Disney just published a sweeping look at what is coming to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, and the scope of this update is bigger than most fans were expecting. A Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic, four brand new scene time periods, a new attraction poster, and a confirmed closure and reopening window are all part of the announcement.
This one is worth sitting with for a minute, because there is a lot here.
Walt Disney Himself Is Joining the Attraction
The headline addition is something that felt genuinely impossible not long ago. Walt Disney himself will appear in the attraction as an Audio-Animatronic figure, in a new opening scene inspired by the 1964 television special “Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair,” where Walt first introduced the concept of Carousel of Progress and shared his belief in the power of progress.
The Imagineering team is sourcing and replicating props from that original special, including a prototype Tiki bird, a Tower of the Four Winds model, and a doll from “it’s a small world.” That is an extraordinary level of detail, and if they pull it off the way it sounds on paper, this opening scene is going to hit hard for anyone who knows the history of this attraction.
All Four Scenes Are Moving to New Time Periods
Beyond the Walt addition, every act in the show is being reset to a new decade. The goal, according to the Imagineers, was to keep the attraction relatable for today’s audiences by featuring eras in which guests have personal connections.
Act 1 moves to the summer of 1969, with the family gathering around the television to watch the historic moon landing. That is a genuinely inspired choice for an attraction built on the spirit of human progress.
Act 2 lands in Halloween Night of 1985, where Sarah takes center stage for the first time, sharing how new appliances and gadgets are making life easier. John is out on the porch handing out candy, and Uncle Orville is once again in the bathroom with, in the attraction’s words, “no privacy around here.”
Act 3 brings the family to New Year’s Eve 1999, as they prepare to ring in the new millennium. The Internet is making its presence felt, and if your family was anything like most, Grandpa has already nodded off before midnight while Grandma sneaks the TV over to wrestling.
The finale moves the family to a distant future home featuring a helpful robot and space travel, drawing inspiration from original concept sketches by Disney Legend John Hench.
The Attraction Closes July 6, With a 2027 Reopening Target
Carousel of Progress will be temporarily unavailable beginning July 6, 2026, with a reopening expected in 2027. That gives fans just over five weeks to ride the current version, which has been running largely unchanged since its 1994 update.
A quick note on the history for anyone who wants the full picture. The attraction originated as the centerpiece of the Progressland pavilion at the 1964 to 1965 New York World’s Fair, before moving to Disneyland in 1967 and arriving at Magic Kingdom in 1975. The Sherman Brothers’ “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” was actually replaced by a different theme song for the attraction’s first two decades in Florida, with the original restored in 1994. You can still hear that alternate tune as background music in Tomorrowland today.
The original song stays. The iconic “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” will continue to play as guests transition between scenes.
Our Take: Carousel of Progress is one of those attractions that gets dismissed until you are actually sitting inside it, and then it quietly becomes one of your favorite things in the park. The addition of Walt Disney as an Audio-Animatronic is not a small thing. This is the attraction he considered his most personal work, and putting him in the room where it all started feels right in a way that is hard to articulate. The new time periods are smart choices too. 1969, 1985, and 1999 are decades that cover a huge range of park guests with real emotional memory attached. This update has every chance of turning Carousel of Progress into a must-do for a whole new generation of fans. If you have not ridden it before July 6, go.
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