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it’s a small world | Disneyland | 1964-1965 World’s Fair

Matthew Krul

Perhaps the most iconic ride of all time, “it’s a small world” opened at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York at the UNICEF pavilion sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and was later moved to Disneyland, opening there in May 1966. Imagineers Mary Blair, Rolly Crump, Blaine Gibson, Marc Davis, Alice Davis, Harriet Burns and Claude Coats worked closely alongside Walt Disney to bring this attraction to life, and the Sherman Brothers (Richard and Robert Sherman) wrote its iconic theme song. With so much incredible history and a compelling message, this attraction is one of the best known in the world, and the song, written as a prayer for peace, is one of the most played songs of all time.

In this podcast episode, we dive into the rich history of “it’s a small world” and share some fun facts you might not have known about this attraction. The episodes includes a binaural scenic audio recording from the ride at Disneyland.

What do you find most inspiring about “it’s a small world”? Tag me and join the conversation below.

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This episode is dedicated to all the children listening, to the kids at heart, and to everyone working to make the world a better place. This episode is my special prayer for you.

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Welcome aboard Imagination Skyway, your grand podcast tour of the magic. I’m your host, Matthew Krul, and in today’s episode we’re going to discuss “it’s a small world” at Disneyland.

At the end of the show, we’ll return to Imagination Central, where I’ll share ways in which you can stay connected with Imagination Skyway, how you can discuss this topic with others, and how you can help support and inspire the future of this show. Please remain seated, keep your hands and arms inside the podcast at all times, and enjoy your grand circle tour aboard Imagination Skyway.

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The 1964 World’s Fair in New York represented a major milestone for Disney. It was the first time the company created attractions outside Disneyland, testing the feasibility of a permanent theme park on the east coast, which would open 7 years later as Walt Disney World. It also allowed the Imagineers the chance to test new kinds of attractions and experiences, experiments that would be completely paid for by corporate sponsors with the option of moving them to Disneyland should they succeed. In a previous podcast episode, we discussed one of these experimental attractions: Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, which would later make its way to Disneyland and then to the Magic Kingdom, which is where it still stands with its 1993 update. In this podcast episode, we’re going to discuss another monumental attraction: “it’s a small world”.

This classic boat ride is not just a utopian story of a multicultural world at peace and one of the most iconic attractions ever built at any theme park in history, an attraction that despite its few updates over 60 years maintains a 4.6/5 stars on Google with over 1,200 reviews. It is also a ride that became a testing ground for dark ride boat attractions. In fact, it’s because of “it’s a small world” that Pirates of the Caribbean’s concept shifted from a walk-through wax museum to a water ride, opening at Disneyland just 3 years later. It’s hard to imagine Pirates of the Caribbean existing any other way.

“It’s a small world” was created by some of the most iconic Imagineers of Walt Disney’s era, including Rolly Crump, Mary Blair, Harriet Burns, Blaine Gibson, Claude Coats, and Alice and Marc Davis, to name just a few. This team worked together to create something truly special, with Marc Davis supervising the animation of the children with his trademark humor, Alice Davis designing the costumes for the dolls, Harriet Burns working on the fine details of the attraction in the model shop, Claude Coats choreographing the finale, and Rolly Crump leading the design of the Tower of the Four Winds plus the design of the 200 toys and animals within the attraction. Above all, the Imagineer whose work was perhaps most central to the attraction was Mary Blair. Mary was one of Walt’s favorite artists, and her unique style defined the artistic aesthetic of Disney classics like Peter Pan and Cinderella. Mary, who was famous for disregarding color theory and instead employing her own sense of style, applied her trademark look to “it’s a small world” as the attraction’s Art Director, creating an aesthetic that felt like a child’s wonderland in four dimensions. Without a doubt, Walt knew exactly what he was doing when he tasked Mary to work on the project. In fact, Mary was not working directly for Disney at that time but freelancing as an artist in New York City. Still, Walt thought of Mary when this project set out, and what started out as a remote consulting position eventually led to Mary returning to California to help work on this project in a full-time capacity.

The tagline for “it’s a small world” is “the happiest cruise that ever sailed ‘round the world”, and the story for this ride is truly that simple. There’s no complex storyline to this attraction, just a profound message. It’s simply a happy boat cruise around the world. As described in the Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland, “This enchanting voyage around the globe captures a simple, but profound idea—that the children of the world understand our commonalities and create a harmonious future—captures its essence perfectly with a sweet and sincere (and catchy) song, and offers an artwork style that tells that story as beautifully as words ever could.” 

