This was the parks first continually loading high capacity ride.
The canal for the boats is 1,400 feet long.
Each boat holds 15 people
Small World canal contains 233,000 gallons of water
Show Building is 114,600 square feet
The original attraction consumed 195 pounds of glitter, 57 gross of jewels, 370 yards of braid, 28 dozen tassels, feathers and ostrich fluff
For childrens hair and animal fur they glued on marabou, ostrich plumes, goose feathers and pheasant tails using 5 gallons of glue a week
This attraction is located on the former site of the Midget Autopia
In 1992 Imagineering Art Director Kim Irvine-Alison (daughter of Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota) created the new facade colors
Buddy Baker composed the original music for this attraction.
The theme song, "It's a Small World After All," plays an average of 1,200 times a day.
"It's a Small World After All" Lyrics:
"It's a Small World"
"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a Small World after all."
"There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to ev'ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans arcs wide
It's a Small World after all."
From Profile It's A Small World: 1963
"SMALL WORLD" CLOCK
Highlighting the entrance of "Small World" is the 30-foot high "Small World" clock -- the happiest, most imaginative time-piece ever created. Animated figures of children and the elements of their world actually "perform" the time every 15-minutes to a happy children's arrangement of the "Small World" theme song and the discordant sounds of the clock's conglomeration of gears, springs and cogs.
Disneyland guests find themselves caught up in the clock's spirit and effervescent motion as it "comes to life". Top-most flags start to wave, others on the clock turn in the breeze, balls bounce up-and-down and propellers spin crazily.
On the second level, the clock's hands and a huge smiling sun begin to rotate, an hour glass turns over while flowers spin, seaweed patterns move in and out and gears on the center panels begin to turn and grind. A ringing bell adds to the mounting volume of merriment as numerals move in and out and the two doors, one on each side of the clock, open. Then, as abruptly as it began, all movement stops. There is total silence.
After a moment, there is a brief roll on snare drums and a trumpet fanfare is sounded by six toy soldiers assembled in military formation at two doors, one on each side of the clock. Twenty-four figures of children, representing Greenwich Time in each of their native lands, begin a processional from the center doors to the marching rendition of the "Small World" theme song. Emerging from the clock two at a time, the dancing figures of children divide, going left and right to re-enter the clock at its side doors.
Leading the procession from Greenwich, England, prime basis of standard time throughout the world, is an English Pearlie and gayly-clad Scotch piper. They are followed by a young Irish lad and a French cancan dancer. An Argentine gaucho and a Spanish gypsy flamenco dancer appear next. A young Brazilian senhorita, wearing a fruit-filled hat, dances out with a Scandinavian girl on ice-skates. Next comes a little Dutch girl and a maracas-playing Mexican boy. They are followed by a guitar-strumming cowboy and a youthful Swiss yodeler.
A gondolier from Italy and a saluting Canadian Mountie march out to the "Small World" chorus. Next in the parade is a young Eskimo girl with an Egyptian girl dancer. While a Hawaiian surfer balances precariously on a tumbling wave, his partner, a Russian boy, dances the "gopak". New Zealand's representative is a young girl from the Maori tribe who arrives with an African girl balancing a turquoise water-jar on her head. Next come a young Australian and his companion, a magic carpet-riding Arabian prince. A smiling, nodding Japanese girl pairs up with a young girl dancer from Thailand to conclude the colorful processional.
There is another moment of stillness. Suddenly, the toy soldier band again starts a drum roll and sounds a trumpet fanfare. Precisely at each quarter hour, two jesters on the inside of the front doors share the spotlight as one strikes a gong -- once for each hour -- while the other rings a triangle once or the first quarter-hour, twice at half-past the hour and three times at forty-five minutes past the hour. The "bong" always starts exactly on the hour or quarter-hour.
Between the quarter-hour "performances", only the tick-lock of the clock's swinging pendulum is heard.
"SMALL WORLD'S" HOME
Walt Disney aid his "Imaqineerinq" staff at WED have created a spectacular new pavilion for "It's a Small World". An irresistible marquee as well as a dramatic backdrop to all of Fantasyland, the palace-like building is a geometrical montage of fantasy architecture representing famous landmarks from "Small World" nations. Basically white with varying textures and soft blue tones enhancing the third dimension, the building entices the eye with glittering gold leaf ornaments. And at night, "Small World" radiates a subtle blend of pastel shades of lavender, green and pink on the Fantasyland horizon.
Forecourt of the pavilion are flower gardens, winding walkways and Walt Disney's unique collection of topiary -- fanciful figures shaped from growing trees and shrubs.
From New Attraction Profiles: 1966
Disneyland guests this summer will take the happiest cruise that ever sailed when Walt Disney brings his enchanting "It's a Small World" from the New York World's Fair to a new fantasy palace in the Magic Kingdom. More than 10.3 million "children" of all ages enjoyed this delightful musical during its two-season run in New York.
