updating carousel of progress.

[WisconsinMom]

My family and I were just talking about how they could update Carousel of Progress especially the last scene. I suggested a Christmas on Mars. It would have to be either domed or Underground as the surface is toxic to humans. You could incorporate potential alien visitors. Play a looped tape of the original on a large plasma. Any other ideas?

 

[Randy Hawkins]

It would make me very happy if they just adopted a strategy that would make the Carousel timeless. The first three scenes are set in about 1910, 1930, and 1950 (about 20 years apart) ... so set the final scene in 1970. Let Dad and the rest of the family marvel at the wonders available to them in the fabulous 70's -- 8-track tapes, big shoulder pads, Rubik's cubes, lava lamps, etc. Let the designers dig through the venerable Disney warehouses and fill every square inch of their Christmas-decorated home with 70's kitsch. And at the same time, spend a few extra bucks and fix the sound system and all of the other stuff that doesn't quite work right.

 

[Chef Mickey]

It's wonderful even as is. Few updates would really make it great. New wardrobe, lose the reference to laser disc and car phone, and call it fine.

If they don't update it, I fear they will decide it needs to be scrapped.

 

[JIMINYCR]

CoP is not supposed include a futuristic scene but highlighted improvements to life in each generation, a nostalgic look back. Ending in our time with the newest advances. By going forward into scenes of Mars and Alien visitors it would be taking it into a place that it doesnt belong. Id like to see a more recent update however and an improvement to the sound.

 

[Goofyernmost]

CoP is a historical attraction, not a currently popular "alternative history" approach. If we want it to remain, which many of us do, it must be left alone. As soon as anyone makes it into an attraction that needs to be updated, it will be bulldozed into oblivion. Hands off CoP.

 

[larryz]

CoP is a historical attraction, not a currently popular "alternative history" approach. If we want it to remain, which many of us do, it must be left alone. As soon as anyone makes it into an attraction that needs to be update, it will be bulldozed into oblivion. Hands off CoP.

Ah, yes. MK as an attraction museum...

 

[donaldtoo]

IMHO, I think the only "updating" Disney needs to do to CoP is to take it back to all it's original '64-'65 World's Fair glory...!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Ah, yes. MK as an attraction museum...

That's basically what it is anyway. Look at how upset everyone in Cali got with the mere mention that Star Wars was going into MK in DL. There's gotta be someplace that hangs onto the oldies but goodies. MK might as well be that place.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I think it is fine. Obviously you have to alter the last scene from time to time, but it is still only 2017, it isn't as if the turn of the century (1900ish) isn't still familiar with some people. I am sure people still are aware of who the Wright Brothers were. I love CoP, if they start closing stuff like this then Disney really starts losing the things that separate them from everyone else.

 

[Amidala]

Obviously an unpopular opinion, but I would love to see CoP revamped. We keep changing (and advocating to change) only the last scene, but if that last scene were "modernized" again, it would leave a huge gap in between the earlier scenes and the final scene, with a lot of relevant & significant advancements left unexplained. I would love to see the CoP become a "living" ride, with the first few scenes being changed every few decades or so to reflect the passage of time. Rather than the 1900s, 1920s and 1940s, the attraction could be updated to cover more recent key eras (e.g. The moon landing in '69, the advent of the home computer. etc.) culminating in a final scene that predicts technological advancements ten or twenty or even fifty years from now. I think this would retain the original spirit & intent of the attraction more than just preserving it in amber, and making the occasional minor change (which seems like a recipe for CoP eventually "aging" out of MK completely) and including that hint of the future would make CoP more thematically appropriate to Tomorrowland.

