Carousel of Progress D23 Reveal: What’s New for 2027
We have a Carousel of Progress D23 reveal: new Act 4, a robot assistant, Walt’s animatronic, and Disney’s 2027 reopening plans.
For a ride that spends its entire runtime insisting the future is bright, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress has spent the last several months living in a pretty uncertain one. This weekend at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Imagineering finally showed its hand. It turns out the future is, once again, a beautiful tomorrow.
Carousel of Progress D23: Where They Showed It
The reveal lived inside Imagineering: Horizons, the largest pavilion the department has ever built for a D23 event, tucked into the Disney Experiences hall in Anaheim. Rather than just a stage presentation, Carousel of Progress got the museum-exhibit treatment. This involves costumes on mannequins, a scaled scenic model, and concept art boards fans spent the better part of Friday photographing from every angle.
Act by Act: What’s Actually Changing
Jamie Lee Curtis and Bryan Cranston will voice the key characters for the updated Carousel of Progress. According to Neil Patrick Harris during the D23 event, the attraction is scheduled to reopen in late Spring 2027.
Audio-Animatronics figure confirmed at last year’s Destination D23 is locked in as the new cold open, set inside a scene modeled on the 1964 television special “Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair, the same broadcast where Walt first pitched the idea of a rotating theater about progress to a room full of people who had no idea they were about to hear the pitch of the century.
Carousel of Progress D23: Act 1 – the 1960s
From there, the show shifts. Act 1’s concept art places the family in a noticeably retooled version of their turn-of-the-century kitchen, and the exhibit’s costume mannequins gave the first real look at John and Sarah’s new wardrobe, which is sharper, more period-specific, and clearly built for a version of the show that’s rebuilding its eras from the studs rather than redressing the same set four times. That matters more than it sounds like it should: in the current show, the kitchen barely changes shape across the first three acts. Based on what’s on display now, this version rebuilds the environment itself act to act, which is the kind of structural and scenic-install lift that explains a 2027 reopening far better than “new animatronic” ever did.
This act will take place in the summer of 1969. The Carousel family, “along with millions around the world, gather around the television to witness one of humanity’s greatest achievements: the historic moon landing. Filled with awe, the moment captures the spirit of innovation and possibility that has always been — and always will be — at the heart of Carousel of Progress.”
Carousel of Progress D23: Act 2 – the 1980s
During the Carousel of Progress D23 discussion, Neil Patrick Harris also shared a look at a new scene set in the 1980s, showing exactly where this iconic family is headed next.
The scenic model on display for one of the middle acts shows Sarah relaxing by a fireplace in a space that some, accurately, have compared to the Parr family’s mid-century home from The Incredibles. Whether that’s an intentional homage or just what “mid-century future optimism” looks like when Imagineers reach for it twice, it’s a good sign for the vibe Imagineering is chasing: warm, lived-in, not sterile.
Disney stated that this act: “It’s the ‘80s, where everything bigger is better, and things keep on getting bigger! We pick up with the family on Halloween Night of 1985, and for the first time ever, Sarah is taking center stage. She’ll share how all the new appliances and gadgets are making life easier for the whole family.
Speaking of John, we’ll find him out on the porch handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, and poor Uncle Orville can be found in the bathroom with ‘no privacy around here!'”
Act 3 – The New Millennium
With the ‘90s drawing to a close, our Carousel family is preparing to ring in the new millennium on New Year’s Eve 1999. Amid the excitement of the countdown to 2000, a new thing called the Internet is bringing John, Sarah, Jimmy and Patty – and the world – closer together than ever before.
And if you’re anything like my family, not everyone is making it to midnight. Grandpa has already nodded off before the big countdown, while Grandma sneaks the TV over to wrestling when no one’s looking.
Act 4 – The Possible Future: The Carousel Family Leaves the Planet
The finale is the biggest swing. The new attraction poster, itself a callback to the original 1964 World’s Fair one-sheet, right down to hiding the Moonliner, Progress City, and the monorail in the background art, shows John, Sarah, and Rover standing next to a new robot assistant character who takes over Act 4 duties. The scene is set in an off-planet home, and per Imagineering, it draws directly from original concept sketches by Disney Legend John Hench, revisiting future-of-the-home ideas that predate the attraction itself. The Christmas tree, the big-screen TV, and the VR headsets that defined the current finale are gone; in their place is something closer to a futuristic ski lodge, mid-century furniture included, robot doing the chores.
One display board raised more questions than it answered. It showed an image that appears to show a fireplace built into a tree, with zero accompanying explanation. Consider this the first entry in what will surely be a very long list of things Walt Disney World fans will argue about between now and the rides reopening.
Carousel of Progress D23: When You’ll See It
Carousel of Progress closed at Magic Kingdom on July 5, 2026, and Imagineering is still targeting a late-spring 2027 reopening, with no firm date attached yet. Given the scope on display this weekend (full scenic rebuilds, structural steel work, an all-new finale), a 2027 target feels more earned now than it did back in May.
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