New lands and distant ports are planned for "Small World" by Walt and his "Imagineers" at WED Enterprises, inc., making it an even longer and more exciting adventure.
Sailing into the show's new 11-acre home, the young and the young-at-heart will be magically whisked away to the enchanted world of children represented by doll-like youngsters from more than 100 nations and areas of the world. Each locale will be represented in the inimitable Disney fashion fantasy versions of familiar landmarks and stylized natural elements in vivid color.
Show figures will sing the especially composed, "It's a Small World". The rhythm, style and language will change from country to country in keeping with the musical flavor of each national setting.
SCANDINAVIAN OPENING
Sailing on the winding Seven SeaWays aboard boats "rigged" for silent running, voyagers see first an abstract array of "Banners of the World" and are then greeted with a hardy Scandinavian welcome issued b4 ice-skaters and singers. And to the left, is the North Pole, where smiling Eskimo children are singing the theme while seals, polar bears, a walrus and a pink whale romp through the snow and ice.
Next, a brightly-clad brigade of Danish soldiers take up the melody as "Small World" guests meet them in Denmark's Tivoli Gardens.
"Banners of the World", the North Pole and Denmark are colorful additions to "It's a Small World" since the attraction moved from the World's Fair.
The silent boat sails onto the river Thames, then passes under sturdy London Bridge. Not far away is Parliament Tower where young Englishmen continue the title song. A trio of Dickens-inspired carolers perch on a Cockney moon while a still palace guard enjoys a forbidden smile below.
Gay plaid highlands and a puffing bagpipe bring Scotland into the spotlight which is soon shared by Irish wee folk and a few prankish leprechauns,on the Emerald Isle.
WESTERN EUROPE
France at its capricious best captures visitor attention quickly with its stylized red and pink, confetti-draped Eiffel Tower providing a fantastic tour de force. Precocious poodles and a pair of ballet dancers twirl to the continuing tune. More balloon-borne inhabitants sail over a capsulized chorus line doing the cancan.
Spain and Portugal team up to send four charming ambassadors to the "Small World". A diminutive guitarist accompanies a young flamenco dancer while a pair of puppets perform within the frame of a colorful Moorish arch.
With the silence of a windmill, guests' boats glide into the Low Countries for a visit with little Dutch boys and girls. They take up the tune from comfortable tulip seats while a Belgian goose girl joins in with her three feathered charges.
A very Leaning Tower of Pisa, surrounded by fanciful Italian scenery, provides the backdrop for a captivating gondolier. Nearby, young signors and signorinas join him in singing the theme song. Without missing a note, some of their friends are joyfully. carried aloft by a run-away balloon.
The tallest element of this miniaturized world is the Swiss Alps, gaily decorated with child-size, Swiss Clock chalets, each with its own bell-ringer and yodeling mountain climber. The tinkle of bells gives way to the "oom-pa-pa" of Disney's German band in the adjacent setting.
EUROPE EAST
Next on the itinerary are the Balkans and Russia where pointed domes, created in vivid print patterns, look upon high-stepping, brightly costumed dancers. Accompanying them is a balalaika band and three youthful, fur-capped Cossacks performing the knee-straining "gopak".
A small Greek shepherd, perched atop an Ionic column, joins in the "Small World" chorus while his sheep listen with obvious satisfaction.
ON TO THE MIDDLE EAST
Squadrons or flying magic carpets break formation to glide over the Middle East's collection of spires, minarets and festive market places. Aboard are childhood's copies of Persians bon vivants. Sloe-eyed dancers, some with tambourines, some with pipes, others with simple charm, beguile a young prince.
India's mystery and beauty are captured by a quintet of young bejeweled dancers, backdropped by a Disneyesque TaJ Mahal. Across a cool pond, a youthful snake-charmer takes up the song with his pipe.
ASIAN HOLIDAY
A multi-armed goddess, silhouetted in a temple door, reigns over the Bali sequence, offered next to "Small World" voyagers. Locking a bit like inviting birthday cakes, Balinese umbrellas shelter a variety of dancers and musicians -- and one grinning Bengal tiger.
Unmistakably, beautiful Japan is the next stop as boats glide beneath an orange Tori gate. Overhead, colorful kites in box and dragon shapes surround a samurai mask, Kimono-clad girls and Japanese dolls join in song with kite-flying boys.
AFRICA AT ITS BEST
Africa comes to the "Small World" in legendary adventure. Demure giraffes, smiling hippos, swinging monkeys and other animals abandon a colossal, black-lighted Jungle to pick up the tune. Beneath a flower-umbrella, a circle of native princesses Join hands to dance while three young tribesmen catch the contagious laugh of a hyena. In queenly seclusion, comely Cleopatra reclines on a a hyena. In queenly seclusion, comely Cleopatra reclines on a couch in an Egyptian palace.