The attraction’s simplicity has much to do with its purpose. For the 1964 World’s Fair, this ride was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, who approached Walt Disney and asked if he could create an attraction to support UNICEF – The United Nations International Children’s Education Fund. To serve this purpose, Walt decided that he wanted to build “a little boat ride about children around the world”, that is according to Rolly Crump in his interview with Leslie Iwerks for The Imagineering Story. Originally, “it’s a small world” was going to be named “Children of the World”, but Walt would soon change the name with some inspiration from the Sherman Brothers, which we’ll discuss shortly.

To create the boat ride system for the pavilion, the Imagineers hired Arrow Development, a manufacturer of amusement attractions that had previously helped them design Matterhorn Bobsleds. In the past, boat ride attractions were generally powered by motors in each individual vehicle, but the Imagineers wanted a system that could operate at a greater capacity. After all, the more guests visited the attraction, the more money they could raise for UNICEF. As such, Arrow Development moved the propulsion system from the boats to the canal itself. Embedded in the walls of the canal, water jets would drive the boats down the track. This dramatically increased the hourly ride capacity for the pavilion. According to Imagineer Marty Sklar, prior to this ride’s development, no ride could operate more than 1,600 guests per hour. With this new ride system for “it’s a small world”, the pavilion could accommodate over 3,000 guests per hour (although the capacity was a bit less in the winter months when guests in New York needed to don their winter coats). Thanks to this design, Disney helped to raise millions of dollars for UNICEF, selling about 10 million ride tickets. In addition, this innovative ride system would become the new standard for boat rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and eventually Maelstrom (now Frozen Ever After), El Rio Del Tiempo (now Gran Fiesta Tour), Na’vi River Journey, and countless theme park attractions around the world. If you love high-capacity boat ride attractions, it’s just one more reason to appreciate this Disney classic.

Another innovative concept applied to “it’s a small world” was created for other Disney pavilions at the World’s Fair as well, an idea that was actually created by Walt Disney himself and has since become a part of countless Disney attractions: a post-show. According to Imagineer John Hench in his book Designing Disney, “Postshows were developed by Walt to enhance the exit from a show, and to provide a place for a corporate sponsor to have a presence. In It’s a Small World at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, Walt was concerned about the message at the end of the attraction (It’s a Small World, which was moved to Fantasyland in Disneyland in 1966, was originally sponsored by the Bank of America) – it felt too much like advertising to him. He wanted a farewell for guests at the end of their boat ride celebrating children of the world. So we created a scene that said good-bye in several languages over the music of the show’s famous song. For guests, the new exit scene allowed their eyes to adjust from indoor lighting to daylight. Guests waiting to board could see the smiling, happy faces of guests who had just experienced the show, reassuring them of the value of waiting in line. This was probably the first attraction in which we considered what happened to the guest after the show’s last scene. We discovered the value of having the story intention follow the guest through the exit and out the exit line.”

Of course, the ride system and layout is just one part of the experience. Another major component of the attraction, arguably the most important, is the more than 200 children featured throughout the pavilion, as well as the many toys and animals included in each show scene. Imagineers Marc and Alice Davis, Harriet Burns and Rolly Crump were the ones most responsible for bringing these dolls to life. While Marc worked with Mary Blair to sketch out the concept for the dolls in each scene, employing his signature humor to many parts of the story, his wife, Alice, brought the dolls to life with their iconic costumes, all of which she made sure were as authentic as possible to that child’s culture. There’s a famous story Alice tells about her conversation with Walt about the costumes, which you can find in The Imagineering Story by Leslie Iwerks.

According to Alice, she asked Walt what the budget would be for the costumes. Walt replied, “No, Alice, that isn’t it. I want you to design a costume for each one of these dolls that every woman would love to have from the age of one to one hundred.” Pointing across the studio, he added “I have a building over there filled with people that find out where to get the money from.” Of course it was folks like his brother Roy who would help solve problems like these. It’s just one of many examples showcasing how Walt and Roy would work together. Walt and his team would work to design something incredible, and Roy and his team would try to make it financially possible.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, Rolly Crump helped to design the toys on the attraction, over 200 of them. Recruiting about 30 artists to help, Rolly used primarily Styrofoam and paper-mache to model the toys, which is what most of them are still made of today. Rolly also wanted to make sure that the work felt true to Mary Blair’s style, and it’s easy to tell from interviews with Rolly that he really did look up to her. In fact, Rolly admired Mary so much that he placed a tribute to her in the attraction, creating one toy doll with short blonde hair wearing Mary’s favorite outfit, which you can find over at the Eiffel Tower scene.

