Kevin Blair has penned an open letter to Disney Executives, Disneyland, Walt Disney Imagineering, and John Lasseter asking them to discard any plan to change "It’s A Small World", the attraction featuring art design by his mother, such as adding Disney characters (such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, & Goofy) or removing the rain forest section to replace it with a scene depicting the excellence of the United States Of America.
I’m as patriotic as the next man, but the signal Disney sends by literally tearing down the rainforest to replace it with scenes of America’s strength is at best impolitic in this time of need to conserve our resources to prevent global warming. Because of this, I have a hard time believing the original rumor.
I won’t even go into how absurd an idea it is to add Disney Characters to the classic attraction at Disneyland.
Regardless, it’s best to be safe and mount a campaign to save the attraction now. Disney learned its lesson with its attempt to remove Mr. Lincoln and won’t telegraph so broadly changes it thinks will be unpopular with its fans. The rainforest will go away just as the Keel Boats and Walt’s Office did; with vague promises of it being a temporary thing. But then it lingers into permanency and eventually becomes status quo with the company line changing to reflect that.
Speaking of which, has anyone seen Mr. Lincoln recently? He was only supposed to go on vacation for the 50th anniversary. We’re well into the 2rd year after that date passed.
More on the whole affair at the LA Times Travel blog.
Bravo to the Blair family. Mary was a visionary. “it’s a small world” is her masterpiece, and in my view, changing it up would be like adding Daisy Duck to the Haunted Mansion.
Mary is known & credited for “Small World,” but let’s not forget the other legends that also helped Disney put it together, such as Marc & Alice Davis, Joyce Carlson, & Rolly Crump. In fact, I have been told that Walt wasn’t really happy with what Mary was coming up with and it was the rest of the group that finished it for him. If you look at her concepts for Alice and Cinderella, you will see the same thing; the finished art of the movie bears little or no resemblance to her style.
NO WAY should they change anything about It’s A Small World. The ride is classic and one of my favorites, no matter how old I get. It’s something that I always hoped to introduce to my childern one day and it wouldn’t be the same if it was changed to fit the times. Some things are better off just the way they are.
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