Carousel of Progress closing to make room for a new "thrill ride"?

goodolgm

Active Member
not up on his rabies shots i see :(

all kidding aside, sad to hear that the seats were only done in one theater and the AA problems. While CoP isn't a "must-see" on my list, I am a traditionalist and would like to see it get the TLC it truly deserves. It is a classic, and should be preserved as such.
 

Champion

New Member
I was there Saturday and it was sad to see in the third scene the father was crossed eyed and it looked like some kind of liquid? was coming out the corners of his mouth.

Burst hydraulic line, it happens. It probably went unfixed longer than it should, though.
 

figmntal95

Active Member
Sorry if I am double posting. I would bet this has been discussed before, but I did a search and could not find what I am looking for.
On page 525 of the 2007 Unofficial Guide there is a "peek behind the scenes" box that mentions Carousel of Progress will be reportedly closing soon to make way for a new thrill ride in the Magic Kingdom, and that some of the imagineers are proposing it be rehabbed as a walk-through exhibit for Innoventions at Epocot.
Any info on what this new "thrill ride" might be would be appreciated, or please direct me to a previous thread if this has already been discussed.

:hurl:
 

Imaginationeer

New Member
this rumor was from a year or 2 ago. the CoP building was going to be knocked down and they were gonna build some kind of Little Green Men ride (from the Toy Story fame). There was also a rumor that a big Incredibles ride was going there (with the robot arm technology), but Universal grabbed the rights to that technology. So, for right now, CoP is here to stay. (thank the lord)
Year or two??? I remember hearing it in 2002!!!
 

MojoMax

Member
Oh Man!! Please WDW gods...do not take my CoP away or mention the thought again!! :zipit: That would feel like a major law is broken or something. I would be extremely dissapointed. It just needs some updating. It should always be there with updates to keep fresh!!
 

Lee

Adventurer
*Supposedly* the plan was to knock down CoP and the Skyway station and put something in that large area. I'm sure Lee or Corrus could elaborate.

Yeah.
That was a blue-sky plan from a year or two back. Actually there were two concepts. One took out the CoP, the other worked around it.
Currently....neither looks likely.
 

wickedfan07

Member
Yeah.
That was a blue-sky plan from a year or two back. Actually there were two concepts. One took out the CoP, the other worked around it.
Currently....neither looks likely.

Well its good to hear that it probably won't be going anywhere. Now if only they'd refurbish it. I've never ridden it (plan to in three weeks!), but based on the way it sounds here, its not in such good shape.
 

CThaddeus

New Member
Please enlighten us.

While Walt did not personally "make" Carousel of Progress, or any other attraction, his involvement with certain attractions was stronger than with others. For example, he did have a lot of input into the original Carousel of Progress, and drew up the original sketch for Tom Sawyer Island. Truth be told, he had nothing to do with most of the attractions at Disney World, as he had died before the Magic Kingdom was built. However, since COP was a transplant from California, his personal stamp is on that one...though it has been changed a few times since then.
If, however, you want to be more general about it, these are the attractions still at the Magic Kingdom that were "clones" of their Anaheim mother: Swiss Family Treehouse, The Jungle Cruise, The Tiki Room (in spirit only, as WDW's has been ruined), Pirates of the Caribbean (though he never saw Disneyland's open he had significant input), Tom Sawyer Island, Country Bear Jamboree (this could technically be considered a Walt Disney attraction, as it was one he was working on with Marc Davis for a ski resort right before his death), the original Diamond/Golden Horseshoe, The Hall of Presidents (though Disneyland only had the Lincoln portion a show similar to what is seen today was discussed), It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, The Carousel, Snow White's Scary Adventures, the Railroad, the Monorail, COP, and generally speaking the Peoplemover (WDW uses a different operating system). Very few of these are exactly like the original in Disneyland...but then again, most of the attractions in Disneyland have been modified in some way, too. It all depends on how technical you want to get.
 

sittle

Member
THE (passionate yet wishfully misguided) STATEMENT: Don't anyone EVER THINK of replacing COP! It's pratically the only ride left that Walt personally made!"

The lousy correction:

Thats not true.

The more thousand times more helpful correction:

While Walt did not personally "make" Carousel of Progress, or any other attraction, his involvement with certain attractions was stronger than with others. For example, he did have a lot of input into the original Carousel of Progress, and drew up the original sketch for Tom Sawyer Island. Truth be told, he had nothing to do with most of the attractions at Disney World, as he had died before the Magic Kingdom was built. However, since COP was a transplant from California, his personal stamp is on that one...though it has been changed a few times since then.
If, however, you want to be more general about it, these are the attractions still at the Magic Kingdom that were "clones" of their Anaheim mother: Swiss Family Treehouse, The Jungle Cruise, The Tiki Room (in spirit only, as WDW's has been ruined), Pirates of the Caribbean (though he never saw Disneyland's open he had significant input), Tom Sawyer Island, Country Bear Jamboree (this could technically be considered a Walt Disney attraction, as it was one he was working on with Marc Davis for a ski resort right before his death), the original Diamond/Golden Horseshoe, The Hall of Presidents (though Disneyland only had the Lincoln portion a show similar to what is seen today was discussed), It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, The Carousel, Snow White's Scary Adventures, the Railroad, the Monorail, COP, and generally speaking the Peoplemover (WDW uses a different operating system). Very few of these are exactly like the original in Disneyland...but then again, most of the attractions in Disneyland have been modified in some way, too. It all depends on how technical you want to get.

