Reviews of New "Small World" at Disneyland - Post HERE

[CreepyMonkey]

I was looking forward to seeing all the changes on IASW and I wasn't disappointed. There are a lot of changes to it and it feels very refreshed. As for my opinion on the changes themselves...

Well.... honestly, I was never a fan of IASW. I've never really cared for it one way or the other. If someone in my party wants to ride it I'm perfectly fine with that but if not then I never ride it because it just isn't my cup of tea. However, with that said, I have to make the following admission; from now on I will be less inclined to roll my eyes a bit when someone in my party says, "Hey, let's go over and ride IASW!" simply because I enjoy spotting all the new character additions. So over all, I'm not sure if the changes improved the ride or not, but I do know I'm more inclined to enjoy riding then ever before.

[MikeChat]

For those of you feeling nostalgic: WHenever I try to embed youtube videos on here it doesn't work so I'll just post the link.

Part 1
YouTube - It's a Small World (part 1 of 2)

Part Deux
YouTube - It's a small world (part 2 of 2)

[tloolgb]

I went with OK. I mean the human characters didn't stick out that much, they blended OK. I think the animal characters stick out WAY to much, and ruin the whole concept of the characters blending in (they are too jarring), but it wasn't horrible.

The thing I could have done without was the added music by Cinderella, Alice & Pinnochio.

But overall it was not horrible.

What I missed though was the last character...on a few trips we couldn't get past 28...

[disneyfann121]

How are the wait times for IASW on weekdays since it reopened?

[CreepyMonkey]

Originally Posted by disneyfann121

How are the wait times for IASW on weekdays since it reopened?

I rode it on a Wednesday after 1:PM and waited about 2 minutes.

[disneyfann121]

Two minutes, that's surprising.

[sediment]

On 3/2, we walked on.

And it has been ruined. That is my and my wife's review. Suffice it to say that I hardly went on it even when my kids were of the fascinated-by-it age. (Maybe every other visit, which are about once a year.) And now, I never have to go on it again. Ever. Good for IASW line, slightly less good for the rest of D-Land lines.
(Well, I suppose if I become a grandpa, I will sacrifice precious minutes of my life in exchange for precious minutes with and for the grandchild. That's a good 10-20 years off.)

[Smaps]

I think IASW has gotten a ton of undeserved criticism. Let's be honest here: the original purpose was to celebrate the NY World's Fair and to act as a symbol of peace and love and unity across all the world's cultures, yes. And for 1964/1966, that was a beautiful message and integral to the cultural zeitgeist (spirit of the times).

However, I can imagine (as an 18 year old and 90s generation) groups of kids in the last decade or so riding through and then looking at each other: middle eastern, chinese, korean, hispanic, anglo-saxon, european mixture, pacific islander, filipino, south/central american, inuit -- and saying, "What's the point of this again?...I wanna go see Pirates!" Times change. I'm not about to start some "Is racism still alive?" thread, but I'm saying that compared to 1966, maybe we've come a long way. And maybe it's not that relevant anymore.

Disneyland celebrates childhood, and I'll say it before and I'll say it again: one of the greatest shared childhood experiences of MY generation are Disney movies. All of the classics and all of the greats 90s turnouts like Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, etc etc. So sue me: IASW was beautiful but didn't mean much to me on a personal level. In an age where I was inundated with cultural diversity and the celebration thereof, I could appreciate its historical impact, but that was about it.

Seeing the Disney characters I and my friends know and love -- the ones who subliminally taught us life lessons about friendship, family, death, romanticism, relationships, life's hurdles, etc -- the ones who we can sing every song to by heart on the long road trips, underneath our breath at every attraction and musical -- seeing them all celebrated across the world in the classic IASW design: it's really, really cool.

