sleek Mustangs and other convertibles back to prehistoric times and the dawn of mankind), and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Whereas the Lincoln presentation introduced one, albeit remarkably fluid and advanced, audio animatronic figure for its time, the Carousel of Progress had an entire family of human characters–and one dog. They were part of a presentation that showcased the importance of electricity through different eras (with–product placement alert–a heavy emphasis on GE appliances).
The attraction was presented in a unique revolving theater. Guests entered one of six 240-seat auditoriums. Arranged in a circle on an enormous turntable, the theaters rotated around a central stage. The scenes included the pre-electricity era of the Gay 90s, the dawn of electricity in the 1920s, the post-World War II 1940s, and the then-near-future of the late 1960s. The characters, with “dad” taking the lead, talked about the role electricity played in their lives from each period. The catchy tune, “There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” served as a bridge between each act. It was penned by the prolific Sherman brothers, whose credits also include the timeless songs from “Mary Poppins” as well as what may be the all-time musical earworm, “it’s a small world.”
After the fair ended, The Carousel of Progress moved to Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park in California where it opened in 1967. It closed in 1973 and relocated to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World where it premiered in 1975. Or more specifically, Disney built a new rotating theater in Florida and moved the set pieces and characters there. A different show, America Sings, took up residence at Disneyland’s carousel theater in 1974. That show shuttered in 1988, and many of its animatronic animal characters migrated to Splash Mountain. The theater remained vacant until 1998 when Disney repurposed it into the West Coast version of Inventions. Guests viewed and interacted with the pavilion’s technology exhibits while the floor (which had previously been the show’s multiple stages) slowly rotated. From 2015 to 2020, the building was converted into Tomorrowland Expo Center and Star Wars Launch Bay, which served as a promotional space for the arrival of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. During this period, the floor no longer turned. Starting in 2023, Disney opened the building to Disney Vacation Club as a members-only lounge.
So, what’s in store for the new Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom? The rotating theater mechanism and the essential concept of the attraction will remain the same. Surely many, if not all, of the animatronics will be repurposed, perhaps with the latest technological advancements. The four-act show will become a five-act presentation with the addition of an introduction featuring an animatronic Walt Disney (giving new meaning to the attraction’s name, “Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress). The character will be similar to the one that debuted last year at Disneyland’s Main Street Opera House. Some critics have pointed out flaws in the animatronic Walt that cast an uncanny valley pall on the California presentation. Here’s hoping the Imagineers will make some improvements to the East Coast Walt.
As has been the case since it opened at the World’s Fair, the Carousel of Progress’ first position is now used for guests to shuffle into the theater and find their seats (after the previous audience departs). The stage’s curtain remains closed while a voice-over announcer briefly talks about the history of the attraction and introduces the show. The narration barely lasts one minute. This, I believe, is where Walt will now preside. Perhaps the Imagineers will extend the length of each act (they all have to be precisely the same length to accommodate the rotating bank of audiences that revolve from one scene to the next) so that the founder will have a little more time to address the crowd. According to the company, the opening sequence will have echoes of the 1964 TV special, “Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair,” in which Walt talked about the expo’s attractions, including Carousel of Progress.
In 1964, the original attraction began its journey about six decades earlier at the turn of the century; similarly, the revamped presentation will send audiences back 60 years from the present to the 1960s for its first scene (where, it should be noted, the original show ended its look at the then-future). Disney says it will depict the CoP family watching the Apollo moon landing on television. If General Electric still sponsored the attraction, the TV set would undoubtedly be a GE model. (Interestingly, GE purchased NBC, later combined it with Universal Studios to form NBCUniversal, and then sold the whole shebang to Comcast, which now operates the rival Universal theme parks.)
The next scene will advance to the 1980s on Halloween where the family will alternate between doling out candy to trick-or-treaters and extolling the virtues of their era’s appliances. The setting for Scene 3 is New Year’s Eve 1999 and the wonders of the then-new Internet. The final scene flashes forward to a future in which folks routinely take off for distant planets and robots cheerfully help people (as opposed to the AI-fueled dystopian future we not-so-secretly dread–if our AI overlords even allow us to survive; ooh, sorry that this otherwise cheerful piece just took a harrowing turn).
I’m thrilled that the company is investing in the historic attraction and breathing new life into it. While I can be something of a Disney attraction purist, the creaky old show needed an update. Inexplicably, the Carousel of Progress is my son’s favorite Disney attraction, Rise of the Resistance be damned. He’s looking forward to the overhaul even more than I am. How about you? Here’s my guess: And when it becomes a reality, it (will be) a dream come true for you and me.
So, how about you? Are you looking forward to the new and improved Carousel of Progress? Have you seen the Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland? Is there a great, big, beautiful tomorrow, or will AI put the kibosh on our optimistic future?
My family and I will start singing Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow out of nowhere from time to time. Other favorites of ours include Nothing Can Stop Us Now on Mickey's Railway, Grinning Ghosts, and A Pirates Life. And Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room (well, I am probably the only one that sings that one as my family finds it annoying!)