BAY LAKE, Fla. – As Walt Disney World prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the so-called happiest place on Earth, it only seems right to take a deep dive into the history of the ride dubbed the “happiest cruise that ever sailed.”
Known for its classic and catchy song, along with its vibrant animatronic dolls, “It’s a Small World” truly has a long history, one that dates to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
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Disney shared with News 6 a little bit about its background and how it got to where it is today.
“In 1964, Walt Disney was asked to create an attraction for the PepsiCo Pavilion at New York’s World Fair that would support the UNICEF foundation. The initial concept developed was given the name “Children of the World” as a working title. It would be a salute to the world’s children and support UNICEF.
On the first walk-through, each of the audio animatronic dolls inside the attraction sang their own National Anthem in multiple different languages, resulting in a cacophony of sound. Walt told the Sherman Brothers, ‘I need something and I need it right away. It should talk about unity, understanding and brotherly love and I need it yesterday because it has to be translated into 25 languages!’
So the Sherman Brothers set about creating one tune that could be sung in all the world’s languages. Walt loved their rendition so much he changed the name of the attraction to match the song – It’s a Small World.”
According to the Disney Parks blog, Richard and Robert Sherman were also working on the classic Disney film “Mary Poppins” when they started creating the now beloved anthem. Fast forward to today, it’s sung in five different languages during the 10-minute boat tour on the river called the Seven Seaways.
Nearly 300 animatronic dolls sing the anthem, representing a sea of nations from around the world. According to Disney, it took a village of Imagineers to create such detail and it starts with Mary Blair.
The iconic artist’s unique flair heavily influenced a long list of favorite animated features, including “Cinderella”, “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan” and “The Three Caballeros,” among many others. The colors and designs of the ride’s backdrops and props are largely Blair’s vision.
Disney also revealed other key people behind the ride’s development.
“Rolly Crump breathed life into Mary Blair’s 2D designs, sculpting a fanciful three-dimensional world from her visions. Former Disney film animator Marc Davis created many of the character vignettes, while his wife, Alice, designed most of the children’s costumes.”
With Alice Davis steering the ship, seamstresses sewed uniquely stylized outfits for each of the animatronics with authentic material from different regions of the world -- even shoes were handmade. The detail goes as far as hairdressers carefully styling the hair made from yarn or nylon.
According to the park, the most detailed costumes are the dolls from Thailand, Cambodia and Java, with each of them wearing 10 to 12 pieces.
After two seasons of success at the New York World’s Fair, the attraction was shipped to Disneyland, where it debuted on May 28, 1966. For the occasion, Walt had his global representatives collect samples from each of the seven seas, plus major waterways from around the world. These were poured into the flume at Disneyland on opening day by a sea of children from those nations, symbolically uniting the world.
To this day, many of the 147 toys and 36 animated props hand-made for New York by Rolly Crump are still featured in the California version of the attraction.
Five years later, the ride was slightly expanded to become a must-see for opening day at Walt Disney World Resort in 1971. Since then, the attraction has delighted guests as an opening day attraction at Tokyo Disneyland (1983) and Disneyland Paris (1992), and was added to Hong Kong Disneyland in 2008. Shanghai Disneyland is the only Magic Kingdom-Style park not to feature the attraction.
While the attraction has its roots as a fundraiser for UNICEF, that tradition kind of carries on in Florida. In late 2020, Walt Disney World donated about $20,000 in coins tossed into Small World’s waters and the Cinderella Wishing Well by guests to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida
Even though you probably have it memorized, here’s the chorus:
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 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.
To all who come to this happy corner of ClickOrlando.com, welcome! Walt Disney World is counting down to its 50th Anniversary, and so are we. With 50 days until 50 years, we are taking a daily look back at the past, how Disney’s opening shaped Central Florida’s present and a peek at what’s in store for the future.
We’re also looking to hear your memories of Walt Disney World: What do you love? What do you miss? What are some of your magical moments? You can share them with us by sending us an email and we’ll post them all for everyone to enjoy. Some might even be featured during our News 6 TV coverage of Walt Disney World’s 50th.
Here’s to dreaming, and here’s to another half-century of The Most Magical Place on Earth!