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the most historical attraction at walt
disney world can be found in magic
kingdom's tomorrowland carousel of
progress opened on january 15
1975 as part of a large tomorrowland
expansion at the park
this 21 minute animatronic show is the
only attraction at walt disney world
that walt himself had a personal hand in
creating it was known as his favorite
show
before carousel of progress found a home
at magic kingdom it first debuted at the
1964 new york world's fair and then
could be found at disneyland in
california from 1967 until 1973.
now through all these years the show has
seen some changes especially during its
time at magic kingdom although it may
not be the most popular attraction at
walt disney world it has such a rich
history and contains many little secrets
and tributes to the past there's
probably a lot you don't know or haven't
noticed about the attraction including
one mysterious appearance or maybe
disappearance is the more appropriate
term so while we discuss the history of
this great big beautiful tomorrow sit
back as we count down the top 10 secrets
and facts of walt disney's carousel of
progress
number 10 around and around
one aspect of the carousel of progress
that's pretty unique is its carousel
theater the shows moved around from new
york to california and finally to
florida but with each new location a new
theater structure was constructed now
although this isn't a traditional
carousel it still functions in the exact
same way since the seating area is what
rotates it's a great big carousel
the theater is separated into six
different areas a separate loading and
unloading area plus four different acts
when the attraction was brought to walt
disney world in 1975
they actually changed its rotation to
move counter-clockwise as opposed to
clockwise but the stage has always
remained stationary and doesn't move
well actually act one two and three all
have two small turntable stages that
revolve to show different scenes of the
family if you watch and listen closely
you'll definitely be able to see this
happen
number nine electric leftovers
the general electric company approached
disney to help them create an attraction
for the 1964 world's fair progress land
the pavilion that housed carousel of
progress was sponsored by general
electric and was the most popular
attraction at the fair when carousel of
progress found its home at walt disney
world in 1975
general electrics signed a 10-year
contract to remain the sponsor for the
attraction at the end of the contract in
1985 general electric chose to not renew
correct that's the third one this week
so this meant that all references to the
company needed to be removed most of the
changes came in the form of some lines
being rewritten and re-recorded but
since general electric appliances were
used as props in the scenes a lot of
them actually remained to this day you
can still find hints of general electric
scattered through act 2 and act 3 of the
show the vacuum and the fans seen in the
1920s scene of act 2 are both made by
general electric and if you look closely
you can see the ge logo in act 3 which
takes place in the 1940s the fridge is
the easiest to spot the general electric
logo and if you look really closely the
dishwasher is another general electric
appliance
number eight a great big time of your
life
there's a great big beautiful tomorrow
is a classic disney tune composed by the
sherman brothers it debuted with the
carousel of progress at the 1964 world's
fair and has now become the anthem of
tomorrowland but when the attraction
found its home at magic kingdom in 1975
there's a great big beautiful tomorrow
was nowhere to be heard
the sherman brothers were actually asked
by general electric to write a brand new
song they thought that a great big
beautiful tomorrow implied that
customers should wait until tomorrow to
purchase their appliances so instead the
sherman brothers wrote the song titled
the best time of your life the lyric now
is the time implied that customers
should buy their appliances now and not
tomorrow the song still had a bouncy
feel-good vibe but it was a pretty big
change for the carousel of progress and
this wasn't the only major change the
attraction saw when it moved to magic
kingdom
number 7 the tomorrow of act 4
the last scene of the carousel of
progress has always been designed to
give a glimpse into technology of the
present and near future what we know
today as act 4 at magic kingdom wasn't
what originally opened in
is 1975 more beautiful you know dear i
think you're right well of course she is
this year was new year's eve in the home
of the 1980s and it was actually the
first time the entire family was in act
4. the original only had the mother and
father
this version lasted until a major refurb
in 1994 when disney reworked the entire
show they changed the last scene to now
represent christmas in the home of the
2000s and brought there's a great big
beautiful tomorrow back into the show
the version today is a much closer
representation of what originally opened
in 1964.
since we're in 2018 and act 4 is a
prediction of the 2000s made in 1994.
this scene is kind of outdated just look
at their clothes and the furniture it
screams 90s but their predictions of
what was to come are pretty accurate
with vr and voice activation what's
wrong with the oven
it would be really great to see disney
update the final scene but who knows
what the future has in store for this
great big beautiful tomorrow of act 4.