Doubt anyone will agree here because I know this ride is beloved as is, but I think part of the magic of imagineering is that it allows Disney to revisit past attractions and continue to build on them, to re-contextualize the commentary Walt made so many years ago so we can see how and why it still holds true in 2017. Obviously that's not as necessary with rides like Haunted Mansion and others, which are "fantasy" rides, but CoP is a look at our history as a people (and asks guests to reflect on what this might mean for our future) so it feels like a different situation entirely to me.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Obviously an unpopular opinion, but I would love to see CoP revamped. We keep changing (and advocating to change) only the last scene, but if that last scene were "modernized" again, it would leave a huge gap in between the earlier scenes and the final scene, with a lot of relevant & significant advancements left unexplained. I would love to see the CoP become a "living" ride, with the first few scenes being changed every few decades or so to reflect the passage of time. Rather than the 1900s, 1920s and 1940s, the attraction could be updated to cover more recent key eras (e.g. The moon landing in '69, the advent of the home computer. etc.) culminating in a final scene that predicts technological advancements ten or twenty or even fifty years from now. I think this would retain the original spirit & intent of the attraction more than just preserving it in amber, and making the occasional minor change (which seems like a recipe for CoP eventually "aging" out of MK completely) and including that hint of the future would make CoP more thematically appropriate to Tomorrowland.

Doubt anyone will agree here because I know this ride is beloved as is, but I think part of the magic of imagineering is that it allows Disney to revisit past attractions and continue to build on them, to re-contextualize the commentary Walt made so many years ago so we can see how and why it still holds true in 2017. Obviously that's not as necessary with rides like Haunted Mansion and others, which are "fantasy" rides, but CoP is a look at our history as a people (and asks guests to reflect on what this might mean for our future) so it feels like a different situation entirely to me.

I see your point, however, it isn't going to happen. It remains today basically as a tribute to Walt Disney and a historical show where AA's and shows based on AA's got its multiple character start.

Even though changing it might make it more up to date, they can always open up a new attraction to pick up where the old one left off. Changing it would erase the original show plus for those of the last three or more generations, deprive them of a history of what life was like in the beginning of the 1900's.

It only is in existence today because of the outcry of fans. Add an element of massive increased cost to completely redesign the entire show and it would be be historical history... gone, leveled and forgotten. Without the historical element there would be no reason for Disney to continue to maintain an attraction that is from 1964 (53 years old) If Disney could find a good excuse it would be dumpster stuffing in a heartbeat.

 

[Amidala]

I see your point, however, it isn't going to happen. It remains today basically as a tribute to Walt Disney and a historical show where AA's and shows based on AA's got its multiple character start.

Even though changing it might make it more up to date, they can always open up a new attraction to pick up where the old one left off. Changing it would erase the original show plus for those of the last three or more generations, deprive them of a history of what life was like in the beginning of the 1900's.

It only is in existence today because of the outcry of fans. Add an element of massive increased cost to completely redesign the entire show and it would be be historical history... gone, leveled and forgotten. Without the historical element there would be no reason for Disney to continue to maintain an attraction that is from 1964 (53 years old) If Disney could find a good excuse it would be dumpster stuffing in a heartbeat.

Oh, yeah, I'm in agreement there. I assume TDO will continue to make very minor updates to CoP before eventually shutting it down (maybe post-2021, once Tron and the improved speedway are there and SGE has been replaced). But this was just a hypothetical I would love to see, and a way to preserve the original intent of the ride & still keep it relevant and fresh.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I actually agree with @Amidala , and I've argued for it before on the boards. If you look back at '64-'65, a lot of those people actually remembered when times were like the first scene. Even if the audience didn't, they probably remembered their parents talking about it. It's just a completely different way to relate to an attraction. I don't really mean this in a negative way, but 1900 may as well be 1800 to people today. It's a historical era; it's not part of "now". Having the attraction set in the "now" brings back memories and generates discussion within families. I have no proof, of course, but feel that this is part of the reason the original was so popular in its day. 99.9999% of visitors to WDW today do not have memories of the 1920s or before. Another update to the final scene would probably make the ride worse IMO; you'll lose the connective tissue between the scenes that kinda defines "progress". Right now, we go from the 40s to all of a sudden they have a laptop?! There are definitely some big steps in the middle there! Getting the family's first big boxy computer was a big deal; it's just going to be worse if the Mom is typing on an iPad Pro in the finale now. This is silly, but I would love a scene that shows my kids what the Internet was like in the 90s: pictures take forever to load, the modem sound, can't use the phone while someone's on the Internet, etc. Keeping the attraction as a museum piece will get a segment of the visitors all hot and lathered, but if you really want to try and entertain the masses, you really need to do an entire update. I love the ride as it is now-- that's why I want it updated.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Yes, but the original purpose of the attraction was to show us where we came from. It was never intended to bring back memories for everyone. It was to show us that we went from very primitive to high tech in less then 100 years and that there was a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow still ahead. The memories that we have are of how we felt when we first saw it. Those are our basic memories. They still exist. You cannot make history "fresh" you can only grow from what was then to what is now.

