Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, Rotating theater in Bay Lake, US
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is a rotating theater in Bay Lake that features six audience sections turning around a central stage. The stage remains stationary while the seating sections move clockwise to reveal four different rooms with animated figures in sequence.
General Electric commissioned this project for the 1964 New York World's Fair as a showcase of electrical achievements. The theater later moved to California before finding its permanent home in Florida in 1975.
The signature melody plays throughout the performance and connects each scene into a single story about progress. Every family across the different decades sings the same songs while discovering new inventions like electric lighting or automatic household appliances.
The program runs for about 20 minutes and offers seating for all visitors in an air-conditioned room. The rotation happens automatically between scenes, so no movement is required from the audience.
The original title song was later replaced with a new version featuring different lyrics to emphasize an optimistic view of the future. Also, the main animated family character appears older in each scene while the other family members jump forward in time.
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