If there is one ride that I have always associated most with the Disney
parks in California and Florida, it would have to be it’s a small world
(un-capitalized on purpose). I believe my introduction to the song that
plays throughout the ride came in the form of a small toy television I
received as a toddler. As I recall, I turned the knob and the music
played, albeit only an instrumental, music box-ish version, and
two-dimensional versions of images from the ride paraded before my eyes.
I also had the book and record inspired by the ride, and I’m sure that
was where I heard the song with lyrics included for the first time. It’s
one of those songs that, once you’ve heard it, you never forget it, and
just a snippet of it will be enough to lodge the song in your head for a
week. Many people consider it one of the most annoying songs they’ve
ever heard – The Lion King even slipped in a self-deprecating joke about it – but I’ve always liked it.
This past December, I saw The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story,
a documentary about perhaps the most legendary songwriting duo in
Disney history, and a fair bit of the movie involved the creation of
this attraction. I was moved to hear Richard Sherman discuss his
reverence for the project and how he really saw the song as an anthem of
peace and global understanding. Yes, the words are simple and the tune
is maddeningly catchy, but really, isn’t this the sort of message that’s
worth getting stuck in people’s minds? “There is just one moon / and
one golden sun, / and a smile means friendship / to everyone. / Though
the mountains divide / and the oceans are wide, / it’s a small world,
after all.”
My mom went to Disney World once with a choir, and
she only had enough free time to go on three rides while she was there.
This was one of them. I tend to think of it like Hershey’s Chocolate
World; if you’re going to go to Hersheypark, that is the one ride you
absolutely must go on. (Of course, unlike it’s a small world, it’s
outside the actual park entrance, so you can go on it without actually
paying park admission…) When I went to the Magic Kingdom with my aunt,
uncle and cousin last month, this was my one essential ride just as
surely as the pair of Walt Disney World Mickey Mouse ears was my one
essential souvenir.
We spent one full day and one evening at the
Magic Kingdom. The first day, we waited quite a while to get on this
iconic ride. I would estimate that we spent about an hour waiting in
line, in part because we happened to hit it at what seemed to be the
busiest point in the day. When we rode it the second day, we only had to
wait about ten minutes. The line winds down toward the waterway, where a
series of 24-passenger boats wait to take visitors on their leisurely
trip through the world.
I’ve seen enough representations of the
ride on film and in books to have a pretty solid idea of what to expect,
and there was a definite air of familiarity about it as I slowly gazed
around to admire the displays. However, my first time through, I
couldn’t help thinking that it may be a small world, but it’s an awfully
big ride. Every time I thought that we had come to the end of the
attraction, we turned a corner and entered another room just as vibrant
and joyous as the one before it.
The animatronic figures all
look extremely similar in basic body and facial structure, which
emphasizes the common ground we all share. Yet the costumes are
completely distinct from each other, as are the props filling each
section. Several prominent Disney artists, including Mary Blair, Marc
and Alice Davis and Walt Disney himself, were involved in the design of
the original attraction, which started out at the 1964 World’s Fair and
then moved to Disneyland, and although it didn’t come first, the Disney
World edition still feels like a labor of love. It’s a 15-minute cruise
that is meant to encourage children and adults alike to see the beauty
in other cultures and contemplate our similarities while celebrating our
differences.
Nearly 500 animated figures fill the ride,
including both human and animal dolls as well as a variety of toys and
contraptions. Every room is bursting with activity. Hula dancers offer a
welcome in grass skirts; Arabian children fly on magic carpets;
leprechauns linger on golden harps. In each land, you can find children
dancing and playing and taking to the land, sea or sky in a variety of
whimsical vehicles. Creatures ranging from kangaroos to giraffes lurk
nearby, adding more unique flavor to the countries that host them. And
each time the boat takes you through a different part of the world, the
language on the recording of the song changes, so you hear it in a
variety of different tongues. The basic nature of the song makes it
ideal for translation, and the words and melody are so memorable that
you always know pretty much what they’re singing no matter how
unfamiliar you are with the language at hand.
I understand that
at Disneyland, it’s a small world now includes several prominent Disney
characters mixed in with the characters specific to this ride, much like
certain characters are scattered through Epcot’s International Village.
While I’m not used to thinking of familiar Disney faces like Pinocchio
and Peter Pan populating it’s a small world, I imagine that this new
twist would add another layer of fun, as would the holiday version of
the ride, which includes lights, decorations and festive music. In any
incarnation, I can’t picture myself getting tired of this attraction.
With so much to see in every room, I think I’d have to ride it several
times before I even managed to catch everything that was happening, and I
don’t see the wonder wearing off even then. This ride is a beautiful
artistic feat and the representation of Disney’s dream of a future in
which children all around the world could live in harmony, a dream that
the Sherman Brothers shared when they wrote the song that is one of the
most performed and recognized in the world.
“There’s so much that we share / that it’s time we’re aware / it’s a small world, after all.” Yes, indeed.
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