There really is a great big beautiful tomorrow waiting for us.
As Walt Disney World continues to look towards its future with new lands, attractions and technology, Disney is also making sure some of the stories that helped build its history aren’t being left behind.
In fact, one of Walt Disney’s most personal creations is about to make that history come alive for an entirely new generation.
For more than 60 years, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress has taken guests through the changing lives of one American family as new inventions transform the world around them. Technology changes, decades pass and new ideas enter our homes, but at the center of everything has always been that same sense of optimism for whatever tomorrow might bring.
Now the carousel is ready to turn once more.
During D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney revealed a massive reimagining of the classic Magic Kingdom attraction that will move its family into entirely new decades, introduce new voices and even bring Walt Disney himself into the attraction he helped create.
And perhaps most importantly, Disney isn’t trying to erase the history of Carousel of Progress.
It’s using that history to tell its next story.
Walt Disney Is Joining the Carousel
Long before EPCOT, smartphones or even Walt Disney World itself, Walt was already fascinated by the ways technology could change everyday life.
That fascination eventually helped create Carousel of Progress for the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, where audiences watched an American family move through different eras of innovation inside a groundbreaking rotating theater.
Now Walt himself is becoming part of that history.
Using Audio-Animatronics technology, guests will encounter Walt Disney in a new opening scene inspired by the 1964 television special Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair, where Walt originally introduced audiences to the concept that would become Carousel of Progress.
And Disney Imagineers are digging deep into the company’s past to make it feel authentic.
The scene will feature recreations of items seen in that original special, including a prototype Tiki bird, a model of the Tower of the Four Winds and a doll from it’s a small world.
It’s almost like stepping into a piece of Disney history before watching that history begin moving forward.
The Carousel Is Moving Into New Decades
Of course, progress means change.
Rather than continuing to take audiences through the same eras that have defined the attraction for decades, John, Sarah and the rest of the family are moving forward.
This time, the journey begins in the 1960s.
Set during the summer of 1969, the first act will find the family gathered around their television alongside millions of people around the world as humanity takes its first steps on the moon.
From there, we’re heading into a very different era.
Halloween 1985.
Sarah will take center stage for the first time as she shows off the appliances and gadgets making life easier around the house, while John is outside handing candy to trick-or-treaters.
And yes, Uncle Orville is still trying to find some privacy.
Welcome to the Internet Age
Then comes a piece of history that plenty of Disney guests actually lived through.
New Year’s Eve, 1999.
As the world prepares to enter a new millennium, the Carousel family is discovering something that is about to change almost everything:
the Internet.
John, Sarah, Jimmy and Patty will experience the ways this still-new technology is beginning to connect people as everyone waits for the clock to strike midnight and officially welcome the year 2000.
It’s exactly the kind of everyday technological shift Carousel of Progress was created to capture.
Something extraordinary arrives.
People adapt.
And eventually, what once seemed unbelievable simply becomes part of life.
And Then We Head Into Tomorrow
But Disney isn’t stopping with history.
For the final act, Carousel of Progress will once again do what it has always done best.
Dream about what comes next.
The family will move into a possible distant future, living inside an out-of-this-world home where robots help with everyday tasks and space travel has become part of their reality.
Imagineers even returned to concept artwork from Disney Legend John Hench when developing the new finale, allowing another piece of Disney’s creative past to help shape its vision of tomorrow.
It’s a wonderfully fitting circle.
The attraction begins with Walt Disney imagining progress.
It takes us through moments that were once considered the future but are now part of our history.
And then it asks us to start dreaming again.
New Voices for a New Generation
Even John and Sarah are getting new voices for this next trip around the carousel.
Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis and Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston will step into the roles of mom and dad as the attraction begins its next generation of storytelling.
But one very important piece isn’t going anywhere.
“There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” will continue to accompany guests between each era.
Because while the decades surrounding this family might change, the heart of Carousel of Progress remains remarkably timeless.
Technology keeps advancing.
The world keeps changing.
Families keep adapting.
And tomorrow always gives us something new to dream about.
Carousel of Progress is currently closed while Disney prepares this extensive transformation, with the newly reimagined attraction scheduled to make its debut in late spring 2027.
More than six decades after Walt Disney first introduced audiences to this unusual rotating theater, his family is still moving forward.
Only this time, many of us have lived through some of the history they’re about to tell.
There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day — and come 2027, Disney is going to remind us just how far we’ve traveled to reach it.