Walt Disney's Carousel
of Progress has one of the most storied histories
of any attraction in the Magic Kingdom.
Progress
as a concept was always near and dear to Walt Disney's
heart. During the late 1950s, Walt Disney had plans
to expand Disneyland's Main Street to include two
new districts: International Street and Edison
Square.
In Edison
Square, Walt conceived of a show hosted by a mechanical
man named Wilbur K. Watt. The
show was to chronicle the evolution of electricity
in
the home, from the late 1800s to the present and
beyond. (Interestingly, the original concept was
to have the audience get
up and walk to the
next
theater
to see the next act.
Unfortunately, the Main Street
expansion never took place, partly because the
current technology wasn't sufficient to bring
Walt's ideas to life.
By the time of the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair
however, technology had progressed enough to try
again. General Electric approached Walt Disney
to produce an attraction for the Fair, and Walt
leapt at the chance.
The Carousel of Progress, as the show was now called,
featured newly developed Audio-Animatronic figures.
This technology was also used in Great Moments
with Mr. Lincoln, another Fair pavilion created
by Disney (it was the Abraham Lincoln figure which
served as a testing ground for the Animatronic
technology). Disney songwriters Richard M. Sherman
and Robert B. Sherman came up "There's a Great
Big Beautiful Tomorrow" to serve as the shows
theme song.
At the conclusion of the World's Fair, it was
clear that the Carousel of Progress was a huge
success, and General Electric agreed to continue
sponsorship and fund the move to Disneyland,
where it opened in July of 1967 (where it was
known as the General Electric Carousel of Progress).
A
new addition was a second-floor post-show featuring
a scale model of "Progress City".
The model was actually based on Walt Disney's
plans for his "Florida Project", known
as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
(EPCOT).
By 1973, the Carousel was suffering from dwindling
audiences. It was thus decided to relocate the
show in the newly opened Magic Kingdom, and so
the entire show was packed up once again and
moved in preparation for its Florida debut in
1975. A few changes were made, most notably the
replacement of "There's
a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" by another
Sherman brothers song, "The
Best Time of Your Life". The post-show
with "Progress City" was also not included
in the move. (However, the model itself was brought
to Florida and is now on display in Tomorrowland
Transit Authority attraction).
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