It's a Small World

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It's a Small World
Land	Fantasyland
Designer	Walt Disney; Mary Blair
Attraction type	Boat canal
Propulsion method	Flume Pumps
Opening date	May 1966 at Disneyland
Vehicle type	Boat
Ride duration	11-14 minutes
Sponsored by	UNICEF, Pepsi Cola, Bank of America, Mattel, Sogo, and France Télécom.
Wheelchair accessible

It's a Small World (formatted “it's a small world” by The Walt Disney Company) is a popular attraction at several Walt Disney theme parks: Disneyland (in California), the Magic Kingdom (in Florida), Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The ride features a multitude of audio-animatronic figures in the style of children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing the ride's title track, which has a theme of global peace.

[edit] History

Like several other Disneyland attractions, "It's a Small World" originated with the 1964 New York World's Fair ( Pepsi's pavilion.) After the fair closed, the ride was transferred to Disneyland and officially opened in 1966.

The Ride was originally titled "Children of the World". When Walt Disney demonstrated it to songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the ride's soundtrack featured numerous national anthems all playing at once, which resulted in a musical cacophony. Walt said, "I need one song."^[1] In response, the brothers wrote It's a Small World (After All).^[2] It is argued that the song is the most performed and most widely translated song on earth.^[1]

The attraction's whimsical design was done by Mary Blair, who was also an art director on several Disney animated features (including Cinderella and Peter Pan). Like many Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, scenes and characters were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife, Alice Davis, designed the costumes for the dolls. Many of the dolls were created by Joyce Carlson who is honored with a shop window along the Magic Kingdom's Main Street U.S.A. The sign there reads "Dolls by Miss Joyce, Dollmaker for the World. The ride was completed in nine months, the shortest amount of time it has ever taken to create a Disneyland attraction."

Disneyland's version was closed from January to November, 2008, to receive a major refurbishment.^[3][4][5] The building's structure was improved, and the attraction's boats and water flume were replaced. The refurbishment added 29 Disney characters, and the New Guinea Room was transformed into a North America Room, while the New Guinea scene's figures, props, and set pieces were relocated to the South Seas Room.

[edit] Characteristics

[edit] Exterior

The outer façade of the building at Disneyland presents stylized cutout turrets, towers, and minarets vaguely reminiscent of world landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A major feature is a gigantic, three-dimensional clock with a happy face that swings back and forth. On the quarter-hour, a pair of doors at the base of the tower swing open and wooden dolls representing different cultures parade out of the clock. After the last doll exits the clock, another pair of doors are opened to reveal two large toy blocks — one block with the hour, and one block with the minutes, written in highly stylized numerals — and a bell tolls indicating the time.

The exterior has been slightly redesigned and repainted over the years. First as all-white with a gold trim, then in various shades of blue, then in pink and white with pastel accents. Currently it is all white with a gold trim as it was in the 1960s. The gardens around the building are decorated with topiary animals.

[edit] Disneyland

The boats travel through a tunnel into the show building, which is much larger than the façade. This portion of the ride features animatronic dolls in national costumes singing the title song in numerous languages. At Disneyland, boats carrying the riders visit the regions of the world in separate rooms:

• The Hello Room greets the guests to the attraction, showing different cultural greetings from around the world.
• The Arctic/North Pole, with dolls representing Scandinavia, and the song sung in Swedish.
• Europe, with the song sung in English with a Cockney accent and Italian, as well as having a yodeler in the section representing Switzerland.
• Asia, with the song sung in Japanese.
• Africa, with the rhythm of the song marked with drums and then sung in English.
• South America, with the song sung in Spanish.
• South Seas, with the song sung in an underwater gurgling sound by the mermaids in the first section of the room, a rainforest scene with native dummers, and a Polynesian steeldrum version of the song throughout the rest of the room.
• North America, with dolls representing the United States. (Up until the 2009 renovation, the North America Room housed the rainforest and tribal steeldrum scene).
• The Finale Room, with representatives from all the cultures of the world dressed in white versions of their native costumes and singing in English in unison. The Finale Room was inspired by the final verse of the Christmas hymn, "Once In Royal David's City", which says, "When like stars, His children crowned/All in white, shall wait around."^{[citation needed]} (Before the refurbishment, a cowboy and American Indian standing together were the only dolls during the ride that represented the United States.)

