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Disney put the new Carousel of Progress costumes, models and attraction poster on display at D23, the fullest look so far at the 2027 show
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Disney put the new Carousel of Progress costumes, models and attraction poster on display at D23, the fullest look so far at the 2027 show

Michael Travels
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Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress has been dark at Magic Kingdom since it closed on July 5, and until this weekend the reimagining had been shown mainly through concept art. At D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Walt Disney Imagineering has the physical pieces out.

Two of the new character costumes are standing on mannequins. Two maquettes show the new scenes in miniature. Rover, the family dog, is displayed between the costumes. And the centerpiece of the display is the new Tomorrowland attraction poster.

WDWMagic calls it the "closest look yet at the upcoming Carousel of Progress overhaul."

A new Carousel of Progress attraction poster mounted on a wall, flanked by two costume mannequins on plinths
The new attraction poster is the centerpiece of the display, with a costume mannequin on either side. The left mannequin wears a yellow cardigan over a white shirt with a brown neck scarf; the right wears a gold and teal wrap dress with a silver-blonde wig. Blue and orange act tags flank the poster on the wall. Image: WDW News Today

The poster

WDWMagic says the design is a nod to the poster that promoted the attraction when it opened at Disneyland. It carries the tagline "From the Good Old Days... to the Possible Future," and the artwork splits down the middle. On the warm orange half, John stands at a kitchen counter in a red sweater, a mug in his hand and a coffee pot steaming beside him. On the cool blue half, Sarah sits in a white pedestal chair in a chartreuse dress and pants, a small blue robot holding a steaming mug between them and a futuristic skyline behind. Rover is stretched out on the rug at the bottom, and TOMORROWLAND runs across the base. The artwork is not new this weekend, though: Disney released it in late May alongside concept art for the new finale scene.

The costumes

Only two of the four new scenes are represented in cloth here. Act 1, which gathers the family around the Apollo moon landing in the summer of 1969, supplies the 1960s look on the left. The finale costume on the right comes from the future scene that now closes the show.

WDW News Today describes the pair as John "in a yellow sweater and khaki pants alongside his dog Rover," and Sarah, "also in yellow," wearing "a futuristic dress and pants." That second costume is the one drawn into the poster.

A gold wrap dress with teal collar and cuffs displayed on a mannequin, with a lit model case to the right
The future-scene costume on its mannequin: a gold wrap dress with a teal collar and cuffs, an olive sash, cream trousers and teal ankle boots, under a silver-blonde wig. Rover’s furry tail is visible on the plinth at far left, and the lit case at right holds the Act 4 scale model. Image: WDW News Today

The models

WDWMagic reports the two maquettes are at the same scale as the ones Disney showed on television. One puts Sarah in a chair at the edge of a sunken conversation pit, facing a rock fireplace, in the Act 4 house. The other sets John and Rover in a kitchen.

A scale model of the Act 4 future-scene living room with a sunken conversation pit around a rough stone fireplace
The Act 4 model. A sunken conversation pit in pale stone wraps around a rough dark rock hearth with a lit fire, yellow cushioned benches on either side, a wood-panelled wall behind with an abstract painting and a low credenza, and a cutout of Sarah in a yellow outfit seated in a red swivel chair at the right edge. Image: WDW News Today

What the new show is

Disney closed the attraction on July 5, 2026 for its biggest overhaul since it arrived in Florida in 1975, and construction walls went up at Magic Kingdom the following day. A newly written opening puts an Audio-Animatronics Walt Disney on stage, and then the four acts run:

  • Act 1: summer 1969, the Apollo moon landing
  • Act 2: Halloween night, 1985
  • Act 3: New Year’s Eve, 1999
  • Act 4: a vision of the future

Reopening is expected sometime in 2027.

Worth noting: Disney is not finished this weekend. Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, the Disney Experiences Showcase at D23, streams live on Disney+ starting at 7 p.m. PT tonight, which is 10 p.m. Eastern. The showcase borrows this attraction’s name, which makes it worth watching for whatever Disney says about the ride from the stage.

Sources

Image credits: Attraction poster and costume display, future-scene costume, and Act 4 scale model photographed at D23 by WDW News Today.

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