BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Happy Birthday, Carousel of Progress! :)From the Disney Parks Blog... Disney Days of Past: Carousel of Progress Marks 40 Years at Magic Kingdom Parkposted on January 12th, 2015 by Nate Rasmussen, Archivist, Marketing Resource Center Forty years ago this week, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress opened at Magic Kingdom Park and this classic attraction has entertained guests visiting the Walt Disney World Resort for generations. Here’s a look at the Carousel of Progress being built in 1974. Sponsored by General Electric when the attraction first opened, the Carousel of Progress theme song was changed to “The Best Time of Your Life” mirroring GE’s philosophy when opening in Florida. After going through a rehab in 1993, the song “There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” returned along with the Carousel’s family celebrating four holidays – Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas. Below is a look at the original final scene from 1975 version. The Carousel of Progress is still a “must do” on our list of attractions to visit every time my family visits Magic Kingdom Park – a true, classic Walt Disney original. http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/01/disney-days-of-past-carousel-of-progress-marks-40-years-at-magic-kingdom-park/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 It's a big day for the COP- the blog also posted a video showing Walt himself talking about the creation of the attraction, and how the technology works: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/01/video-walt-disney-talks-creating-carousel-of-progress/ TCD BradyBzLyn...Mo 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Memphis 105 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 That's a neat video. I always thought the father was too mechanical in his movements. But after seeing the actor it's not the machines fault the actor moved like he thought a robot would. As much trouble as they have with that ride they must still be using the same computers instead of just putting it all on a smartphone app. I still really like the attraction and ride it every trip that it is working. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mouseketab.....Carol 1,261 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 For the longest time when we started visiting, the attraction was only open 1 - 5 pm. The rumored reason being is the turntable that moves the building was wearing out and no replaceable parts. That was going on from about 97 - 2002 thereabouts. However, they went back to full day operation, and those rumors have gone away. So they obviously have fixed that Quote Link to post Share on other sites
keith_h 420 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 That was a flashback. I remember seeing the video as a kid on Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Seeing the old control system they used makes you think about what folks considered high tech through the years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tri-Circle-D 2,059 Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 That's a neat video. I always thought the father was too mechanical in his movements. But after seeing the actor it's not the machines fault the actor moved like he thought a robot would. As much trouble as they have with that ride they must still be using the same computers instead of just putting it all on a smartphone app. I still really like the attraction and ride it every trip that it is working. LOL. You're right. That actor also didn't look very happy, did he? For the longest time when we started visiting, the attraction was only open 1 - 5 pm. The rumored reason being is the turntable that moves the building was wearing out and no replaceable parts. That was going on from about 97 - 2002 thereabouts. However, they went back to full day operation, and those rumors have gone away. So they obviously have fixed that I remember when the COP would rarely be open too. It seemed to be closed more than it was open for a long time. That's when the rumors were pretty persistent that it was going to be permanently closed. That was a flashback. I remember seeing the video as a kid on Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Seeing the old control system they used makes you think about what folks considered high tech through the years. I wonder if they're still using those tape reels? I kind of suspect that they are. It's amazing to think how much work Disney had to do to create animatronic figures. Today, all of that could probably be run from an iPad. TCD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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