Originally Posted By dresswhites ok, ok, i know it coming back, but 9 months or so is a long time without this attraction. one of my favorite spots to chill is over by small world. i love hearing the ticktock and music. that area is going to be so quiet and wierd for the months it closed. it just won't seem normal. think about that area at night. princess fantasy faire closes at dusk, toontown closes early for fireworks, the whole small world mall will be dead once the sun goes down. there will be no reason to even venture over there. i think the fantasyland gift stand, and small world toys will not see a single person for hours. i wonder if they will still the fireworks projections on the facade. or because it is going to be a major rehab, if they will put a wall around the attraction. it would be hard to do the projections if there is wall blocking the building. I know people make fun of small world, but actually it was one my favorite places to work custodial. i loved hearing the song and we always knew when our breaks were and when they ended! it will be sad to see the facade lifelless for so long! thoughts?
Originally Posted By p-n-p06 But couldn't they project on a wall in place of the facade? Won't they still run the parades near there--in or out? I'm a Small World fan despite those that make fun of it. It's just a lovely attraction and I admire all the creativity and work that was/is spent on it for both the regular and holiday seasons! My dad said it would be more enjoyable if they provided a bucket of softballs for each boat at the entrance.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I love 'it's a small world' too -- despite the nasty comments it gets.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy It's a Small World is a wonderful attraction! I only lament the fact that the extended rehab probably isn't going to improve the original all that much from what existed 40 years ago. I think it's time to seriously consider a massive overhaul of the IASW show. Just imagine what you could do with today's technology to plus the classic show. I would seriously consider thinking "outside the box" on this one. IASW could become an e-ticket again with the right sort of attention.
Originally Posted By nk28 I never knew iasw was closing for a rehab! how sad! does anyone know how long it looks like its going to close for?
Originally Posted By nk28 oh...hehe..guess I should read the WHOLE post, eh? 9 months! I hope it opens when we come down (around late november or early december)
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo 9 months - I knew IASW was about kids, but it sounds like we may truly have some new borns.
Originally Posted By texasguy2005 Need a Small World fix? Go to YouTube. They have small world videos from all 4 parks, including the original tour of the attraction as seen on "Disneyland Goes to the Worlds Fair" in 1964 by Walt himself.
Originally Posted By dlpostcardguy I love IASW. One of my favorites. How can it not put a smile on one's face? Sport Goofy, don't you think plussing this attraction with too much new technology would lose the charm? I think the simplicity and innocence of it, not to mention Mary Blair's artistic vision, is what makes it so charming and likable. I guess things like an improved sound system and lighting wouldn't take away from that though.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo dlpostcardguy - if you ever experienced DLP's version, you would most likely welcome the upgrade with open arms.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 DLP version is so much better than the other versions. I didn't realize how good IASW was until I experienced the DLP version.
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Originally Posted By dresswhites i wonder since small world will remain open well into january whether they will still do the quartly projection shows for the remainder of the time it is opened.
Originally Posted By dresswhites i like the look of small world, even with its visible acoustic cielings. sp? the look wouldn't look good for pirates or even splash, but for small world it does seem to work. i do hope they do try and hide some of the electrical wires, and hide some of the more jarring infrastructure, such as when you leave latin america and enter australia and you can clearly see behind the prop holding those birds that turn their head from side to side. Also i hope they fix up the rain forest. make it more obvious it is raining. make all those strings move, or else use projection to show it is raining like on winnie the pooh. do i have fuzzy memories, or at one time did all the strings move, because for the last 10 years or so only the first few are ever moving. finally fix the dutch windmill of the facade, it hasn't been spinning for months now.
Originally Posted By dlpostcardguy 'davewasbaloo' - would you care to enlighten those of us who have not seen the DLP version as to what makes it superior?
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 It's one of my favorites too. Not just for nostalgic purposes. But I agree that with a few upgrades it could have some real potential. We went on it around Christmas time and I noticed a lot of lights burnt out. Visible cords. And if there's a way to conceal the Exit signs a little more that would be awesome. I think it just needs to be shined up a bit.
