Creating Nostalgia for New Generations! The Carousel of Progress! [Ep.900]

Please stand clear of the doors, por favor.

Man Tengan se alijado de las cuertas.

As we ride through the Grand Canyon concourse, you can see one of the largest ceramic murals ever created.

It's nine stories high and it's made up of 18,000 hand painted tiles.

Elevators running through the center will carry you high above to the Top of the World restaurant where famous stars entertain.

Hey everybody, thanks for joining us.

I'm Tim Scott, joined by his lovely wife Dawn.

This is the gateway to the Magic Resort.

Loop.com.

I flipped that around there just for make things a little different.

Okie doke.

Today we're going to talk about A lot of people say this is their favorite attraction.

Definitely our son's favorite attraction.

Why?

I don't know.

We, we do love the attraction.

You don't know this, but by on purpose, I got you your beverage for the show in the Carousel Progress cup.

Oh, you did?

How about that?

I love that.

So we're talking Carousel Progress, the update that's coming up and it's, it's going to go offline pretty soon.

Very, very soon.

So I thought we'd talk briefly about the history, about some questions I had.

Then we'll go into the article provided by our friends at Disney and see if they answer any of these questions.

Will they answer the questions?

We will find out.

And will our son return from his theme park depression?

That's right.

Because he's actually going this summer.

But he's going after its clothes.

He is, he's, he's a little devastated.

He did talk about doing a one day trip down to do it, which we wouldn't put it past him to do.

Nope.

I don't put anything past that boy.

No.

But we'll see what happens because it's coming up quick as we record this show.

It is.

Oh, by the way, before we get started, too far into this.

I don't know about you.

I've tried to.

Other than this Disney press release about it.

I've avoided all blogs, podcasts and other people's thoughts and ideas on this on purpose.

I haven't read anything.

It's just been devastating.

So I'm just sad.

So I don't want to know about it.

I'm just going to pretend it's not happening.

Right.

So this is going to be kind of our raw thoughts on this before we've maybe been influenced by maybe what other people are saying.

Right.

So we're going to go into that.

But here's.

I made a list of questions as soon as I heard this news that I was very curious about.

Okay.

So I'm going to go this.

You can tell me what you think about these, or just let me read the list, whatever you're into.

All right.

First one was the narrator.

There's been rumors for, like, years that Tom Hanks would be a good replacement narrator.

He would be.

However, AI's here now, and we could still have Jean Shepard from A Christmas Story.

There's the narration for it.

Right.

So they could recreate his voice if they.

Probably.

They would have to get the family's blessing for something like that.

Maybe they wouldn't.

I don't know.

But that's a thought.

So we'll see.

That was my first question, was who's going to narrate the new Carousel of Progress?

Oh, I would really love Tom Hanks.

You think?

He's, like, one of my most favorite actors.

I love his voice.

Second, the music.

It's a great big beautiful tomorrow, which is on your cup there.

Yes, it is.

With the little gears and everything.

But my favorite kind of the unofficial theme to the show.

Now is the time.

Now is the best time.

Could that make a comeback in the Carousel Progress?

Oh, right.

Could they intermix the two?

Right.

I don't know.

We're already off the rails here.

I'm not the one leading the show.

I know.

But I'm gonna say that you'll find this very humorous.

MacKenzie was talking to her fiance about the sh.

This.

Not.

Not about this.

They were actually watching Mary Poppins, and Zach said to her, you know what this music reminds me of?

The Carousel Progress.

Yeah.

And she said, well, fun fact.

Yeah.

So I thought that was hilarious that he.

He's putting these themes together.

All right.

So she's like, you doing that.

None of that stuff ever occurs to me.

I very, very seldom look at a show.

We're watching a movie, we're watching and see some person, random in the background going, oh, well, that person was on the episode of.

Right.

So it's like.

Or, you know, their name.

I don't know any of that.

I don't know.

I can't remember what we had for lunch today, but I can remember these kind of things.

So I think we've had lunch.

I'm getting hungry.

Yeah, we'll worry about that after the show.

Let's keep moving forward.

Will there be brand new animatronics for all the family members in the show?

I would think so.

I would think so, too.

We'll have to see if it's answered.

I'll Bet you the technology for animatronics is so much more advanced.

Oh, totally.

When this first started.

And probably I would say animatronics that are that old are starting to become maybe a maintenance issue.

Right?

I'll bet there's going to be.

But I don't know.

We don't know.

We're going to get into this article, see if they even answer these questions.

I don't know.

Will they change or update the entire carousel of progress mechanics or the mechanism under the turns, everything?

Because it kind of feels kind of rough sometimes when you get turning in there.

