“it’s a small world” Overview | Disney’s Magic Kingdom Attractions

Enjoy a boat ride around the world to the classic and iconic “it’s a small world” song. With hundreds of children, each representing a different country, this ride is one to remember. 

Ride Overview

This attraction is at every Disney park, and began enthusing guests in Walt Disney World on it’s opening day, October 1, 1971. This ride embodies the idea of unity and peace amongst cultures. It includes 300 animatronic children that all sing the same classic song while wearing traditional outfits from each perspective country. 

Originally the soundtrack to this attraction caused an issue. Walt Disney originally wanted each country’s national anthem to play in their designated section of the ride. However, it sounded garbled and was unpleasant. Walt Disney approached the idea of one song at this time.

The “it’s a small world” song was written by the Sherman Brothers. The goal behind this song was something that spoke to a message of peacefulness, but was also easily translatable in the large variety of languages for the ride. This ride was originally going to be named “Children of the World” but received the name “it’s a small world” after the song to honor how much Walt himself loved it.

In regards to other legendary imagineers that contributed to this beloved attraction, there are many to thank. Mary Blair, the art director for many classic animations such as Cinderella, created the design for the original Disneyland ride. This design has been carried over into each park’s installation. The dolls were designed by Blair Gibson and Greg S. Marinello, and the boats were designed by Arrow Development. 

Map

Location & Wait Times

“it’s a small world” is located in Magic Kingdom, inside of Fantasyland. This iconic ride is directly across from Peter Pan’s Flight. 

This attraction is a classic Disney World ride, and the wait times reflect that. Earlier in the day “it’s a small world” will have lower wait times but they can get closer to medium, even occasionally high, depending on the time of day. This is a good attraction to hit earlier if possible. 

Queue Experience 

The queue for this ride loops around quite a bit, to make the line as short as possible outside. When the line gets longer it loops outside and guests are treated to views of other rides. Once guests get far enough in the line that they are inside, they get to see the famous Glockenspiel, which is the large clock tower inside of the ride, next to where they load the boats. 

The beautiful clock is quite the sight to see. Connected to a castle like structure, this is the main portion of the attraction queue. Guests can see boats arriving and departing at various locations in the queue but there is no immersive experience portions of this line.

Written by

Rachel Van Norman

 

Guest Author

Rachel fell deeply in love with all things Disney as a little girl. Now as a wife and a mother herself, she shares this Disney obsession with her son and everyone around her. From her love of princesses to eating all the Disney food, Rachel spends her time radiating Disney magic and keeping everyone up to date on Disney news.