Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Carousel of Progress


from wikipedia:

The Carousel of Progress is an attraction located in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort, currently operating under the name, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. Created by both Walt Disney and the Imagineers of WED Enterprises as the prime feature of the General Electric Pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair, the attraction was moved to Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, remaining there from 1967 until 1973. It was replaced in Disneyland by America Sings in 1974, and reopened in its present home in Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom in 1975.




It's kind of a cheesy exhibit and the audio animatronics are not the greatest but I still like it! I have included videos from youtube for two different versions of the ride, one pre-1994 and one post-1994. If you don't want to sit through both of them I highly recommend at least watching both versions of the fourth act as it was substantially updated in 1993 - from a 1960's (i.e. 'today' theme for 1964) to a 2000 Christmas scene (as imagined in 1993). Jean Shepherd was also used as the new narrator after 1993. You may, or should, remember him as the author/narrator of A CHRISTMAS STORY.



Old Version (revamped in 1973 and used until 1993 - fourth act starts at 3:50 in the second clip)





New version (Jean Shepherd narration with updated 'modern' room - fourth act starts at 15:33)


Additional links:
  • Download high quality MP3's of the background audio used in this attraction here.
  • Click here to visit carouselofprogress.com for even more info about this attraction.
  • Click here to visit the official attraction page at the official Disney World website.
  • Click here to visit Walt Dated World's look at this attraction, including scripts.
  • Click here to visit the NYWF64 website's article about this attraction.

1 comment:

  1. I do love the Carousel. It's one of my favorite things about my yearly trips to the World. I hope they never close it, although I hear rumors all the time.

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