A Big Beautiful (?) Tomorrow: Changes Coming to Carousel of Progress

I've been very busy in my “real” life recently, which is why this blog hasn’t been updated in quite some time.  I don’t want to give it up, and I’m hoping that I can find time to write even if it’s not as much as it used to be.  For a few months, I told myself that if the situation presented itself, I would make sure to post about it.  A lot has happened in the world of Disney but nothing that compelled me to write about it … until now.

 

So what brings me back into the fold here, dear reader?  The Carousel of Progress, of course!  Disney recently announced that some major changes were going to take place with this attraction, and I couldn’t stay silent any longer.  This post will take a look at what was announced, put it in context with similar changes in the past and try to decide whether we should be happy about this or not.

 

The original Carousel of Progress was conceived by Walt Disney himself as part of the famous 1964-65 World’s Fair.  It’s a rotating stage attraction, featuring Animatronics of John, Sarah and others in a “typical” American family going through the 20^th Century.  The final scene depicts “the future” which, like the rest of Tomorrowland where it now resides, is difficult to keep up with (more on this later).

 

The Carousel is often called the “longest running stage show” in America, which I find to be a bit disingenuous, considering there are no real “actors” here.  In any case, it was a big success at the World’s Fair, and it moved to Disneyland afterwards before it closed in 1973.  It opened in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 1975 and has been running ever since.  It has been updated numerous times since its creation, but not since 1994, which I believe has a big part to play in why changes are coming now.

 

Last year, it had been announced that a Walt Disney Animatronic was going to be added to the attraction in the introduction scene, where now a closed curtain and voiceover are all that you see and hear.  No timeframe was given for this but that's still in the works, and now an even larger update is coming.  The current version of the attraction will close as of July 6 with a new version opening sometime in 2027.

The current version of this attraction has four distinct scenes - they cover the turn of the century (that's the 1900's), the 1920's, the 1940's and the "future", the 21st century.  The new version will replace all of this with new scenes starting beyond where the "past" scenes ended - the 1960's, the 1980's, the turn of the century (1999) and the possible future, set on a planet that's not Earth.  

 

In a vacuum, a lot of this makes sense.  When the attraction debuted in 1964, the oldest scene would have been 60 or so years in the past, with the third act being only twenty years prior.  Now these scenes are truly dated.  The new timeframe almost lines up in a similar fashion - the 1960's scene focuses on the moon landing in 1969, putting it almost 60 years in the past from the opening date of the attraction (2027).  And the turn of the century scene will be almost 30 years before current day as of the reopening.

I do have some conflicted feelings here though, so I don't know if this is a slam dunk positive change.  First, I always bristle at attractions from the days of Walt being changed.  This is part of my larger complaint about how every attraction nowadays has to be based on existing IP, mostly from Disney movies, and that a wholly original attraction hasn't opened since Expedition Everest almost thirty years ago.  But that's beyond the scope of this post as a whole; this was my first reaction however.  Anything that predates the IP era should be preserved as much as possible in my opinion.

Will these changes bring more people to an attraction that is largely underutilized?  Maybe, but I don't know that a cosmetic refresh will do all that much to bring in guests who are only interested in thrill rides or familiar characters.  A change like this probably won't move the needle there, but it will almost definitely anger a large portion of the diehard fanbase.  Disney has proven that they don't make these kinds of decisions based on the loud minority, however (see: Splash Mountain).

The reality is more likely that the choice wasn't between leaving the attraction as is and making these changes.  Instead. the choice was likely between making these changes and replacing the attraction entirely.  In many ways, this mirrors the recent update to the Country Bear (Musical) Jamboree.  While I mourn the loss of that original Walt attraction, I think having the presence of the country bears, even singing Disney songs, is better than not having them at all, and that's pretty much where I've landed on Carousel of Progress as well.

As always here, nostalgia plays a big part in a Disney trip, particularly for repeat visitors.  People always remember the version of an attraction that holds the most memories for them.  The longer an attraction lasts in its same form, the more people develop strong feelings for it.  In the case of Carousel, since the last update was in 1994, that's a LOT of memories for a LOT of people.  I suspect this version of the attraction is the only version most people even remember at this point (and I include myself in that category).

I always enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and what's interesting to me is that my kids enjoy it as well.  Same attraction, same version.  So it's not even about the specifics of the ride, but more about the memories we've made along the way (or something).  I will definitely miss John mistakenly burning the Christmas dinner because he accidentally activates the oven when watching Grandma excel at that virtual reality game; I hope that whatever "dad joke" replaces it is just as memorable.  But more than the gag itself, my fond memories here relate to us reminiscing about this when we're at home and not at the parks.  It's not easy to replace something like that.

As for the substance itself, the biggest thing that was noted is that the earworm song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" will remain.  And thank goodness for that!  I know there were versions of the attraction that didn't have this song ("The Best Time of Your Life" replaced it in the past but the original Sherman Brothers song was brought back for the 1994 refresh) but it's hard to imagine it without that song now.  

While I think the new scenes will be more relevant to the visitor, I question why they're using major events to tell this story rather than an overview of American life as it is now.  Things like the moon landing and the internet are already touched upon in an attraction like Spaceship Earth for example; they didn't really need to go back to that well in the Carousel of Progress.

If we consider what I said above, where it was either this change or an entirely new attraction, I think this is the best possible outcome.  So in that way, I will remain cautiously optimistic here.  I suspect that the Imagineers that will work on this new version will know that they are tasked with a difficult challenge and that they will respect the feeling of the guests as they map out how this will go.  I also like the idea of the "future" scene being on a different planet. Dad jokes aside, the current version of the future (if that makes sense) is definitely dated.

While I will mourn the only version of this attraction that I can remember, I'm hopeful that these changes will do justice to the spirit of the original, and Walt's idea to show American life.  If it needs a refresh to remain relevant, well, I guess that's progress for you.  Now just don't come for my Tiki Room.