Happy Birthday Carousel of Progress!

Expo_Seeker40

Expo_Seeker40

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Happy Birthday Carousel of Progress!

You're 44 years old and with the exception of cinderella's golden carousel, is the oldest attraction at WDW, and one of the few disney rides to ever been transplanted two times. Maybe the only one to have been transplanted two times.

On April 22, 1964 you opened your doors as part of the General Electric Pavilion: Progressland and entertained over 50 million guests in the 1964 and 1965 seasons of the New York World's Fair...that was more guests than Disneyland saw since it opened from 1955-1964!

In 1967 you went to Disneyland and allowed guests to glimpse the future with the progress city model/EPCOT model. The model is now on view via the TTA though much of the southern portion of the model is gone.

In 1975 you went to the Magic Kingdom of WDW and opened on the same day as Space Mountain. Tomorrow was a scary time and today was the best time......the best time of your life.

In 1994 you recieved a face lift and once again offered guests a whimsical and nostalgic look at how far we've come.

May those gears keep turning, not for the current version, but for a new version and some TLC....hopefully:lookaroun

Anyway Happy Birthday! :sohappy:

And happy birthday to the original "it's a small world" at Disneyland, the dioarama on the Disneyland railroad, and the concept behind great moments with mr. lincoln (as the original disneyland version was a replica) and the old disneyland peoplemover (July 1967) (which came from the ford pavilion magic skyway). :wave:
 
mpoppins76

mpoppins76

Well-Known Member
Expo_Seeker40 said:
Happy Birthday Carousel of Progress!

You're 44 years old and with the exception of cinderella's golden carousel, is the oldest attraction at WDW, and one of the few disney rides to ever been transplanted three times. Maybe the only one to have been transplanted three times.

On April 22, 1964 you opened your doors as part of the General Electric Pavilion: Progressland and entertained over 50 million guests in the 1964 and 1965 seasons of the New York World's Fair...that was more guests than Disneyland saw since it opened from 1955-1964!

In 1967 you went to Disneyland and allowed guests to glimpse the future with the progress city model/EPCOT model. The model is now on view via the TTA though much of the southern portion of the model is gone.

In 1975 you went to the Magic Kingdom of WDW and opened on the same day as Space Mountain. Tomorrow was a scary time and today was the best time......the best time of your life.

In 1994 you recieved a face lift and once again offered guests a whimsical and nostalgic look at how far we've come.

May those gears keep turning, not for the current version, but for a new version and some TLC....hopefully:lookaroun

Anyway Happy Birthday! :sohappy:

And happy birthday to the original "it's a small world" at Disneyland, the dioarama on the Disneyland railroad, and the concept behind great moments with mr. lincoln (as the original disneyland version was a replica) and the old disneyland peoplemover (July 1967) (which came from the ford pavilion magic skyway). :wave:
Click to expand...
Here's hoping! Happy Bday COP!! :sohappy:
 
Expo_Seeker40

Expo_Seeker40

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And who's fault is that? Oh....that's right...Disney's.

Building sits in the corner of Fantasyland East

Boring looking building

Sparse signage

Theaters take over 200 people every 4 minutes so a line hardly ever forms even if people are on the ride

No sponsor means no major TLC or advertising

Current version is dry as a desert compared to previous incarnations of the ride

Doesn't have a Disney character in it so children under 10 have no relevance to this attraction
 
CheshireCatStef

CheshireCatStef

Member
Expo_Seeker40 said:
Doesn't have a Disney character in it so children under 10 have no relevance to this attraction
Click to expand...


My husband and I love this ride, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that both of our sons demand we go on it at least once per MK visit becuase they love it too. (They are now 4 and 8)...
My only problem is the idiots that get off midride and reset the room you're in. Last time we were there they were giving away fastpasses for it with every Space mountain and Buzz fastpass, trying to get people in who didn't know it existed, and we ended up staying in one room 3 times. It was kinda funny though, by the third time, the 3 teenagers and their mom behind us had it down, and versed the whole thing to a laughing audience....

"But daddy, I'm not DECENT!"
 
