Carousel of Progress Like You’ve Never Seen It

As a boy I was entertained to no end by the cleverness that was Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.  Today I enjoy it just as much-- Laser discs and all.

Here we get a look at our favorite animatronic family and their surroundings from all new angles. Photos provided anonymously with statement that they were taken with permission a number of years ago. **May contain partial animatronic nudity!**

 
I too spent a bit of time working on-set at Carousel of Progress and noticed a few interesting things.  First of all, it was great to work with some of the very same props seen in photos and video of Walt with the Carousel sets.  Few things at Walt Disney World were around for Walt to enjoy so this attraction has great meaning.

I thought it was fascinating that inside the cups and other dishes there are screws and other tiny pieces of hardware for Maintenance workers to easily access.

The printed paper props (newspapers, calendar, etc.) are made up of stacks of the exact same print.  If the top print wares out or goes missing, the subsequent layers of paper are identical.  Was this always the case? Don’t know.

The stages are not as deep as I would have thought.  I had suspected the center core of the building be be much smaller- that the stages went further in.

Rover has a two-piece shell of fur (head and body) that easily pops off.  Until recent years, his fur was glued directly to and animatronic components and had to be cut away and sewn back together every time the dog was maintained.

The television Grandma is watching is driven by 8mm film projectors running footage from the basement below- the ballroom dancing footage and the boxing footage (for when Grandpa’s asleep).  “Give’m a left you big lug!”  Here you see an actual piece of dancing scene film stip thrown out after breaking:

Preview of Things to Come

In our new and upcoming series we compare the old to the new and see what remains the same.  Golly this will be fun!

This post is intended to be a simple study of attraction staging with no intent to spoil illusions.  Please do not photograph or visit backstage areas without permission.

Related posts:

A Look at the Progress City Model - Then and Now
Horizons Animatronics Found Under Carousel of Progress
America Sings
 HORIZONS MURAL, "The Prologue and the Promise [High Res]

Disneyland Meets EPCOT Center

I love when a the worlds of Disneyland and Epcot come together in one form or another.  I once collected issues of the Disneyland Line and this one is extra special for that reason.

Check out the date on that.  September 30, 1982.  What were Disneylanders thinking about the first non-Magic Kingdom Disney park ever created... just one day before its grand opening?  I don't really know, but this is what they were reading.

Did any of you go on this trip??

If so, write to us about your experience. There might be a little souvenir coming your way.  What did Disneyland cast members think about EPCOT Center? Was there criticism, jealousy, both?  Were any of you working at Disneyland when EPCOT opened?  Stories?

How cool is that... They showed opening day ceremonies at Disneyland's "Lincoln Theater" starting at 7:00 a.m. California time.  Something like that today would draw a crowd of AT LEAST 12 or 13 cast members.  Back then it must have been a full house.

And "videotape monitors throughout the park" for the first 21 days of October showed pavilion dedications?  Whoa.  Are we talking about monitors on-stage for guests to view as well?  Or just back-stage? And where were these "videotape" monitors?  Either way, that is swell!

Little did Disneyland employees know at the time, their lovely parking lot would one day house not only a controversial Disney theme park but a piece of EPCOT Center.  This guy from World of Motion can now be found at California Adventure in the Hollywood Backlot area.  (photo credit dfan09).

Other pieces of EPCOT Center (also from World of Motion) have found their way to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean.  In the 1997 rehab, a number of WOM animatronic figures became pirates.  Like the guy with the fruit basket with the horse stealing the apple... Is that guy still ever around?  He hasn't been there the last few times I've ridden.

Any other original pieces from one park now living in the other (Epcot to Disneyland or in reverse)?

Related posts:

EPCOT Construction from the Air

HORIZONS MURAL, "The Prologue and the Promise" [ High Res ]

HORIZONS the way you wish you knew it

 Daredevil Circus Spectaculars at Epcot Are Just Not What They Used To Be

The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland [ PART 2 ]

Back in June we brought you a look at one of Walt Disney's masterpiece attractions, Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland.  In Part 2 we focus on one of the coolest examples of "Backyard Imagineering" we've ever seen. 

The Living Desert

A comment was posted on Part 1 by Sam Towler who brought our attention to his miniature scale model of Nature's Wonderland with lighting and moving parts that will blow you away.

"This is my documentation of my miniature recreation of the long gone Disneyland attraction, Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland. This is a selectively compressed model railroad, modeled in On30 scale at 5' X 7.5' that I have been working on since 2005; even after almost 5 years of work, I'm still not finished."

"I started the layout when I was a sophomore in high school with basic skills and over the years the layout has been improved and reworked in drastic ways to match my ever improving model making skills. In fact, since I started rebuilding the layout, I've actually created a whole new layout, piece by piece."

Bear Country

Rainbow Caverns

Cascade Peak

NWRR Blog

http://nwrr.blogspot.com/

Sam's blog takes you through a detailed look at the creation of the model.  This jaw-dropping project has me giddy as a school boy.

Stay tuned for The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland [Part 3] (now available).

Related posts:

The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland Part 1
Disneyland Skyway in Your Backyard?
Swiss Family Treehouse Model
LEGO Disneyland
2 Fantastic Disneyland Scale Models