IT'S A SMALL WORLD

It's a Small World is currently an attraction at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Like several other Disneyland attractions, "it's a small world" got its start in the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair, and after the fair closed the ride was transferred to Disneyland; when the other parks opened they, too, had versions of the ride. The attraction was designed by Mary Blair, who was also an art director on several Disney animated features including Cinderella and Peter Pan. Like many Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, scenes and characters were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife, Alice Davis, designed the outfits of the dolls.

The name of the ride was originally "children of the world". When Walt Disney demonstrated it to the Sherman Brothers the ride's soundtrack featured numerous national anthems all playing at once. Disney said, "I need one song." In response, the brother songwriting team wrote what is now the most performed and translated song on earth: "it's a small world". Often dismissed as trivial, on second look the song possesses a remarkably profound lyric having been written in the wake of the Cuban Missle Crisis. The deep lyric is cleverly disquised by its simple but catchy, melody and is often regarded as the first world anthem.