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Every year at Christmastime, Disneyland’s classic attraction “it’s a small world” undergoes a festive overlay and becomes “it’s a small world” Holiday. The fun animatronics sing a combination of the classic song “it’s a small world” and well-known Christmas carols. The lights and the decorations and the fun songs make it one of the most popular attractions during the holiday season.
Credit: Disney
Unfortunately, just a couple of days before the ride was scheduled to open for the Christmas season, the attraction suffered a devastating flood that prevented the ride from opening. And now it sounds like the ride may not open for months. Disneyland revealed that there was some flooding that affected the machinery that runs the ride. However, they did not say how long the ride would be closed for, just that they were working as diligently as possible to get the ride open quickly.
Credit: D23
Twitter user David Koenig wrote that the “it’s a small world” flood reminded him a lot of the flooding that happened at World of Color — a nighttime show at Disney California Adventure Park — and that that flooding caused World of Color to be down for nine months. Koenig also shared that he had heard from Cast Members who were telling him that Disney was downplaying just how bad the damage to “it’s a small world” was.
Cast members I’ve heard from say the damage is far worse than Disney is letting on. Apparently, the Small World flume began leaking when it was being filled in the early hours of last Wednesday Nov. 10. The problem was not discovered until several hours later.
By that time, water had filled up the basement levels of the attraction and the basement stockroom for the adjacent Small World Toyshop. But, just as with World of Color, there was massive damage to electrical and mechanical equipment that runs the attraction.
By that time, water had filled up the basement levels of the attraction and the basement stockroom for the adjacent Small World Toyshop. But, just as with World of Color, there was massive damage to electrical and mechanical equipment that runs the attraction.
— David Koenig (@davekoenig) November 18, 2021
Koenig also shared that the biggest issue Disney could face is finding the parts that are needed for the fix. “it’s a small world” opened at Disneyland all the way back in 1966 and a lot of the parts are extremely old, meaning that they may be difficult to find as technology has changed so much and those pieces might not even be made anymore. He also shared that a Disney Cast Member told him it could be up to a year before the ride is able to open.
Credit: Disney
The flooding left many wondering how such a thing could happen. Many think that there would be some sort of safeguard in place that would prevent flooding, but according to Koenig, that didn’t matter. Someone informed him that there was an alarm system in place, but it was ignored or not heard for over an hour, and the flooding was due to human error.
A new Small World leaker confirms FloodGate was indeed human error. “They forgot to shut a valve. To make things worse an alarm was sounding for over 90 minutes for an urgent pump failure (probably the pump that got overwhelmed & could no longer pump water from electrical vault)
A new Small World leaker confirms FloodGate was indeed human error. “They forgot to shut a valve. To make things worse an alarm was sounding for over 90 minutes for an urgent pump failure (probably the pump that got overwhelmed & could no longer pump water from electrical vault)
— David Koenig (@davekoenig) November 20, 2021
Disney has not commented on just how bad the flooding is, or when they hope to have the ride open. They have also not said just how the flood happened, so all the information is coming from anonymous Disneyland Cast Members.
