Why We Rode “it’s a small world” BACKWARDS in Disney World

Whether you love it or hate it, “it’s a small world” is a very popular attraction in Magic Kingdom.

Maybe it’s the fact that Walt Disney had a hand in creating the ride at Disneyland, maybe it’s because you can get a break from the Florida sun for a few minutes and ride along in a boat, or maybe it’s the catchy song (whether you think that’s good or bad). But, have you ever found yourself thinking, “I hope that I never get stuck on that ride?” Well, that’s exactly what happened to us.

We were passing by “it’s a small world” and noticed that it didn’t have a wait. So, we decided to press pause on where we were headed next and hopped in line.

We slowly floated along taking in all that this classic ride has to offer and as we were passing through the final scene, our boat bumped into the one in front and, we looked up to see that there was a looong line of boats up ahead.

Fun or nightmare — we're stuck on "it's a small world". pic.twitter.com/1VFwOYEx1F

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) August 27, 2021

 

With seemingly no movement coming soon, we pulled up the My Disney Experience app to find that “it’s a small world” was listed as “Currently Unavailable,” meaning that we were now sitting on a broken-down ride.

Shortly after, the overhead lights turned on and the music paused (which was met with cheers) while a Cast Member announced that “it’s a small world” was down temporarily due to technical difficulties and asked us to remain seated.

The original announcement sharing that "it's a small world" had stopped prior to being evacuated. pic.twitter.com/3ba2cMhljT

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) August 27, 2021

 

 

And, after soaking in the short reprieve from that “catchy” song, it came back on as we waited for another update.

**insert "it's been 84 years" gif** pic.twitter.com/NcxZaLN6v1

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) August 27, 2021

 

About 15 minutes later, the music was turned off (and again everyone cheered), though the dolls didn’t stop dancing along… .

Our time on the happiest cruise that ever sailed included lots of silent doll dancing. pic.twitter.com/kuDXTay8dK

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) August 27, 2021

 

And, the evacuation began!

Shout out to the amazing Cast Members who were in the water manually moving the boats for evacuation. pic.twitter.com/5cIO0fCkti

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) August 27, 2021

Many of the boats were stopped in an area that was surrounded by water, so Cast Members had to hop into the water and use poles to manually move all of the boats backward into a spot where guests could evacuate.

So, we watched as people escaped…we mean exited…their boat one by one, slowly inching towards our turn.

Eventually, we were pushed forward, and after an hour and a half inside with the music-less dancing animatronics, we were the last group to be escorted off the boat and back to land.

As we exited the attraction, Cast Members gave us a FastPass that could be used at several rides in the park (except Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight), so we used to hop onto another ride hoping for better luck!

So, it wasn’t exactly how we pictured our Friday afternoon going in Disney World, but we made it out. And, though we may not always be the ones stuck on the ride, we’ll continue to bring you the latest on ride closures around the parks, so stay tuned to AllEars!

 How do ride BREAKDOWNS affect pay-per-ride options? — Learn More HERE

Have you ever been on a ride when it breaks down in Disney World? Let us know in the comments!

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