Credit: Video Screenshot, YouTube, Carousel ClubOn Sunday, July 5, the final group of Magic Kingdom Park guests stepped into the rotating theater on Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. Just one day later, on July 6, a group of dedicated fans of the Tomorrowland attraction shared a video of the entire show… filmed far closer than Walt Disney World Resort would like.
Guest Runs Around Carousel of Progress Stage
On Monday, the YouTube channel Carousel Club shared a video taken by one of its members, TJ. The footage, titled “Carousel of Progress Walk Around Footage #1 (TJ POV),” showed the entire 20+ minute show, filmed at the edge of the stage using extending tripods and other external camera equipment. The name also implied the existence of additional footage filmed by other members of the club, though no further videos have yet been released.
The footage shows Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress before Walt Disney World Resort made cosmetic upgrades to the futuristic finale scene, giving the Progress family more modern hairstyles and outfits.
In the caption, the Carousel Club explained that they filmed the walkaround videos in the early morning and late evening hours of March 9, 2022, when Magic Kingdom Park guests were either flocking to rope drop popular attractions like Space Mountain or staking out spots for the fireworks over Cinderella Castle.
“This is just one of MANY of these that we did over the years!!” the Carousel Club wrote. “Joey would take up center stage filming John and I would run back and forth between the turntables. We both had our phones attached to extension clips which for me made it possible to reach between the scrims and curtains and get an un-obstructed view of the sets. All this while being careful not to accidentally trip the infrared intrusion sensors lining the front of the stage. There were however several instances throughout doing these where my shirt did brush across the lip of the stage as I was leaning over causing this to happen.”
Disney cast members reportedly gave the guests permission to walk around the theater during stationary scenes, and Walt Disney World Resort didn’t punish them. Walking through unauthorized areas at the Disney parks can be extremely dangerous, especially in the Carousel of Progress. In 1974, an 18-year-old Disneyland Resort cast member was killed after she fell into the gap between a stationary wall and a moving stage on the identical attraction system known then as America Sings.
Tomorrowland Attraction Reimagining
Earlier this year, Walt Disney World Resort announced that it would reimagine the Carousel of Progress for the first time since 1994. The updated attraction scenes will bring the Progress family into a new era, all introduced by an audio-animatronic of Walt Disney.
The new Carousel of Progress scenes will be set in 1969, 1985, 1999, and “The Possible Future.” Walt Disney World Resort has not announced a grand reopening date for the Tomorrowland attraction.
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