"it's a small world"

From The Mickey Wiki: Your Walt Disney World Encyclopedia!
Revision as of 19:39, 9 March 2015 by Mmouse (Talk | contribs) (Attraction Plot)

Jump to: navigation, search

"it's a small world" is an attraction located in Fantasyland.

"it's a small world"
Smallworld2.jpg
The exterior of "it's a small world" in Disney World is different than any other version of the attraction.
Magic Kingdom
Land Fantasyland
Attraction type Interior Boat Ride
Opening date October 1, 1971
Vehicle names Boat
Vehicle capacity 20
Ride duration 10:30 minutes
FastPass + Yes

Attraction History

The 1964 World's Fair

"it's a small world" was originally created by WED Enterprises for the 1964 World’s Fair. Only a year before the fair opened, Pepsi asked Walt Disney to help them create an attraction for their pavilion. Pepsi was trying to create an exhibit that would pay tribute to UNICEF, and although Disney was already working on attractions for Ford Motors (the Skyway), GE (The Carousel of Progress) and the state of Illinois (Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln) Walt agreed to take on the Pepsi exhibit.

The genesis of the "it's a small world" itself actually began as Walt Disney’s idea. Walt wanted to create a boat ride entitled “The Children of the World", which would feature various children singing their own national anthems. Working with that idea, Marc Davis began sketching various ideas for the attraction, before Disney decided to bring in artist Mary Blair. Blair had previously worked as an art supervisor and color stylist for many Disney films including the Three Caballeros, which Disney particularly liked. While Blair worked on the basic design of the dolls and the color scheme for attraction, other WED Engineers were hard at work. Many of the scenes and characters found in the attraction were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife Alice was in charge of designing all of the costumes for the dolls to wear. Rolly Crump and Jack Ferses were in charge of creating the "toys" (everything that wasn't a doll) for the attraction, while Claude Coats designed the river pattern that the boats would follow. Blaine Gibson sculpted each of the dolls, giving each one an identically shaped face.

Although Walt's original idea called for all of the dolls to sing their own national anthem, this idea proved unsuccessful. The dolls singing different songs led to a disoriented and unpleasant soundtrack. Walt instead turned to the Sherman Brothers to create a song for the attraction. He showed the brothers a scale model of the attraction and told them he wanted something like "Row Row Your Boat", which would be catchy and easily translatable. Harriet Burns (another WED employee) has since stated that she heard Walt say “it’s a small world after all”, to describe the tone that he wanted the song to have. Perhaps taking inspiration from this, the Sherman Brothers wrote a song titled "it's a small world after all". Although the brothers were initially unsure about their song, Walt told them "That will work" (which Disney employees knew was high praise). In fact, Walt liked the song so much that he ended up changing the name of the attraction to match it.

"it's a small world" as it appeared at the 1964 World's Fair.

To draw guests into the Pepsi pavilion, Rolly Crump designed the 120-foot high Tower of the Four Winds. The tower featured a total of 52 different mobiles which “represented the constant energy of the young". In order to create the attraction on time for the fair, construction crews worked seven days a week. Although Pepsi was not a fan of the attraction Disney had created, the pavilion proved to be extremely popular. Over its two year run, an estimated 10 million people rode "it's a small world", making it one of the post popular attractions at the World's Fair. One of the factors that made the ride so popular was the high capacity that it had. By using multiple boats every hour to get guests on the attraction, there was almost never a wait. This ride system would later be used in other Disney attractions including Pirates of the Caribbean.

Move to Disneyland

Following the conclusion of the World's Fair in 1965, Disney decided to move "it's a small world" to Disneyland. Although the scenes were transported from New York and placed in the same order, the attraction that opened in Disneyland was very different than the one that had been at the fair. Since the show building that was built for the attraction was one third larger than its predecessor, when rebuilt, there was an increase in the space between the various attraction scenes. Because of this, WED Engineers were able to add new scenes to fill in the empty spaces. Rolly Crump designed scenes depicting the North Pole and the Pacific Islands, to fill in some of the unused space. Another difference between the attractions is the fact that the Europe scene was also about 1/3 larger in the Disneyland version of the attraction then it had been in New York.