From the burning sands of Egypt, "Small World" visitors are taken by their boats to the white crispness of the Antarctic where a coterie of penguins pick up the melody while they twirl about sparkling ice caps.
SOUTH AMERICAN FIESTA
Haughty llamas crown the peaks of the Andes as guests start up the South American continent. Gauchos and senoritas, balancing jars and fruit on their.heads, apply the Latin American touch to the theme.
Copacabana Beach, its wavy black and white striped boardwalk and its modern buildings., symbolizes exciting Rio de Janeiro. A delightful serving of color is offered on a three-tier centerpiece as young Brazilians in bright costumes flavor the scene with traditional dance amid brilliantly plumed birds.
Gay straw horsemen on an arched bridge, earthenware figures, a pinata-like sombrero, fire-peaked volcanos and a blazing Mayan sun look upon Central American youngsters performing the paso doble.
Colorful boats take the voyagers to sunlit Mexico next, where young flower vendors, pottery makers, burro-drawn carts and towering shelves of familiar Mexican momentos await them.
SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS
Turquoise waters and pastel shades of coral signal the arrival of visitors to the South Pacific -- an exciting new area added to "It's a Small World's" cruise at Disneyland. Beneath these inviting waters are forests of oscillating sea 'plants 'where turtles and tropical fish smile with approval as the lilting theme is sung by beguiling young mermaids.
The full-blown sail of an outrigger canoe tells voyagers that Hawaii is next. An agile young surfer races a wave and on the sandy beach, young Hawaiians dance the Hula to the rhythm of the swaying, fruit-ladened palms.
Mysterious Easter Island volcano gods watch as visitors sail "down under" and approach the rocky coast of Australia sail "down under" and approach the rocky coast of` Australia. Koala bears cling to trees, a humorous platypus clambers among rocks, bashful baby kangaroos peek from their mothers' pouches and a singing aborigine boy greet guests with the wave of a boomerang.
A "Small World" sun lies on the horizon over the ocean, holding hands, it seems, with Australia and the island to be visited next -- Tahiti. On the shore of the tiny island are "wild" Tahitian Fire Dancers whose voices and festive costumes add enchantment to the tropical Pacific.
Visitors then discover the rare kiwi of New Zealand. This country's singing delegation is composed of children from the Maori tribe. Perched on pedestals of giant flowers, beautifully-plumed lyre-birds listen contentedly.
A Polynesian outrigger canoe drifts nearby and island children sing "It's a Small World" in their native language while performing their traditional Polynesian fire dance.
Moving along, visitors approach a high-pointed, thatched-roof New Guinea hut, and passing through the entrance come face-to-face with a gathering of New Guinea children who sing the theme from behind decorative ceremonial masks. Behind these youngsters is a magical rain forest inhabited by exotic tropical birds.
AND THEN THE GRAND FINALE
Scores of the world's children assemble for the spectacular grand finale. Still in their national costumes, they join in a universal rendition of the song, sung in English. The setting is the whole world rather than individual countries, "painted" by a colorful, projected light technique. This effect, created by WED especially for the finale, includes an over-lay of constantly changing, multi-colored illumination.
With the finale, all boundaries are removed; the hosts are simply children who share the common bonds of friendship, imagination, purity and understanding.
NEW HOME
Walt and his WED staff are creating a dynamic fantasy palace for "It's a Small World". To be an irresistible marquee as well as a dramatic backdrop to all of Fantasyland, the building will be a geometrical montage of suggestive architecture representing the "Small World" nations.
Forecourt of the pavilion will be flower gardens, winding walkways and a collection of topiary -- fanciful figures shaped from growing trees and schrubs.
Highlighting the entrance will be the 30-foot high "Small World" clock -- the happiest and most imaginative time-piece ever conceived. Disneyland guests will find themselves caught up in the clock's spirit and effervescent motion while music, animated figures of children and the elements of their world actually "per-form" the time every 15 minutes.
SEVEN SEAWAY BOATS
Each boat carried by the tide of the Seven SeaWays will comfortably accommodate 15 people. Guests enter the boats from one side as those completing the voyage leave from the other -- an arrangement that reduces loading time to between 10 and 15 seconds per boat. As one boat becomes filled, guests will begin leaving another across the boarding platform. This technique will enable 64,800 people to enjoy the show during a. single 12-hour day.
Boats will be propelled at the rate of two feet per second by silent, hidden jetstreams of water just beneath the water line of the channel. This WED-designed system eliminates vibration, noise and engine fumes.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANIMATION
"It's a Small World's" 302 lifelike three-dimensional children and animal figures and 209 toys will be animated by WED's remarkable "Audio-Animatronics"* system. From a single, pre-programmed magnetic tape, audible and inaudible impulses will activate pneumatic and hydraulic tubes within each figure. Synchronized with those impulses will be the voices, music and sound effects recorded on the same tape.
