It's a Different World after All

One of the things I love about visiting the various Disney Parks around the world is appreciating how different each of them is, even when it comes to classic attractions they all share. It's a Small World in Disneyland Paris is a great example of this. It's essentially the same experience, but there are so many elements of the French version that make it unique.

Out front, the boat full of children is represented dimensionally, atop a partial globe with water cascading over its surface. The exterior of the building is a palace facade, like all the others except Magic Kingdom. Here, though, European landmarks are more prominent in the design and the color palette is brighter (to help overcome the often-grey skies in Paris) and is accented in copper and gold (helping ease the transition between Fantasyland to the building's left and Discoveryland to the right).

The queue and load/unload station for the boats is positioned outside the main building, just as it is at Disneyland in Anaheim. To protect from the weather, those areas are all covered here, but not so enclosed that you can't enjoy the beauty of the facade or the charming joy of the clock tower when it animates every quarter hour.

Once aboard "The Happiest Cruise That Ever Sailed," that familiar Sherman Brothers tune kicks in, and you're off on a journey around the world. Although heavily influenced by the work done on the original It's a Small World by Mary Blair, Alice Davis and others, the designs here step boldly out of the 1960s and feel completely contemporary.

Many of the sets are still painted flats, but they're painted with areas of light and shadow, giving the impression of added depth and richness.

When It's a Small World opened in Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, it was the first to include Disney characters among the dolls and toys (they have also since been added to the Disneyland original). The Paris version of the attraction provided the stepping stone to that idea, by introducing the idea of representing characters from stories and mythology. Floating past the scenes, look for a genie, a mermaid, a baby Pegasus and the Loch Ness Monster.

Disneyland Paris was also the first time an entire room was dedicated to North America, with entire scenes of Canada, the American West and the prairie.

There's even a bit of the modern U.S., as New York City, San Francisco and Hollywood come together just ahead of the attraction's big finale.

Although it's a Disney Parks standard (and frankly a bit of a cliche these days), It's a Small World turned out to be one of my favorite attraction experiences in all of Disneyland Paris. It's at once familiar and completely original... and forever charming!