number six hidden mickeys
in the last disney beat episode we
mentioned that hidden mickeys in the
theme parks didn't officially begin
until they were building epcot in the
early 80s well with the refurb that
happened in 1994 the carousel of
progress saw a few tributes to the mouse
hidden into the attraction the first one
can be found in act 3 of the 1940s
patricia the daughter appears on the
right hand side and sitting on a stool
is what looks to be a witch's hat if you
look closer it's actually a tribute to
mickey's sorcerer hat complete with the
stars and moon fantasia was released in
1940 so this would have been an
appropriate hat that patricia could have
actually had the other hidden mickeys
can be found in act 4 and most of them
are pretty easy to spot under the
christmas tree there's a hidden mickey
on one of the presents which i'm almost
positive is a hidden speaker for the
attraction i'm sure by now you've also
noticed the mickey plush toy hidden
under the tree and if you look up at the
fireplace mantle one of the nutcrackers
is actually nutcracker mickey on the
other side of the scene the mickey salt
and pepper shakers on the kitchen
counter are pretty easy to spot but next
time sit in the front row and take a
look into the trash can you'll spot
sorcerer mickey which is actually part
of the walt disney imagineering logo on
an envelope and speaking of sorcerer
mickey when the theater is rotating from
the 1940s into the 2000s keep an eye on
the wall behind the kitchen table and
you'll find an abstract painting of
sorcerer mickey
number five
pinned
in the final act there's a few other
references worth noting around the
mother's desk on the dry erase board you
can make out that it says grandma and
grandpa flight number 1964.
well if you couldn't guess the 1964
flight number represents the year that
carousela progress debuted at the new
york world's fair
late disney imagineer marty scalar had a
hand in writing every version of the
carousel of progress in the attraction
you'll find a piece of paper pinned up
on the cork board that reads marty
called wants changes and this here is a
tribute to the iconic disney imagineer
number four
the mysterious disappearance
now carousel of progress isn't
necessarily about the character's
progression of age the attraction's more
about what life would be like for the
same family living in each of these time
periods now the immediate family
consists of john the father sarah the
mother patricia or patty the daughter
and james or jimmy the son they only
have two kids but in act one have you
ever noticed this younger daughter or
what i assume is another daughter in the
scene who is she why is she there we
never see this younger daughter again in
any of the other acts and it's not
patricia she appears later on in act one
all these people i'm
i'm indecent
don't worry patricia if patricia didn't
appear in the first act then you could
argue that this younger daughter is just
patricia who then gets older in later
acts just like james does in act four
disney has never given an explanation to
this so what do you think the story is
behind this mysterious younger daughter
who just disappears leave a comment
below
number three
close to extinction
did you know that we almost lost
carousel of progress for good well with
the events that took place on september
11 2001 walt disney world experienced
the drastic drop in attendance on
october 29th 2001 disney closed the
doors to carousel of progress the
orlando sentinel reported that progress
outdates disney attraction and that
magic kingdom has quietly shuddered
carousel of progress disney even removed
the attraction from park maps carousel
of progress only reopened for the busy
christmas season in 2001 then it closed
again in january of 2002 carousel of
progress was then considered a seasonal
attraction just like stitch's great
escape is today and it only operated
during select peak times luckily after a
rise in attendance it was taken off
seasonal status in early 2005 and it
returned to being a daily operating
attraction
number two
cameos
there's a couple of characters from
carousella progress that makes small
cameos and other attractions around the
resort disney reuses animatronic face
molds to cut costs so the grandma that
can be seen here in act 1 sitting in the
rocking chair can actually be found in
the ballroom scene of the haunted
mansion at magic kingdom
in spaceship earth at epcot during the
renaissance scene the violin player is
actually the daughter patricia in the
video where we talked about epcot's
future world i had said that the man
playing the loot was dwight eisenhower
from the hall of presidents but upon
further investigation there are some
accounts that list the loot player as
jon from carousel of progress
since patricia was reused as the violin
player it makes a lot more sense that
this loot player is jon not to mention
that it looks like him but what do you
think
number one i know that voice you can
hear some pretty familiar voices in the
current version of carousel progress
john is voiced by the late gene shepard
phew boy hottest fourth of july we've
had in years you'd probably recognize
gene as the narrator from the holiday
classic a christmas story weeks ago i
had sent away from my little rough and
nanny secret society decoder pin
sarah the mother is voiced by bj ward
i'm glad we installed an electric light
fixture here on the porch you don't need
to go far in tomorrowland to hear vijay
again she provides the voice of the
safety spiel on the people mover and can
also be heard doing the safety spiel on
it's a small world at both disneyland
and magic kingdom
[Music]
the grandfather is voiced by rex allen
who was actually the original voice of
john in the 1964 version of carousel of
progress i can't believe all the new
gadgets they've got now and uncle
orville is voiced by the legendary late
mel blank who is most famously known as
the voice of bugs bunny
so there you have it now do you think
disney will ever update the final scene
of carousel progress i mean the current
one is almost 25 years old so leave a
comment down below to start a
conversation and don't forget to hit
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