Is Carousel of Progress closing?

[jmkjr72]

How many of those other attractions had Walt's name attached to it? It is officially Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. It's the only attraction with that distinction.

well it used to be the wed way people mover


W alter E lias D isney Enterprises now called the imagineers

 

[hookedonears]

Unfortunately, I doubt it. After the Fantacyland expansion is complete, Disney need to keep on going and give tomorrowland a complete redo.
COP - complete redo.
Stitch - complete redo.
Comedy shop - complete redo.
Buz - improve technology and upgrade.
Indy cars - improve technology and upgrade.

The only 3 keepers are:
SM, (however, continue to improve)
Astro Orbiter and the
TTA.

 

[Mary T in PA]

A friend was just at CoP today and sent a pic that the date is now showing as 2011 on CoP sign outside of the attraction!

And I am a fan too!

 

[LWatson]

We dont "ride" it because everytime we do it breaks down...we must be bad luck...LOL.

 

[Magicbus]

Hey another Mass person here, but I was able to escape.
No advisory regarding COP yet, so it's safe for now.

 

[bicker]

Gee, I wonder when they finally figured out that if you take all of Walts original attractions out, they'd have to stop calling it "Disney" world, and call it something else...

Nah, I suspect that they know that that wouldn't be true, and that all they're worried about is the few guests who do think that, and how much bother those guests could cause. Remember CoP has all the "World's Fair" cache that folks looking to stoke the media's interest could capitalize on.

 

[bicker]

I would hate for Carousel of Progress to close down.

I think that the problem is that the attraction, itself, was not designed to last forever. I'm not talking about the story, but rather about the mechanics. It's old technology, and there are now better ways of telling the same story. My hope for CoP is that they will take the whole attraction and re-imagine it using some other, more modern technology, so that it could live another 50+ years.

 

[lilonstitch12008]

Another MA resident!! We go on COP every time because it is a staple at the MK. We got stuck on it once for 45 mins. That was not so fun- as good as "its a great ,big beautiful tomorrow" is, I definitely do not need to hear it for 45+ minutes...

 

[justakrazymom]

Another one from Mass.. this rumor was around when we went in 99 and 00... I can't wait for my 3 younger kids to experience it in August!

 

[Disneyholic]

Don't have to be from MA to love CoP. I'm from PA and love it too!

Must be something in the PA water, too, cause we like it too.

 

[Disneyholic]

well it used to be the wed way people mover


W alter E lias D isney Enterprises now called the imagineers

WEDWay PeopleMover, was a transport attraction that operated from July 2, 1967 to August 21, 1995 in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Guests boarded small trains that ran on elevated tracks for a "grand circle tour" above Tomorrowland. A second PeopleMover, known as the WEDway PeopleMover, of a somewhat different design, opened at the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida in 1975, and operated from 1994 to 2010 as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The name was changed to "Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover" on August 5, 2010.

COP was NOT the Wedway People Mover.

 

[littlewitch34]

Another one from MA who loves the COP. It's clearly in the water.

I've never seen it closed as far as I remember, despite its "seasonal" status. Clearly, every time I go it is the busy season

 

[shelemm]

After the Fantasyland expansion is complete, Disney need to keep on going and give tomorrowland a complete redo.

Tomorrowland already went through a redo in 1994. they purposely went back in time to a 50s Buck Rogers sci-fi vision of the future so that the look of the place would never go 'out-of-date.' It represents a vision of Tomorrow that would always live on in the imagination only.

 

[shelemm]

I don't know what's more painful to me, the idea that it continues as a mere shell of what it once was, or to be sadly put out of its misery.

How is it a shell?

 

[dan-tot]

We were there Dec 11 - 18th COP up and running.

Dan-tot

 

[Robo]

How is it a shell?

I've seen every version of the CoP since it was moved to Disneyland from the 1964 NY World's Fair, then moved to MK when WDW opened, then "restored" (to its currently-running version, decades ago.)

The version playing at MK now is very close to the original version personally supervised by Walt, himself.

Yes, the last scene is now long-dated, but so are all of the scenes preceding it.
I see no reason to "update" it, any more than one needs to "update" a classic film.

It exists, frozen in time, for those who want to see it in a "classic" form.

It was fun, back when CoP was first constructed, to exit out the "front" of the theater
(where the stage is in the last "stop" on the circuit) whereupon guests could view another free-standing "scene"
of a working model of Walt's "City of Tomorrow" narrated by the unseen voices of the "father and mother" of the show.

That city model (some would call it an early version of Walt's original idea of the "real" EPCOT) can now
be viewed along the route when guests ride the TTA PeopleMover.




.

 

[shelemm]

I love that last scene they added.

COP is my favorite attraction in WDW. I am very glad they keep it running.

I saw it at the World's Fair. Yeah I think it's still great.

 

[disneygal55]

With all of the people from Massachusetts posting on this thread maybe I should rename it "Massachusetts fans of CoP"!

 

[GeorgeG]

I have always liked COP since I first saw it at the NY World's Fair back in the 60s. In fact, that's the sort of Disney attraction that sets WDW apart from the typical amusement and theme park. I do believe it's days are numbered, though. The popular attractions today have more to do with thrills than with history combined with entertainment. More than anything, though, they would eventually have to add another stage to accommodate the next phase of progress and that would require a complete rebuilding from scratch.

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

I've seen every version of the CoP since it was moved to Disneyland from the 1964 NY World's Fair, then moved to MK when WDW opened, then "restored" (to its currently-running version, decades ago.)

The version playing at MK now is very close to the original version personally supervised by Walt, himself.

Yes, the last scene is now long-dated, but so are all of the scenes preceding it.
I see no reason to "update" it, any more than one needs to "update" a classic film.

It exists, frozen in time, for those who want to see it in a "classic" form.

It was fun, back when CoP was first constructed, to exit out the "front" of the theater
(where the stage is in the last "stop" on the circuit) whereupon guests could view another free-standing "scene"
of a working model of Walt's "City of Tomorrow" narrated by the unseen voices of the "father and mother" of the show.

That city model (some would call it an early version of Walt's original idea of the "real" EPCOT) can now
be viewed along the route when guests ride the TTA PeopleMover.
.

If worn carpeting, scattered broken seating, malfunctioning audio animatonics, popping and hissing sound design, creaking turntables, faulty lighting cues preventing most of the scrims from displaying properly, and an utter disregard for the preservation of Walt's creation is considered the best incarnation you e ever seen, color me baffled.