Yeah, it does a little bit.

If you're ever going to do it, this is the time to do it.

Absolutely the time to do it.

Now is the time.

Now is the best time to take care of that.

If it's a problem.

I don't know if it's a problem or not.

But if they're going to do it, this is the time to do it.

Absolutely.

Will they change the seating?

Are all the chairs or seating.

They're going to be the same.

Are they going to make it more comfortable?

Are they going to make them smaller?

They're going to make them bigger.

Did they recently, like reupholster some of the seats?

Okay.

But when I look at this chair, they seem like they're kind of oldish.

They're very old.

And some of them don't even have a seat cushion on them.

Like when you walk in, there's some of them that the seat part has been removed because probably that broke or.

And some of the seats are kind of wobbly.

They're very.

I would hope they're going to replace the seat.

We'll see if that's being answered.

Will the Walt Animatronic they're talking about putting in be identical to the one in Disneyland or will it be different?

I don't know.

Because for that.

No new Walt Disney show over there, they have a Walt Disney animatronic.

Interesting.

Probably money saving cost.

They could do duplicate that rather than come up with a whole new one.

They could.

Who knows?

Will there be brand new Carousel Progress merchandise, official merchandise for Carousel Progress somewhere available in the park?

There's not a whole lot of Carousel of Progress merchandise at all.

The cup we're talking about that I got you is not an official Disney.

It is not.

I got it off of Etsy.

Etsy.

But it's great.

I love it.

It's.

It's cute.

You've had comments on it and people try to steal it.

They do.

MacKenzie tries to steal it.

So does my sister.

So let's just delve briefly into the history.

Many people already know this, that the Carousel of Progress actually debuted at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

Correct.

Then I believe it went to Disneyland for a little bit and then it showed up at Disney World.

So it's been around for a while.

I don't think that I knew that.

I don't think I knew that there was not a Carousel of Progress at Disneyland.

I just assumed it was a duplicate.

Right.

Interesting.

How did I not know that?

Probably because we've never been to Disneyland and we need to go.

That's true.

And if we're wrong, somebody's going to let us know.

I hope so.

And the score, the original score.

The Sherman Brothers.

The updated score.

Still the Sherman Brothers.

We love the Sherman Brothers.

We do.

They're pretty amazing.

They're.

The amount of music that they have produced and, you know, music that everybody has heard is incredible.

Yes.

So an article we're we're looking at here says came to Disneyland, where It opened in 1967.

It had several updates, including a refreshed final scene now set in progress City, A community of tomorrow based on Walt's vision for Epcot, which we all know about.

And then it made its way to Walt Disney World in 1975.

Alrighty.

In his time at the Magic Kingdom, the attraction has continued to evolve with new scripts, voice actors, time periods, and even full scene updates.

Let's.

Why are we even mentioning that the last scene update was done in 1980.

Something.

1990.

Oh, 1994.

Which.

That doesn't really sound a lot that old to us.

I know.

But.

Oh, my son wasn't born then.

No.

And he just turned 30 this year.

So I don't know why we're talking about these updates that it's had.

Because of that we were only married a year at that point in time, and we're going on 33 years.

Holy moly.

Oh, it's crazy.

Oh, my goodness.

It featured a new theme song then the best time of your life, which was.

Which is my favorite one.

Which stood in for the great big beautiful tomorrow.

Until they decided to go back to the great big beautiful tomorrow.

Because that's what people love.

They better not change that.

I'm just gonna.

I'd be fine either way.

But we'll have to see.

I would love to see, like, at least an Easter egg back to the best time of year.

Oh, Disney is so great about that.

I'll bet you there's Going to be several Easter eggs in the new one, I'll betcha.

Have you ever heard, or maybe you didn't notice, that actually plays in the Tomorrowland background loop?

Well, I don't remember the best time of your life being in the carousel of progress.

Right.

I don't have any memory of that.

Right.

So that's the only place I know it from, is the background music.

I remember because my parents took us there when this changed.

And we generally went like, once a year.

At least once a year, most of the time.

And the first time I sat down and the thing came on, there was great, big, beautiful tomorrow's plan.

I'm looking around like, what's going on?

And no one else seems to care.

I'm like, I won't say what I was thinking, but it was basically, what the heck is going on?

What's happening?

Why isn't anybody else reason or ruckus about this thing?

That's because it probably only occurred to you, oh, maybe.

And maybe.

Anyway.

Okay.

I'm just not sure.

Let's talk about the new decades that are coming, which are just a little bit scary to me.

They're scary.

And they cut too close to home.

They cut way too close to home.

All right, tell us what you have about the first decade that's going to be featured.

First decade is going to be the 1960s, of which you and I were born in.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

But it's actually summer of 1969.

Okay.

So you and I would be one.

One year old.

One year old.

Oh, my goodness.

You know, they're going to talk about, like, the historic moon landing.

And, you know, you just kind of wonder, are the kids going to be dressed like as hippies and what are they going to do for that?

I don't know.

I think it'll be exciting.

If Tom Hanks narrates this.

He was Also on Apollo 13, I think was on the real moon mission, not just the movie.

So that would bring.

That would bring some credibility to everything.

There you go.

Oh, my goodness.

So I thought that was crazy.

That's very crazy.

Oh, wow.

Unbelievable.

So we'll have to see what kind of Easter eggs are in there at 2.

They better not mess this up, because we are 80s people through and through.

Graduated high school in the 80s, went to college in the 80s.

It was.

There was ever the greatest decade ever.

It was the 1980s.

The music, the everything.

They better not mess this up.

Right.

So that's the only decade I'm going to be like, better not mess it Up.

I'll just say, pick your favorite 1980s top 40 song for the most part.

None of it triggered road rage.

Right.

You know, it's hard to have Rosie rage when you're listening to, like, Duran Duran or aha or anything like that.

Anyway.

Yeah.

Let's see.

So we pick up on the family night.

Oh, they're doing this kind of in seasons also, by the way.

The same way they do it now.

The same way they do now.

Which I think Harry Potter stole, by the way, because they do.

They're going for Harry Potter movies.

Oh, yeah.

Seasons also.

Yes, they do.

So they're claiming this back with the new carousel progress thing.

It says John's gonna be on the porch handing out candy.

The trick or treaters.

And it says poor uncle Orville will still be in the bathroom with no privacy around here.

I would love that.

He better.

Well, this is gonna be on here.

So I guess Uncle Orville's still doing his thing.

All right, Uncle Orville.

Sarah's taking center stage.

So that's kind of cool.

Yeah.

I wonder if they're gonna debut.

Like, this is the microwave and a lot of the new appliances that came out.

I mean, I'm not sure when the food processor.

Processor came out or the kitchenaid mixer, but I'm sort of guessing maybe around then.

Will the kitchen be.

That was it?

No.

The 60s.

Was the avocado green.

Oh, definitely.

What was the.

Were they gold appliances then?

Maybe.

I'm trying to picture things.

Oh, this.

Black appliances.

I'm not sure.

I mean, we still had a gold refrigerator in the 80s, but that's because back then, you didn't get rid of something because you didn't like the color.

You got rid of it when it stopped working.

And it can no longer be repaired.

Well, that's.

And you can.

So I know we had a gold refrigerator when I was growing up.

Right.

And you could repair things then, though, to also.

You could change out parts now if a server board goes down or something.

You got to get done.

Yeah.

I would love for this 1980s, because I was actually doing date comparisons.

I'd love for them to reference the new best beverage in the world.

New Coke.

Oh, yeah.

New Coke.

And.

Oh, my gosh.

Pepsi.

Crystal or crystal Pepsi.

Yes.

Oh, goodness.

There is a.

There's a lot they could do with that.

Right.

Fudge sickles.

The jello pop.

Fudge sickles.

Jell O Pop.

Oh, so good.

And it's 1985.

It's not 1986.

So you have to worry about any kind of NASA disasters or anything good planning those at all.

That might be a reason they went with 1985.

I would totally agree with that.

So I want a happy time.

I don't want any sad events when I'm at dinner.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Which I'm sure that's probably why.

Because they did in 1986.

Then people would be like, why didn't you have the audience.

Absolutely.

Good plan.

All right, let's jump ahead to Act 3, which still makes me feel old.

Exactly.

Our daughter still wasn't even born in the new millennium.

Stephen was three.

Right.

I think that is cool that they're gonna do that, though.

Like the countdown to 2000.

Oh, yeah.

And the new thing called the Internet, you know, that's kind of cool.

So that's a pretty exciting thing.

I think that could be a really, really good scene.

We'll find out if the carousel progress is Y2K compatible.

There you go.

Maybe the show just breaks down, that scene every time.

Every time it turns.

We'll see Y2K.

Man, that was such a thing.

Oh, it was.

And I was flipped out because you had to work.

You were working afternoons then and you weren't going to be home till after midnight.

I had to work late in case there was a Y2K disaster.

Absolutely.

You weren't.

You were told, don't plan on going home.

Be prepared to stay.

We had extra engineers on call just in case.

Exactly.

And I'm home with a three and a half year old going, should I fill the bathtub with water in case we don't have water?

Clean drinking water.

Exactly.

You know what happened?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Not one thing.