Expo_Seeker40

Expo_Seeker40

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I think it only makes the theater stop and makes you watch a show when the theater is about rotate. One time I was riding the carousel, a man who had a fastpass kept looking at his fastpass and his cell phone to see the time. He left halfway in the 1940s scene and didn't trip the system.

While having the CoP as a surprise fastpass is an.....interesting...idea. To the average joe who doesn't even know what the heck the ride is about, most likely has to get back on Buzz or Space Mountain and thus leaves the CoP early causing the theater to stay in it's place.

Back at the world's fair and maybe at disneyland, CM's would be stationed in each theater and would monitor audiences. This was back then when people were well behaved, knew what the ride was about, and fastpasses didn't exist yet.
 
Expo_Seeker40

Expo_Seeker40

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And my 10 and 7 year old cousins just rode the attraction in December and both of them liked it. The 10 year old liked it so much my aunt told me they had time to ride it again before they left the MK at night.

Does the CoP belong in tomorrowland, does it belong in liberty square, or on main street, or in a museum?

*no expo it belongs in a compactor!* :snore:

The ride has potential. If given a sponsor, some tlc, and a face lift, I've propsed this before and I know other people have said is that the unload theater should be made into another Act. That way people will can be exiting one side of the load theater while others are entering it from the other side.

If you take out seats from each theater and redesign the theaters, and have an enclosed preshow where people do watch monitors and a new preshow that better explains the history of the ride than the audience at least knows what they are getting themselves into.

The first four acts could be restored to what they just about looked like during the world's fair: 1890s, 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s. The audience in the preshow would be told they are seeing a walt disney tribute, blah blah blah but by using the unload theater as an extra act, this act would be called "tomorrow". It would be updated when need be. The first four acts would be forever preserved, while the ending could always be updated. The cast needed for the ending would simply read off a set-in-stone script for the first four acts while a new script is written for the ending that changes when need be.

Adding in a full piece band and orchestra and chorus, maybe those shimmering kaleidophonic screens or LED screen where you can actually see music would entertain guests like it did at the fair as one enters the load theater.

By going full force with a tomorrowland theatre and metro retro historical society headquarters, the CoP could live on for years and have an ending that could always change and be relevant, but still provide and fun and entertaining experience for the whole family.
 
Expo_Seeker40

Expo_Seeker40

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
5xvyu.jpg


Here was the ending at Disneyland (1967-1973)

It was nearly identical to the original world's fair ending except for some minor home decor enhancements. The narration was mostly the same, a new voice was found for Sara, and the original backdrop of a residential community was changed to show the family living at EPCOT!

It's unkown how far down the road this scene would have taken place, if EPCOT the city were ever built.


Synopsis: It's Christmas night in the future. Grandma and Grandpa are arriving at the city's new jet airport for christmas dinner. Orville and the children have left to pick them up. Rover is hanging out in the kitchen, and the family cat is on the couch with Sara.

Sara doesn't have to worry about Christmas dinner, the state of the art kitchen is taking care of it. The dining room on our right hand side is set for dinner. Father shows us the latest in mood lighting and music as well as tape recording shows.

Interestingly enough, Mary Blair's daughter was particularly fond of this scene, especially the details with the Progress City backdrop. For example, when there is mention of the grandparents are arriving at the airport, you could see flickering plane lights landing at the EPCOT airport.
 
colleen2997

colleen2997

Member
For my 10 year old daughter and I, it is a tradition. It is the first and last attraction we hit during our annual Disney trips. She enjoys singing the song and even recently pulled it up no youtube just to take a look for memories and anticipation of future trups. So it does still have a young audience. All they really need to facelift, or completely re-do is that last scene since it is supposed to be "today". It is so ridiculously dated, I always hear snickers when the daughter says "car phone"...For me it is a quiet, relaxing break from the heat of the park. Hope it never goes away. THey do need to create more signs for it. I visited Disney World 3 times before even discovering it was existed at all.
 
G

gsimpson

Well-Known Member
Now I feel old, not really

Happy Birthday COP, hopefully Disney will give you an Extreme Makeover Theme Park Edition for your birthday.

I saw it at the Worlds Fair and at WDW, never saw it at Disneyland.

I assume Mary's kids would be hurt and write open letters complaining if Disney were to change COP in any way or is their luddite approach to Disney only applied to IASW?
 

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