At other Disney parks, the path of the flume winds around one large room, emphasizing its theme that the world is small and interconnected. The order in which the countries appear and the countries that are represented vary in each version of the ride.

• All the other parks but Hong Kong do not begin with a separate room for the Arctic; the Scandinavian dolls are in the Europe room.
• All the other parks but Hong Kong place the rainforest scene in the South America Room.
• In Paris, the song is also sung in French, German, and Arabic.
• In Hong Kong, the song is also sung in Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin and Tagalog.

Disneyland's version gallery.

Topiary sculptures lining the waterway in front of It's a Small World.

Can-can dancing figures representing France.

[edit] Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom
Land	Fantasyland
Designer	WED Enterprises
Opening date	October 1, 1971
Ride duration	13:30 minutes
Length	1085 ft (330.7 m)
Sponsored by	Mattel (1991–1998)
Wheelchair accessible

• At the Magic Kingdom in Florida, the ride underwent a major refurbishment from May 2004 to March 2005, reopening with a state-of-the-art sound system, new lighting effects, and a loading area similar to the ride's façade at Disneyland.
• The Goodbye Room, which shows different postcards and parting phrases from around the world at Disneyland, here shows parting phrases written on highly-stylized flowers instead.
• The nearby Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant overlooks the queue area.

Magic Kingdom's version gallery.

Hula dancers representing Hawaii.

Mexican dancers.

Dancers representing Thailand.

French dancers from the last scene. They all wear white.

[edit] Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland
Land	Fantasyland
Designer	WED Enterprises
Opening date	April 15, 1983
Music	It's a Small World (album)
Ride duration	13:30 minutes
Sponsored by	Sogo Co., Ltd. (1983-2008)
Wheelchair accessible

The Tokyo Disneyland version of the attraction is a carbon copy of the Magic Kingdom version except for these differences:

• The finale is sung in Japanese.
• The Goodbye Room is much smaller.

[edit] Disneyland Park (Paris)

Disneyland Park (Paris)
Land	Fantasyland
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Opening date	April 12, 1992
Ride duration	6:24 minutes
Sponsored by	France Télécom
Wheelchair accessible

In Disneyland Paris, the attraction is somewhat different from other versions of the ride. The scenery and music are done in a different style, and there is a new room: a North America Room, with dolls representing Canada and the United States. This version also has a complete Middle Eastern section (in which the song is sung in Arabic). In the Finale Room, in addition to the song being sung in English, it is also sung in French and German.

[edit] Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland
Land	Fantasyland
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Opening date	April 28, 2008
Ride duration	10:00 minutes
Wheelchair accessible

The Hong Kong Disneyland version opened in April 2008 with 38 Disney characters (all rendered in the Mary Blair style) added to scenes where their stories originated^[6]. This version also features an expanded Asia sequence, a Middle Eastern Room, and a new scene for North America. The Finale Room features some extraordinary optical lighting effects not seen on any other Disney ride^[7]. The song is sung in Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Tagalog, languages which are unique to Hong Kong Disneyland's version. The finale is sung in 3 languages: Cantonese, English and Mandarin. The attraction is the largest indoor ride at Hong Kong Disneyland, and the location of the ride is beyond the Disneyland Railroad next to The Golden Mickeys attraction^[8].

[edit] Holiday season

"It's a Small World Holiday" lighting display.

Since 1997, Disneyland has featured "It's a Small World Holiday" during the Christmas and winter seasons. The attraction is closed in late-October to receive temporary holiday decorations inside and outside, and reopens in early-November before the start of the busy holiday tourist season. The overlay has proved very popular and at one point during its run needed the use of FASTPASS machines (which have since been removed). The attraction is the same boat voyage through many regions of the world, though the main theme song is not played fully. Instead, the children sing "Jingle Bells" and a bridge of "Deck the Halls" in addition to the main theme. The holiday overlay has since been implemented at Tokyo Disneyland with similar decorations, if not more, than the Disneyland version, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris (where the decorations are very subtle but still worth mentioning Until Disneyland Paris started to have the overlay be full of the music and decorations like the Tokyo and Disneyland Versions when the Pairs version of Holiday returned after being on Hiatus for a few years since 2003).

During the 2005–2006 holiday season, in order to remove some of the massive crowds from the main plaza during the popular Remember... Dreams Come True fireworks show, a second viewing station was installed at It's a Small World. At the same time the outdoor façade incorporated a sophisticated, elaborate, multi-media presentation projected on the colored patterns of the outer façade each quarter hour after dusk.

