Dis characters coming to MK Small World?

[TP2000]

I remember reading that was the biggest complaint about the Disneyland version apparently and how the new America section was tacky/cheaply done?

I thought it worked very nicely. As inspiration, they used original 1963 sketches done by Mary Blair for an America scene that was proposed but never added to the World's Fair attraction.

Here's the original 1960's Mary Blair concept:

And here's how it turned out in the ride in 2009:

The opposite side of the flume has a Midwest farm scene with some singing farmer dolls, and then you float into the finale under a Hollywood Bowl-esque gateway. It's nice really.

The Rainforest Scene got moved into the South Seas room. It fits really well there, and looks great I think.

 

[BrerFrog]

I don't know how I feel about this, do we really need characters slapped in every single WDW ride?!

EDIT: I am ok with it as long as its very subtle.

 

[sponono88]

The Disneyland version of It's A Small World was closed for 10 months, from January to October of 2009. But they also replaced the flume (that was still the original one from the World's Fair), and did a great deal of work and upgrading to the interior sets, lighting and audio, in addition to adding the new Character dolls. It's never sparkled more brightly.

I agree with that last part. The ride has never looked better, and unfortunately that aspect of the refurb was largely ignored by some who were too busy complaining about the characters.

and again, the characters aren't as bad as some people make them out to be. I think they make a good ride even better.

 

[HMF]

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney...sure-its-small-world-disney-characters-added/

It's a world of franchise' A world of fun' Piles of plush means profits for everyone. High School' Pirates or Cars your money will soon be ours. it's a Mall Whirl after all! It's a Mall Whirl after all' It's a Mall Whirl after all' It's a Mall Whirl after all! It's a Mall, Mall Whirl.

 

[HMF]

Here's the original 1960's Mary Blair concept:

I don't think Mary Blair actually Drew that. I think they got Rolly Crump ( who can imitate her style) to draw it to get the fans to shut up.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm all for it. It'll add a little "Where's Waldo?" dimension to the ride. :lol:

According to Disney, you're not supposed to be doing that...

I wish they'd use some of that Imagineering "MAGIC" they always talk about and give us a real Small World exterior to boast about.

It really would not work at the Magic Kingdom. Even if the queue was opened up, it would be crammed into a corridor, not sitting in a park.

I thought it worked very nicely. As inspiration, they used original 1963 sketches done by Mary Blair for an America scene that was proposed but never added to the World's Fair attraction.

Here's the original 1960's Mary Blair concept:

And here's how it turned out in the ride in 2009:

The artwork is a magical coincidence. It was not "found" and subsequently published until after the attraction reopened to show how the Imagineers were so in tune with the attraction and what was really desired that they created a scene so close to one that was planned.

 

[_Scar]

Cowboys wouldn't exactly be what I'd classify America as since cowboys, or at least what we think of as cowboys, were really all myths.

 

[Studios Fan]

It will be interesting to see what happens in the refurb.

 

[Horizons1]

Nooooooooo!!!!

But I assure you, we are NOT getting the Christmas version of Small World. TDO won't shell out the cash for that.

These are the people that turned down the HMH at the VERY last second.

Everything made and ready to be shipped. "Nope, cancel that. We don't want it anymore."

 

[TP2000]

I don't think Mary Blair actually Drew that. I think they got Rolly Crump ( who can imitate her style) to draw it to get the fans to shut up.

Wow. Some major conspiracy theories here on this 1960's Mary Blair artwork. All that's left is for someone to claim they saw black helicopters hovering over the last D23 Expo taking thermal body scans of anyone who didn't buy an annual D23 membership.

According to the LA Times, and some fairly well known Imagineers like Kim Irvine and Tony Baxter, that 60's Mary Blair print the Times published was found by Tony Baxter at ComicCon. From the Times article of February, 2009...

"Irvine based the new [America] scene, in part, on original concept art by Small World ride creator Mary Blair. Fellow Imagineer Tony Baxter accidentally discovered the sketch at a recent Comic-Con event.
“It just confirmed our suspicions that she always meant to have a scene for America,” said Irvine, who says the scene may have been cut from the original attraction because of time constraints."
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/small-world-disneyla-4017/

There ya go. If some folks claim these people are lying through their teeth, then so be it. But it sounds plausible to me. All I know is that the new America scene turned out pretty cute, especially the Southwest side with the Cowboys and Indians. I think the coloring on the Midwest scene across the flume is a bit off, but that's just me.

