12/11/12 Tuesday before noon.
It’s a small world……my favorite ride. The last time we brought all the kids to WDW IASW was down for refurbishment…..and that made me sad. But it’s up and running now and I’m happy. Our next FP isn’t until 11:45-12:45 and that ride will be Pooh. We’re right here, we might as well take that boat to my happy place.
See, it even says, “Welcome to the happiest cruise that ever sailed”. Hm…I wonder what
DCL thinks about that mantra?
Toy soldiers are bugling, kids are singing on top of the moon, French girls are doing the Cancan, and Leprechauns are sliding down rainbows. I could go on and on describing the scenes but you know them all…..It’s a Small World is almost as old as I am (at least the west coast version, the original one). Here’s some fun facts about IASW (credit to ABCnews)
1. When Walt first conceived of the ride, it was called, “Children of the World”.
2. As many people know, the ride was originally an attraction at the 1964 NY World’s Fair before finding it’s permanent home at DL. It wasn’t intended to last longer than a couple years. It was Pepsi who approached Walt late in the game with a plan to tribute UNICEF six months before opening. They charged $.95 for adults and $.60 for children to ride the ride and they sold 10 million tickets over the two half-year sessions, the proceeds were donated to UNICEF.
3. The first prototype of the song included a meshing of national anthems all running together as you sailed from nation to nation in your ride boats. The effect was not as it was intended and Walt knew it needed reworking so he asked the Sherman Brothers (they wrote the score for Mary Poppins among others) to come up with a single song that would unite his population of animatronic dolls…..and the song you hear is the song they created. This was all in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. IASW was recorded in various studios around the world-by a church choir in London, TV performers in Mexico City, a school choir in Rome, and by local children from Tokyo and California. The song tune and lyrics are the only Disney creations never to be copyrighted, as UNICEF requested, and can be heard worldwide on musical devices ranging from keyboard demos to ice cream trucks…it remains “a gift to the children of the world”.
4. IASW in DL was revamped in 2008, leaving some upset. It wasn’t a simple maintenance update…..part of it was to include Disney characters in appropriate sections of the ride, for ex, Alice in Wonderland in the U.K. Nearly 30 other characters were added including Cinderella, Aladdin, Lilo, Pinochio, and Mulan. Many people saw it as a corporate twist on what was originally supposed to be a very innocent, non-branded affair. They also added an American scene which was lacking from the World’s Fair version-since the U.S. was the host country, no American scenes were used in 1964.
5. DL in California, DL Paris, and Tokyo DL all have a holiday version of the ride.
6. There are little surprises in each room if you know where to look. For instance, every room has a moon and a sun somewhere within, paying tribute to the lyrics, “There is just one moon and one golden sun”. In the room that represents Africa, there’s a hidden Mickey in a string of purple leaves.
And we're done
I have never thought of waiting for a front bench for this ride but I think I will in the future....especially if I want to take pictures, and I do find taking pictures in this ride challenging.
Next up is that willy, nilly, silly old bear.....
We were in Paris a few months ago but we were only there for 4 days.....and there is SO much to do and see in Paris! We didn't make to DL but I'm so curious as to how it compared to MK or DL on the west coast. I bet it was fun!
I suppose!
