Disney NEEDS to Fix the Carousel of Progress Finale ASAP

This iconic Disney attraction needs a NEW Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.

The Carousel of Progress has been a staple of Disney’s themed experiences for 60 years. The animatronic-packed show, which first premiered at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and had a run in Disneyland before being moved to Disney World 50 years ago, is all about optimism and looking forward to the future, as exemplified by its Sherman Brothers-penned theme song “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.” Which makes it all the more puzzling that Disney has let the show’s grand finale decay for over 30 years…

The first spark of what would eventually become the Carousel of Progress began life during the planning of Edison Square, an expansion of Disneyland’s Main Street that was designed during the late 1950s. The area’s primary attraction was to be the General Electric (GE)-sponsored show Harnessing the Lighting. The show was to be hosted by an “electro-mechanical man named Wilbur K. Watt” and would “chronicle the evolution of electricity in the home from the late 19th century to the present and beyond, and show how much electrical appliances—specifically, GE appliances—had benefited American life.”

Edison Square was never built, partially because the technology to successfully execute Harnessing the Lightning did not exist at the time and partially because Walt and his Imagineers shifted their focus to the projects that would eventually mark Disneyland’s “second grand opening” in 1959: Submarine Voyage, the Disneyland Monorail, and the Matterhorn. However, GE still maintained a desire to work with Disney, and the idea for the show remained on Imagineering’s potential attraction list.

As the early 1960s dawned, Disney began working on attractions for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, including essentially inventing audio-animatronic technology in the process. Eventually, the company would contribute four attractions to the fair, each of which would feature at least some animatronics: “it’s a small world” at the Pepsi/UNICEF pavilion, the Ford Magic Skyway at the General Motors pavilion, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the State of Illinois pavilion, and the Carousel of Progress at the General Electric pavilion.

The version of Carousel of Progress that opened with the 1964 World’s Fair would still be recognizable to fans today, at least for the first three segments. Then as now, the show’s segments showed an animatronic American family displaying the progress of technology (specifically GE appliances naturally) first at the turn of the 20th century, then at 20-year intervals on holidays (Valentine’s Day in the 1900s, Independence Day in the 1920s, Halloween in the 1940s and New Year’s Eve in the then-present day of the 1960s) all tied together with the Sherman Brothers’ iconic tune. Using a revolutionary rotating theater concept, the show was a massive hit at the fair, drawing large crowds and long waits.

Following the end of the Fair, the Carousel of Progress was moved essentially unchanged out to Disneyland and – – still sponsored by GE – – opened as part of the park’s New Tomorrowland expansion in 1967. The show would run at the Anaheim park pretty much unchanged until the early 1970s when GE (allegedly citing declining ridership) requested it be moved to Walt Disney World. The Disneyland version closed in 1973.

Carousel of Progress reopened at the Magic Kingdom in January of 1975, with several major changes. The voice cast was changed, the theme tune was changed to a new Sherman Brothers song entitled “The Best Time of Your Life” (allegedly because GE did not want their customers to wait for a “great big beautiful tomorrow” instead of buying their then-current appliances) and the finale was updated to occur during a 1970s New Year’s Eve. A similar update to the finale was done in 1981.

GE’s long-running sponsorship of the Carousel of Progress ended in 1985, and besides specific mentions of the company being removed, the show remained in its 1981 state until the early 1990s. In 1993, the show closed for a refurbishment. This version, which opened in 1994, is the one best recognized by millennial Disney fans. Beyond some minor changes to earlier scenes, the show saw two major changes: “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” returned to its role as the attraction’s theme song, and the finale was changed to a Christmas circa the 21st century, complete with virtual reality video games and the most up-to-date computers 1993 could imagine. In conjunction with these changes, the show’s name was officially changed to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, and a new introduction explained its historical significance and connection to Walt’s futurist ideals.

And in the 30 years since this 1994 refurb?

Nothing.

Outside of a few cosmetic changes, including adding some admittedly amusing easter eggs to the finale and changing out the television for a more modern model and the clothing to be a bit more updated in the finale, the attraction, and its finale have remained pretty much unchanged. To put it in perspective, the 1994 finale has been part of the show for as long as the show existed before its addition: 30 years.

Suffice to say, the fact that this attraction, built on the idea of a “great big beautiful tomorrow” has a finale that’s about 20 years behind the present day, let alone futuristic, is a shame and a bit of a betrayal of its concept. So, what can Disney do about it?

Well, I would postulate that there are two directions they could go:

The first is to update the finale in a similar way to the way it was done in 1975, 1981, and 1994: Update it with a relatively realistic view of the near future. Of course, unless Disney continued to keep this section updated, it would become as dated as the 1994 version, falling victim to the classic “Tomorrowland Problem.”

However, there is another way. Since the Carousel of Progress is already presented as a museum-style tribute to Walt Disney and his futurism anyway, how about removing the finale entirely and replacing it with a reproduction of the 1964-set finale? Turn the whole show into a celebration of the legacy of Disney’s contribution to the 1964 World’s Fair.

Whether Disney chooses to look forward to the future or celebrate the attraction’s past, something needs to be done about the Carousel of Progress’s final, because – – as fun as Flying Ace Grandma can be – – the 1994 version has long overstayed its welcome. Stay tuned to AllEars for more deep dives on Disney World history.

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What do you think Disney should do about the Carousel of Progress? Let us know in the comments below.

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