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| The history of Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
starts in the early 60's when many companies were preparing for the
World's Fair in New York City in 1964 and 1965. The Walt Disney
Company, then known as WED Enterprises (Walter Elias Disney) was
hired by several companies, Ford and Pepsi among them, to design and
create exhibits to boldly represent their respective corporations.
None, however, so grabbed the founder's heartstrings like the exhibit he
was hired to produce for General Electric. Progressland's
Carousel Theater would be a completely new experience for Walt, and a
challenge he couldn't wait to throw himself into.
Walt immersed himself in the project, even choosing the voices for the show personally, to make sure that the characters reflected the Midwestern values and attitudes that he felt so strongly about. Trying his hardest to let the engineers do the work, he took every opportunity to make his point ever so clear about what story the show should convey. "When we were designing the thing, Walt couldn't resist getting up and doing the work himself," explains imagineer, John Hench. "He jumped in the bathtub for the Cousin that was visiting--the guy who invented air conditioning with the fan and block of ice. And he'd say, `What would Cousin Orville do if he were in here?' Walt turned the tub around to face the audience, and he took off his shoes and wiggled his toes to show us. He went through the whole bit. He did several of the acts and even vented dialogue as he went. He was the best story man, particularly on the small bits of business, and it's the small individual things that you never forget." (Persistence of Vision Publishing) Of all of the exhibits that came to fruition, the Carousel Theater was by far the fan-favorite. It is, in fact, often remembered as the G.E. pavilion. In reality, there were five different sections to the presentation, including Fusion on Earth and Electric Living - an on display electric community.
Designer: WED Enterprises, Inc., Burbank, CAStructural Engineer: Richard Bradshaw, Inc., Van Nuys, CAMechanical & Electrical Engineer: Syska & Hennessy, Inc., NYElectrical Contractor: Fishback & Moore, NYSteel Fabricator & Erector: Bethlehem Steel
ADDITIONAL INFO below by Eric Paddon: and partially obtained from www.burnsland.com
Again, I enjoy the site and hope it helps lead
to the show getting a renewed lease on life at WDW.
"I love the
nostalgic myself. I hope we never
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©2007 TKO Visual Communications Inc |
After the fair's end in 1965, the
theater was demolished while all of the animatronics and control systems
were moved to Disneyland so the show could be put on display in
Tommorowland. The name was changed from Progressland to
G.E.'s Carousel of Progress. It remained there until the
early 70's, when it was closed and moved to Walt Disney World in Florida,
being replaced at Disneyland by America Sings. The theme song
that had been used since the opening at the fair, "Great Big, Beautiful
Tomorrow," was dropped during the transition, and changed to "Now is
the Time." A major change was made in 1992 when G.E. removed its
sponsorship of the attraction. A dramatic rewrite of the final
scene, changed the setting from a late 60's culture to a more 90's look
with high definition TV., Dad in the kitchen, and Mom doing her work at
the computer. (Which if you look closely, is scrolling the script along
with the animatronic family.) During this revamp, the show was
renamed Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress and the original song
was returned to it's rightful place. Today, the show has the
distinguishment of having more performances than any other stage
presentation in the world.
