Its a world of tears..

Anyone in Disney Park fandom knows about the current controversy over the proposed changes for Its a Small World in Anaheim which would allegedly add Disney characters into the ride as well as replacing the rainforest scene with an America scene. The debate has been very raucous and indicative of a lot of the things I have said about Disney fandom of late.

2719 Hyperion, which is an excellent, well-written blog, has weighed in on all this, not with an opinion on the changes themselves, but more on the debate. It is an excellent piece that I won't quote here because you really should read it in its entirety.

I'm kind of stuck in the middle on this whole issue. I love It's a Small World. I think its a classic attraction with a terrific message and I initially recoil a little bit at the idea of changing it just because it seems at some level like fixing the crack in the Liberty Bell.

On the other hand, Its a Small World is kind of out of date - which is part of its charm - and many of the images it portrays are pretty stereotypical. I sometimes wonder how kids from around the world feel when they visit the attraction. Do they say "hey that's not me?" It probably wouldn't be a very interesting attraction if everyone was portrayed in contemporary garb ("its a world of osh kosh, a world of gap") but there probably has to be some updating of the attraction if its to remain relevant. At some point, the antiquatedness of the imagery undermines the theme of the attraction if its not brought somewhat up to date.

As for Disney characters in the attraction, if you look at what has been done for Hong Kong, its kind of cute. I just worry that it will become a "spot the characters" attraction and distract from the message, which is about the children. Also, you have Casey Jr and the boat ride sitting right across the street which are essentially the same thing, cruising through the world as told by Disney characters.

I think we should all withhold judgement and see what the Imagineers have come up with. I can't imagine John Lasseter would have let this go forward if he couldn't get behind it, so we just have to put our trust in these guys.