Carousel of Progress

The Carousel of Progress is a theme park ride, originally created by Walt Disney himself, that follows the journey of an ordinary family through the 20th century and beyond.

The show

The Carousel of Progress show is divided into five scenes, each seen via the revolution of the theater's seating section around the circular stage area in the center. The purpose is to show the technological progression of the average family over the last 100 years. Each scene takes place in the family's kitchen/living room.

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The first section is the loading/unloading section, as well as the area where a short, introductory recording is given, recounting the history of the ride.

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The first actual scene takes place around the turn of the 20th century, with the family amazed by such things as a manual pump in the kitchen and a coal burning stove.

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The second scene takes viewers to the 1920s, where the family is beginning to bring electricity into their home. Cords can be seen draped across the ceiling and an electric stove is visible.

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In the third scene, the 1940s, electricity is everywhere. There is a television in the kitchen, the mother mixes paint with a cake mixer and the daughter experiments with some of the latest "exercise" equipment.

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In the final scene, set just in the future, the family is gathered for Christmas. Grandma and her grandson play video games and the father (narrator) attempts to operate a talking oven. The show ends with the mother commenting that there is also room for technology to improve, followed by one final reprise of the show's song, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow".

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All five of these "sections" are synchronized and timed to the second. As the viewers travel between sections, the playing of the theme song is synchronized, and you hear the transition from the section you are in, into the section you are traveling into. At any one time, all five show sections can be running simultaneously. This also implies that there is limited time to load/unload the ride.

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