Originally Posted By dresswhites the exits are very visiable aren't they. they seem to have toned down the ones in pirates and mansion.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>'davewasbaloo' - would you care to enlighten those of us who have not seen the DLP version as to what makes it superior?<<< It is a matter of perspective, but most people I know (my wife and I included) consider it the best (when fully functional). It still has the fab clock structure like at DL and TDL, but in pastelle colours (which I know they tried at DL, where I prefer the white, gold and blue scheme, but for the grey skies of northern Europe, the colours work better). When working though, there are also dancing fountains, illuminated at night. In the building itself, it is presented on a grander scale. The more realistic dolls are used throughout, and virtually every scene is plussed - not just a few cancan dancers in France, but big numbers. In the Europe section, there are winder cultures represented - Flemish, Welsh, Loch Ness Monster - lot's of things not in the US versions. In the Middle East - there are 2 jewish children as well as the others we are accustomed to seeing. And all the old favs like the hyenia, leopard et al are still there. I love the US section - Southwest with lot's of different tribes of native americans, a cowboy town, Cape Cod with a Yacht, Alaska, New York (including the twin towers), Hollywood, the Golden Gate Bridge, Waltzing Movie stars etc., and a baseball and football player. Then the grand finale seems a large scale than the US versions. Add in fully flooded channels like WDW, and digital sound, it is great. Then there is a post show, with minerature buildings in a Mary Blair style that you can walkaround and see cartoon holigrams talking to their friends across the globe (it is an ad really for France Telecom, but it is so old school Disney, I love it. And out front is a lovely tile fountain of the globe with cut outs of the kids on a boat on top. It has become a tradition to try to get the coins to stick to the globe by creating a meniscus (film) between the coin and the globe. All the proceeds go to UNICEF of course, which without UNICEF, the world would have never seen IASW. On a serious note, I think it was my love of IASW that made me study International Relations.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo This is not perfect, but it gives the general idea: <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gqTyBBit7NI" target="_blank">http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v= gqTyBBit7NI</a> Note it is edited, and it seems the film maker hardly looked up (there is quite a bit on the ceiling). Oh, one other difference, there are more non english lyrics in DLP's version, which feels better to me.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I'm really going to miss iasw for the next few months. I'm sure they've been there the whole time, but on my last few trips in the last month or so, I've noticed a ton of things I've never even noticed before. These include, but are not limited to, the fire dancers at the end of the Polynesian area, the cactus and donkey band on the right side in the South America room (there's so much stuff in there I feel like I see new stuff each time...I can really tell that was Mary Blair's favorite area), and about 10 more kids directly to the right as you enter the finale room. I'm always looking up and to the left (where the flume goes) there, and I've never even thought to look there. On my last trip I saw them because I turned around to look at something else and caught them out of the corner of my eye just before going around the bend with the snowflake tree. I've also noticed that three of the dancers in front of the Taj Mahal are missing (the front and back ones are still there but none between them) on the last few trips, but I just hope they are getting an early rehab and not being removed permanently. Dresswhites, I was watching the new Disneyland WD Treasures DVD the other night and the rain strings caught my eye because they were all moving and it looked great. Most of my memories would be from the last 10 years, so that would explain why I never saw it before as anything more than just a bunch of dangly film. There were also similar strips (also moving) under the ice skaters in the arctic room at the beginning and on the harp in the Ireland area. I don't know if the skaters still have theirs, but the harp still has them but they look absolutely rediculous sitting still. The films of them moving from the 60's looked great. Also, the windmill on the facade stops moving each year for the holidays, they wrap the edges of it in lights, so it can't spin because of the wiring. I remember having the same thoughts last year, but they had it spinning again as soon as the lights came down. I'm not really sure if I would rather have it spin or light up, but it doesn't appear to be able to do both (although they could change that during this refurb). I hope they also install some more permanent way to do the lights for Christmas, since they look a little tacky during the day right now and look pretty bad the rest of the year. For what it's worth I was backstage about a week ago, and there are a couple pieces of sample toughs back there, along the road between the train barn and Innoventions. They looked pretty much the same, but just newer and cleaner. I assume they were also deeper, but I couldn't tell from just walking by.
