Take a virtual ride on Disney's 'It's a Small World'

By Genevieve Shaw Brown

It certainly feels like a small world these days.

It's the ride every Disney park enthusiast has enjoyed and the song that's impossible to forget and now fans around the world can take a virtual journey on this beloved Disney attraction.

In 2014 for the celebration of the ride's 50th anniversary, ABC News published nine little known facts about "It's a Small World."

"It's a Small World" was created for the 1964 New York World's Fair. The composer of the song, Oscar-winner Richard Sherman, said in 2014: "We thought, 'Well, when the World's Fair is over, that will be the end of it. For two years, they'll have this thing.' We never dreamed it would have the 'legs' as they call it, the distance that it's run."

Money was no object for the dolls' costumes.

"I asked Walt [Disney] how much I could spend," according to Alice Davis, a Disney Imagineering costume designer, "and he looked at me and cocked his eyebrow, like he did sometimes, and said, 'We don't think like that here. I want you to do whatever it takes to make these look like dolls every woman in the world would want to have."'

There's a reason you can't get the song out of your head. During a 16-hour operating day in the parks, "It's a Small World" song is played, on average, 1,200 times.

Can you spot the sticker at the Disneyland attractions? After two hit seasons at the New York World's Fair in 1964 and '65, "It's a Small World" moved to Disneyland in California, where it was expanded and then reopened as a major attraction in 1966. Shipping stickers with 1965 dates can still be found on the back of some set pieces.

Sad clown got a makeover. When the Walt Disney World attraction was refurbished in 2004-2005, the clown piloting a hot air balloon in the finale changed his demeanor. He now smiles and carries a balloon in his hand. Formerly, he frowned and carried a sign saying, "Help."

Location, location, location. The attraction at Tokyo Disneyland features the largest Japan section of any version.

It gets dressed up for the holidays. Disneyland in California, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland all have a holiday version of the attraction.

The original song concept didn't work out so well. Originally, the attraction featured the dolls singing the national anthems of the various countries. The result was, in Richard Sherman's words, "a cacophony." The Sherman brothers composed a simple song that could be translated into many languages and sung consistently throughout the attraction.

It really is a small world after all. With the 1992 opening of "It's a Small World" at Disneyland Paris, the cheerful anthem now is being played somewhere on the planet every hour of the day when the parks are open for business.

The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News.