CHANGE is the name of the game in Disney World these days.
Is this a must-do for you?
We’ve seen big changes in the narration over at the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, changes with the TRON construction, changes on food menus, and more. Now, change has impacted another Disney World ride — the beloved Carousel of Progress!
When we rode through the Carousel of Progress recently we noticed that something was different. In the final scene of the ride, it seems each of the characters has gotten a bit of a makeover!
Now, don’t panic — the narration here has stayed the same! But the animatronics’ outfits and some hairstyles appear to have been updated to give them a more modern look.
The NEW Costumes!
For reference, here’s what these costumes looked like before.
Carousel of Progress — OLD Outfits
Let’s go character by character. For Sarah (Mother), you can see her older outfit in the photo above. In terms of her new outfit (pictured below), her khaki pants have been substituted for pants of a darker color. Her red sweater has also been swapped out to a more grey-colored sweatshirt/shirt. And she’s got a bit of different hairstyle, with more of an up-do, as opposed to her previously more loose hairstyle. She also seems to have some slightly darker glasses frames.
Mother’s New Look!
In the past, father had some hair hanging a little bit further down his face, and he had a holiday apron on. You can see his OLD look in the photo below.
OLD Outfit — Don’t Mind the Missing Hand; This was from “the incident” when his hand…well, fell off!
Now, father has a different holiday sweatshirt on, a slightly different hairstyle, and an apron that says “My Food Rocks.” That appears to be a little nod to Food Rocks, the attraction that once existed in EPCOT!
Father’s New Look
As for Jimmy, his old look featured a multi-colored sweatshirt, jeans, and some sneakers. Now, he’s got some green shoes with a reindeer on them, a new grey sweatshirt, and what appear to be some slightly slimmer jeans.
The NEW Look
Even grandma got a new look! Her old outfit featured an older-style heavily patterned dress. Now she’s got a more modern, light pink dress and a brown shawl. She also has a new hairstyle that seems to be a bit lighter in color and more straight (as opposed to being somewhat curly).
Look at Grandma Go!
Over on the other side of the scene, Grandpa and Patricia also have new looks. Here’s a look at their OLD costumes.
OLD Costumes
Here’s what they look like now!
NEW Outfits
Looks like grandpa has traded in his tan pants for a more grey, patterned look. He’s also got a grey sweater on now.
Grandpa
Patricia has seen some big changes! Gone is her pink sweatshirt, her light pants, and her more ski-style boots. Now, Patricia’s got a grey sweatshirt on that says “Progress Tech” on it. This seems to be a reference to Progress City.
Patricia also has new patterned pants, new brown boots, new green shoes with the reindeer on them (just like her brother), and (perhaps most noticeably) a NEW hairstyle. Now, she’s got bangs and a bit of a messy pony tail situation going on.
Patricia is Looking Different!
But don’t worry, some of the same details you know and love are still there, like the hidden Mickey plush near the Christmas tree!
Spot the Hidden Mickeys?
What do you think about these changes? Are you a fan of the slightly more modern looks? Tell us in the comments!
We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more changes all around Disney World. If you’ll be heading to Disney World soon and are wondering what attraction changes are on the way, you can click here to see how Festival of the Lion King will be changing, and click here to see why the way you meet Mickey is CHANGING in Magic Kingdom.
Cinderella Castle
As always stay tuned for more Disney news!
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I love the Carousel of Progress so I was very concerned at first. But the changes look awesome!! I’m especially glad those darn ski boots finally got an upgrade!
The update was needed and a good one! We LOVE Carousel of Progress!!!
Like the changes!
I always worry they will get rid of COProgress. At one time you would have to stand in a pretty long line to go through the Progress of change.
It for me will always be a must ride!
Everyone seems to have gotten a bit older and mature…. Too bad, the iconic old look took you back in time to a more simple time.
As long as they don’t mess with the Jean Shepherd narration, that’s fine.
I love the changes to the finale. Brings it closer to the time we live in style-wise and I think it will not feel so out of step with today.
The changes to the finale are nice. Now they just need to fix the first scene. The Wright Brothers are not “from” North Carolina. They just flew their plane there.
