Walt Returns to His Favorite Show: New Carousel of Progress Costumes, Maquettes, and Poster Have Magic Kingdom Fans Buzzing at D23
Walt Disney Imagineering unveiled the first physical pieces of the reimagined Carousel of Progress at D23, including costumes from the new 1969 and future scenes, character maquettes, and a retro attraction poster. The Magic Kingdom classic closed July 5, 2026 and is expected to reopen in 2027 with a Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics figure opening the show.
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is getting its biggest overhaul in half a century, and D23 attendees this weekend got the closest look yet at where the beloved Magic Kingdom attraction is headed. Walt Disney Imagineering put two new character costumes, a pair of maquettes, and a brand new attraction poster on display, giving fans their first tangible evidence of the reimagined show that arrives in 2027.
Key Details
- What: New Carousel of Progress costumes, maquettes, and attraction poster on display at D23
- Where: Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom
- Closed: July 5, 2026, with construction walls already up
- Reopening: Expected 2027
- New scenes: Summer 1969, Halloween 1985, New Year's Eve 1999, and a vision of the future, plus a Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics opening
Costumes from 1969 and the far future
The centerpiece display features costumes from two of the four new scenes coming to the attraction. On one side sits a 1960s outfit from the updated show's first act, which moves the family to the summer of 1969 as they watch the Apollo moon landing. On the other is a costume from the future scene, the show's new finale, set in a distant out-of-this-world home. Rover, the family's ever-present dog, stands between the two costume mannequins.
For an attraction whose whole premise is watching one American family move through the decades, the costume pairing tells the story on its own: the show now begins where the current version's middle acts left off, then leaps far beyond the near-future finale audiences have watched since 1994.
Maquettes in the Wonderful World tradition
Alongside the costumes are two maquettes, sculpted character models shown at the same scale as those featured on Walt Disney's Wonderful World, the television program that helped introduce Carousel of Progress to a national audience. The maquettes give fans a sense of how the character figures will look in the new scenes before a single Audio-Animatronics figure is installed. It is a deliberate nod to how Walt himself previewed the attraction on television in the 1960s.
A poster that echoes the Disneyland original
The exhibit's visual anchor is the new attraction poster, styled as a tribute to the original created for the show's Disneyland debut in 1967. It carries the tagline "From the Good Old Days... to the Possible Future" and depicts John and Sarah in a mid-century modern setting, Rover at their feet, with a futuristic cityscape rising behind them. Concept art for the Act I and Act IV environments rounds out the display, sketching the visual direction for both the 1969 living room and the far-future home.
What the new show will look like
Carousel of Progress closed at Magic Kingdom on July 5, 2026 for its biggest overhaul since the attraction moved to Florida in 1975, and construction walls are already up in Tomorrowland. The reimagined show restructures the attraction around four new time periods:
- A new opening scene featuring an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney
- Act 1: Summer 1969 and the Apollo moon landing
- Act 2: Halloween night, 1985
- Act 3: New Year's Eve, 1999
- Act 4: A vision of the future
The Walt Disney figure is the headline change. The attraction debuted as Progressland at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, was famously one of Walt's personal favorites, and has run nearly continuously ever since. Putting an Audio-Animatronics Walt at the front of the show he championed brings the attraction's history full circle. The current version, last fully updated in 1994, spans the early 1900s through a near-future Christmas scene; the new act structure trades those older decades for eras that living guests actually remember.
The Buzz
- This is the first physical evidence of the new show: real costumes and sculpted figures, not just concept art.
- The 1969 moon landing act and a Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics figure touch two of the most sentimental threads in Disney fandom at once.
- The retro poster tagline reworks the classic "great big beautiful tomorrow" spirit, signaling the overhaul is a love letter rather than a gut renovation.
- With the theater dark until 2027, every preview is the only Carousel content fans will get for months.
Why fans are buzzing
Carousel of Progress updates come along about once a generation, so a peek at actual production pieces lands differently than another piece of concept art. The costumes confirm the time periods, the maquettes hint at the new figures, and the poster suggests Imagineering is leaning into the attraction's World's Fair heritage rather than away from it. Guests visiting Magic Kingdom before 2027 will find walls where the rotating theater's entrance used to be, but if this display is any indication, the show that returns will still be singing about a great big beautiful tomorrow.