The 120-foot high Tower of the Four Winds (which drew guests into the Pepsi Pavilion at the World's Fair) was not moved to California with the rest of the attraction. It would have cost Disney an estimated $80,000 to ship to California, so the tower was simply demolished. The exterior of the attraction in Disneyland was however once again designed by Crump, who took inspiration from Mary Blair's artistic style. Blair had actually come up with a facade herself, but it was deemed to be too difficult to maintain. Crump's design featured a stylized three dimensional facade, with abstract towers, minarets, and turrets. Several depictions of landmarks can be seen on the facade including, the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Walt Disney himself came up with the idea for the large smiling clock located on the outside of the building. The Disneyland version of the attraction also included various dolls that come out of the clock (and dance to a version of the attractions theme song) when the clock strikes the quarter hour.

Creation in Walt Disney World

"it's a small world" opened on October 1, 1971 with the rest of the Magic Kingdom. The attraction was one of the many Disneyland attractions that were copied for inclusion Walt Disney World. Although the two versions of the attraction are very similar and feature nearly identical plots, there are some differences between them. Perhaps most noticeably, the exterior facade in Walt Disney World is much simpler in its design. The elaborate and memorable facade on the outside of the Disneyland attraction is actually located in the loading area of the Walt Disney World version. The dancing clock can also be found in the loading area, although dolls do not come out and dance on the quarter hour. The "Goodbye Room" in the Disney World version of "it’s a small world" is also unique. In Disneyland, the room holds postcards and goodbye phrases from around the world. In the Magic Kingdom however, parting phrases are painted onto large flowers, leading guests to the exit.

Although "it's a small world" has not changed much since it opened, the ride did go under a significant renovation from May 2004 until March 2005. The attraction received a new state-of-the-art sound system, new paint, and new lighting. The loading queue was also changed, giving guests more cover and protection from the elements.

Attraction Plot

"it's a small world" is a boat ride attraction that takes guests through scenes depicting children from all around the world.

Queue

While guests wait in the queue for "it's a small world", they can see the famous Disneyland facade. The facade is used on the exterior of all other versions of the attraction, but it is located inside the Walt Disney World version’s queue. The colorful facade features abstract versions of various landmarks, with the focal point of the façade being a large smiling clock, which rocks it head in-time. While waiting in the queue, guests can also hear various international songs. Songs heard in the queue include (country of origin in parenthesis):

A close up of two dolls on "it's a small world".


  • Ach Du Lieber Augustin (Germany/Austria)
  • Alouette (France/Canada)
  • Chiapanecas (Mexico)
  • Estaba La Pájara Pinta (Spain)
  • Funiculì, Funiculà (Italy)
  • Hava Nagila (Israel)
  • Irish Washerwoman (Ireland)
  • London Bridge (England)

Boat Ride

The Walt Disney World version of “it’s a small world” features seven distinct rooms. These rooms feature 472 props (including 289 singing dolls) which represent 100 different countries. The rooms in “it’s a small world “are:

Europe- In this room, the dolls sing “it’s a small world” in Spanish, English, Swedish and Italain. Groups of dolls representing: Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands can be found here.

Asia- In this room dolls representing China, Japan and Korea sing “it’s a small world” in Japanese.

Africa- Although tribal beats set the tone for this room; the dolls here sing the attraction’s theme song in English. In addition to the dolls, many wild animals such as elephants, zebras and lions can be seen here.

Central/South America- In the attraction’s forth room, dolls sing “it’s a small world” in Spanish. Latin instruments such as maracas can be heard.

The South Pacific- This room features dolls representing Polynesia, Hawaii and other islands.

White Room- The grand finale of the attraction, the “White Room” features dolls from all over the world. Despite their different cultures, the children are all dressed in the color white. All of the different languages used in the attraction are sung here.

Goodbye Room- After leaving the finale, guests enter the Goodbye room. Here parting phrases are written on multicolored flowers. After leaving the Goodbye Room guests finally unload.

See the Attraction!

"it's a small world" is one of the harder attractions to describe in detail. We recommend that you view the attraction yourself, in order to take in all of it's intricate details.

Fun Facts and Trivia

  • The canal that guests ride down on "it's a small world" is known as the Seven Seaways.
  • 500,000 gallons of water are used to fill the Seven Seaways canal.
  • In the Goodbye Room, 22 languages are used to say "goodbye".
  • An astonishing 600 guests can be on "it's a small world" at the same time.
  • A model of “The Tower of the Four Winds” created by Rolly Crump can be seen on the fourth floor of the Contemporary Resort (it's located across from the elevators).

References

http://disneybythenumbers.com/wdw/wdwFantasyland.html

http://allears.net/tp/mk/mk_small.htm

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/magic-kingdom/attractions/its-a-small-world/