Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater Audio-Animatronics stage show attraction in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, just outside Orlando. Created by Walt Disney and WED Enterprises as the prime feature of the General Electric (GE) Pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair, the attraction was moved to Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as Carousel of Progress, and remained there from 1967 until 1973. It was replaced in Disneyland by America Sings in 1974, and reopened in its present home in the Magic Kingdom in 1975.
Steeped in both nostalgia and futurism, the attraction's premise is an exploration of the joys of living through the advent of electricity and other technological advances during the 20th century via a "typical" American family. To keep it current with the times, the attraction has been updated five times (in 1967, 1975, 1981, 1985, and 1994), and has had two theme songs, both written by the Sherman Brothers, Disney's Academy Award-winning songwriting team.
The Carousel of Progress holds the record as the longest-running stage show in the history of American theater. It is one of the oldest attractions in the Walt Disney World Resort. It is also the oldest attraction at Walt Disney World to have been worked on by Walt Disney.
Summary Intro The attraction begins with a brief introduction about Walt Disney's idea for the attraction's debut at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair and how he always had a passion for progress. Regarded as the longest-running stage show in American theater history, the theater then begins to rotate for each act to the theme song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" by the Sherman Brothers.
Act 1: Turn of the Century (1900s) The first act is set on Valentine's Day, "right around the turn of the century". The father of the family, John, is sitting on a wooden rocking chair in his home, his dog, Rover, lying on the floor. He mentions that two brothers in North Carolina are working on a "flying contraption" but comments it will never work, followed by mentions of the new inventions and technological achievements of the day. After he shows off the new technology, he calls to his wife, Sarah, who is ironing in the room to John's right. The two discuss how Thomas Edison is working on an idea for "snap-on electric lights", to which Sarah comments "no more kerosene, no more gas" will be needed to illuminate rooms.
She also shows her new "wash-day marvel" that helps her do laundry in five hours, instead of two days, and she needs to get the laundry off the line before it starts raining. John initially denies that it is about to rain as his lumbago hasn't acted up, but is immediately proven wrong. Shortly after, the family's son, James, begins to talk from the right room and is scolded for using his father's Stereoscope without permission. James is watching Little Egypt dancing the "Hootchie-Cootchie". John comments that she is going to be the star of the upcoming World's Fair, and that James better put the Stereoscope away before his mother finds it. As John and James finish talking, John tells talks about owning "one of those new talking machines", after which, the family's grandmother appears on the left room, having fallen asleep while listening to the phonograph. John's attention is then drawn to a room on the right, where his daughter, Patricia, is getting ready to go to a Valentine's Day dance on the other side of town. John explains that she will be taking one of the new "horseless trolleys", before telling her that she better be home by 9 o'clock. He then mentions he's going to take one of the said trolleys downtown to have a root beer, which he explains is just a sarsaparilla with a new name.
Act 2: 1920s The second act is set in the "Roarin' Twenties". John is once again sitting in his kitchen, this time on a smaller kitchen chair on Independence Day. Wires and new electric machines are all over the room. He says things have changed a lot in the last twenty years. He proceeds to tell guests the new accomplishments of the era, such as Charles Lindbergh about to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, sports stadiums being built all over the United States, regarding Babe Ruth as the country's best baseball player, advertisements for a film, where Al Jolson will talk and sing, electric starters replacing cranks in automobiles, and travel time from New York to California in three days.
John then tells guests that Thomas Edison has brought electricity to his home, after which, the electrical appliances all turn on at the same time, blowing a fuse, shutting the power in the house and the neighborhood. John then tells his son, Jimmy, to go put in a new fuse and power is restored. John's wife, Sarah, who is sitting on the front porch, is sewing a George Washington costume for John to wear to the town's Independence Day celebration, as her Ladies Club is in charge of the festivities. John tells the guests that the whole family will be performing in their presentation, with John and Sarah going as George and Martha Washington. Sarah is happy electric lights can be installed on the porch. Sarah tells John that Jimmy has volunteered to pick the music for the celebration. Jimmy then appears with his grandfather in the left room, dressed in a colonial outfit and standing next to a radio, which is playing patriotic music.
John tells guests that they can now get news and entertainment on their radio from all over the country. The radio programming announces crowds have begun gathering downtown for the 4th of July. After hearing this, John rushes his daughter, Patricia, to get ready. Patricia is sitting in a room on the right, wearing a Statue of Liberty costume, worrying her new boyfriend will be scared away if he sees her in her costume. John then mentions the house now has indoor plumbing which is great for cold days, especially for Uncle Orville, who is shown sitting in a bathtub on the left side of the stage. John informs guests that he has set up an air cooling system next to the bathtub, with a fan sitting in front of a block of ice, blowing on him.
