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It's a Small World

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It's a Small World
File:Its A Small Worldattractionposterdlrp.jpg
Ride statistics
Attraction typeBoat canal
DesignerWalt Disney; Mary Blair
Vehicle typeBoat
It's a Small World
Ride statistics
DesignerWED Enterprises
It's a Small World
Ride statistics
DesignerWED Enterprises
Duration14:23
Disabled access Wheelchair accessible
It's a Small World
Ride statistics
DesignerWED Enterprises
Duration13:30
Disabled access Wheelchair accessible
It's a Small World
It's a Small World at Tokyo Disneyland
Ride statistics
DesignerWED Enterprises
Disabled access Wheelchair accessible
It's a Small World
Ride statistics
DesignerWalt Disney Imagineering

It's a Small World is a popular attraction at several Walt Disney theme parks including: Disneyland (in California), the Magic Kingdom (in Florida), Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. It has been announced that it will open in Hong Kong Disneyland in 2008. The ride features a multitude of audio-animatronic figures in the style of children of the world singing the ride's title track (composed by the Sherman Brothers), which has a theme of global peace.

History

Like several other Disneyland attractions, It's a Small World originated with the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair (it was Pepsi's pavilion.) After the fair closed the ride was transferred to Disneyland and when the other parks opened they too included versions of the ride. The attraction was designed 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 outfits of the dolls.

The name of the ride was originally "children of the world". When Walt Disney demonstrated it to songwriters the Sherman Brothers the ride's soundtrack featured numerous national anthems all playing at once. Disney said, "I need one song." In response, the brothers wrote what would be known as the most performed and translated song on earth: It's a Small World. [1]

Characteristics

Exterior

The outer façade of the building at Disneyland is a gigantic clock. On the quarter-hour, wooden dolls representing different cultures parade out of the clock. After the last dolls exit the clock, a pair of giant doors swings open to reveal two large toy blocks — one block with the hour, and one block with the minutes, written in highly stylized numerals — then a bell tolls indicating the time.

The exterior has been slightly redesigned and repainted over the years, first as all-white with gold trim, then in myriad pastel colors, then in white with pastel accents. Currently it is all-white with gold trim, as it was in the 1960s. The gardens around the building are decorated with topiary animals.

Show

Inside the building, the ride features stylized 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 Scandinavia/North Pole room, with dolls representing Scandinavia, with the song sung in Swedish.
  • Europe, with the song sung in German [citation needed], English with a Cockney accent, [citation needed], French [citation needed], and Italian, as well as having a yodeler in the section representing Switzerland. (Currently, the song is sung in French in the European scene in Paris, and the Holiday versions of California and Tokyo. The song is sung in German in again, Paris, but only in the Finale)
  • Asia, with the song sung in Japanese.
  • Africa, with the rhythm of the song marked with drums then sung in English.
  • South America, with the song sung in Spanish.
  • South Pacific, with the song sung with an underwater gurgling sound by mermaids for the first section of the room (Disneyland and Disneyland Paris only), and the traditional Hawaiian version of the song throughout the rest of the room.
  • Australia and Oceania, with the song played by a steel-guitar.
  • Polynesian Islands, with the song played by percussion instruments.
  • New Guinea, a small, relatively dark room with a rainforest scene and native drummers.
  • 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. A cowboy and American Indian standing together are the only dolls during the ride that represent the United States.
  • The Goodbye room, showing different postcards and parting phrases from different cultures around the world, though in the Magic Kingdom version, there are flowers instead.

At the 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.

  • They do not all begin with a separate room for the Arctic; the Scandinavian dolls are in the Europe room.
  • The rainforest scene is in the Latin America room.
  • At the Magic Kingdom in Florida, the ride recently reopened with a state-of-the-art sound system, a few new animatronic figures, and a loading area similar to the ride's façade at Disneyland.
  • The Hong Kong Disneyland version currently under construction will add 30 Disney characters to certain scenes, in areas where their stories originated. It will also have expanded Asian and North American sequences, and the promise of "a spectacular 'curtain call' with some extraordinary optical lighting effects not seen on any other Disney ride" [2].
The white with pastel accents color scheme from 1983.
File:SmallWorldTopiary wb.jpg
Topiary sculptures lining the waterway in front of It's a Small World.
File:SmallWorldCanCan wb.jpg
Can-can dancing figures representing France.

