A Closer Look At - it's a small world

When I write a story for this blog I often have to go a through multitude of digital photos to find one or two to accompany the story. Just a guess but I would suspect I have the most photos taken of the Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle followed by the front entrance and the train station. In third place for the number of photos in my collection would probably come from Disneyland's iconic it's a small world attraction. Why so many pictures? Easy, the Mary Blair facade is a work of art and a work of art that is made even more special when it lights up with its holiday overlay. In every way, from the outside looking in, it's a small world is a shining example of why Disneyland stands head and shoulders above every other theme park. But what about the inside, what about the ride itself? Line 'em up - most people either love it or hate it.

Awww...... why the hate? It all starts with THAT SONG. Walt blessed us with something that is no longer done in modern theme parks - build a ride that approaches 15 minutes long. 15 minutes and 1 song. One song, over, and over, and over again to the point of being mind-numbing. Granted, it gets changed up for Christmas and is much more appealing and festive but that's only for two months out of the year. And what else about iasw (for short)? Well, for most there just isn't a deep emotional attachment to the ride. It's a collection of dolls and cutouts inside of a series of rooms in a show building. In Pirates of the Caribbean, the park guest doesn't see anything but the scenes in front of your eyes. In small world you see the ceiling, the corners, the lighting, even wires if you look hard enough. Its almost like they took their level of detail for the attraction to a certain point and called it quits.

But on every trip to Disneyland Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I will get on small world at lease once and sometimes two or three times. Why? Tradition mostly and it doesn't hurt that there is generally a short line and a small wait to get on. It also helps that in the course of an exhausting Disneyland day you can get in a small world boat and get off your feet for awhile. If you don't let the song get to you, the ride can be quite relaxing with you feet saying 'thank you'. Not listening to the small world song, it's one of the reasons the iPod was invented.