And who knows what Walt would have thought; none of us can speak for him. He passed on long before Disney turned from simple animation and musical melodies to great pieces of ART who were tearing the music industry apart with composer's fighting for the chance to work their own magic (Lion King, anyone?) Maybe he would see not just how far society has come, but how far Disney has come, too. Maybe celebrating Disney's own accomplishments and diversity in storytelling in DisneyLAND isn't so blasphemous after all.

That being said: the Toy Story characters suck. I wish "America" wasn't always classically defined as the ~*~Old West~*~.

[MikeChat]

Keep in mind, as well, that at one time in America, interractial marriages were illegal.

[DCAfanatic]

Originally Posted by disneyfann121

How are the wait times for IASW on weekdays since it reopened?

5 Minute wait time And I loved it

[AliKzam]

I liked the ride. I haven't riden the normal version for at least a few years, so here are a few things I noticed.
I liked the addition of scarves and "vines" over my head in the Egypt section and the Africa room. It made those parts of the ride feel more intimate.
I enjoyed the character additions, but I wish that Alladin and Jasmine's carpet moved with the rest. I know that right now, Disney wants you to see them, but I hope that at some point they'll be able to move with the rest of the flying carpets.
There were times in some of the rooms where it felt like there were less dolls than I remember. I'm probably one of the few people in the world who think there should be more singing dolls
Ariel's voice didn't bother me so much, but I wish her little mermaid sisters were singing along with her.
The America room surprised me a lot, even though I've seen tons of pictures and read tons of reviews. First, I was surprised to see some of the dolls moving, after reading that none of them move. Then I discovered that only the dolls on the right side of the room were really moving. Apparently, people in the midwest don't dance, but watch out for those south-westerners! Finally, I was surprised that Woody and Jessie move. Usually, those pinata-looking dolls don't move, unless it's their entire body at once.
Overall, I liked it. I will probably ride it again and again, if I can convince anyone else to ride it with me. I still hope that more will be done to the America room during the next refurb. But the ride as a whole is still a lot of fun for me!

[Tomorrowland_1967]

Originally Posted by Smaps

Disneyland celebrates childhood,

Well ... everyone is entitled to his or her interpretation to what they think Disneyland celebrates.

But the truth is .....
Walt Disney's goal was to embrace ALL ages. Children, Teens, .. and yes, even us adults.

In fact .. I would go as far as to say, the Tomorrowland of 1967 was a "growing" experience for me. Full of inspiration and education. If anything Disneyland celebrates childhood growing into adulthood.

[fairygoodmother]

My humble opinion is:

I am so glad that I stayed away from this forum prior to visiting DL yesterday! I wanted to be completely surprised and "unbiased" as I sat through IASW.
And I must say, I loved it.

I had to laugh at the boats themselves. They made me think of Little Tikes toys...you know, the kid-sized cars, kitchens, playhouses...and what better way to make you think "childlike" then Little Tikes toys!

Since I had not read ANYTHING prior, I had no idea of the additions of the Disney characters. I thought it was a great touch. Yes, I could have done without Woody and Jessie being "toys" bigger than the children. And I agree that Stitch is a bit out of place. But quite honestly, I found myself thinking "provencial Belle should have gone there", and looking for Mary Poppins! I love that they added true "Disney", especially from a child's viewpoint.

As for the America scenes...I'm not going to voice a complaint. America is what it is. As a historical "melting pot" America actually encompasses MOST of what is already represented there. Why not build on our own history?

[ICe101]

My mom loved it. So much so that it was the main thing she wanted to do the next day. I felt the same. The characters really don't stand out that much. Heck, the family behind us only found a few characters because they didn't recognize the rest.

[Tomorrowland_1967]

As for my thoughts on the addition of the Disney characters;

I'm not a fan of it, and I'm rather saddened about it.

I do not feel they belong in this ride meant to be a tribute to the children of the world. I get this feeling current management is throwing in the towel over it's more profound theme, and think - "Well, America does not care about the message as much, if at all. We seem to be somewhat dumb-down since 1964, many people see it as just a random collection of dolls with this song, many complain about. So what difference does it make if we now just treat it the same semi trite fashion some feel anyway?"

I know of the changes going on behind closed doors at Burbank and Glendale for the last few to ten years. It's an all-out assault on pushing the branded characters to the hilt - and THEN some. Even if it means pealing away the layers to anything that offered a more profound, deeper meaning. Just splash on a nice "glossy" coating of our 2 Dimensional toons. Our branded characters have been going on since 1923. It will be 100 years before we know it. At this point, does not matter if they are real or not. We'll (arrogantly) make them "real" by pushing them more than ever. Many people come to the parks for our branded characters, and that's the end of it."

Except for me, and for anyone else who are more Disneyland fans FIRST, and are Disney Character fans second.

They seem to have forgotten that. They seem to think anyone who shows up on the door step to Disneyland come to eat up the oh-so-lovable characters more than anything else.

I will always recognize the importance of the branded characters inside Disneyland, but they are not the soul means to it's success and survivability. But the current keepers are too blinded, have lost all objectivity, and perspective. And I'm very serious about that. Someone show me one theme park project, for the DLR for the last 10 years, that was not character-driven.

For decades, I have loved the diversity, and the uniqueness every ride, every land has offered. But just when I thought I was not getting enough of Pinocchio in his own attraction, or seeing him in a parade, or seeing him at a character meet, or seeing him stacked up in any number of shops, I won't have to cry I haven't seen him for 15 minutes .. now that I'm going to get to see him in 'it's a small world'.

I'll just go against my principle of understanding the original artists integrity. Seems to be a superficial world after all.

But that's just the joke.

I have no intentions of going against the grain of my existence.

And to Disney Marketing and those who love those Oh-So Cute Disney Characters - Congratulations, you're got what you wanted. A park, that plays (even more) up, IN EVERY CORNER, to a homogeneous world of superficial, fictional entities that seem to be more appealing, than an attraction that is more based in a surrealistic or romanticized vision on reality. (Original Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise.)

'it's a small world' is a "3D" world presented by Mary Blair's very artistic vision where she took a "2D" canvas, and BRILLIANTLY "painted" it in a way .. that resonates to our very real 3D world.
The branded Disney Characters are 2 Dimensional entities .. taking part now in this carefully woven 3D world, that is not meant to be taken as "2D" as a whole.

"But we (the current commanders of the company) will push our branded characters any way we want! If you think talking fish, and life-size toys in Tomorrowland was not enough, you ain't seen nothing yet!"

So, I'm saddened by all this.

Because Disney of today are so arrogantly, and ignorantly, taking themselves down a path, shortening their "horizons" by containing themselves into a more shallow world, "boxing" themselves up into their branded "2D worlds."

It's one thing to take their 2D branded characters out of their perspective flat "cartoon" worlds and flesh them out into a 3D environment.

But it's even bigger when imagineers take our real 3D worlds that we actually connect and resonate with, and broaden the horizon by creating a "4D" take on them!

One level is more shallow, and less "connecting" than the other.
I feel what they did with 'it's a small world' is mix the two together.

The "integrity" I have grasped all these years.... is that 'it's a small world' is more important than ourselves as individuals. The characters are too "individualistic" and don't represent real people, as the rest of the 'small world' cast do.

All these various "contrasts".
If it's not one .. it's the other! In this case - All the above!

And if the day artistic integrity prevails, and a newer and better corporate Disney ever gets a grasp on things, they'll recognize the "Frankenstein" mess this idea was. And the America scene, though in concept was not a bad idea, the execution is HORRIBLE. It's "bombastic" styling with the Hollywood Bowl, and the left side of the flume, looks more like a painted-on ad for "Oklahoma!" than a style that fits in with the rest of the attraction.

Disney Characters - thumbs down!
America Scene - thumbs down!
Added music to each character scene - thumbs down!