One of Walt Disney World's most historic attractions has gone dark. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom ran the final show of its current version on the night of July 5, and as of July 6 it's officially closed — listed on Disney's own site as "temporarily unavailable" — for the most extensive reimagining in the ride's history. Disney is targeting a reopening sometime in 2027, though no firm date has been given.

What's actually changing

Disney laid out the full plan on its own Parks Blog, and this is far more than a routine refurbishment: the ride's entire timeline is shifting forward by roughly 60 years. The current show — which walks a family through the early 1900s, the 1920s, and the 1940s before a dated glimpse of "the future" — is being replaced with four all-new scenes:

The headliner, though, is a brand-new opening scene featuring an Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney himself, introducing the attraction in a moment inspired by the 1964 television special "Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair." It's the first time Walt will appear inside the Carousel he personally helped create. A new attraction poster, echoing the original World's Fair artwork, also adds a robot assistant to the family lineup.

One reassurance for longtime fans: the Sherman Brothers' "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" isn't going anywhere. Disney says the anthem will still carry guests between scenes, right where it belongs.

What this means for your trip

For anyone visiting between now and the 2027 reopening: cross it off your touring plan. And beyond losing the ride itself, this quietly removes one of Tomorrowland's most useful assets — a high-capacity, sit-down, gloriously air-conditioned show that could swallow a crowd with almost no wait. On a hot summer day, that was one of the most reliable rest stops in the entire park, and it'll be missed. One small ripple you may notice already: the PeopleMover's narration has changed, with the segment that used to point out the Carousel now muted and nothing yet in its place.

An attraction about the unstoppable march of progress is, fittingly, being torn down to be rebuilt from the inside out. The construction wall out front even quotes the ride: "Well, that's progress for you."

What we know — and don't

Confirmed: the closure began July 6, 2026, Disney has officially detailed the new scenes and shared concept art, and construction walls are already up at the entrance and exit (the marquee is still visible for now). What's not pinned down is the exact return — Disney will only say "2027." Given the scope, which includes a full modernization of the ride's aging mechanical systems (the likely culprit behind its recent breakdowns), a mid-to-late-2027 reopening wouldn't be a surprise. We'll update as construction and permits progress.

The Carousel of Progress debuted at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair, introduced the Sherman Brothers' "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," and went on to become the most-performed stage show in American theater history — all from a passion project Walt sweated down to the smallest detail. Here's a trace of that past you can still catch today: "The Best Time of Your Life," the theme song that replaced the anthem for the ride's first two decades in Florida, quietly plays as background music throughout Tomorrowland to this day. That deep history is exactly why this closure stings a little — and why bringing Walt himself into the show feels like the right way to carry it forward. Here's hoping the great big beautiful tomorrow is worth the wait.