Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is getting a major update in 2027, including a new Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney and updated show scenes, plus much more. In this episode, we discuss everything Disney just announced about this classic Magic Kingdom attraction upgrade.
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Imagination Skyway is a Disney Parks and Imagineering podcast. Episodes explore attraction design, recap Disney news, and dive into the stories behind the magic, including interviews with Disney Imagineers, Disney Legends, and other Disney creators. Not affiliated with or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company. Disney is a trademark of The Walt Disney Company.
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Transcript (Auto-Generated)
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow for Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom. Let’s discuss the major news for this attraction. It’s Thursday, May twenty eighth, and we received major news this morning about Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. You might remember last year at destination D23, the Walt Disney Imagineering team announced that an animatronic of Walt Disney would eventually make its way to Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom. And at that point, I suspected that would probably be the major updates, but I had this feeling that there might be something else in the works for this attraction. Today, I’m going to discuss what that news is, some of the major updates you can expect and my thoughts about these changes. We’re going to start with exactly what you can expect with this update. Remember that Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was Walt’s idea, and that’s why it’s called much like Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. It’s called Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress over at Magic Kingdom has not been at Magic Kingdom forever. It began at the nineteen sixty four World’s Fair. It eventually made its way to Disneyland and then made its way over to Magic Kingdom. And remember that when Carousel of Progress opened in nineteen sixty four, the future scene was looking at what life would be like in the near future, and the original scenes were the turn of the century, the nineteen twenties, and the nineteen forties. So if you’re around in nineteen sixty four, most guests in the audience will have seen one of those decades before. You’ll have people in the audience who were around during the turn of the century, who were around during the nineteen twenties, and who were around during the nineteen forties. So you can all resonate as a family with the ways that times have changed. Now fast forward to the Carousel of Progress is most recent update, which, unbelievably, was more than thirty years ago now. You still had those original show show scenes of the turn of the century, the nineteen twenties, the nineteen forties, and then this updated version of the future, where you talk about car phones and laser laser discs and all kinds of technology that was relevant in the nineteen nineties, but not quite as relevant today. And if you think about today, most people who visit Carousel of Progress have never seen and were not alive during the turn of the century, the nineteen twenties, the nineteen forties. You’ll have some guests who, of course, might have been around and are old enough that they remember those those decades. But the vast majority of people are not going to have lived during those decades. They only know it from history. So the original purpose of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, which was to have a family go through progress together and resonate with the stories, with the technologies, with the changes of the times, that’s no longer relevant. And so I’ve been thinking for a long time that carousel of progress needs an update. And let’s again, I said I was going to start with what these changes are, but I went ahead with the history. So, you know, as we heard last year, we are going to get this new show scene with Walt Disney, um, introducing the carousel of progress. And I’m really excited to see that he’s going to make a home at Walt Disney World because up until this point, since last year, July, we had the debut of Walt Disney and Magical Life over at Disneyland. And that was the only way that you could see an audio-animatronic of Walt Disney now on either coast of the US. Whether you are a frequent guest of Walt Disney World or Disneyland, you will get to see this Audio-animatronic technology, which again, I did an episode about it last year. Loved it. Can’t wait to go back. We’re actually going to be going back this summer, and I’ll get to show the girls and some extended family this brand new show. So carousel of Progress we just learned today is going to receive an update for all of its show scenes. We’re still going to see the family we know and love. You know, John and Sarah. Um, there’s a in the photo, we can see that Rover is still present. Um, and you’re still going to have the two kids that are there. Um, or Uncle Orville is still going to be present. Um, you know, Grandma and grandpa, it seems, are going to make an appearance here as well. But act one is going to be the nineteen sixties. What I love about this is it is bringing us from Walt’s time, which makes so much sense when you think about Walt’s now being present in the carousel of progress, it’s going to be the