Originally Posted By Jhawk Is it just a rumor, or is It's A Small World closing because people have gotten too heavy for the boats?
Originally Posted By figment1986 Disneyland's is getting a refurbishment for an extended amount of time... really going from after holiday season to the next holiday season to redo the flume and boats... Disney World's was refurbished a few years ago and got new boats, It may have also increased the water level but I'm not sure.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's it's a small world in Disneyland that is closing. The version in California uses a smaller trough that only holds the boats (the water doesn't extend to the scenery). Their attraction was originally built for the 1964 World's Fair, and its trough was quite innovative at the time. The flooded showscenes that we see in the WDW version were first created for DL's Pirates of the Caribbean, which opened in 1967. Since the DL version was designed for the World's Fair, it was meant to be somewhat portable, since it was moved back across the country to Disneyland. There are several places where the different pieces of the flume meet each other where the water gets shallower than the rest of the ride and the nearest water pump is a good distance away. This is where the boats tend to bottom out. When the attraction was originally designed I think the weights that they used to makes the boat work were 125 lbs for a woman and 160 lbs for a man. While California is a pretty skinny state, these averages are still very low. They have basically reduced the capacity of the attraction to only two people in each row of each boat. The attraction is closing soon (or it may have just closed this week, I'm not entirely sure) to completely replace the flume with a deeper trough and install a new fleet of boats that float in less water. The hope is that between the lower bottom of the water and higher boat placement, they can get back to the capacity that they orignally had. The work is scheduled to be done in early November, so it can reopen for the 2008 holiday season (so it will have been decorated for the 2007 and 2008 holidays without having a normal period in between).
Originally Posted By FerretAfros When they closed in WDW a few years ago, the main purpose of work was to refurbish the sets and dolls. They completely replaced much of the costumes and other details, as well as adding some new things like the fiber optics in the finale room. The boats were just added at the same time so they wouldn't have to close the ride twice to get them in. Similarly, the current DL rehab will most likely see cosmetic work too, as it has been about 5 or 6 years since the last big rehab and it's starting to show. It will also show something meaningful to the average guest who won't notice the flume work and new boats (similar to the effects they added when they redid Space Mountain a few years ago).
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>So that is why it was closed for so long at WDW?<< No, the reason why WDW's IASW closed was to fix the sets and dolls which were falling apart badly. Now, they should close it just to fit the Mary Blair facade they built inside the queue, which is falling apart already!!
Originally Posted By joe80x86 Is it just me or does the refurbished version at WDW seem very tacky? I always remembered it as being a "dark" ride but since they reopened it is seems more like they have much more lighting in it, which allows viewing of the ceiling tiles, or lack of them in some areas.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I enjoy the better lighting and the refurbished sets. This attraction has never looked better, in our humble opinions. The only problem is that I can't use it as a tunnel of love any longer--the way I used to with whatever available hunk happened to be sitting next to me in the boat. (sigh)
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <Now, they should close it just to fit the Mary Blair facade they built inside the queue, which is falling apart already!!> Hey hot glue and sequins ain't cheap!
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: (gasp!) I think I KNOW that man back there--the one who calls himself Jim in Merced CA!!! I think he was just one of many, MANY hunks whom I had the pleasure of sitting next to in a Small World boat, once, a long, long time ago!! If memory serves me properly, he even allowed me to rest my head on his strong shoulder!! I could never really forget that!! ORGOCH: Bet he can, though--assumin' it ever even happened...
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The ceiling has always been pretty tacky, but you probably just never noticed it before. I' don't know if the better lighting caused you to look up or if it was just a random thing, but it's never been well hidden. Some people say they should put up clouds to cover the areas where the lights are, but I think that would probably just attract more attention to the ceiling. At least it's better than DL's holiday version that projects snowflakes on the ceiling in the finale room for all to adore the torn up, purple ceiling.
Originally Posted By joe80x86 Hmm, never been to DL it's on my list of things to do before I die. However it may be the "better" lighting it does seem much brighter since the refurb.
Originally Posted By aquamoptop Does anyone know if Small World remains open during the Pirate and Princess Parties. I hope so as I havent seen the refurbed version at WDW yet and that is when were going.