Before we get to Rolly’s other project on the pavilion, it’s worth noting that Blaine Gibson and Harriet Burns also worked on this ride. Blaine Gibson, who would go on to earn fame through his prolific design on animatronics and sculptures, ended up sculpting the heads of the children, or should I say the head (singular). As it turns out, all the children on “it’s a small world” share the same head. They’re just painted differently. Meanwhile, Harriet Burns worked on many of the fine details for the toys and animals throughout the attraction, working on details as small as eyelashes.

Meanwhile, outside the original “it’s a small world” pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, the structure did not feature the iconic facade you’ll find today at every version of the ride. Instead, the pavilion featured a 120-foot-tall structure called The Tower of the Four Winds. To tell you a little more about it, here’s my interview with Rolly Crump from late 2020, so you can hear the story in his own words.

Heading back inside the attraction, we should probably discuss the show scenes for the ride. At Disneyland, the ride moves through 9 major show scenes. In order, these scenes include North America, Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, Spirit of America, and a grand finale. Throughout each scene, guests pass the landmarks of many of the nations represented in each region, and of course the children representing those nations in their traditional costumes. It’s also worth mentioning that Oceania was actually not a part of the original pavilion design. The ride was originally 12 minutes long, but when the Imagineers moved it to Disneyland, they extended it by 3 minutes, adding the Oceania scene plus an entrance and exit chamber and a polar scene. The Spirit of America scene was also added decades later as part of a modern refurbishment, which we’ll discuss shortly.

The final scene for the attraction was created by Claude Coats, but its spirit was also inspired by the minds of Mary Blair, and Marc and Alice Davis. According to Alice Davis, the final scene was designed with two thematic colors in mind, white and gold, with white representing the innocence of children and gold, being a precious metal, acting as a metaphor for how precious the children of the world really are. Silver was added as well to tie the design together, and the finale serves as a utopian dream, an idea that the nations of the world could live in harmony, and how the children of the world already understand this idea better than any adult. In fact, the attraction is not just about children. The Imagineers designed it to be a story told through the eyes of children.

Of course, no discussion about “it’s a small world” is complete without talking about one of the most iconic parts of the experience, something you cannot see but still you might enjoy even on the other side of the planet: the music. For the music, Walt tasked Richard and Robert Sherman to write a theme song for the attraction. The result was an iconic song called “it’s a small world”, which ultimately became the name of the ride, too. To say it’s an earworm is putting it lightly. The song is a global phenomenon, a tune that toddlers, elders and everyone in between can memorize and sing. And Disney knows that the tune is something that can easily get stuck in your head, so much so that they’ve even poked fun at themselves in various movie and park references.

Many Disney fans will probably recognize that the first clip is an exchange between Scar and Zazu in The Lion King, and the second is a part of the Sonny Eclipse show over at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe at the Magic Kingdom.

Originally, “it’s a small world”, or what it would have been known as, “Children of the World”, was not going to feature one specific song. In fact, Walt wanted the dolls on the attraction to each sing the anthems of their respective countries in their native languages. As you might imagine, the result would have been a cacophony of sound, which would have made the ride quite unpleasant. As a result, the direction was shifted to have the dolls each singing the same song in their home language, and I think we can all agree that this decision resulted in a far more meaningful outcome.

To accomplish Walt’s wishes, Richard and Robert Sherman took a very specific approach to writing “it’s a small world”. In fact, there’s a Disney Parks video where Richard discusses this subject, and I’d like to play it for you here.