audio-animatronic they selected for a magical life was the Walt of the mid nineteen sixties, and this now fits perfectly in the updated storyline for the attraction. So you’re going to see, you know, this Disney Parks blog article calls out the summer of nineteen sixty nine is going to be the first show scene where all people around the world are gathered together to witness the historic moon landing. And I can just imagine some of the technology we’ll see from that nineteen sixties scene, some of the moments that will happen, and then seeing the family gather together to witness the first human landing on the moon. And I know that there are going to be grandparents and older generations in the audience who remember that day, and this will resonate with them as a throwback to perhaps where they were in the summer of nineteen sixty nine. Act two is going to take us twenty years into the future, much like the original version did into the nineteen eighties, and it’s going to be the night of Halloween in nineteen eighty five. And think about if you were a fan of a lot of more recent, uh, shows and series. You could probably think of a few in particular harken back to the nineteen eighties for us millennials, it’s really, you know, thinking back to our childhoods and, you know, even for the, the Gen X population, thinking about, you know, when they were, uh, you know, just starting out as young adults starting out in their careers, um, maybe starting a family. And so it’s really interesting to see what, again, like what technology is going to be present. Uh, you know, that Disney says that Uncle Orville’s going to be found in there with that, you know, that classic no privacy at all around here. Quote. Uh, so it’s going to be interesting to see what new appliances and gadgets and what references they’ll make in the nineteen eighties scene. Uh, nineteen sorry, the third act is going to be the new millennium. So it’s going to be New Year’s Eve, the countdown to Y2K. Uh, what New Year’s Eve, nineteen ninety nine. I remember that day very vividly because of everything that was discussed in the news about what might happen at the turn of the century. Um, they’re going to be discussing the dawn of the internet. They’re going to be discussing all of these, you know, again, technology, the gadgets and gizmos. I could just picture the, the, the things that we might see in this, this show scene. Um, I’m hoping that we’ll get like a, a dial up signal as, as John perhaps is trying to dial into the internet. If you remember the dial up internet age like I do, it’s probably a sound that you haven’t heard in a while, but one that brings back a lot of memories for when you were younger. And the last show scene is going to be a, you know, let’s preface by saying that up until this point, the issue with Carousel of Progress is that the future is constantly moving, and Carousel of Progress has always been this almost Epcot version of the future, where it’s just things that are very close to happening. But then once that passes, the technology and the references become very Outdated. So this updated show scene is instead going to better fit into Tomorrowland with a possible future of a very distant future in a home that’s off planet. And think about the other attractions around Tomorrowland, in particular the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Peoplemover, and Space Mountain. Those are very off planet experiences. So this is another one that is a very fitting off planet experience. And what I love is that they went back to original concept sketches by Disney legend John Hench, who was Walt Disney’s right hand man, uh, both at the studio and with Walt Disney Imagineering. And he’s his vision for this final show scene is going to be incorporated into this updated carousel of progress. They also have a brand new poster, which feels very retro futuristic. It feels like a harkening back to the nineteen sixties, and I love that it fits with when Carousel of Progress originally created. It fits with the. The time period that we’re setting out with now in this updated version. And Disney says this is going to reopen in twenty twenty seven, but it’s also a very quick turnaround for when it’s going to be closing. So you’re listening to this if it’s the first day this is out again, Thursday, May twenty eighth, it’s closing in less than a month and a half. Uh, the last, uh, the last day of operation is going to be July fifth, twenty twenty sixth. It is going to close on July sixth, twenty twenty six. So this upcoming Independence Day weekend is the last chance to experience the current version of Carousel of Progress. And sometime in twenty twenty seven, this is going to reopen. I do suspect that carousel of progress is going to be infused with new life after this refurbishment. As I said in the beginning, I do think this refurbishment was necessary. It had been outdated for quite a long time. It’s a really nostalgic show. It’s one that, as Disney fans, especially if you grew up going to Magic Kingdom, I know that my family always loved doing Carousel of Progress. I’m. It’s one that I love to do. We’ve done with Maggie and Emily, but this is going to give us as a family, a new chance to connect and remember the times that we were growing up. And I can bring my parents back and they can remember things from the nineteen sixties and the nineteen eighties that I didn’t get to experience when they first debuted. And then I get to reminisce and think about the technology from the Y2K era, you