NEW, SMALL WORLD-STYLE DOLLS ARE FOR PARADE ONLY
“Our fans are a blessing and sometimes not so much. I love their feedback. I love to hear what they think about things. But it’s also very difficult to please them and to convince them that they need to trust us.”
A new Main Street Electrical Parade float festooned with It’s a Small World-inspired animated dolls recalls the last time Disneyland tinkered with the classic Fantasyland attraction, in 2008, and triggered a “Small World War” that outraged fans and traumatized employees.
Disneyland on April 22 rolled out a new, 118-foot-long Main Street Electrical Parade finale float featuring 16 animated dolls inspired by It’s a Small World when the nighttime spectacular returned for its 50th anniversary. The new dolls are designed in the iconic Small World artistic style of Disney legend Mary Blair.
Which raises the obvious question: Will the Small World-inspired dolls on the new float be added to the attraction?
Disneyland currently has no plans to integrate the new dolls into It’s a Small World, according to Disneyland officials.
The new “Togetherness” float sequence at the end of the parade features 16 dolls representing characters from 13 Disney and Pixar animated films: this year’s “Encanto” (Mirabel and Antonio), 2021’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” (Raya), 2017’s “Coco” (Miguel), 2016’s “Moana” (Moana), 2013’s “Frozen” (Elsa and Anna), 2012’s “Brave” (Merida), 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog” (Tiana), 1998’s “Mulan” (Mulan), 1997’s “Hercules” (Hercules), 1995’s “Pocahontas” (Pocahontas), 1992’s “Aladdin” (Aladdin and Jasmine), 1967’s “The Jungle Book” (Mowgli) and 1940’s “Pinocchio” (Blue Fairy).
Nobody had heard of more than half these characters when the 2008 Small World update happened — because the movies hadn’t been released yet.
How hard would it be to add the Small World-style dolls to the Disneyland ride? The Raya doll could go in the Asian section; Moana in the Pacific Island area; Miguel, Mirabel and Antonio in the Latin American portion of the ride; Merida, Elsa and Anna in the European segment; and Tiana in the North American part.
Among the other new dolls, only Aladdin, Jasmine and Mulan were added to Small World in 2008 — meaning the Blue Fairy, Mowgli, Pocahontas and Hercules could be added as well.
The controversial 2008 Small World update added 29 characters from 12 Disney and Pixar animated films: “Pinocchio” (Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket), 1944’s “Three Caballeros” (Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose Carioca), 1950’s “Cinderella” (Cinderella, Jaq and Gus), 1951’s “Alice in Wonderland” (Alice and White Rabbit), 1953’s “Peter Pan” (Peter Pan and Tinker Bell), 1989’s “The Little Mermaid” (Ariel and
Flounder), “Aladdin” (Aladdin, Jasmine and Abu), 1994’s “The Lion King” (Simba, Pumbaa and Timon), 1995’s “Toy Story” (Woody, Jessie and Bullseye), “Mulan” (Mulan and Mushu), 2002’s “Lilo and Stitch” (Lilo and Stitch), and 2003’s “Finding Nemo” (Nemo and Dory).
Fortunately for die-hard Disneylanders, Walt Disney Imagineering has no plans to start “Small World War II” — the parade dolls aren’t heading for Small World.
“The Imagineering Story,” a documentary on Disney+, delved into the “Small World War,” the dilemma of updating cherished Disneyland attractions and the inevitable uproar from die-hard fans that accompanies any change to Walt Disney’s original theme park in Anaheim.
“Our fans are a blessing and sometimes not so much,” Imagineering Art Director Kim Irvine said in the Disney+ series. “I love their feedback. I love to hear what they think about things. But it’s also very difficult to please them and to convince them that they need to trust us. That we love this park as much as they do and we try very hard to do the right thing.”
In 2008, “disgusted” fans raged online about Disneyland’s “idiotic plan” that would cause “pointless destruction” and “gross desecration” of Blair’s designs for It’s a Small World.
“While this was happening I was afraid to go out on the street at night,” Irvine said in the docuseries. “It was really serious, and people were very upset about it.”
The Small World outcry prompted Disney legend Marty Sklar to pen an open letter in 2008 to aggrieved fans.
“We all agree that It’s a Small World is a Disney classic,” Sklar wrote in the letter. “But the greatest ‘change agent’ who ever walked down Main Street at Disneyland was Walt himself. In fact, the park had not been open 24 hours when Walt began to ‘plus’ Disneyland and he never stopped.”
Sklar addressed the rumors head-on that Imagineering was ruining Walt Disney’s creation.
“I’ve heard that we are planning to remove the rainforest, add Mickey and Minnie, create an ‘Up with America’ tribute, to effectively ‘marginalize’ the Mary Blair style and Walt’s classic. In fact, just the opposite is true. We want the message of brotherhood and goodwill among all children around the world to resonate with more people than ever before, especially today’s young people.”
The latest Disneyland update isn’t the first time Small World dolls have been included in a Main Street Electrical Parade. The Dreamlights version running at Tokyo Disneyland since 2001 includes a finale float with Small World dancing dolls.