Changes

The concept for the Carousel of Progress began in the late 1950s. At the time, Walt Disney was planning on expanding Main Street USA in Disneyland, and with one of the expansions proposed would have been being known as Edison Square. The main attraction of this new area was going to be a show hosted by an "electro-magnetic man", named Wilbur K. Watt, who would have chronicled the evolution of electricity in the home, from the late 19th century and beyond. The attraction would have consisted of a number of stationary scenes which that progressed through time. After guests had finished watching one of the scenes, they would get up and move to the next one <ref> http://www.mouseplanet.com/9833/A_Visit_to_Edison_Square_1959 </ref>. Although the attraction would have been sponsored by General Electric (GE), technological limitations at the time and time constraints made the show impossible. Thus, the idea for the new attraction , and the Edison Square expansion in general , never came to fruition.

 Although the Edison Square concept never saw the dawn of day, General Electric was still interested in partnering with Disney. They The company approached Walt, and asked him to create an attraction for the 1964 World's Fair in New York. When discussing what the pavilion would be, Walt reached back to his old idea, and once again pitched General Electric on the idea of an electrical progress show. GE loved the idea, and agreed to sponsor the new attraction <ref> http://blog.silive.com/goofy_about_disney/2015/01/disney_goes_to_the_fair_carousel_of_progress_saw_a_number_of_firsts_outside_the_ge_pavilion.html </ref>.

A big advancement in the development of the General Electric attraction was the fact that WED Engineers had finished the Audio Animatronic technology that they had been working on. Although the new technology was not yet perfect, it was good enough to start creating a show, which would eventually become the Carousel of Progress. Imagineers, including Disney legends Roger E. Broggie and Bob Gurr , also devised what they called a "Carousel Theater", a theater which actually rotated clockwise , allowing guests to move on to the next scene without having to stand up <ref> http://modernmouseradio.com/2012/04/19/its-a-great-big-beautiful-tomorrow/ </ref>.

Since there would be a time lapse between when one scene ended and another started, Walt asked the Sherman Brothers to write a song that would bridge the scenes together. Walt was so excited about the show when he told them about it, his enthusiasm stuck with the Sherman Brothers as they worked on the song. The song that the brothers composed was an upbeat and optimistic song number about the bright future on the horizon titled [["It's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow"]]. The Sherman Brothers later remarked, that they felt "It's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was like Walt's theme song because it featured the same kind of optimism about the future that he had <ref> http://www.thedisneyproject.com/2013/03/theres-great-big-beautiful-tomorrow.html </ref>.

The robins that sit outside the window in the first scene, were the same Robbins robins that Harriet Burns created for Marry Poppins<ref name=Korkis />. The robins came from a Los Angeles museum, and were acquired in exchange for Disneyland tickets. Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck supplied the Robbins's chirping. Walt Disney himself came up with the idea for the family’s dog (he was also the one who suggested the dog change color and breed every scene). Walt was also personally involved in the creation of Cousin Orville, who is seen sitting in a bathtub during the second scene. The character was originally designed by Marc Davis for inclusion in the Edison Square attraction, but it was Walt who modeled his actions (Walt also came up with Orville's dialog as he was acting the character out). The famous voice actor Mel Blank supplied the voice for both Orville and the parrot that can be seen in the first scene. Blaine Gibson, who sculpted all of the characters, said that the grandmother in the attraction was based on his wife's grandmother. Her voice was done by Barbra Luddy <ref name= Korkis />.

On July 2, 1967, the attraction re-opened as the Carousel of Progress in Disneyland. Since the show had proved to be such a hit, General Electric decided to sponsor the attraction for ten years. A new theater was constructed in Disneyland, with the scenes being directly transported from the World's Fair <ref name= "Yesterland"/>. Although the show remained essentially the same, a few changes were made. A new voice was recorded for "Sarah " (the mother)", and the 1960's scene which was originally set during New Years was updated. Another minor change was the fact that in the 1940's scene, the father now sat on a bar stool instead of a kitchen bench. Also of note, all references to GE's failed "Medallion Home" campaign were dropped from the attraction.

Meanwhile, in the early 1970's the attendance of the Carousel of Progress in Disneyland began to dwindle. General Electric decided that it was not getting enough advertising from the attraction. Their research also showed that 80% of the people who saw the Carousel of Progress were from California and that most had seen the attraction numerous times. After getting this information, General Electric asked Disney to move the attraction to the newly opened Walt Disney World. Disney agreed, and on September 9, 1973 they closed the Carousel and moved it to Florida <ref name= "Korkis2"> http://www.mouseplanet.com/9818/A_Carousel_of_Progress_Christmas </ref>. The At this time, the Progress City model was also moved with the show (a portion of the original model it is now housed above [[Stitch's Great Escape!]] and can be seen on the [[Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover]]).

When the attraction moved to Disney World, a new show building was constructed in Tomorrowland. Unlike the minor changes that occurred when the show had moved to Disneyland, this time, major changes were made to the Carousel's show. For starters, the dazzling Kaleidophonic Screens that entertained guests while they were loading and unloading were removed. The screens had been experiencing many technical difficulties, so they were replaced with silver curtains and a GE logo. General Electric also asked the Sherman Brothers to write a new song for the attraction, since they decided that they did not want guests to wait for "A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow"; instead they wanted them to buy their products now. After getting these instructions, the Sherman Brothers created a new song for the attraction called "The Best Time of Your Life" (often mistakenly referred to as "Now Is Time"). Instead of talking about how great the future would be, the new song focused on the present <ref name= "Korkis2"/> .