The new America scene is a nice mirror to the Cowboy and Indian who have been in the Finale' since 1964, but never had a place earlier in the ride with all the other dolls who also show up in the Finale' for a last goodbye. An American scene is already in the versions in Paris and Hong Kong.

 

[TP2000]

But I assure you, we are NOT getting the Christmas version of Small World. TDO won't shell out the cash for that.

These are the people that turned down the HMH at the VERY last second.

Everything made and ready to be shipped. "Nope, cancel that. We don't want it anymore."

That must be how it ended up in Tokyo, as the Tokyo Haunted Mansion is almost a mirror copy of the WDW version. The Disneyland version of the ride is quite different, and a WDW/Tokyo version would require slightly different props to fit in the varying show scenes.

But the Japanese LOVE Haunted Mansion Holiday. Any time I've been in Tokyo Disneyland during October the past few years, the lines for HMH have been HUGE with Fastpasses selling out hours in advance. It appears to my amateur eye to be even more popular than the crazy-popularity of the original Anaheim version.

By the way, this will be the 10th year they've done Haunted Mansion Holiday in Anaheim, and the 14th year they've done Small World Holiday. Both are still wildly popular with West Coast/Pacific Rim audiences. I will never cease to be baffled why WDW doesn't try these popular Holiday overlays, although the 12 or 13 days of overlay rehab in October or early November that RUIN VACATIONS is a fun excuse trotted out every fall by at least a few diehards. Just like the changing colors of the leaves, like clockwork.

 

[HMF]

"Irvine based the new [America] scene, in part, on original concept art by Small World ride creator Mary Blair. Fellow Imagineer Tony Baxter accidentally discovered the sketch at a recent Comic-Con event.
“It just confirmed our suspicions that she always meant to have a scene for America,” said Irvine, who says the scene may have been cut from the original attraction because of time constraints."
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/small-world-disneyla-4017/

Yes Tony miraculously found a piece of concept art depicting an idea that they were already working on after major fan outcry and he goes to Comic-Con and somehow a Mary Blair concept painting for an America scene amazingly appears to validate them after they had been planning on doing this for months. Lucky break I guess. Also the Painting seems to have been painted on a newspaper.

 

[lazyboy97o]

According to the LA Times, and some fairly well known Imagineers like Kim Irvine and Tony Baxter, that 60's Mary Blair print the Times published was found by Tony Baxter at ComicCon. From the Times article of February, 2009...

"Irvine based the new [America] scene, in part, on original concept art by Small World ride creator Mary Blair. Fellow Imagineer Tony Baxter accidentally discovered the sketch at a recent Comic-Con event.
“It just confirmed our suspicions that she always meant to have a scene for America,” said Irvine, who says the scene may have been cut from the original attraction because of time constraints."
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/small-world-disneyla-4017/

There ya go. If some folks claim these people are lying through their teeth, then so be it. But it sounds plausible to me. All I know is that the new America scene turned out pretty cute, especially the Southwest side with the Cowboys and Indians. I think the coloring on the Midwest scene across the flume is a bit off, but that's just me.

See, just right there in what you quoted Disney is being inconsistent. The piece was either found before or during the design process, in which case it would be inspiration, or it was found after and would confirm their suspicions, which they had already acted upon. It cannot be both. The fact that Disney waited so long to release the piece makes me believe that it was found after the fact, not before or during design.

The bigger problem with this artwork is that it was found at ComiCon, not inside the Disney Archives or some other place in which it can properly be placed within its context. We know the piece is there, but we know nothing more about it. Why was it not included? Budget? Space? When was the idea discarded? Early on? At the end? To say that "she always meant to have a scene for America" implies a commitment to the idea that cannot properly be extrapolated from a single piece of artwork. Using the same logic I can argue that Disneyland Paris was always supposed to have a gold, futuristic castle. I know that "it's a small world" was in many ways thrown together at the last minute, but if an America scene was so important it should have popped up somewhere else. In other concept art, ride layouts, diagrams, something else besides one piece of artwork. Even if time was the deciding factor, it meant that it was decided to but greater focus on the other aspects of the show, instead of making them each slightly smaller so as to include the America scene.