From now on the disney characters and The Spirit of America room (the covered transition room formally) are joining in the it's a small world holiday at Disneyland.

[edit] The song

The well known catchiness of the song is due not only to its constant repetition for the duration of the ride (which lasts about fifteen minutes, not including time in line), but Robert B. Sherman explains that the structure of the song may also play a role:

Like many songs, "It's a Small World" has a verse and a chorus. One thing that makes this song particularly ‘catchy’ is that the verse and chorus work in counterpoint to each other. This means that you can play the same chords over and over again, but with different melodies. The repetitive, yet varied pattern tricks your mind into absorbing the work without it becoming tiresome to your ear ^[1].

Additionally, the World's Fair version of the song is the one commonly heard on various Disney compilation albums. The song also inspired a Disney Read-Along.

The song was later given two covers for the dance video game Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix: a Eurobeat cover by ABeatC All Stars and a Happy Hardcore instrumental remix entitled "IT'S A SMALL WORLD (Ducking Hardcore MIX)" by TOMOSUKE and U1-ASAMI, which featured sampling of Donald Duck and was the hardest song in the game. In Ecuador, this song serves as a theme for the chain of toy stores called Mi Juguetería. The original 1964 version of the song can be heard as one enters the store.

[edit] Attraction facts and figures

Disneyland attraction version:

• Grand Opening: May 28, 1966
  • Closing Date: January 22, 2008
• Grand Re-Opening Date: February 6, 2009
• Boat Capacity: 15 passengers
• Animated/Disney Characters/unanimated figures: 437
• Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed 'round the world.
• Facade: White and gold with a smiling face.
• Ticket Required: "E"

Magic Kingdom attraction version:

• Grand Opening: October 1, 1971 (Opened with the Magic Kingdom park)
  • Closing Date: May 2, 2004
• Grand Re-Opening: March 18, 2005
• Flume Capacity: 500,000 US gallons (2,000 m³) of water
• Boat Capacity: 20 passengers
• Animated/unanimated figures: 472
  • Audio-Animatronics Dolls: 289
  • Toys: 147
  • Animated Props: 36
• Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed the seven seas.
• Facade: No clock, just a tent.

Disneyland Paris attraction version:

• Grand Opening April 12, 1992 (Opened with the Disneyland Park)
• Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed around the world.
• Facade: Different clock with a sun and moon smiling face.

Hong Kong Disneyland attraction version:

• Soft Opening: April 27, 2008
• Grand Opening: April 28, 2008
• Ride Area: 83,500 sq ft (7,760 m²)
• Boat Capacity: 23 passengers
• Animated/unanimated figures: 514
  • Audio-Animatronics Dolls: 202
  • Disney Characters: 38
  • Toys: 220
  • Animated Props: 42
• Slogan: Rediscover the world of laughter.
• Facade: Same as Disneyland California but this version uses color facade with indoor boarding.

Tokyo Disneyland attraction version:

• Grand Opening April 15, 1983 (Opened with the Tokyo Disneyland Park)
• Slogan: Welcomes You to the Magic Kingdom of All the World's Children.
• Facade: Same as Hong Kong but the entrance is on the left of the clock tower and the facade is more colorful.

[edit] Pop culture references

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

Due to the popularity of the song, the song and ride have been spoofed many times in popular culture. Many of the parodies revolve around the apparent "catchiness" of the song.

• Sung as the finale of the Spike Milligan episode of The Muppet Show. The song continues over all attempts to stop it, parodying its continuous use. This aired approx 25 years before Disney bought the rights to The Muppets.

• In an episode of Friends, Ross mentions going behind the characters after the ride broke down and having sex with his fiance, Carol, only to be kicked out and "asked never to return to the Magic Kingdom again".

• In the 1994 film The Lion King, the primary antagonist, Scar asks Zazu to "sing something with a little bounce in it." Zazu responds by beginning to sing It's a Small World when Scar cuts him off by saying, "No! Anything but that!"

• Family Guy spoofed the ride in the episode "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", where Stewie is found lost at Walt Disney World and is taken by Disney security guards to a ride called "It's a Tiny World". Stewie is chained to the ride and is forced to sing "It's a Tiny World" as a tiny Dutch boy. He is freed by Peter by the end of the episode.

• The Nickelodeon series My Life as a Teenage Robot parodied the ride in the episode "The Wonderful World of Wizzly", as "The World Ain't So Big".