There was probably something happening out there in the world that they were just covering up.

They didn't want us to know, so they made up this whole Y2K thing.

If it's a countdown till midnight and everyone's panicking and the carousel progress goes, well, we're fine.

That would be a great big beautiful tomorrow.

Just pops right up again soon.

Exactly.

All right, let's go on to act four, the possible future.

The only thing I'm going to say about this is I don't want it to be similar to Spaceship Earth at the very end where you can pick, like, your future.

I don't want it to be any of those crazy little scenes.

Oh, yeah.

The flying cars and all that stuff.

No, I. I don't know what I want it to be, but I know I don't want it to be too similar to Spaceship Earth.

Right.

Not too crazy.

No.

You know that kind of thing.

No, but anyway, I'm sure there'll be, I don't know, maybe household robots or something.

I don't know.

Well, that's a.

That's like a lot of Horizon stuff.

They were.

Now we're talking about.

I know which Horizons was kind of a mini sequel to Carousel Progress, if anybody remembers that had kind of the same kind of family in the side.

Yeah.

The guy with the same kind of hair says, we reach the end of the show.

We see the family one last time in the distant future in an out of this world home from a helping robot assistant.

Oh, yeah.

Everyday tasks to space travel.

The scene imagines a future where the extraordinary innovation has become part of life.

Improves that a beautiful tomorrow is just a dream away.

A dream away.

There you go.

And let's see.

To help now they talk about the concept sketches down there, which is just like other posters.

But they look really cute.

Yeah.

They do look reminiscent of the spaceship Earth, though, at the ending.

Yes, yes.

Not sure about that.

But.

So we'll see.

We'll see.

Well, none of your questions were answered.

None of the questions were actually answered in this.

But you know, you know what Disney does with all their information.

They love to trickle things out.

They do.

So I'm sure, like, eventually they'll answer one of these questions in a press release.

Everybody will get excited or everybody will lose their minds.

Yeah, yeah, they.

They.

That's what they'll do.

So.

So the carousel progress has become, they say, becoming temporarily unavailable beginning July 6th.

Yeah.

2026, For those of you listening in the future.

And we expect the attraction to reopen in 2027.

But we really don't know.

No, you never know.

Maybe it's one of those things, like once you get into the mechanism underneath it, like, oh, yeah, we gotta totally redo this.

Maybe they'll make it levitate instead of actually roll.

That doesn't cost a lot of energy or anything.

I guess we'll find out.

It could be.

But will the new music, will there be any, like, bonus lines or bonus verses that maybe they wrote before that they didn't release?

Kind of like It's a Small World.

Or maybe they'll just add to it.

Who could add to.

I've Got It Lynn.

Manuel Miranda would add verses to it.

And we could have Uncle Orville rapping in the middle of a great big beautiful tomorrow with that cadence that Lin Manuel Miranda likes.

Like encanto.

Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

Too funny.

Too funny.

Don't get me wrong, he's very talented.

He really.

You can pick out what he's doing, though.

He just kind of writes kind of with the same cadence and rapping style and.

Right.

Pick him out really quickly.

Nothing's not good.

Fantastic, right?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Anyway, did we answer the question?

Did Disney answer the questions?

What are you hoping for in a new Carousel of Progress redo?

What would either totally disappoint you?

We kind of talked, touched on this earlier, but what would either totally disappoint you or totally get you excited?

That would be good.

That's a good listener question.

It is a good look.

We're gonna put it out to the listeners.

I just want to know if you have anything.

I think I would be totally disappointed if, like I said, if they messed up the 80s, I think I would be disappointed because we grew up in the 80s.

We know what the 80s was like.

And Carousel of Progress, the family in there is just your middle class American family.

You know, they're not your super rich family that has everything.

They're just your basic workingclass family.

And I hope they stick with that same theme because in the 80s, if you were just a middle of the road, working class family, you had a really good life.

And I hope they keep true with that theme going through.

What would really get me excited?

I don't know.

I think I would be disappointed if they did some iconic, but not everybody wore type outfits from the 80s.

Like if they did like the Madonna look or if they did like the.

Oh, like that.

What was that space age material fabric that a lot of people wore?

Oh, like Mylar was like Mylar.

That's it.

Yeah, something similar to that.

I think parachute pants would be a great outfit.

Oh yeah.

I think flipped up collars would be great outfits because I think the daughter in the last scene has a flipped up collar.

In the future.

I think they need to bring that back to the 80s.

I think that would be cool.

You know, girls wore flipped up collars and then a sweater overneath, you know, with jeans and some.

You pegged your pants.

Pegged your doordash jeans.

Doordash jeans.

