Today at Disneyland: It's a Small World
After our quick visit to Disney's California Adventure this afternoon, we moved over to Disneyland.
As always, the flowers at Town Square were gorgeous!
More beautiful flowers on Main Street, hinting that spring is just a month away:
It's a Small World recently reopened after renovations which took most of 2008. The refurbished ride included controversial changes, the insertion of Disney characters, created in the style of Small World artist Mary Blair, in appropriate lands.
Alice in Wonderland, for example, is in England:
The Three Caballeros in Mexico:
Ariel and Flounder:
Lilo and Stitch in Hawaii:
I do think they could have done a better job with the design of the new "America" room:
Our overall verdict? We rather liked it and thought the Disney characters were appropriate, especially as they were designed to match Mary Blair's style.
However, I didn't particularly care for the new soundtrack, which includes adult choral vocals at one point in the arrangement, backing up the traditional children's chorus singing "It's a Small World." The inclusion of adult voices is very out of place in the ride, and I believe they should re-think it.
posted by Laura @ 8:30 PM
8 Comments:
I agree. I think most of the characters fit but I do not care for Woody or Jessie and the general look for the United States. I do not remember the adult voices. Guess I was too busy trying to get non blurred photos. I'll have to listen for that the next time. I do like the upgraded sound system in general.
I hope to go on Monday. The last several times I've gone, it's been raining and now I hear it "might" rain on Monday. Figures, but at least it keeps the crowds down.
Hi Irene! I know what you mean, I was shifting between the night and indoors setting trying to get a few photos that would turn out (grin).
I'm taking my daughter out to meet a friend on her b'day in a few days (do you by any chance know where annual passholders go to get their gift card? we're signed up but I can't find that info). I hope soon after that we can meet out there!
Best wishes,
Laura
My wife and I finally saw the new Small World and the castle walk-through last night, having dropped off our toddler with her aunt and uncle while we slipped away to celebrate an anniversary.
I really enjoyed the castle walk-through. I thought it was great. The one drawback was the lighted storybooks reflecting in the scene windows. So I'd stand so as to let my wife look in the windows without that relection.
As for Small World... Flounder needs to be stylized. I'm not strongly for or against the changes. I'm not sure I see much of a point to the changes, but (and I'm just speculating) if that is what it took to get the purse strings opened up to rebuild the flume, get new boats, etc... then so be it. I haven't talked with any of my friends on the inside to get the lowdown. - Ken
Hi Ken,
It's nice to hear from you (and happy anniversary!). I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the revitalized attractions. I'm looking forward to checking both the castle and Small World out again to more fully absorb the changes.
They seemed to have the hardest time "Mary Blair-ing" the animals...I don't remember Nemo looking very different than usual, either...
Best wishes,
Laura
Regarding where to get the gift card, I've heard you have to go to the ticket booth with your print out that should come through because she registered and ID. But I've also heard that you can get the gift card at City Hall but I haven't been able to confirm this. I hear the lines at the ticket booths have been longer than normal because of the birthday promotion.
Just let me know when you can go :)
Thanks, Irene! I guess we'll try the ticket booth just to be on the safe side. We noticed there were lines at the booths last night even when we left around 7:30.
Funny thing, I just got her confirmation email, but there's supposed to be a .PDF file attached to print and every time I click it, it says the file is corrupted. However, the cover email has her name, date, and a registration number so I assume that's going to be enough along with her birth certificate.
A couple of our family members' birthdays fall on Saturdays when we're blocked out. According to the info I've printed out, instead of going in the park they could instead put the price of the ticket toward renewing their pass. With my son that would be perfect because his pass is due right after his birthday anyway, but I'm wondering if my husband would have to renew immediately or if he could save the ticket for when he needs to renew at the end of the year. I've been Googling looking for the answer to no avail. If you learn anything about that via MiceChat or elsewhere I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know!
Looking forward to seeing you out there before too long. :)
Thanks again for sharing what you've heard on the b'day process!
Best wishes,
Laura
I've heard they have had big problems with their computer system over this whole thing so I'm not surprised the PDF is not working. I think if you print out what they did send with that confirmation number everything will be all right. All it does is help speed things up.
I haven't heard about what to do if a birthday falls on a block out day and renewing is in the future. I don't know how far in advance one can renew. I thought I heard at one time it was 30 days, but I could be wrong on that.
Thanks for the additional info, Irene. Very interesting! I'll keep Googling and checking Disneyland sites to try to stay on top of related issues.
Best wishes,
Laura
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