"There's a great big, beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day!"

Welcome to Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress!

Are you ready for a history lesson, beginning all the way back in 1964? Then keep on reading, because the Carousel of Progress is a fascinating gem in Disney history that definitely does not begin with the Magic Kingdom. Watch this wonderful clip of Walt introducing you to his pride and joy, right before it went to the World's Fair.

Created by Walt Disney for GE's pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, the Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater show exploring the joys of living through the twentieth century, and showcasing the American family through technological progresses and advances. So basically, the show follows one family through the twentieth century, giving peeks into their life and how they're living in whatever decade that act is focusing on (remember when we talked about Horizons, the attraction from Epcot Center? The Carousel of Progress is considered to be the prequel to that).

The Carousel of Progress held a special place in Walt Disney's heart. Various sources say he proclaimed that the Carousel of Progress was his favorite attraction and that it should never cease operation. This can be somewhat supported by family and friends, who knew of his work and devotion to the attraction.

To keep it up with the times, the attraction has been updated five times (in 1967, 1975, 1981, 1985, and 1993) and has had two different theme songs, both written by the Sherman Brothers, titled "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" and "Now is the Time".

After the 1964 World's Fair was over, Walt had the Carousel of Progress moved to Disneyland to find a home in Tomorrowland. However, by the early 1970s, the Carousel of Progress saw dwindling audiences. GE (the attraction's sponsor) thought they were not benefiting much from the Carousel of Progress, since they figured most people who were attending the show had already seen it many times. GE asked Disney to move the show to their new Magic Kingdom. The Disneyland show closed in 1973 and was packed up for Florida.

Extensive changes were made when the attraction moved to Walt Disney World. Along with many changes and updates were made to the actual show, the theme song was changed from "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" to "Now is the Time". Both songs were written by the Sherman Brothers. GE wanted to change the theme song because they didn't want their customers to wait for a great big beautiful tomorrow to buy their products, they wanted to let them know that now is the time to buy GE products! Sounds a little ridiculous to me, but oh well. (The Sherman Brothers actually are known for saying that the original theme song is one that they prefer over the second.)

 In 1985, GE's sponsorship ended, and they chose not to renew.The attraction was temporarily closed so that all the GE references in the show could be removed. This was actually the fourth time the attraction had been updated since 1964. In 1993, the show was updated again to go along with the major Tomorrowland rehaul. The exterior and interior were both updated to reflect new Tomorrowland's theme. Because of a decrease in tourism after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Carousel of Progress was closed. In reopened on a seasonal basis, which means it was only open during peak crowd seasons. This caused many fans to become concerned over the attraction's future. Although numerous "permanent closure" rumors still plague the attraction, Disney has consistently said that there are no plans for permanent closure or any closure at all.Though it is still listed as a seasonal attraction, it has remained open nearly every day of the year and during the Magic Kingdom's regular park hours since 2003.

Like I mentioned earlier, Horizons is considered the sequel to the Carousel of Progress. Horizons was also sponsored by GE, and the family in Horizons is nearly identical to the family in the Carousel of Progress. Here's a picture of the dad from the Carousel of Progress (right) and the dad from Horizons (left) (this picture is a bit harder to see unfortunately).

Here's a great video of the Carousel of Progress, make sure you watch in HD!

Act 1 is during the 1900s,

Act 2 is during the 1930s,

Act 3 is during the 1940s,

And act 4 is during the 21st century!

When the Carousel of Progress is updated, the only major change is usually to Act 4, because it's set in the future. Here's a look at how much it's changed over the years.

1964:

1967:

1975:

1981/85:

1993 (today's version):

The Carousel of Progress hasn't been updated since 1993, which I think means that it will be updated again very soon. It doesn't seem like it, but that's 20 years without an update to Act 4! Today's current vision of the future is a little outdated, which I think isn't very good because this attraction was so precious to Walt and I know he would want it to keep as updated as possible. The Carousel of Progress holds a special place in my heart, and I make sure to visit it every single time I'm in the Magic Kingdom. Knowing that it was an attraction that Walt himself loved and worked on makes it even more special for me. So remember, there's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day!