Preface

At the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Walt Disney introduced three groundbreaking attractions: “it’s a small world,” “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” and the “Carousel of Progress.” All three of these attractions have since moved into Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and you can still see them today.

My favorite of these is the Carousel of Progress. Supposedly, it was one of Walt Disney’s favorites too. It’s part ride and part stage show where the seating area rotates around a center area featuring four stages. Each stage tells the story of a family at different time periods of the 20th century—the early 1900s, the 1920s, the 1940s, and recent times—highlighting the technology advances in that time period. The story of innovation is told from a hand-cranked washing machine, to electric lighting and radio, to automatic dishwashers and television, to computers and voice-activated appliances.

In every act, the father (who is also the narrator of the show) talks about the latest inventions and says “It can’t get any better,” only to discover that, in fact, it does get better in the next act as technology progresses.