• The Nickelodeon series The Fairly OddParents featured a parody of the ride in the episode Love at First Height as a ride for younger visitors to the fictional Adrena-Land amusement park, "It's a Dull World" - which as depicted, featured an excited child riding a boat down a very short stream, but then becoming bored after coming out of the exit gate.

• In the film Shrek, when Donkey and Shrek first arrive in DuLoc (which parodies Disney theme parks in general), Donkey activates a display of animatronic puppets that sing a spoof of "It's a Small World". Donkey enjoys the song and hums it to himself a few moments later, much to Shrek's discontent.

• An episode of The Simpsons, "Selma's Choice," involves Aunt Selma taking Bart and Lisa Simpson to Duff Gardens ( take off on Busch Gardens), a Disneyland-style amusement park dedicated to Duff Beer. Its rides include a boat voyage in which animatronic children dressed in various national costumes extol the virtues of Duff, singing a song similar to "It's A Small World": 'Duff Beer for me! Duff Beer for you! I'll have a Duff! You have one too!'. The water in the ride has strange effects on Lisa when she drinks, sending her almost insane.

• A FoxTrot comic strip featured Paige and Andy on a similar ride in Fun-Fun Universe, with the lyrics "It's a Fun-Fun World, where children sing/It's a Fun-Fun World, where bell's ring-a-ling/It's a Fun-Fun World, both high and low/It's a Fun-Fun World, go spend that dough." The ride lets them out right near "Souvenir Land".

• In Rugrats in Paris, the children enter a ride that is an obvious spoof of "It's a Small World," called "It's an Ooey Gooey World", with a likewise catchy song.

• In the Pokémon episode "Enter Galactic", James sings "It's a new world after all" to the tune.

• In an episode of The Oblongs they go on a ride called "It's a Third World After All".

• In The Return of Jafar, Genie sings a brief melody of "It's a Small World".

• Comedian Steven Wright has a notable one liner saying: "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it." However, this joke was originated much earlier by the Scots comedian and actor Chic Murray, and possibly pre-dates the Small World attraction itself.

• In College Road Trip, Doug says, "In the words of my favorite ride ever, it's a small world after all."

• The Japanese singer Kumi Koda sings it in her album Secret and in her DVD - Kumi Koda Live Tour 2008 ~Kingdom~

• In the movie The Lion King 1½ Timon was singing the song while waiting for Pumbaa to get snacks.

• In an episode of Pinky and the Brain, Brain intends to use the "Happy Sappy Children of Many Lands" ride (a spoof on the attraction) to brainwash people and take over the world.

• In the Jewish Grace After Meals the tune is used twice over to sing the entire fourth paragraph - "Rom'mu Adonai Eloheinu". This was first originated in the Yeshurun Community, Edgware, in 1997.

• An issue of MAD magazine claimed, in a satirical article, that one of the reasons why not to visit Disney World was because one wouldn't be able to get the "It's a Small World" song out of their head for months. An accompanying picture depicted a family visiting a psychiatrist, being driven insane by the song.

• In Hercules, yet another Disney film, when Hades points out the River Styx, he says "It's a small underworld after all."

• In Courage the Cowardly Dog, when Courage goes and finds Muriel and Eustace, he has to go through a strange animatronic world similar to "It's a Small World," even having a repetitive melody known as "It's Doc Gerbil's World".

• In Ridley Pearson's The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, the children venture into It's a Small World for a clue necessary to find the Stonecutter's Quill.

• During the pre-show on the now-defunct attraction Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Play It!, audience members were warned that if they shouted out an answer at a contestant, they would be forced to ride the ride for eight hours, non-stop.

[edit] See also

• It's a Small World (album) - soundtrack to the Tokyo Disneyland ride
• List of current Disneyland attractions
• Magic Kingdom attraction and entertainment history
• Tokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment history
• Hong Kong Disneyland attraction and entertainment history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Disneyland Park - It's a Small World official site
• Walt Disney World Resort - It's a Small World official site
• Tokyo Disneyland - "It's a Small World" official site
• Disneyland Paris - "It's a Small World" official site
• Hong Kong Disneyland - It's a Small World official site

• Ride through videos:
  • Disneyland California at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
  • Walt Disney World at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
  • Disneyland Paris at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
  • Tokyo Disney at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
  • Hong Kong Disneyland at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)