It's a small world
It's a Small World is a themed ride in Disneyland ( California ), the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World ( Florida ), Tokyo Disneyland , Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Park in Disneyland Resort Paris . Visitors to the attraction take a seat in small boats, which take them past comic-like presentations from different parts of the world. These scenes are populated by almost 300 audio-animatronic children's puppets, who sing the theme song of the same name, "It's a small world", of friendship and mutual understanding.
history
Its origin had the attraction at the New York World's Fair in 1964 for Walt Disney and his Imagineers "it's a small world" than Pepsi-Cola sponsored UNICEF created pavilion. The design of the attraction is largely due to the artist Mary Blair back in the 1940s and 1950s in the production of various Disney cartoons was involved. Above all, her work on three Caballeros is said to have served as inspiration for the design of “It's a small world”.
After the end of the World's Fair, the attraction was brought to Disneyland, California, where it reopened on May 28, 1966. “It's a small world” proved so popular that other versions of this boat trip were built at Walt Disney World (1971), Tokyo Disneylands (1983), Disneyland Paris (1992) and Hong Kong Disneyland (2008).
Implementation and variants
One of the most important elements of the attraction, however, was to be its very catchy music: if the initial idea of playing the different national anthems of the countries depicted during the boat trip turned out to be impractical, Disney commissioned a song that could be played continuously . The music composed by the brothers Robert and Richard Sherman was easy to vary and their text easy to translate, so that during the course of the attraction the song could be sung in several languages. Today, “It's a small world” is one of the most played and most parodied songs in the world - for example in the episode “Selma wants a baby” by the Simpsons but also in Disney's own The Lion King .
Since 1999, “It's a small world” has been transformed into “It's a small world holiday” every year at Christmas time in Disneyland, California: the dolls wear more festive costumes and the scenes of the attractions are decorated with decorative allusions to the different festivals of different cultures. Christmas carols like “Jingle Bells” or “Deck the Halls” are mixed with the well-known title song. In the meantime, “It's a small world holiday” has also become an integral part of the Christmas season there in Tokyo Disneyland.
“It's a small world” also served as a model for themed trips by other operators. For example, the Efteling with “Carnival Festival” or the Parque de Atracciones Madrid with “Fantasia” built rides with a very similar theme .
In 2014, pop singer Tiffany Alvord covered the catchy melody and made a contemporary version of the song.
Web links
- Magic Kingdom - "it's a small world". In: wdwinfo.com. (English).
- Detailed article in Duckipedia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tiffany Alvord Sings 'It's A Small World' | Disney Side on YouTube , January 8, 2014, accessed March 25, 2020.