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 usually closed in October to receive temporary holiday decorations inside and outside, only to reopen 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 temporary FASTPASS machines (which have since been uninstalled). The attraction is the same boat voyage through many regions of the world featuring choruses of children singing. During the ride, the main theme song is not played fully, but instead the children of the world sing "Jingle Bells" and a bridge of "Deck the Halls" added to the main theme. The holiday overlay has since been implemented at Tokyo Disneyland.

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 spectacular, a second viewing station was installed at It's a Small World. At the same time, the outdoor facade incorporated a sophisticated, elaborate multi-media presentation projected on the colored patters of the outer façade each quarter hour after dusk.

Disneyland Park (Paris)

It's a Small World
Ride statistics
DesignerWalt Disney Imagineering
Disabled access Wheelchair accessible

In Disneyland Park (Paris), the ride is different from, but similar to, the other versions of the ride. The backgrounds and music are all brand new. 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. Although usually in the finale scenes the song is sung only in the language of the location (English in California and Florida, and Japanese in Tokyo), in the finale scene of Paris, the song is sung in German, and English along with French.

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 J. 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 which 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.

There are many themes like [3]:

  1. Theme Music - American Vocals
  2. Scandinavian
  3. Accordion, Flute, Violin
  4. Danish Drum and Bugle Corps
  5. Big Ben
  6. English Moon Singers
  7. French Can Can Girls
  8. Scottish Bagpipe
  9. Irish Jig
  10. Dutch Geese
  11. German Band
  12. Spanish Guitar
  13. Italian Music and SIngers
  14. Swiss Yodeler and Bells
  15. Greek Flute
  16. Russian Band
  17. Balinese Band
  18. Japanese Music and Trio
  19. Indian Snake Charmer
  20. Indian Band
  21. Camel Boy Drummer
  22. kleopatra Music
  23. Laughing Hyena
  24. Rhino Drummer
  25. Pink Hippo
  26. African Music
  27. Elephant Boy Drummer
  28. Egypt Harem Music
  29. Spanish Singers
  30. Marimba Band
  31. Penguin Music
  32. Spanish Guitar
  33. Mexican Birds
  34. Peruvian Flute
  35. Samba Band
  36. Rain Forest Birds
  37. Hawaiian Hula
  38. Tahitian Drums
  39. New Guinea Drums

Attraction facts and figures

Disneyland attraction version:

  • Animated/unanimated figures: 400
  • Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed 'round the world.
  • Ticket Required: "E"

Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World) attraction version:

  • Grand Opening: October 1, 1971 (Opened with Magic Kingdom park)
  • Grand Re-Opening: March 18, 2005
  • Flume capacity: 500,000 US gallons (2,000 m³) of water
  • Animated/unanimated figures: 472
    • Audio-Animatronics Dolls: 289
    • Toys: 147
    • Animated Props: 36
  • Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed the seven seas.

Disneyland Paris attraction version:

  • Slogan: The happiest cruise that ever sailed around the world.

Hong Kong Disneyland attraction version:

  • Ride Area: 83,500 sq ft (Planned)

In popular culture

  • In the sing-along songs video Disneyland Fun, during "It's a Small World", the ride of the same name appeared.
  • It's a Small World was parodied in Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari 1.5 on The Lion King 1½.
  • In one episode of Family Guy, Peter takes Stewie to Disney World as an apology for making him angry. When Stewie gets lost, two guards find him and put him in "It's a Tiny World". There they force lost kids to sing for the riders or else they put them in a musical with Tim Allen. Peter goes on the ride, sees Stewie and the kids, and frees them to "live freely for whatever human race they are".
  • The Simpsons parodied the attraction during a visit to Duff Gardens. Dolls from all countries sing a repetitive "Duff Beer for me, Duff Beer for you, I'll have a Duff, you'll have one too."

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b "It's A Small World by Disneyland Chorus" (HTML). Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  2. ^ http://www.hkdlsource.com/news/viewstory&story=73
  3. ^ List of themes from the Tokyo Disneyland 2002 CD. http://resortathome.com/cd/itsasmallworldscd.html
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