Carousel of Progress May Be Getting More Than a New Script

Carousel of Progress May Be Getting More Than a New Script

When Disney announced earlier this year that Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress would close after July 5 for a full overhaul of its show scenes, the news landed with the weight you would expect. The attraction is one of the last direct links to Walt Disney himself, a show that debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair and has been spinning through American domestic life at Magic Kingdom ever since. Updating all the scenes to new time periods and adding an Audio-Animatronic Walt Disney to the show was already ambitious. A newly filed permit suggests Imagineering may be thinking even bigger.

WDW News Today reports that a Notice of Commencement filed for the project lists Southeastern Construction & Maintenance, Inc. as the contractor. The permit’s stated scope is “general construction,” which on its own would be unremarkable. But the contractor is what raises eyebrows. Southeastern describes itself as a “Structural Steel Fabricator, Industrial Construction, and Theme Park Construction” firm operating since 1972. Their portfolio includes projects involving thousands of tons of structural steel, including the StarCon Manufacturing Facility (2,500 tons) and the Artemis 1 Mobile Launch Platform (1,500 tons).

Nobody is suggesting Disney is building a rocket pad inside the Carousel theater. But hiring a company whose core competency is heavy structural steel for what was described as a show-scene refresh hints that the scope of work may extend well beyond swapping out Audio-Animatronics and repainting backdrops. Structural steel work could mean changes to the theater infrastructure itself, the rotating platform, the load-bearing framework that supports the sets, or other elements that have been in continuous service for decades.

The current version of the attraction closes after July 5, and Disney expects the overhaul to be completed in 2027. That timeline alone signals this is no quick refurbishment. A year-plus closure for a show that typically receives only minor seasonal maintenance is consistent with the kind of deep structural intervention that would require a firm like Southeastern.

For fans who have worried that Carousel of Progress might eventually be replaced entirely, the permit is actually encouraging. You do not bring in structural steel specialists to dress up a building you plan to demolish. Instead, you bring them in to ensure the building can support whatever comes next, whether that means modernized show systems, heavier set pieces, or theatrical technology the original 1970s infrastructure was never designed to carry. The fact that Imagineers are adding Walt Disney himself to the attraction, alongside entirely new time periods for John, Sarah, and the rest of the family, suggests a creative team that is investing in this show’s future rather than winding it down.

We will be watching the permit filings closely. If Southeastern’s involvement is any indication, the Carousel of Progress that reopens in 2027 could feel substantially different from the one guests will say goodbye to on July 5.

The Parks

The biggest reveal of the day at Walt Disney World did not come from a permit office. It came from Disney Parks Blog, which published the first detailed look at The Wetlands, the outdoor recreation area at Disney Lakeshore Lodge. The new Magic Kingdom-area resort is scheduled to open in summer 2027 on the shores of Bay Lake, and the recreation complex looks like nothing Disney has built at a resort hotel in years.

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According to Disney Parks Blog, The Wetlands will sit just beyond the lobby and draw creative inspiration from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Pocahontas, specifically the song “Colors of the Wind” and the lyric “the heron and the otter are my friends.” That line generates two themed play areas: Heron Shores, a dry-play zone with imaginative climbing features, and Otter Springs, a splash area with interactive water elements. The Lazy Daydream River will carry guests through the recreation area on a leisurely float, and Lakeside Lagoon will serve as the resort’s zero-entry feature pool, complete with a spiral waterslide.

Disney Tourist Blog notes that on the opposite side of the resort, Perspective Pond will offer a leisure pool and whirlpool spa with sightlines to Magic Kingdom fireworks. That detail alone could become a major selling point. Watching pyrotechnics from a hot tub without fighting for a spot on Main Street, U.S.A. is the kind of quiet luxury that justifies resort pricing for a lot of families.

Disney Parks Blog also mentions that guests walking through The Wetlands will encounter fun facts about local flora and fauna, along with “a special plaque that honors a beloved historic attraction that once stood on this very spot.” This almost certainly references River Country, Walt Disney World’s original water park, which closed in 2001 and sat abandoned on the Bay Lake shoreline for over two decades. The plaque is a small gesture, but a meaningful one for fans who remember River Country as a formative part of their Disney childhood.

