It’s a Small World After All

It’s a Small World is one of my favorite rides! Yes, you read that correctly, I love this ride so much it is a must do ride for me on each trip to the park. On my solo trip to WDW in October, I rode it four times in a row. When the stand-by line is only a 5-minute wait, you have to ride it again!

It’s a Small World was not an opening day ride at Disneyland. It opened almost 10 years after Disneyland welcomed the first guest, on May 28, 1966. Why 10 years later? Well, It’s a Small World and three other rides were all created for the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York City. When the World’s Fair was over, those rides all came back to Disneyland in one way or another.

From the World’s Fair Disneyland gained, Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Lincoln, People Mover and It’s a Small World.

One thing that amazes me is how quickly the ride went from concept to open. Only nine months! I think a ride today takes at least three to five years or even longer to go from concept to open.

How did It’s a Small World go from concept to opening at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in less than a year?

Walt Disney was approached by Pepsi and UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Education Fund) to create an exhibit to salute and benefit UNICEF. Walt accepted the challenge, as it was less than a year before the opening of the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York. He quickly met with Imagineers to get started on designing “the happiest cruise that ever sailed the world” to celebrate the children of the world.

The working name of the ride was “Children of the World” when Walt tapped Marc Davis, Rolly Crump, Mary Blair, Claude Coats, Blaine Gibson, Alice Davis, and the Sherman Brothers to design and bring it to life.

Who is everyone and what did they contribute to turning “Children of the World” into It’s a Small World?

Marc Davis developed the scenes and animated dolls. When you move through each “room” or scene, you are looking at Marc’s creations of how the rooms are designed and laid out. Before It’s a Small World, Marc animated Snow White, Cinderella, Alice, Tinker Bell and more as an animator. He also helped design/create scenes and characters for The Jungle Cruise, The Enchanted Tiki Room, and The Haunted Mansion to name a few.¹

Rolly Crump was tasked with creating the “toys” or everything that was not an animated doll. When you are on the ride and see the penguins dancing or some of the other “toys” you can thank Rolly and his team.² Rolly is best known for the Tower of the Four Winds marquee that stood outside the ride at the 1964-65 World’s Fair. When the ride was moved to Disneyland, the Tower of the Four Winds was destroyed, and Rolly created the now infamous clock tower for the ride at its permanent home in Disneyland.³

Rolly and Walt with a model of the Tower of Four Winds

The next person who, I think made the ride what it is, is Mary Blair. Mary was the art designer for the ride and brought her whimsical spirit and eye for color to make the ride come alive. Before It’s a Small World, Mary was the art director for The Three Caballeros, and created concept art for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and more. You can also find a 90-foot tall mural she created in the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. No matter where you look walking up to or while you are on the ride, Mary’s design and color palates are everywhere.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

Everything the ride and art designers worked on would not have been seen if the ride itself wasn’t configured. Claude Coats was tasked with coming up with the ride layout. Some of Claude’s other work can be seen all through Disney. He helped design the Submarine Voyage, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of Caribbean and many more.⁷ ⁸

Blaine Gibson helped bring all the characters come to life. He was asked by Walt to be on the sculpting team and worked on bringing the characters to life for the ride. Blaine also worked on The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other rides, however, Blaine is best known for a statue at the end of Main St USA. Partners, in front of the castle at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland, is Walt holding Mickey’s hand. He also sculpted Sharing the Magic, which is at the front of Main St USA and is Roy O Disney sitting on a park bench with Minnie Mouse. Have you seen Roy and Minnie? ⁹ ¹⁰

Alice Davis was a costume designer who dressed all of the dolls. Alice did extensive research on the different regions and cultures to create over 150 different costumes for It’s a Small World. If you have ever seen the pirates on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride Alice designed and dressed them as well as many other characters on other rides. ¹¹ ¹²

Everyone mentioned thus far had a huge impact on not just It’s a Small World, but on Disney as a whole. Sometimes I wonder if they were not all working together in such a time crunch would the ride be the same timeless classic ride?

Well one thing I do know is it wouldn’t be either loved or hated by so many people if it wasn’t for the song written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert. At first Walt wanted all the dolls to sing their national anthem from their respective country. When it was tested, it sounded horrible and you couldn’t really understand one anthem because they were all playing over each other. Could you imagine over 25 countries singing their national anthem all at the same time?

This is where the Sherman Brothers come in. Richard and Robert Sherman were brothers who composed over 200 songs together in the 13 years they worked for Disney. A few of their well-known songs you might recognize are “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius”, “A Spoonful of Sugar”, from Mary Poppins, and “I Wan’na Be Like You” from the Jungle Book. ¹¹

After Walt heard all the national anthems being sung at the same time, he told the Sherman Brothers, “I need one song that can be easily translated into many languages and be played as a round.” They wrote It’s a Small World After All and Walt liked it so much he changed the ride name from Children of the World to It’s a Small World. ¹²

It’s a Small World debuted on April 22, 1964 at the 1964-65 World’s Fair. In the time the ride was at the World’s Fair, over ten million guests rode it and heard the song. When the World’s Fair was over, Disney packed the ride up and moved it to Disneyland.

When the ride debuted on May 28, 1966 in Disneyland, Walt and “children from sixteen ethic groups” poured water a vile of water from different oceans and major lagoons from around the world into the waterway of the attraction. ¹³

Since 1966, tens of millions of people around the world have ridden It’s a Small World. The ride is now in five different parks, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

If you want to sing a long the next time you take a ride on the happiest cruise that ever sailed, here are the lyrics:

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.

It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world

There is just one moon and on 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

A third verse was written by Richard Sherman before he passed away in May 2024. This verse will be added to Disneyland’s It’s a Small World in July 2025, to coincide with the 70^th Anniversary of Disneyland.

It’s a world of wonder, a world of worth
And in years to come we’ll know peace on earth
We will open our eyes 
And we’ll all realize
It’s a small world after all

The next time you are in the park don’t forget to ride It’s a Small World, sing the song, and remember everyone who played a part in creating the classic ride.