Sketch: It's A Small World

Our Toddler son's middle name is Elias, as a joint tribute to a family name on  Mom's side and to Walter Elias Disney who was a childhood hero of Dad's. In keeping with the Disney/Elias connection we found an It's A Small World receiving blanket and would wrap him it, it became his favorite blanket. We also hanged It's A Small World illustrations in his nursery/play area. He has been looking at the It's A Small World clock face and facade pattern his entire life! It has been burned into his subconscious like the sun motif was to Rapunzel in "Tangled".

We had some It's A Small World records and would play them for the baby. As he has gotten older he really has taken to the song and insists on hearing it "Again! Again!" Eventually we showed him videos of the ride on YouTube, first ride throughs and ultimately old episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. He fell in love with the videos as much as he did the song and books. Our Teenage son has always liked and appreciated the ride and fairly early on would dance along to the ride but it did not resonate with him like it has for our toddler son. On one of our trips to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World earlier this year the Toddler insisted on riding It's A Small World "Again! Again!".

It was a pretty busy, extremely cold day in January. When we arrived at the park at 8:00 AM we were able to snag a same day fast pass for Peter Pan right at 8:30 AM. When we emerged from Peter Pan we headed to It's A Small World which was a walk on. After going through the ride we got off the boat walked out the exit...and headed right back in and walked back on. We did a ride through and when we got back to the dock there was no one waiting so we asked to stay aboard and rode through again. So by 9:15 AM or so we had already been on the Happiest Cruise that ever Sailed 3 times. We managed to get the little guy off the ride to go on the Tea Cups. But his desire to go on It's A Small World could not be satiated. By 10:30 AM the ride was a 40 minute wait or more (and would grow throughout the day). Dad was able to secure fast passes for the ride...repeatedly. We'd get our fastpass (usually within 15 minutes), then we'd cross the touch points and as soon as we were in the line or no later than by the time the boat returned to the dock we'd obtained another fastpass. And each time we got back to the dock the Toddler would say "Again! Again!" and the cycle would repeat "Again! Again!". After 8 rides we lost count...but the joy on the little guy's face was too much to resist and they kept having fastpasses so we kept riding. Dad likes to draw so he put together this sketch of the time he and the Toddler spent the better part of a day at The Magic Kingdom riding It's A Small World Again! and Again!