Disney destroys the rainforest! No, not that one.

The original Disneyland in L.A. needs to do some work on their over forty year old attraction "Its a small world". The ride that everybody loves to hate! The ride that can melt brains with its repetitive mantra and thousands of waving little dolls that always remind you what a weird little place this planet can be.

Over the years guests to "the happiest place on earth" have increased in size and weight and this frequently causes the boats to get stuck in their water-trough. To save the guests and the employees from the embarrasment to evacuate the oversized guests from the bowels of the ride (after they have been lulled into a trance by the theme-song) Disney has decided to make the boats and the troughs bigger.

While they are at it they have also decided to make the ride a bit more...exiting!
"It´s a small world" was designed by Disney Imagineer Mary Blair as one of a few attractions which Disney contributed to the EXPO 1964 in New York. After a successful run at the exhibition the ride was relocated to Anaheim and continued to delight or embarass millions of guests ever since.

The little puppets which make up the centrepiece of the attraction are far behind the usual animatronic machinations of Disneys other attractions. But its exactly the simplistic style, the childlike features, combined with overly colourful costumes and artificial backdrops that makes the ride stand out above most other show attractions.
You can love and or hate it, but you will certainly never forget it for the rest of your life!

Probably the main idea of "Its a small world" was to invite Americans to see the rest of the world through the eyes of its children. Every culture which more or less makes up the melting-pot of the modern USA is presented with a firm eye for stereotypes. But hey, its for kids, you know?!

So the basic idea was to depict the world outside the USA and therefor the host country took a backseat in the spectacle.
But this is supposed to change now. In order to tie in more of Disneys characters and to not forget who is the best country in the world, the Imagineers have decided to plop down an "UP with America" section into the ride.
So far so chauvinistic. But to make room for the new America, they decided to rip out the original "Rainforest"-part of the ride and turn it into the new world.

I have to admit that I couldn´t care less, but isn´t this a publicity nightmare waiting to unfold.

Of course this has happened already! Disney fans all over the world have the tendency to be quite uptight about any changes to their beloved Disneyland. When it comes to Disney, which is one of the most sinister companies on the planet, they all become conservators.

That´s why they have started the "Save the rainforest"-campaign on many devoted sites and it is already beginning to make waves.

The irony could not be any greater!
I wonder if they´ll get STING to sing for their goal!?

I found the story and the "Save the rainforest"-logos on this site.
The other pictures are taken from the "It´s a small World" Wikipedia entry.

A fourteen minute ride-through in its original condition can be seen here. I invite everyone to read the rest of my blog to the soothing sounds of "It´s a small world after all".