Carousel of Progress - Part I

The Carousel of Progress was Walt Disney's tribute to the technological innovation that occurred during the 20th century. The attraction shows the evolution of thought over about 100 years, with the animatronic actors describing changes that they have seen and hope to see in the world. The 20th century was one of fantastic growth. My favorite quote is from the 1920s scene, where the father comments that because of the railroads, you can now get from New York to Los Angeles in just 3 days. At the time, this was a marvel, but today it's blown out of the water by aviation. Like the show says, "this progress will continue in your life and mine.""

Edison Square

Most people associate the origin of the Carousel progress with the 1964 world's Fair. However, this is not the start of the idea. In 1958, Walt Disney proposed Edison square, a land which would be built behind Main Street at Disneyland. There were several iterations of Edison Square. One of them included celebrations of the inventors themselves. But one concept that received substantial development was effectively an early version of the Carousel of progress. 

The attraction utilized a series of theaters. The the biggest difference between this version and what we actually got was that the guests moved instead of the theater. The guest would sit down for the first scene, and then doors would open and the guests could move to the second theater, where they would see the second scene. WED created a pamphlet to describe it in detail. The pamphlet showed concept art as well as describing each of the scenes that would be employed. It also included a top view of the attraction that showed how many theaters there would be and how they would be situated in relation to each other. Quoting from the pamphlet:

Act 1 will present on stage a unique play in which the setting is an American home just prior to the turn of the Century, in 1898. This particular home has been selected as a model for the period, containing all the very latest up to date furnishings and appliances.

It is the days of pre-electricity. Our narrator, Mr. Wilbur K. Watt, is an incredible electro-mechanical man. As he rocks back and forth in his armchair, he describes the scene we see on the stage. It is almost as though Mr. Watt were alive, for his movements are synchronized and life-like as he describes the play.

As though the scene were a Broadway play coming to life, Mr. Watt takes us into this model American home of 1898, where we will meet all the wonderful characters who will demonstrate the “newest” home appliances which have made life easier for them.

This pamphlet had one specific purpose. It was used as part of the pitch that Wed made to general electric. Even back in the '50s, Disney and GE saw potential for a partnership here. Disney was looking for ways to showcase ge's products as a demonstration of the progress that was being made in America. Ultimately, Edison square was left unbuilt and this concept was shelved. 

1964 World's Fair

When GE started planning their pavilion for the World's Fair, they approached Disney and asked for help building a show. Disney updated the proposal, this time including the Carousel Theater. The original idea of guests moving from theater to theater certainly would have met the need to show different snapshots of American history, without the need to reconfigure a stage with new animatronics between each scene. However, the logistics of moving a crowd that way would have been complicated. It takes time for an audience to gather their belongings file in and out of the rows. Take a seat and settle down for a show to start. Effectively, you're doing a new load and unload between every scene. This would drastically have reduced the capacity of the attraction. The carousel solves this problem, because you load the people once, and then the people sit and enjoy a continuous show. Area to the next, providing continuous show that keeps them engaged. This is much better from a park operations standpoint. 

Updates at the Parks

When the show moved from New York to Disneyland, most of its elements remained intact. Only minor changes were made as necessary. The largest one being that the carousel building had to be rebuilt. 

The move to Disney World a few years later had more of an impact on the show. At the time of the move, audiences had been dwindling at the Disneyland version. This is a well-known behavior for shows at the Disneyland resort, the repetitive audience isn't attracted to repeat animatronic shows as strongly as the consistently new audience in Florida. GE requested the change because they hoped that the move to the new park with the new audience would boost their attendance (which it did). They also requested a new song be written. They were concerned that "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" meant that GE would be selling great big beautiful products tomorrow. They didn't want guests to think GE was going to do grrat things, but that GE is doing great things. The new song, titled "The Best Time of Your Life," made the shift GE wanted. That song stayed in place until 1994 when GE sponsorship faded.

One of the updates in the move from Disneyland to Walt Disney World was that the Progressland model was reduced. Instead of taking the entire second floor for the model, a reduced version was placed on the route of the People Mover. This lets the "World on the Move" idea blend with the futuristic city, just as Walt had planned.

Part II

In Part II, we'll look at more of the Courosel's legacy, including Epcot, Innoventions, and an unbuilt version of the attraction for California.