It's getting thrawny around here!
 

darthjohnny

Active Member
The rumor I have heard that has been around for a while is that the Carousel of Progress could be replaced by an updated UFO ride themed to the Little Green Men of Toy Story, complete with "The Claw" looming above trying to snatch you.

There is also a Disney Urban Myth that Walt Disney said on his death bed that he never wanted to see the Carousel of Progress go, and it should always remain as long as the parks remain. Since Disneyland's Carousel of Progress is gone, the only remaining one is at the Magic Kingdom and would therefore have to remain if the Urban Myth was indeed true.
 

Lee

Adventurer
Just a myth. Walt never made any demands about keeping CoP.

The Carousel of Progress has outlived it's time and needs to go. It is dated beyond repair, and serves no real purpose other than for capacity reasons and sentimentality.
It should be retired with dignity to make room for a new attraction, thrill or otherwise.

In my opinion, of course....
 

SDav10495

Member
Sadly, they only did ONE theater. I ride it every time I'm there and I've only managed to get into the nice, new seats once. And I'm there a lot.

Oy. Of course, why on earth would they bother to do the other theaters? :brick:

It made me so happy to see such care being given to the attraction after I had seen it so neglected two years before. It's a real shame to find out now that in reality five-sixths of the guests who care to experience CoP still see it in such a sad state.
 

Ragetti

Member
I don't get the love for COP. It was REALLY outdatted when I last saw it in 1993... I can only imagine it comes off as even MORE dated now. Some rides manage to age well (POC, HM), others do not.
 

Bratstarman

New Member
Just a myth. Walt never made any demands about keeping CoP.

The Carousel of Progress has outlived it's time and needs to go. It is dated beyond repair, and serves no real purpose other than for capacity reasons and sentimentality.
It should be retired with dignity to make room for a new attraction, thrill or otherwise.

In my opinion, of course....

To liven it up they could rotate the theater backwards and call it the Carousel of Regress.
 

SDav10495

Member
It should be retired with dignity to make room for a new attraction, thrill or otherwise.

There's only one thing to do with a building that shape...

Mission: Progress--Disney's latest centrifuge adventure! After being evicted from their 21st century home at Horizons, the CoP family is back...with a vomit-inducing vengeance. :lookaroun
 

darthjohnny

Active Member
Just a myth. Walt never made any demands about keeping CoP.

The Carousel of Progress has outlived it's time and needs to go. It is dated beyond repair, and serves no real purpose other than for capacity reasons and sentimentality.
It should be retired with dignity to make room for a new attraction, thrill or otherwise.

In my opinion, of course....

Or...so you think. :lol:

I'm not saying that the myth is completely true, and not saying it is completely false. But Walt Disney did ask his brother Roy to carry out his wishes, such as building WDW.

It could have been possible that one of his wishes was to keep the Carousel of Progress open.

Who knows....:shrug: Maybe we'll never know. :shrug:

I don't get the love for COP. It was REALLY outdatted when I last saw it in 1993... I can only imagine it comes off as even MORE dated now. Some rides manage to age well (POC, HM), others do not.

I rode CoP during my most recent trip. One of the things I did notice was that the daughter's line in the final scene should be replaced from "everyone has a car phone" which really no one has :lol: to "everyone has a cell phone." They should at least do that.

To liven it up they could rotate the theater backwards and call it the Carousel of Regress.

:lol:
 

CThaddeus

New Member
Just to chime in on the should it stay or should it go, I think Carousel of Progress is a keeper. This attraction could last forever, if only Disney would give it the needed updates. I'm not talking just the final scene, but the other scenes would be even better with new, slightly less stilted narration and state-of-the-art audio-animatronics. It would be even more impressive if they could incorporate the Bunsen/Beaker/Lucky technology into the attraction and perhaps have characters that moved around the stage. The father could actually walk over to his daughter and talk to her, instead of shouting across the room. There are so many possibilities for this attraction. If it has to be moved to Epcot to keep it alive, I don't care (I'd actually prefer it make its way back to Disneyland so I could go see it more often!), as long as they keep it alive.
Oh, and darthjohnny, you missed the best line from the future. The grandfather is talking about things he didn't have as a kid and mentions the oh-so futuristic laser disc player. DVD pretty much destroyed those, fortunately. I could just never get behind the idea of watching movies on what looked like a record...and then having to flip over the disc during the movie!
 

darthjohnny

Active Member
Oh, and darthjohnny, you missed the best line from the future. The grandfather is talking about things he didn't have as a kid and mentions the oh-so futuristic laser disc player. DVD pretty much destroyed those, fortunately. I could just never get behind the idea of watching movies on what looked like a record...and then having to flip over the disc during the movie!

That's true too. :) Soon, the High Definition T.V. line will become like that too. :wave: :)
 

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