Did the World get a liitle SMALLER or What?

November 27, 2006 10:18 AM

Disneyland filter: Just rode through "It's A Small World" over the weekend. Noticed 3 things: (1) Long section with just jet black curtains floor to ceiling, never seen that during several rides and (2) the music there was the basic track, not the same holiday themed tune and (3) where are the scenes of the Middle East? No pyramids, Arabian looking buildings, minarettes and cute singing camels and dolls in ethnic garb? Possible the ride is being worked on but over a major holiday weekend? They just Christmas-fied it all why would it still be under covers? Catchy tune.
posted by Freedomboy to society & culture (5 comments total)

In regards to (3), according to Wikipedia's article, there is no room for the Middle East currently in existance. However, according to the same article, Walt Disney World recently revamped their "It's A Small World" ride, adding a new sound system and better animatronics to the ride. (And seeing how the one for Disneyland is a few years older than WDW's, it's probably needing a heavy overhaul. It's probably just poor timing.)
posted by itchie at 12:05 PM on November 27, 2006

Hmm, I was at Disneyland (the one in Anaheim, to be clear, not WDW in Orlando) about two months ago. I did not see any obviously closed-off sections of the ride, and I distinctly remember the Middle East portions - an boy riding a camel being the main focal point, followed by a boy riding a magic (Persian) carpet, followed by the large India section. See this pic for a sliver of the section. So this overhaul must have happened very recently.

As for adding "dolls in ethnic garb" - right now, there are no women in the Middle East section of the ride (unlike almost every other nation/region in the ride), but if that were to change, we'd probably wind up with a few animatronic dolls in full-length burkas. No thanks. Give me more singing mermaids in the Polynesian section instead.
posted by Asparagirl at 12:29 PM on November 27, 2006

I checked MiceAge.com to see if there were any news items about a rehab in progress, but didn't see anything. I'm way over on the other end of the country, right up the road from Walt Disney World, and spend a fair amount of time in the parks. It sounds to me like a standard rehab. Yes, it was a major holiday weekend, but it didn't keep the entire ride closed down. Assuming the attendance trends at Disneyland are vaguely similar to the Magic Kingdom here in Orlando, the crowds this past weekend are nothing compared to the crowds that will be on hand in a few weeks. The week between Christmas and New Year's is the single busiest week of the entire year, and they would be more concerned about having the ride at 100% for that week.
posted by Lokheed at 1:55 PM on November 27, 2006

Could be that it is no big deal. Just never seen jet black curtains floor to ceiling there before. Since those little clockwork type dolls are the same basic ones from the first days of the ride I can see the addition of the holiday tweaks but those seemed to be add-ons to the other sections and the likelihood of BIG changes seems small ( pun intended). All the rest of the ride was in full hoilday splendor. No other attractions that were open had work baricades concealing any views. Overal the park was a sensory delight though, very professional and very sweet. I have the ride on video tape from 3 years ago and I'll look and see what that shows. Catchy tune though.
posted by Freedomboy at 2:48 PM on November 27, 2006

You're talking about the "It's A Small World" Holiday overlay, right? The room with the huge black curtains is usually a jungle scene - it has faux-rain falling and a crocodile waving an umbrella and exotic birds and other such creatures. They've always covered that room up rather than try and Christmafy it, because what delightful winter holiday do the animals celebrate, really?

I remember reading when they first did the overlay that the black curtains were supposed to help build anticipation for the very last room, where all the dolls are united in their pristine white outfits, but that's probably just Disneyspeak for "We couldn't tie this in with the theme, so we cut it."
posted by brookedel at 7:54 AM on November 28, 2006