Oh, yeah.

So I, I just really want to see some of those.

I think that would really make my experience if they had good 80s outfits.

Right, right.

So I agree.

The same thing.

I was always, I was thinking about the 80s, the 90s, everything now in the carousel progress.

And I've got a little tagline here I'm going to use for this whole episode that's I think it's fantastic.

Okay.

The 1900s of 1920s and 1940s scenes are gone because I think all the people that were talking to their, like, grandkids or kids while they're in the ride, I don't want to say they're not with us anymore, but they're mostly not with us anymore, so.

That's.

Right.

That's really old history.

Right.

It doesn't really.

I won't say it doesn't affect because it does affect, but it doesn't interest.

Maybe that could be the current generations that are going to the carousel progress.

Right.

So this version of the carousel progress will probably be around for what we obviously 30 years at least.

At least.

Track record.

So what they're doing is here comes creating nostalgia for new generations.

That's a good one.

Thank you.

I thought that was pretty good myself.

That was good.

That was one of my driving epiphanies.

I like that.

That's very good.

So will there be boom boxes playing 1980s music and that kind of thing?

They need to have that in there.

That would be great.

Disney, if you need any help with anything from the 80s, call you again.

I don't remember happen what happened in 2025 and 2026 necessarily.

You want to talk about 1980 through 1989, we got it nailed.

I'm your guy.

You really are.

You truly, truly are.

So I want to put this out there.

So if you have anything you want to see in the new carousel of Progress, anything you don't want to see in the carousel parks, maybe they need to bring in brand new characters.

Maybe the dogs will all be like, what's the big hot dog now?

Golden doodles.

Oh, yeah, baby Doodles.

I don't even know.

Pool doodles.

Burner doodles.

Bernie Doodles.

I don't know.

Get extreme of consciousness going here and just let this go for like, two hours.

We just mentioned things that are going on.

That's crazy.

I'm sure some of you are out there driving right now going, I don't know why he's not mentioning this.

I don't know why he's not mentioning that.

Bring it on.

We want to know.

I'm actually looking forward to the new carousel progress.

I. I was disappointed when I heard they were gonna do a refurb on it and everything.

Oh, yeah.

Internet lost their mind as they.

I. I lost my mind with it.

But I didn't say you did now that.

Well, I did a little bit.

Our son still love that.

Oh, he's.

He's not going to rec.

But honestly, I Think it's going to be a good thing.

And I'm getting fairly excited about it.

I am, too.

So.

So if anybody's getting down there for, like, the last couple days, good luck.

I hope you get to see the final shows of the Carousel Progress.

I'm sure many people are going to be recording it.

And here's another thing.

When I talk about recording it, if anybody really misses the old one, I'm guarantee there's thousands of versions on YouTube.

Yes.

There's going to be no shortages of.

No, you'll still be able to see it.

Do you miss those songs?

Yeah.

I can tell Stephen.

I said, I'll put him in a chair and spin him around if he needs to between the scenes.

And I'm glad to see that they're actually investing in the Curacao progress.

I mean, it's not going to be going away anytime soon.

Right.

They're not closing it because often, sometimes when we're there, there's maybe 10 or 12 other people in the theater with us.

Because there was a time there where everybody, I think rightly so, was concerned because I don't know if you remember this, where they're putting the Waltzing now, the beginning sign, where they had to used to be the GE logo back in the day, but it was a Carousel Progress.

Yes.

Where it said Walt Disney's Carousel Progress.

The apostrophe and Walt Disney's fell off the sign.

It was like that way for a long time.

Because we went back the next year, it still was not there.

Oh, and that bothered you?

It totally bothered me.

Like, why is there not an apostrophe there?

And then I will go back next year and it's still not there.

I'm like, did anybody walk up there and see if there's an apostrophe laying on the ground?

I know I tried to take bad pictures.

I'll see if I can find them.

But, you know, the cameras then weren't that great.

I don't remember what the cameras were I tried to grab them with, but any who's.

We could either call it the Tale of the Missing Apostrophe, but we'll probably go with nostalgia for a new generation.

I like that.

That's a good one.

So, anyway, I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts.

I'm sure you'd like, love to hear everybody's thoughts.

I definitely would.

Look in the Show Notes Resort, loop.com or our Facebook page, Looper Nation Live.

Post there, let us know if you'd like to get down there.

At this point, if we book you a trip, you'd have to go fast.

If you'd love to go to a Disney cruise, a Disney trip, look us up over there.

Resort looptravel.com as well.

Everybody.

I'm Tim Scott and his lovely wife Dawn.

And you've been listening to the Gateway to the Magic.

See you, everybody.

Sam.