Needless to say, the ride would not be quite as iconic without its theme song. Richard Sherman knows it’s a song that people either love or despise, but no matter which group you’re in, it’s hard to argue against this song’s impact. It’s certainly one of the most iconic songs of all time, and one of the most played. According to a 2014 article in Time Magazine that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the attraction, the song is played about 1,200 times per day at Disneyland, so at just that park alone, the song would have been played nearly 50 million times in its first 50 years. It sounds like a lot, and perhaps it could be qualified as overplayed, but in another way it could be argued this song probably hasn’t been heard enough. After all, Richard Sherman himself has said that the song was written as a prayer for peace and understanding. When it was written, the Cold War was escalating fear and uncertainty across the world, referenced in the line “a world of fears.” Until that prayer is realized, I say we let the song play on. Maybe it’s because some of my earliest memories were formed on this attraction, but I truly have never tired of this tune, and I’ve literally heard it hundreds if not thousands of times. I especially love that Maggie has been learning the words. She sometimes breaks out in song, and I can’t help but sing along with her.

When the World’s Fair was concluded, there was no doubt that the attraction should be moved to Disneyland. It opened just a year later on May 28, 1966, and for the dedication ceremony, Walt had children brought in from all over the world. Each child dressed in their native costumes and poured vials of water from their home countries into the water. They then rode the attraction together, being among the first guests to experience it at the happiest place on earth. Talk about a beautifully symbolic gesture. It’s also rather touching that this attraction was the last to open at Disneyland before Walt passed away.

The Disneyland version isn’t different from the World’s Fair just because of the few show scenes added to the experience. In addition, in lieu of the Tower of the Four Winds, Rolly Crump drew inspiration from Mary Blair’s artwork to create a three-dimensional facade at the front. Using the same color scheme as the final show scene on the attraction: white, silver and gold, the facade features Mary Blair inspired geometric designs along with a number of world icons, including the Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Taj Mahal, and many more. As a charming addition to the Disneyland version, the Disneyland Railroad even passes through the middle of the facade, gliding over the welcome and farewell chambers that lead the boats into the show building. If anyone listening has only ever seen the Magic Kingdom version, because I know so many of you call Walt Disney World your home park, I implore you to take the trip to Disneyland and to add this to your list of must-do attractions. As much as I still love it and call it home, you probably won’t look at the weather-proofed Magic Kingdom version the same way again.

Another addition to the facade was something we discussed in my episode about DINOSAUR and DinoLand U.S.A. because there’s actually a connection to that Disney’s Animal Kingdom attraction. As I mentioned in that episode, which I learned from the Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, when the Imagineers were busy working on the model for the Disneyland version, they left a collection of artificial trees on top of the show building, keeping them nearby as they looked to dress up the area in front of the attraction. One day they received short notice that Walt was coming to inspect the designs, and they began scrambling to move the trees off the building. Walt saw what was happening and told them to wait, asking what they were doing. After they explained why the trees were on top of the building, Walt told them to put them back, as he realized that the trees on top of the building would help to disguise the large show building that housed the majority of the attraction. It’s an illusion that was used decades later with DINOSAUR.

Perhaps the most iconic addition to the facade was the famous clock at the front center of the piece. As it turns out, this clock was actually Walt’s idea. He suggested it to Rolly in an impromptu visit to the model shop to check on the design, and it’s hard to imagine what the facade would look like without it. At Disneyland, the clock also features a parade every 15 minutes. On the quarter-hour, the doors to either side of the clock tower open, at which points dozens of toys representing the various cultures featured inside the attraction dance and march outward and around to the back of the clock. As the current time is displayed, the doors close and the clock continues to tick and tock its way through the day. Just in case you’ve never seen or heard it before, here’s the clock parade audio from the Walt Disney Records Disneyland album from The Legacy Collection.

For the majority of the attraction’s lifetime, the ride never received any major update or refurbishment. Unfortunately, by the early 2000s, the ride started to show its age and was desperately in need of repair. Thankfully, a team of caring Imagineers were charged with lovingly restoring the attraction, all led by Imagineer Kim Irvine, who not only herself is a prolific Imagineer but is also the daughter of Imagineer Leota Tombs.

During the refurbishment, the entire track was removed and replaced. In addition, 29 Disney and Pixar dolls were added to the attraction, such as Lilo & Stitch in the South Pacific scene, Cinderella in France, Mulan in China, and Alice in England. Furthermore, the Imagineers created a new scene that depicts the Spirit of America. According to an LA Times article from 2009, “the new room depicts the agricultural heartland, with a red barn towering over farmer dolls in overalls and straw hats, and the American West, with “Toy Story” characters Jessie and Woody against the backdrop of the Butte Mountains.” This was not the first time new dolls were added to the attraction, and it would not be the last. In fact, in 2022, Disney added two new dolls in wheelchairs, one in the South America section and one in the final scene. In all cases, the Imagineers working on these new dolls have worked carefully to maintain Mary Blair’s original style. They blend in so well that, unless you’re really looking for them, you might even miss them as you float by.