I LOVE these updates in outfits, they were definitely needed!
I love The Carousel of Progress. Always have. It has been dated for a while. I love everyone of the changes. Good work. Thanks
I love Carousel of Progress. Always have. It has been dated for a while. Love all the changes y’all made. Good job. Thank you
I love Carousel of Progress, first saw at World’s Fair in New York. Always ride and sing along. The update was needed and is more current. Hope they never get rid of it!
Love the more up to date look, dad’s sweater needed to be changed , like that some of the hair styles have been up dated as well ! Thanks for letting us know!
Wild! The old look was fun, but SO, SO EIGHTIES and really had to change if they were gonna pretend this was “modern”. It was hilariously quaint, though.
I love it ! Looks great. One of my favorite things to do at MK is visit Carousel of Progress. Good job !
They’ll probably raise ticket prices to cover the cost,
This is probably the first change that WDW has made in the past 8 or 10 years that I don’t hate!
Jean Shepherd narrates this??????!!!! I had no idea! No wonder it sounded familiar! Spaceship Earth always sounded familiar to me too and I swore it was Judi Densch, but could never find anything online. I finally found something on TikTok recently!
Anyway, I love Patricia’s new hairstyle. It’s right with the times. And as many times as I’ve seen this show, I never saw the Hidden Mickey in the tree! I’ll look for it when we go back at the end of this month.
Glad to see the family more hip to the jive! Although I don’t like Junior’s green sneaks.
I’ve been to Disney over 20 times. One of my favorite rides is carousel of progress. I don’t like the charges at all. Not everything needs to change
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I love these new looks.
It’s nice to see a change that isn’t a forklift upgrade. This seems to be what they used to call Plussing. I don’t like a lot of recent changes, but this one is good, in my humble opinion.
I know – that’s IMHO…
Life changes to the carousel progress would like to see more.
When you said there were changes, I had a slight panic attack LOL! I love this attraction. I usually hate updates, but this is a winner. Glad I got alerted prior to my next visit in October. I appreciate all the news you share.
I was concerned about what changes were being made. I am good with just the change in outifts. Even though the old ones are a lesson to younger generations about history of clothes. I love the Carousel of Progress and so happy that they are not changing the narration! Too many unnecessary changes are already being done.
Grandma still looks too old! I’m a grandma and I sure don’t walk around like that and neither do my grandma friends.
Changes are nice, but they also need to update the last scene to more current times.
Patricia’s rear-entry ski boots have changed to Bean Boots. When I skied and went from rental boots to rear-entries I thought they were the most comfortable ski boots going. A skiing friend recently told me that they’ve fallen out of favor for something else.
That Patricia is sure keeping up-to-date!
That’s so interesting, Alan! Here’s hoping she catches up again in another 30 or so years! Haha
I like the subtle changes. Just a little updating was all it needed.
Please remember that the COP is 19th to 20th Century. Don’t go too crazy with changes.
I went on COP last weekend. I like all the changes, except the Dad doesn’t look at all like the guy in the other scenes!!
Father now looks like Paul Rudd. It’s not a bad thing.
Have you ever commented on the use of these same characters in Spaceship Earth? I’ve always been curious about why but I’ve never seen much on it.
I think they’re wearing matching green reindeer slippers, not sneakers? I like the changes, but always thought the sister looked too mature for a college age person, facially. I think this scene still needs a bit more updating home interior wise, but it’s my favorite ride!
I kind of agree with what what Katie said above, but I don’t think it’s beneficial to change it, or even possible:
The final scene looks like a 1960’s ranch house, but what’s wrong with that? It depicts a warm, loving, close family environment. The problem is…
The technology shown is just plain stupid. Voice recognition is common these days…it’s not used for ovens…and it’s not going to be as poorly engineered as shown. Plus those VR headsets!? Shooting a game in space!?
It simply needs some clever rewriting and minor hardware changes.
I found one not-so-hidden Mickey and a hidden gargoyle in the Patricia-and-Grandpa photo, but no other Mickeys. Are there really multiple Mickeys?
The Ride is one one my favorite have to’s every time I visit. I hope it never goes away. Love the costume updates.