Video from Small World at the 1964/1965 NY World's Fair

Small World - 1964/1965 NY World’s Fair

A much as it is derided as a painful experience, I have great amounts of love for the It’s a Small World attraction (see below). This video is of the original version from the 1964/1965 World’s Fair in New York. I thought it might be interesting, for those here, to hear Walt’s voice describe the trip around the world.

It is fascinating to me how much of it is the same, and notice some of the changes. I can’t imagine how amazing it would have been to experience this in 1964. It was such a departure from anything else the audiences had ever seen.

When my parents were dating, they visited the NY World’s Fair. Coming from Brooklyn and Queens, the fair was in their backyard. My mom really fell in love w/ both Small World and the Carousel of Progress back then and when we made our only trip to the Magic Kingdom growing up, she was overcome with emotion enjoying them both again! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Small World was the first ride for each of my children as toddlers and a family favorite whenever we visit. While the WDW version holds a special place in my heart, it is dwarfed by my adoration of the version in Disneyland (and the holiday overlay!!). I will be wearing my Small World ears when I visit MK in October!!

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Me too! The song may be an earworm but the flip side of that is that it’s catchy and memorable! The Sherman brothers were geniuses. If you can get past that aspect, I love everything else about the ride - the craftsmanship of the dolls and mechanisms to display them, the gentle, 10+ minute boat ride through an air conditioned building, and the message of unity and peace among all nations. I love it.

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Beautiful! I will never take IASW for granted again.

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Thanks!
IIRC when Pepsi first approached WED about making the attraction they were rebuffed by someone claiming that they were too busy with other World Fair attractions. Luckily Walt caught wind of it and sorted that out.
Can’t wait to see it again!
And it’s a neat double-meaning: “a small world” in the conventional sense that we’re all sharing the planet and should strive to live in harmony, and also the idea of portraying the world’s inhabitants from the innocent perspective of a child (i.e., a small person’s worldview).

It’s worth the earworm!

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On a Disney+ documentary about the Sherman Brothers, the brothers specifically said the the song was written to be a prayer for world peace.

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I saw that documentary and it’s a great one! I assume you’re talking about “The Boys” from 2009? (It ended on kind of a sad note actually but was generally uplifting.)

Loved this documentary! :heart: