Chapter 8:Not for the Faint of Heart

After a not-so-scary ride through the Haunted Mansion, we walked through the portal and into the Fantasyland section of the park. When people think of Fantasyland, they think that this section is only for the kiddies...not true. This section can also be a delight to anyone who tries to enjoy it. Sure, it's geared towards the younger ones, but that doesn't mean people of all ages can't enjoy it. Anyway, Fantasyland is the "Heart" of the Magic Kingdom. This section has a numerous amount of attractions, and I believe the most in the entire Magic Kingdom. Anyway, Fantasyland is the home to our next attraction in our round-trip around the Magic Kingdom, "it's a small world". I know that when some people think of this ride, they say "Skip it, can't stand hearing that song over and over again!" Well, yes, is some cases that's true. The song can get obnoxious, but the ride is a classic from the 64 World's Fair, and has been entertaining ever since. Plus, the point the ride brings across is evident by just going on the ride. For those that think it's just an annoying kiddie ride, they are missing the point the ride brings across. The world is indeed small, and must try to live friendly with one another. For these many reasons, I respect the ride for what it's worth.

OK, so we're heading into Fantasyland and we pass Peter Pan. I'll say something about this now, considering we didn't get on it this trip. The ride is insane. The queue line for this ride is most likely the longest in the park. That is for many reasons, most notably the bad capacity. Along with that, the kiddies love this ride, and it's the perfect ride for them to enjoy with their parents. So, here's a tip about Peter Pan's Flight. If you plan on riding, get a Fast Pass, or get there EARLY. I'd actually go with the ladder, considering what happened to us later on in the trip. That's for later though. Anyway, Peter Pan was a must-skip with the line expanding out of the fairly large queue. The ride across from it was, you guessed it, "it's a small world". The ride was our next hit, and with a very large capacity, we would be on in no time. The line was down the ramp just a little bit, and it was only about 10 minutes until we were in our boat. While in line, I looked around the station, and it looked different to me. Then, out of nowhere, a bell rang and a large grandfather clock on the wall told us it was now 5:30 PM. From what I remember, after that, some dolls came out of the door in the clock and dance around. Then, it hit me. They recently re-did "it's a small world", last year I believe. I could tell the queue area had been re-done...it LOOKED new with a different color scheme and different props, such as the new clock, which was a pretty cool addition. So after a quick wait, we climb in our boat, and it's time for departure. As we pull out of the station, the main operator in the tower above waved to our boat, and everyone waved back :lol: Around the bend, and we approached the portal to "it's a small world".

Just before we recap this classic attraction, I'd like to mention something. One would be rich if they went swimming in "it's a small world's" lagoon...the amount of loose change in the area is ridiculous. I guess people have a lot of loose change to get rid or something, but to me it's pointless. Ok, end rant. Here we go into it's a small world. During the ride, you sail through the following areas of the world-Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific Islands. Each room of the ride has an amount of the total 289 dolls in the attraction who sing the easily recognized theme song. In the first scene, there are some magic carpets flying from the ceiling. Evidently I was scared of these when I was younger, which was brought up as we went through the attraction. Hey, I was like four, little kids are scared of everything. My favorite scene on the ride is the Africa scene. I love the animal animatronics. The giraffes almost reach the ceiling and the hippos are a surprise as they hide in the water. The area has a great jungle feel to it, and is very colorful.

After we've visited all of the countries, we move on to the finale! This scene is awesome. People (dolls) are brought together from across the world to have a great time together. This scene features dolls from every country we've already visited. The entire area is very white and bright, and features many different props than those we've already seen. There's a ferry boat, a merry-go-round, and even a roller coaster lit up brightly in the background! All of the dolls, again are singing together the ride's theme song. It's a great way to end the ride, and is one of the best done areas on the entire attraction. Anyway, once we pass through this area, we enter one more small area where we get a final good-bye...in many different languages. See how many you can recognize in this scene, it's interesting to see how many you'll know. You'll have time to look at all of the signs and see how many you know because the ride is usually backed up into this area. There are just too many boats on this ride to keep it constantly moving. Unfortunately the waiting time until you finally return to the station can be more than 5 minutes...so try to relax and enjoy the theming. After about 10 minutes, we finally exited, and made our way back into Fantasyland. As for a closing statement on the ride, like I said earlier, it's a classic. The ride can be very enjoyable if you try to enjoy it. Many of the scenes are very well done, and can be very interesting to observe. Along with that, the message of the ride is supreme, and it's more than you would ever think.

KKR05's Expert Advice!-Nothing much to say that I haven't said already. The ride is good for all ages, except be careful with the little ones. I told you the story about me and the magic carpets, so be aware if you're a parent. Other than that, hopefully the song won't stay in your head for that long after the ride!

We returned to the Fantasyland midways, which I must say were very crowded on a summer afternoon. The walkway between Peter Pan and it's a small world is very small, so the area can be very congested. So continued on through Fantasyland and decided what attraction was next on our hit list. It was almost time for some of the others to go see Cinderellabration...some we decided to hit one more ride before they had to go off and see that. And that attraction is many definite favorite in Fantasyland.