 

[PhantomX]

I wouldn't put to much stock in that comic con story. Tony Baxter is always making up bs like that. For example to justify the subs becoming a nemo tie in he claims he "just recently" found a press release from the 1960s that mentions the subs were based on 20k under the sea insinuating that walt wanted the subs to be a movie tie in all along. I've seen all the imagineers do this I think they tell these stories in order to keep park goes from complaining.

 

[TP2000]

If agents of the Walt Disney Company are fabricating elaborate stories and knowingly lying on record to the Los Angeles Times, then someone should really have at 'em. But I think the changes to the ride turned out cute, personally.

It always fascinates me when the opposition to this kind of stuff melts away when people actually go on the ride. And by that, I mean walking up to the ride and getting in a vehicle and experiencing it themselves, not looking at amateur YouTube videos. I've seen that online opposition mount, and then melt after actual rides, for almost 15 years online since the Fall of '97 when the old alt.disney.disneyland usenet forum was up in arms over the installation of the first Small World Holiday. (I was on that usenet group under this same handle in those days, if you come across those archives!) Now Small World Holiday is a beloved classic that's been repeated in several other Disneyland-style Disney parks.

It was so hated and feared before it opened in November '97. Now it's a beloved classic that's been repeated in several other Disneyland-style Disney parks to similar acclaim.

But, I suppose the point on Characters at WDW is moot now since Disney has announced they won't add the Characters to Small World in this August rehab.

Maybe the WDW queue will get touch screen video games to play while you wait in line instead?

 

[DisneyNut2007]

Nooooooooo!!!!

But I assure you, we are NOT getting the Christmas version of Small World. TDO won't shell out the cash for that.

These are the people that turned down the HMH at the VERY last second.

Everything made and ready to be shipped. "Nope, cancel that. We don't want it anymore."

DON'T JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS, MR. KNOW-NOTHING!!!!!

 

[disneygirl76]

I didn't know how I felt about this at first until I saw it at DL. At DL I rode it and I loved it! And I am not a Small World fan. It was fun to try to find the Disney characters in each scene and they blended in perfectly. I really liked the addition of the Disney characters.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Had the characters just been dolls, and no other toy counterparts or music from the movies playing as well, then I feel just character dolls such as Peter Pan, Wendy, etc would have been fine, blended in, and drawn less attention to them than they do now. The Disney dolls and the "I Spy" game that has ensued draws attention not to the children of the world, but to more Disney franchises now advertised in the attraction. I've never seen children who are older than 3, not get excited on the WDW version and point to the different dolls costumes while their parents tell them where we are sailing through. At Disneyland this has turned into a focus for the average guest to look for the Disney character "LOOK THERE'S DONALD!" while they ignore the rest of the dolls and toys. The ride is timeless, it is forever relevant, and from my many trips on small world in WDW, other than the 10-13 year old who felt awkward being caught on that ride, I know of no young children who were not engaged with the ride because it didn't have Disney characters in it.

As for all the other upgrades Disneyland got. I love the new trough, boats, lighting, music, paint, etc. All great enhancements that ADD to the attraction and don't TURN it into an I Spy game of Disney character franchises.

As for the Mary Blair concept, there is no conspiracy. The attraction was rushed to get to New York and condensed into an already bought size of land. When it came to Disneyland, they were able to expand it out to what they had originally intended. The thing is, the rainforest was originally in Brazil and the floorspace for it is still there. They just moved it to the curved room between the Poly and Finale scenes....essentially the room reserved for the America scene was instead turned into an expanded rainforest scene. What they should have done was send the rainforest scene back it's original spot in Brazil rather than condensing it into the Poly room.

 

[Disneyson 1]

They blend pretty well except for the one or two that too the place of other spotlight characters. But really, there was this one random doll in the middle of the seashell in the mermaid area. Everyone looked at her ANYWAY, she didn't have to be Ariel, she was in the middle of a giant shell! Now I think it makes more sense, they picked strategic places for each character and (although sometimes replacing another "spotlight" character) blend in really well to the ride. And I LOVE the music weaving.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I've seen this over in Disneyland and I don't think it's a bad addition. The ones that stood out for me were Woody, Jessie and Bullseye. They could be any cowboy, cowgirl and horse combination, but I just don't think they look good. Most of the other dolls that are in the Mary Blair style look fine. I actually like the Stitch one because it looks a bit like a dog, and is no stranger than the animals in the African scene.