Disney to Close Carousel of Progress in 2026, Reopen 2027

Walt Disney World has announced a comprehensive reimagining of its historic Magic Kingdom attraction, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, setting a closure date for the current version and revealing a complete shift in its timeline. The attraction will cease operation on July 6, 2026, and is scheduled to reopen in 2027 with a new narrative focused on more recent decades.

The update represents the most significant change to the attraction since its last major overhaul in 1993. Originally created by Walt Disney for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, the show moved to Disneyland before finding a permanent home in Florida's Magic Kingdom in 1975. It holds the record for the most performed stage show in American theater history.

The forthcoming version will entirely replace the attraction's long-standing early 20th-century scenes set in the 1900s, 1920s, and 1940s. Instead, the story will begin with a new prologue featuring an Audio-Animatronic figure of Walt Disney. The four main acts will then depict a family's life in 1969, as they watch the Apollo 11 moon landing; on Halloween in 1985; on New Year's Eve 1999, dealing with Y2K and the dawn of the internet; and finally in a...