Disney’s “it’s a small world” to finally reopen after catastrophe

After quite the catastrophe on the “it’s a small world” attraction at Disneyland Park, Disney has announced that it should reopen soon. Read on to learn more about what exactly has prevented the attraction from opening during the holidays.

it’s a small world Holiday Overlay

One of the amazing holiday overlays at Disneyland Park during the holiday season, in addition to my (Marisol) personal favorite, Haunted Mansion Holiday, is “it’s a Small World”. The nighttime façade is transformed to look like a winter wonderland in more ways than one!

Not only is there a special performance nightly of lighting the façade of the attraction, but the inside of the attraction is quite a joyous surprise as guests are invited to take a cruise around the world for the holidays.

The inside décor matches the holiday spirit as seen on the outside. The décor and special holiday rendition of the famous Sherman brothers is also quite the treat.

Flooding Occurs

The ride was originally set to open with the start of the holiday season. However, guests (including myself), were notified that “something catastrophic had occurred,” but the Cast Member was not able to disperse any additional information.

It was later revealed that a flood had done some extensive damage of the attraction. You can read our news story HERE.

Thankfully, more than 20 Disneyland departments were called in to repair the attraction after a basement maintenance room was flooded. Due to the extent of the unanticipated flooding, the attraction was closed indefinitely.

According to the OC Register, all of the electrical equipment was submerged in water.

In fact, the flooding caused so much damage that other Disney Parks around the world were asked if they had any spare parts from the attraction! Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland all overnighted parts.

Talk about teamwork and a story that will one day surely be a part of a Disney+ Behind the Attractions episode!

An “industrial-grade dehumidifier the size of an Autopia car” was used to pump all of the water out of the maintenance room. The tool was lowered by a crane into the attraction’s loading station to “help remove moisture from the room as fast as possible.”

What would normally have been a months-long repair was completed in about three weeks.

Reopening After Flooding

Thanks to many many hard working people, guests next week will have the opportunity to ride the beautiful and iconic holiday overlay attraction.

According to a Disney official who worked on the repairs, “It’s just one of those attractions that it doesn’t feel quite like Christmas time if it’s not working and guests can’t enjoy it.”

Will you be visiting the Disneyland Resort during this year’s holiday season? Are you happy to hear that “it’s a small world” will be reopening next week after such an unfortunate event?  Let us know in the comments on Facebook and in our Facebook group.