Originally Posted By davewasbaloo What is interesting is the account of a German friend of mine who was there in October. He said he was really disappointed. One of the things he loved about IASW in the past is how people would point and name the countries. He said the last trip, everyone was pointing and naming the characters. To quote him, it is "another move for people to be more interested in America than the rest of the world". I cannot comment as I have not yet experienced it first hand. But I do not like the ethos.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 <<<<What is interesting is the account of a German friend of mine who was there in October. He said he was really disappointed. One of the things he loved about IASW in the past is how people would point and name the countries. He said the last trip, everyone was pointing and naming the characters.>>>> Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. I also saw IASW for the first time last weekend. It was not nearly as intrusive as I imagined it to be. The characters are well done within the content of the ride. BUT! BUT! BUT! They still to me take away from what the point of the theme was initially when Walt envisioned Small World. The focus is suppose to be about us as humans connecting with one another all over the world. The characters serve no purpose in aiding to that vision. While no big deal visually, I still do not like that they are there for the very reason davewasbaloo's friend stated above. Example, my choice of having a Small World mini-meet at the Big LP weekend was to bring us together under the premises for which Small World stands for - all us of together as one no where we are from, what we look like, what language we speak. Ack, it still drives me nuts.
Originally Posted By danyoung >They still to me take away from what the point of the theme was initially when Walt envisioned Small World.< I'll admit that the new characters to a certain extent re-focus the focus of the attraction. But I hasten to say - SO WHAT? Has there been a single instance of a person being totally transformed by this attraction? I'd wager no - it's a fun little kiddie ride with a bunch of singing dolls and geese and fish and now a few Disney characters thrown into the mix, with everyone singing about how small the world is. It's a nice message in a cute attraction. To give it any more substance than that is just silly, IMO.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Has there been a single instance of a person being totally transformed by this attraction?>> Your incantation will conjure up oc_dean any minute now. LOL.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Actually Dan, yes there is. I grew up riding it. The differences of the dolls made me interested to learn about other cultures. Also, I had some fantastic books as a kids about IASW that did like wise. This passion for travel and culture enraptured me as a young child and then we moved 6000 miles away and my outlook on the world changed forever. For my Bachelor's degree, I studied International Relations and Education, with the dream of working for UNICEF. And while I did not quite realise that dream (they take minimal grads from the US unless they are medics or engineers), I have had a 13 year career specialising in children and adult services as a social scientist. Currently I am heading up the Pan London HIV Prevention Programme, working with UNAIDs, the WHO and I sit on the Olympics Sexual Health Planning Board. Yep, other things inspired me too, but I attribute a huge part of who I am to that little ride (just like I learned to sail a brignatine rig square masted ship and to fence as a teen because of my love of PotC as a child). Yes, I am nuts, but I have had the pleasure to do many things few ever get to do, and I was inspired by these silly 1960's robotic attractions. This is why I get so angry at modern Disney park creations, cheap thrills and toons are very unlikely to have the same impact (I also know tech inventors inspired by CoP, so I am not alone).
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And if anyone feels like whacking me back or accusing me of one upmanship, please stand on your own two feet and not take the guise of a sock puppet.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo So call me silly. I am sure many on line do. But I would like to think some of my work over the years to reform foster care, reform personalisation, to develop new models of service delivery for the vulnerable, and now my work in HIV will have made a difference. If so, I am proud to be silly.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss But who's to say that IaSW (or any other post-Walt attractions) won't still inspire future generations?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I am sure they will, when done when thought. But if cheap thrills or toon synergy, I do wonder (unless they want to be engineers or animators, then it is possible). But Disney used to inspire with the World on the move, carousels of progress, explorations of history or jungles, international cultures. There used to be much that was educational while having fun. Not so much any more.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<There used to be much that was educational while having fun. Not so much any more.>> DAK was pretty bold, if you ask me. I'll grant you that nothing of late has had any sort of edutainment slant to it though...maybe Mission: Space was the last thing?
Originally Posted By Manfried You know what? The attraction looks better than ever, and it makes it fun for parents with their kids, turning the attraction into something more than just ride a boat and hear dolls sing the same song over and over. Parents and children, and even couples, are now involved in the attraction looking for the characters. If anything it makes it a deeper attraction. You see other details you never saw before. Its delightful and has become a classic voyage of discovery for all.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo DAK was the last thing probably, Mission Space only just. But in California, most of the edutainment has been ripped out of DCA. Gt Moments with Mr Lincoln kind of counts.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo and I am sure some would find a lap dance club would add depth to DTD, doesn't mean it should happen.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "It doesn't feel like innovative progress, but self-referential and safe." Thanks ecdc. That's exactly what ALL of the new character stuff feels like to me.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "To quote him, it is "another move for people to be more interested in America than the rest of the world". I think your friend's point is a little of base since the characters are placed in the international regions from which they originated. If anything kids will learn that Cinderella is actually from France, not a cartoon studio in Burbank.
Originally Posted By Bellella Mind if I put in my two cents' worth? I've said it before, and I'll say it as many times as I have to: The Disney character dolls can blend into the ride as much as possible (although I don't think that'll happen as long as you can hear the theme songs from their movies) but the whole message of the ride is disappearing. It's A Small World was created for UNICEF, and it was designed to promote world peace, right down to the song. The addition of the character dolls is a blatant effort on the part of the company to promote them. They are inserting a message of capitalism and greed into a ride that was intended to promote just the opposite. The rest of you may not have a big emotional attachment to the ride, but I do. I loved the ride for its message as much as for the dolls and everything else. It really hurts that they would do this to a ride that was meant to maybe spread a little love among anyone from different cultures who rode it.
Originally Posted By Bellella And yes, I have been on the ride four times since they added them in. I try to block them out every time, but it doesn't really work.
Originally Posted By Manfried Ah Bellella and others like you want Disneyland to be preserved and never changed, like a museum.
Originally Posted By danyoung >Yep, other things inspired me too, but I attribute a huge part of who I am to that little ride...< dave, I would never try to take anything away from you and your experiences. But I'm guessing that your experience with the attraction is a pretty unique one, and not something that the general public has experienced. >The addition of the character dolls is a blatant effort on the part of the company to promote them. They are inserting a message of capitalism and greed into a ride that was intended to promote just the opposite.< This is such nonsense that I can't even stand it. But I have to be fair to Bellella and respect her opinion, even though I disagree with it with all my heart. The inclusion of the new characters has absolutely nothing to do with capitalism and greed. They are simply an attempt on the part of the Imagineers to update a dated attraction, and to make it more of a draw in their parks. And judging from the long lines that were there for at least a year after the characters were added, I'd say that they did their job beautifully.
Originally Posted By Ursula <Ah Bellella and others like you want Disneyland to be preserved and never changed, like a museum.> Ah, no. Those of us like her want the parks to get new and better things. And to leave a perfectly good ride alone. There is no need to put in characters into a ride celebrating and promoting world peace, togetherness, and something as simple and beautiful of It's a Small World. The addition of the characters had everything to do with capitalism and greed.