Over at EPCOT, a limited-time acrobatic chair-balancing act has been drawing crowds in the Italy Pavilion. BlogMickey reports that the unnamed performer has been filling in for Sergio, the pavilion’s regular entertainment act, for the past week or two. Saturday is the last chance to catch the act before Sergio returns on Sunday. Longtime EPCOT fans may recognize the style from Serveur Amusant, a similar acrobatic show that once performed in the France Pavilion, or its 2025 successor, Acrobatico!, which ran during last year’s Food & Wine Festival. Whether a version returns for this year’s festival remains unclear.

Meanwhile at Disneyland Paris, construction is progressing on four new scenes along the Rivers of the Far West in Frontierland. According to photos shared by @DLPWorks on X, Walt Disney Imagineers are currently preparing the ground for the bison and prairie dog scene, one of four additions inspired by original concepts from Disney Legend Marc Davis. The scenes also include raccoons and a skunk playing on a floating tree trunk. The Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing remains open throughout the work, with guests able to spot construction progress from the Molly Brown riverboat. Disneyland Paris has said the project will wrap up sometime in summer 2026.

The Screen

Springfield is coming to Fortnite, and this time the community gets to build it. The Walt Disney Company announced at Unreal Fest in Chicago that The Simpsons is joining the Fortnite IP Partner Program, giving developers access to an official toolkit of characters, locations, and assets to create Simpsons-themed games inside Fortnite’s ecosystem. The toolkit will be available later this year.

The move follows the Star Wars toolkit launch, which Disney says generated nearly 8 million players jumping into custom Star Wars islands within the first 72 hours. According to Disney’s press release, Galactic Siege hit 6.53 million total plays in its first six days, and Escape Vader drew 3.37 million over the same period. The Simpsons already has momentum in the space. Disney reports that more than 80 million players spent 780 million hours in the Fortnite x Simpsons season last fall, and the animated short that accompanied the crossover reached No. 1 on Disney+ Top 10 Today in the U.S.

The Simpsons toolkit is part of what Disney is calling its “Social Entertainment Universe,” a strategy built around letting third-party creators work with Disney IP using Epic’s development tools. The approach is interesting because it essentially outsources content creation to a global community of developers while Disney retains control of the brand. For a franchise that has been on television for over three decades, the Fortnite pipeline offers something traditional syndication cannot: a new generation of fans encountering Homer, Bart, and the rest of Springfield through interactive experiences they helped build rather than reruns.

In a very different corner of the Disney content universe, WDW News Today reports that Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, a three-part National Geographic documentary series, will premiere on July 22 at 9 p.m. EST on the National Geographic channel, with Disney+ and Hulu streaming availability worldwide the following day. The series follows three individuals caught in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, blending dramatic storytelling with archaeological evidence. Hiddleston, in a statement released with the announcement, called the project “a gateway for that conversation” between past and present, adding that “Pompeii is often remembered for how its story ended. But by looking closer, we can uncover the details of people’s lives, the choices they made, and the moments that came before the city was buried.”

And in an unexpected crossover, AllEars reports that the Muppets are heading to Marvel Comics. Details remain thin, but the pairing of Kermit, Gonzo, and company with Marvel’s publishing arm is exactly the kind of weird, joyful idea that only Disney’s sprawling IP portfolio makes possible.

The Vault

The passing of Daveigh Chase at age 35 is a loss that cuts deep for a generation of Disney fans. MickeyBlog reports that Chase, who voiced Lilo Pelekai in 2002’s Lilo & Stitch, died after suffering from meningitis and sepsis stemming from a blood infection. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, first shared the news after setting up a GoFundMe describing her critical condition. According to Forbes, Chase had entered a Los Angeles hospital earlier this month for treatment related to malnutrition.

Chase was born on July 24, 1990, in Las Vegas. She began acting as a child, with her television debut coming in 1997 on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. MickeyBlog notes that she went on to reprise the role of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Stitch! The Movie, Leroy & Stitch, and Lilo & Stitch: Island Adventures. Outside of Disney, she was known for playing Samara Morgan in The Ring and Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko, as well as voicing Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away.

Chase gave Lilo a voice that was stubborn, tender, and entirely specific. The character’s insistence on finding family in the most unlikely places resonated with millions of kids who saw themselves in her weirdness, her loneliness, and her refusal to be anyone other than who she was. That performance remains one of the most quietly powerful pieces of voice acting in Disney’s modern canon.

Sources

WDW News Today · Disney Parks Blog · Disney Tourist Blog · BlogMickey · The Walt Disney Company · AllEars · MickeyBlog