That message is still there even if they never updated it ever again. But, before long it will be relegated to the category of no long relevant and be gone completely, but, changing it actually ends it and it's purpose. Then it will no longer be CoP, but, just by nature of change will be something else using the name CoP. It's all way to corny to be considered sophisticated enough to measure up to the standards of today without it being totally a nostalgia based attraction created by the genius of Walt Disney. You remember the guy that gave us the theme parks to begin with? There are very few things that actually represent our lives from the past, tearing CoP down would actually be a better solution then changing it into something that we no longer recognize.

 

[GVentola]

What would personally work for me: bring back "The Best Time of Your Life" ("now is the time") as the song between scenes. It was the song playing there in my childhood in the 1970's. Actually, I wouldn't mind having the ride, in it historical settings, going back to the show that was there in the seventies and eighties--but keep updating the final room every decade or so. I always liked CoP when I was a kid, and when they changed all the scenes, it was merely like seeing an overlay of the family on a different day of their lives than the seventies/eighties version. But now I am bored with it. Don't get me wrong--I want to still like it, but the last time I was on it I just no longer found it compelling. And find a better comedy writer for the last scene--the humor in it, like the ham and cheese joke is just, well, cheesy.

 

[zengoth]

I always thought it was less about how technology has improved our lives and more about how electricity has improved our lives, hence GE's involvement and the need for the first scene to be set at the turn o' last century. I can imagine redoing the 2nd/3rd scenes to the '50s and the '80s in order to keep the last scene up to date without such a jarring time jump.

 

[Amidala]

Unfortunately today's Disney thinks updating classic attractions means destroying them to appease the ever growing disgustingly basic taste of the general public.

The casual guest isn't as aware of the theme parks and their history, so they won't appreciate an attraction for its nostalgic value. Doesn't mean they're stupid or inherently different from the guests that came ten or twenty or fifty years before them. And not to be a broken record, but both WDW and DL were never intended to be static parks. Tastes change and technology improves, there's nothing insidious about it–except maybe on a case to case basis.

re: CoP, I think part of the "wow" factor for guests was in seeing (and relating) to the earlier scenes, and really being blown away by how far technology has come by the end of the attraction. For me, being so distanced from the different eras really lessens (or at least fundamentally changes) how we relate to the attraction.

I agree that CoP's primary purpose right now is to preserve the legacy of the ride (and Walt), but that's exactly what will lead to its destruction somewhere down the line. I think what I'm suggesting here is that imagineers could imbue this ride with a new purpose and relevancy, so that guests take something away from the experience other than "This must have been great for guests in the 60s."

I only suggest all of this because there are so many people who are opposed to making changes to classic attractions (however small–see PotC) but then are devastated when these attractions see drastic drops in popularity (some stand the test of time better than others) and Disney decides to shut them down. Maybe there's a middle ground.

 

[SteveAZee]

It would be interesting to get the imagineers to re-imagineer the attraction and pick four appropriate eras (well, three plus current day) to reflect change as seen/experienced/imagined by a current audience. That could be, for example, the 1930's, 1960's, 1990's and today.

 

[raven]

The original World's Fair 1964-1965 version ended the "unload scene" (after the final turn/scene with the family) with a speed ramp up inside the center of the carousel to the 2nd floor. The building at the MK version doesn't have this but the original building at Disneyland (old Innoventions) does.

 

[POLY LOVER]

In my opinion the only scene that can be updated without messing with the classic is the last one. The other thing that can be upgraded is the animatronics.
If you make the movements more impressive that alone will make the attraction look new. If you tamper with the other scenes then you are totally disrespecting Walt.