Act 3: 1940s The third act is set on Halloween during the "Fabulous Forties". John is wearing a sweater while sitting at a circular booth-style kitchen table. New kitchen technologies include a refrigerator that holds more quantity of food and ice cubes and an automatic dishwasher. John mentions he is now part of the "rat race" and they now have television, when it works, and that John Cameron Swayze brings the news every night.
The grandparents then appear on the right room, where the grandfather is sleeping and the grandmother changes the television channel to boxing. A now teenage Jim calls from his room and asks for his father's opinion on the Jack-O-Lantern he carved, to which John says it's scary; Jim remarks he used his "beautiful sister Patty" as a model. Patty is seen on the right room using an old exercise machine that was "all the rage in the twenties", while talking on the phone about her date for that night. After this, John tells the audience that he is caught up in the "do-it-yourself" craze as they are redoing their basement and making it into a rumpus room. On the left room, Sarah is putting up wallpaper using a "paint mixer" that John says he made for her, using Sarah's food mixer. As John admires his handiwork, the paint mixer goes haywire and shoots paint everywhere.
Act 4: 21st century The fourth and final act is set during Christmas in the 21st century, with the family gathered in the living room and kitchen. John is standing in the kitchen, where he is working on Christmas dinner while Sarah is working on her computer nearby. A now-young-adult Jim and his grandmother are playing a virtual reality game while a 20-something Trish and her grandfather sit around the Christmas tree. Sarah tells John that she has programmed the oven to recognize his voice. John comments that all of the household items are now voice-automated, and Sarah demonstrates this by requesting that the Christmas tree lights be brightened. She then asks John to try the voice-activated oven, which he does with no problem as it confirms John's temperature command.
The grandmother has reached a score of 550 points in the virtual reality game, impressing both John and James, who repeat the score in awe. Upon hearing John say 550 aloud, the oven increases its temperature, although nobody seems to notice. The grandfather then remarks that he cannot believe the new gadgets that people have today. Between Trish and her grandfather, new technologies have arisen such as car phones, laser discs, high-def TVs, and automated plumbing. When the grandmother gets a high score of 975, John repeats the number out loud in front of the oven, unintentionally causing it to overheat and begin to smoke and blare warning noises before opening the door to show a severely burned and blackened turkey. John jokes that maybe in the new century, ovens will learn to read minds.
History
Edison Square concept In the late 1950s, after Disneyland's initial success, Walt Disney planned to expand the Main Street, U.S.A. area with two districts, International Street and Edison Square. In Edison Square, guests would see a show called "Harnessing the Lighting". Hosted by an "electro-mechanical" man named Wilbur K. Watt, it 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. After each time period, or "act", was over, the audience would get up and walk to the next one. The idea was eventually scrapped.
The Main Street expansion idea fell by the wayside. One reason was that technology was not yet available to achieve what Disney wanted. However, the idea stayed in Disney's mind for the next few years. GE still wanted to work with Disney, but a better outlet was needed.
1964 New York World's Fair
General Electric approached Walt Disney to develop a show for the company's pavilion at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair. Disney leapt at the chance to rekindle his relationship with GE, who would fund the project and the new technology necessary to bring it to life. Reaching back to the Edison Square concept, he again pitched the idea of an electrical progress show to GE executives, who loved it.
During the planning phase, Disney's Imagineers perfected the Audio-Animatronics (AA) technology necessary to operate the "performers" in the show, using technologies similar to those in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, another attraction designed by Disney for the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair. The Imagineers, led by Disney engineers Roger E. Broggie and Bob Gurr, also devised a "carousel theater", so that the audience could stay seated and ride around a stationary set of stages, instead of getting up and walking from stage to stage. This allowed the audience to remain comfortably in place during scene changes, avoiding time-consuming disruptions between acts.
Singing cowboy Rex Allen was tapped to voice Father, the host and narrator that replaced the original "Wilbur K. Watt" character. Allen later commented that he did not know exactly what he was getting into.
Walt Disney asked songwriters Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman to create a song to bridge the "acts" in the show. When he explained what the show was about, they decided to write a song based on Disney's enthusiasm, titled "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow". The brothers later said that they considered it Walt's "theme song," because he was so optimistic and excited about the future and technology itself.