“It’s a small world” is so integral to the Disney Parks experience that it has been recreated at every Disney castle park around the world except for Shanghai Disneyland. It opened with the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971, with Tokyo Disneyland on April 15, 1983, and with Disneyland Paris on April 12, 1992. Although it wasn’t an opening day attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland, it opened a few years later on April 28, 2008. It’s also worth mentioning that “it’s a small world” at Disneyland enjoys an absolutely incredible holiday overlay every year that feels like a magical Christmas float-through where the dolls alternate between singing “it’s a small world” and “Jingle Bells” in their native languages. Plus, the attraction includes holiday decorations and hundreds of thousands of holiday lights, as well as a holiday projection light show on the facade. It’s an incredible sight to see, especially at night. To help inspire you to visit Disneyland for the holiday season, here’s a brief clip of the “it’s a small world” Holiday overlay music:

There are so many individual stories and details that contributed to the development of “it’s a small world”, far more than what has been discussed today. It’s certainly not a perfect attraction. Historians, politicians, anthropologists, psychologists, scholars, journalists, and humble Disney podcasters have all attempted to analyze this attraction in an effort to understand its enormous popularity over countless decades despites its simplicity and yes even its flaws. In that sense, it might be the most over-analyzed Disney attraction ever.

The humble truth here is that “it’s a small world” is detailed in set design but quite simple in its message. In a way, it had to be simple because the Imagineers only had 14 months to design and build it. Yes, you heard that correctly. The Imagineers started work on “it’s a small world” 14 months before it officially opened. Walt heard about the project in February 1963 and opened the attraction in New York on April 22, 1964.

“It’s a small world” is profound because of its simplicity. In its simplicity, we’re reminded of a time when life was simpler, when we ourselves were children. In telling the story of world unity through the eyes of a child, we are meant to feel like children again. The attraction aims to inspire joy and unity, not in a grand way but in a somewhat passive manner. No matter when or where you were born, no matter your background, you feel fear and hope, joy and sorrow. You look up at the same moon and our one golden sun. No matter the times, the attraction speaks to our hearts in the same way.

As you can probably tell, I’m a fan of this ride. I never hesitate to ride it, nor do I grow tired of its theme, its music, or its story. And still, I do not wish for the ride to stay the same forever, but like Walt always wanted, I hope it continues to be lovingly restored by a caring team of Imagineers looking to carry forward the profound message of this attraction.

With that, I’d love to take you with me for a ride on “it’s a small world” at Disneyland, thanks to some scenic audio I recorded on the attraction this year. Like most of these recordings, you’ll find the best audio experience if you’re using headphones or earbuds, but of course listening on speakers or another audio device should still help transport you to the attraction. And be sure to stay tuned after the recording, because I’m closing out this episode in a very different kind of way. With that, let’s head to Disneyland and enjoy the happiest cruise that ever sailed ‘round the world, “it’s a small world”.

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Welcome back to Imagination Central. Normally I’d take this opportunity to plug everything I have going on with the podcast. Instead, I wanted to turn this part of the show over to you in a different kind of way. As we discussed in this episode, the Sherman Brothers originally wrote “it’s a small world” as a ballad, and they intended it to be a prayer for peace and understanding. When they wrote the song, the world was nearly 20 years into the Cold War and still more than 25 years away from its conclusion. In their prayer for peace and understanding, the Sherman Brothers gave us a unifying source of hope and happiness, and while I adore hearing Richard Sherman play this song in its original ballad style, there’s a particular artist who did so with perhaps even more gravitas: Keala Settle (Key-ahl-uh), best known for her role in The Greatest Showman. She had sung the song acapella style for Richard Sherman on his 90th birthday, and Disney Files Editor Ryan March interviewed Keala in March 2021 for Disney Vacation Club, which became a video released on the Disney Parks YouTube page. If you have a moment, please take these 6 minutes to listen to this brief interview and then hear Keala sing “it’s a small world”. May we see a world driven less by division and more by unity, and may we do less to tear each other apart and do more to find our shared humanity.

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