Carousel of Progress - Part II

The Carousel of Progress - Part I describes the early concept of the Carousel of Progress and how it evolved on its way to the Magic Kingdom.

EPCOT

In many ways, the idea of Epcot grew out of the ideals of the Carousel of Progress. The Carousel was made to celebrate the development of technology and how it was improving people's lives. Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was designed to showcase the technologies of the future. Walt designed the city to be used as both an industrial center and a tourist attraction; companies would come to build factories and offices to the highest advancements in capabilities and methods. Visitors would see the techniques, and take them back to their communities. EPCOT was conceived as a hub for innovation diffusion.

As the concept of EPCOT changed from a city to a theme park, the ideas of "working and dreaming and building a better way of life" continued. That's what gave the park it's signature optimism for the future. Future World in particular pointed toward this advancement.

Horizons was a key part of this optimism. In many ways, this was the sequel to the Carousel. With a look at previous views of the future followed by life in the future, even the attractions sponsor was an echo of the Carousel of Progress.

Innoventions

Innoventions at Epcot was a showcase for cutting edge technologies. Individual companies could sponsor mini-attractions. This hearkened back to Epcot's original plans. When the attraction moved from Epcot to Disneyland, it was re-imagined to fit inside the Carousel theater. "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was rewritten for an animatronic Tom Morrow, with lyrics focused on five aspects: home, sports and recreation, transportation, work place, and entertainment. The idea of these attractions relied on a constant flow of new vendors sponsoring new attractions. When these vendors dried up, the attraction didn't last. Both versions of Innoventions have been replaced.

Disneyland's Unbuilt Carousel of Progress

In 1998, Disneyland debuted a New Tomorrowland. This version of the land replaced the former white  and blue pallet with a gold and brown one. This was reminiscent of Disneyland' Paris's Discoveryland, which was Disney's take on a Jules Verne future. This update included the introduction of Innoventions, the closing of the People Mover, and a promise of the opening of the Rocket Rods.

Before the plan for Innoventions was finalized, one of the pitches for the Carousel Theater was to combine the original Carousel of Progress with Horizons. This version of the attraction was never built, but would have kept the family from the Carousel, and but taken them through scenes in the 1890s, the 1940s, the 1990s, the undersea research station, the desert habitat, and the space scene from horizons. 


Like Plectu's Intergalactic Musical Revue and other unused concepts for this space, Disney didn't follow through and the idea has been set aside for the present.

Magic Kingdom Update

Earlier this year, Disney announced that the Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom is due for another upgrade. This one will see a new introduction by Walt Disney himself: an animatronic of him that uses original audio. This new update will strengthen the connection between the modern attraction and its origin.

Popular Posts

Height Restrictions Translated to Age Ranges

Image
Height restrictions keep kids safe, but they can be frustrating. If you have ever taken kids to the parks, you know what I mean. Every cast member measures a little differently, so sometimes you make it all the way to the loading zone and then get turned away. Other times your kids are just slightly too short, and you wish they would have worn taller shoes. One of the most difficult things, in my mind, is planning trips and figuring out how long it will be ’till your kids can meet height restrictions. Especially when some can ride and some can’t, the younger ones want to know how much longer ’till they’ll be big enough. I don’t know any parents that have memorized a growth chart and can say, “My child will grow 1 inch in the next 9 months, so we should plan a trip then.” When we plan trips with our kids, we just keep measuring them and telling them to eat a bunch in hopes they’ll be tall enough for more rides. Fortunately, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has released  data ...
Read more

5 Fun Facts About Disneyland’s Opening

Image
It’s been 65 years since the Happiest Place on Earth opened to the world. To celebrate, here are 5 facts you may not know about Disneyland’s opening. If it failed, it would have become movie sets Disneyland was expensive to build, and Walt needed more money for it. Roy Disney was the company’s financial leader and was responsible for finding all the funding they needed.. To convince lenders to hand over more cash, Roy told them that the project was low risk. His story was that even if the park proved unpopular, the park could close to the public and turn into movie sets. Frontierland could be used for westerns, Adventureland for adventures, and Main Street for turn-of-the-century stories. I’m not sure what they could have used the Fantasyland circus tents for, though. July 17th was supposed to be a smaller party Disney sent invitations to a selected number of people for the grand opening festivities. The park was meant to open to the public on the next day, July 18th. However, some ind...
Read more

Monte Cristo Sandwich Recipe

Image
If you haven’t tried a Monte Cristo at Disneyland you definitely need to try one. They are by far our favorite meal at the park. And since we celebrated a birthday last week I thought I’d try my hand at making one homemade. After some searching I found this official Disney recipe: It only took a few minutes to make the batter. The batter is much thicker than I thought it would be, almost as thick as pudding, but it coated the bread easily and fried well. We used “Texas toast” instead of regular bread so the sandwiches were a little thicker. We don’t have a fryer so we just heated oil in a pan and that worked well. I realized I didn’t have any powdered sugar so I couldn’t put the finishing touch on. They don’t look nearly as pretty as Blue Bayou or Cafe Orleans, but surprisingly they tasted pretty good.
Read more