From WED Disneyland Dictionary 1968
Another hit of the New York world's Fair 1964-1965. this charming visit to the world of children, has been enlarged by one-third for its Disneyland presentation. At the center of the colorful geometric facade is a huge clock which actually performs the time every 15 minutes. Moving along in small boats, visitors are treated to a globe-circling cruise in musical fantasy performed by "Audio-Animatronics" children of more than 100 areas of the world wearing costumes symbolic of their geographical locales. Settings are straight from child-hood dreams -- fantastic and colorful. Toy soldiers and grenadier bands, carolers and dancing mademoiselles, singing senors and Swiss bell-ringers, slave girls and Balinese dancers and even a green hippopotamus are among nearly 600 figures performing along the "Seven Seaways."
In the 1970's required a "E" ticket
From Steve Birnbaum brings you the best of Disneyland 1982:
The background music for this attraction-"It's a Small World," written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman (the Academy Award-winning composers of the music for Mary Poppins, among other Disney scores)-is almost maddeningly cheerful and singsongy. Children love it, senior citizens love it, and the more sophisticated among the inbetweeners wish they could expunge it from their consciousness after disembarking from the boats that carry them through the attraction. It does seem to become more lovable as you know it better, however, much like the show itself. While not necessarily the most sophisticated, it certainly is splendid, from the gloriously towered- and-turreted white-and-gold facade to the troops of stylized Audio-Animatronics dolls, representing all the world's children, on view along the way: wood- en soldiers and cancan dancers, balloonists and chess pieces, Tower of London guards in their scarlet beefeater uniforms, bagpipers and leprechauns, goose herders, little Dutch kids in wooden shoes, yodelers and gondoliers, houri dancers and dancers from Thailand and Greece, kite flyers from Japan, snake charmers, hula girls and surfers, Eskimos out fishing, bullfighters and geishas, camel riders and market ladies, cowboys and Indians, Dickensian carolers, Mounties and marionettes, and an ice skater-not to mention the handful of dolphins, elephants, frogs, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, kangaroos, monkeys, Patagonian penguins, tigers, zebras, and assorted other animals along the way. In all, there are 297 children representing some one hundred nations and regions, plus 256 toys native to those areas-a real pageant. The facade, which is embellished with stylized representations of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben, the Taj Mahal, and other world landmarks, is equally splendid-and the fantastic mechanized clock outside, whose loud ticktock can be heard from most parts of Fantasyland, is just frosting on the cake. Alone, the parade of toys and jesters and the whirring of gears and springs that marks every quarter hour warrant a trip to the attraction's spa- cious plaza on the edge of Fantasyland. Just as fascinating is the topiary-an assemblage of some 20 living olive, podocarpus, eugenia, and dodonaea plants grown over chicken-wire frames and pruned into the shapes of giraffes, a llama, unicorns, elephants, seals, lions, and other animals to form a balletic troupe almost as whimsical as the attraction itself. Presented by Bank of America.
Closes January 2008 - February 2009 for refurbishment
AFTER 2009 REFURBISHMENT:
New boats made of colored resin replaced the original fiberglass ones. The new boats are the same size, design and color scheme as the originals and can accomodate between 12 and 15 riders.
Added Characters:
Cinderella, Gus and Jac look out over their new home in France.
Look up and spy Peter Pan and Tinkerbell flying around the moon.
Alice and the White Rabbit await the Queen of Hearts in England.
Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket dance in the puppet theatre stage in Italy. Pinocchio was designed to dance like a marionette doll.
Abu is in India looking for his pal Aladdin, who is flying above with Jasmin. The flying carpet is made from a copy of one of the originals. Original materials and colors were used for their costumes.
Mulan, dressed as a warrior, and Mushu join the cast in Asia.
Africa made room for Simba, Pumba and Timon. In keeping with the hand-made style of Mary Blair, Simba's whiskers and eyelashes are chenille stems.
José Carioca, a parrot from Brazil joins Panchito, a rooster from Mexico, and Donald Duck as they sing and play.
Surfing the waves off the coast of Hawaii, Lilo and Stitch join in the Pacific Ocean.
Flounder joins Ariel and two of her sisters swimming the South Seas.
Nemo and Dory play in the South Seas. The underwater lighting effect is achieved by shining a light on a reflective paper while a fan blows, creating a rippling effect.
Native American children join the Small World crew in a scene of the western frontier. Several characters from "Toy Story" join the Spirit of America as well as children from a Kansas farm.
April 22,2014: It's A Small World: The Movie Directed by Jon Turtletaub script by Jared Stern is planned
Original sets build at Grosh Studios
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