The Carousel of Progress - Orlando / Florida Guide
Florida Guide > Magic Kingdom
The Carousel of Progress is situated in The Magic Kingdom in the Tomorrow Land area. It is set back a bit from the other attractions so sometimes gets missed out by visitors. The Carousel of Progress was designed by Walt Disney himself for the 1936 Worlds Fair. It is presented in a revolving theatre and charts the progress of the twentieth century. It is basically a story about the evolution of technology during the last century. It charts this progress through the world of one particular family as they would have been in each era.
You start off in the theatre in very comfy seats and Walt Disney tells you of his Carousel and what it means to him. Then you take off in your seats and move round to the first scene, the family at the turn of the century. You are taken through your journey by the narration of the father of the family with various interjections from his wife, children, grand parents and even Uncle Orville who pops up from time to time. He describes life at the turn of the century with “new” electric light and how “life could never be better than it is now”. You will see his wife using a wash tub which makes life so easy, as the laundry now only takes just two days! His daughter is getting ready to go out for the evening and he reminds her she has to be home by nine o clock. Those were the days!
The carousel then revolves again and the family have moved on to the thirties and he again describes all the things they have and how life could not get any better. All the rooms are the same but they are as they would have been in the thirties. The family do not get any older either, they are just the same family set in a new generation.
Once again the Carousel moves round and life has moved on to the fifties. Now life is really “Better than it ever could be”.
The final revolution takes us through to the future, where the oven can be set to answer voice commands . Ironically here is the only scene where Father is in the kitchen cooking Christmas dinner while Mother programs a computer. In all the other scenes Father is sitting down while Mother is always doing some sort of housework. So some things do change!
It is not only an educational show but a very entertaining one, so make sure you do not miss it
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