know, from that New Year’s Eve nineteen ninety nine. I remember that day very well. So even though I was a kid. So I can just think about it and we can all think about the potential future and leave with this optimistic spirit for what a very distant future might be. So I love it that the Imagineers are future proofing carousel of progress to give us this longer shelf life for the attraction. Now, because these decades are being updated to really sixty years ahead of where they began, you know? So the twentieth century, the twenties and the forties is going to be the sixties, the eighties, and basically two thousand. This means that eventually there might be an opportunity to update it once again. And if we go sixty years in the future, that’s incredibly you know, that means that the next cycle, if they do this again in sixty years, is going to be the first. The first decade would be the twenty twenties, and then there would be the twenty forties and the twenty sixties. Or they could take a cue and maybe do a little bit faster and go one hundred years in the future from the original version and to, you know, start with the turn of the century for the going into the year two thousand and then the twenty twenties and the twenty forties. And then what a again, an updated distant future might be. But this has been the ongoing dilemma with Tomorrowland is how do you keep it relevant? How do you keep this vision of the future that is ever moving, still relevant for guests you come to visit and now they are future proofing it by creating a. I often differentiate, and I alluded to a little bit earlier, the difference between an Epcot vision of the future and a Tomorrowland vision of the future, where Epcot historically has portrayed a tangible and near version of the future. What are things that are in development now that are coming in the future? Innoventions was a great example of a showcase for future technologies that are being developed today, and even things like attractions like test track and mission space. These are all looking at technologies that exist in ways in which we’re thinking about the future of car travel or the future of space travel. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind a little bit different because it is looking at a fictional version of the future. And then on the other side, with world nature, you have the seas with Nemo and friends, where they’re talking about the ways that we are looking to conserve our our oceans and our waters around the world. Living with the land. One of my favorites, talking about ways in which we are planning for the future of agriculture. Um, Soarin looking at, of course, landscapes in the natural world and in the Imagination Pavilion where you are thinking about imagination as a component of one of those things that helps us to create the future. And then Spaceship Earth, of course, the futuristic version of or the history of communication and where communication might go in the future. So Tomorrowland has always been that more fictional version of the future, that fantastic off planet, distant future. And now with this update with Carousel of Progress, we should see a again, more future proof version of this classic Walt Disney attraction. So I’m really happy that Disney is infusing new life into classics like Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger, Spin, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad even thinking about the transformation of Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure rock n roller coaster starring Aerosmith to Rock n Roller Coaster starring the Muppets, Disney is finding ways to keep these very popular and relevant attractions relevant for new generations. Updated, infused with new life while still honoring the past. And I am optimistic that this updated version of Carousel of Progress is going to be one that nostalgic Disney fans and new Disney fans will know and love. My only question is, how are they going to figure out the updated queue? Because it is a very short and very small area for the queue for Carousel of Progress. I have a feeling that they’re going to be routing it back to just putting on my thinking cap for a second, routing it back to where you currently meet. Often Buzz Lightyear sometimes stitch in between that little area between Carousel of Progress and Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger spin. I think they’re going to route it back to there and maybe even create a new backstage extended covered queue. I hope it’s covered and that will mean that you’ll, I expect, have some wait times, especially in the initial weeks when this does reopen in twenty twenty seven, but we’re far off from that. I do expect we’ll probably get more details about Carousel of Progress, maybe some specific technology. We might see some more specific mentions about the characters who are going to appear in the show, and any other updates that might impact Carousel of Progress, but I’m very curious to get your thoughts, so let me know in the comments of this episode if you’re listening on Patreon. If you’re not, uh, create a post, tag me in it, or reach out to me in a message and let me know what you think about these updates to Carousel of Progress. Thank you as always for listening to imagination Sky. Remember, remember that you can get ad free episodes and lots of bonus content by subscribing at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. Thank you as always, for listening to the show and remember to keep moving forward.