I hope they never get rid of it. The history of the ride is epic.
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a
rotating theater stage show attraction that is located in
Tomorrowland at the
Magic Kingdomtheme park at the
Walt Disney World Resort in
Bay Lake,
Florida just outside of
Orlando, Florida. Created by both
Walt Disney and
WED Enterprises as the prime feature of the
General Electric (GE) Pavilion for the
1964 New York World's Fair, the attraction was moved to Tomorrowland at
Disneyland in
Anaheim, California as
Carousel of Progress, remaining there from 1967 until 1973. It was replaced in
Disneyland by
America Sings in 1974, and reopened in its present home in the Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom in 1975.
Steeped in both
nostalgia and (in the past)
futurism, the attraction's premise is an exploration of the joys of living through the advent of electricity and other technological advances during the 20th century via a "typical"
American family. To keep it up with the times, the attraction has been updated five times (in 1967, 1975, 1981, 1985, and 1993) and has had two different theme songs, both written by the
Sherman Brothers (
Disney's
Academy Award-winning songwriting team).
Various sources say Walt Disney himself proclaimed that the Carousel of Progress was his favorite attraction and that it should never cease operation. This can be somewhat supported by family and friends, who knew of his constant work on the attraction. Of all the attractions he presented at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair, Disney seemed especially devoted to the Carousel of Progress.
The Carousel of Progress holds the record as the longest-running stage show, with the most performances, in the history of
American theater.
[1] It is one of the oldest attractions in the whole Walt Disney World Resort. It is also the oldest attraction at Walt Disney World to have been touched by Walt Disney himself.
copied and pasted from wikipedia.