Podcast: The Ride - It's A Small World with Marissa Strickland

Episode Date: November 24, 2017

This episode contains an alarmingly sincere discussion of It's A Small World with special guest, Marissa Strickland (UCB, Happy Endings). Listen to Podcast: The Ride Ad-Free on Forever Dog Plus: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/ FOLLOW PODCAST: THE RIDE: https://twitter.com/PodcastTheRide https://www.instagram.com/podcasttheride BUY PODCAST: THE RIDE MERCH: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/podcast-the-ride PODCAST THE RIDE IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/podcast-the-ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feral Audio Strap yourself in. It's Podcast The Ride. Welcome to Podcast The Ride, a podcast about theme parks where three men talk at each other in a way that alienates their wives and girlfriends. We are part of Feral Audio, home of great podcasts like Doughboys and Teen Creeps and a whole bunch of other great things. Joining me, as always, Jason Sheridan. Hi. And Scott Gairdner. Hi. I think it helps to not do this around my wife because it saves her in person from having to be talked at about these topics. Yeah, I think that's why we kind of did this. We could get out of the house.

Taking the burden off of our significant others. Yeah, they can only take so much. And by the way, I don't even mean to act like they're like, so, oh my God. Like, Lindsay listens to a lot of this. My girlfriend, Lindsay, listens to a ton of this stuff. Yeah. Oh, it's primarily what Aaron and I talk about and do together. It's just that when hour five rolls around, that's when it starts to become tiresome for her. And you're actually in the park talking about, complaining about the park.

Yeah, well, that too. I mean, it's everywhere. It's in bed. It's in the park. Yeah, well, that too. I mean, it's everywhere. It's in bed. It's in the park. It's in Red Lobster. It's in wherever you go. It's coming. No, it's in your ears here on Feral Audio, which is what this podcast is on.

With lots of other great podcasts you can check out, and you should. Yes, please do. And listeners, more importantly, Mike said wise and girlfriends but Jason is single and ready to wiggle for all of you folks out there. Well, let's bring our guests in because I want to talk about some things. We're going to get into a whole discussion

about It's a Small World, the great Disney ride. Right. And joining us today to talk about it is Marissa Strickland, writer, actor, improviser, lover of things. Welcome to the show. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. I love things. You hadn't listed her credits before. Now that I know, I'm intimidated.

That just sort of came, lover of things just sort of came in. It just seems like it does fit, right? I think I'm a person that wants to love in this world, so sure, I'll throw it at some things. Yeah, yeah. Geez. Well, so what a perfect topic we have. What a delightful, earnest, love-worthy ride we have today. Very excited. But first, I just wanted to talk Jason came in a little late today

Oh boy We are going to do this, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah It was his birthday yesterday So happy birthday to Jason Thank you, very much And we had a nice time at a bar And Jason had, I think, what?

Three beers? I had three beers And I feel like I am dying So I just wanted to put that out there Because the audience is going to sense I had three beers, and I feel like I am dying. So I just wanted to put that out there, because the audience is going to sense, oh, something's wrong with Jason. And I just want them to be put at ease that he's okay. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that when you're in your 30s, three beers and only 10 hours of sleep will really knock you out. Not peaceful, not good sleep.

I usually sleep like the dead. That was not the case yesterday. I drove Jason home from this event, and you made a real point out of it. Not only I knew the number of the beers, you were listing stats. Three beers and 9 a.m. I will happily wake up, do some research,

get in the game on today's podcast. And then you since have said it was more, it was an 11.15. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, you know, it's much like the blue-skying process that happens in theme park ride creation. Very early on, they've got very grand visions and eventually they scale that back. So 9 a.m. quickly went to 11.15 and I went,

oh no, I have to be there at noon. I think blue sky also sticks to a schedule. They do! Kind of, sure. I just like the very specific announcement of the plans, which as soon as you walked in, you communicated the plans were not adhered to. Did not happen. You texted at 11.45 that you were running a little late, and I was like, oh, he just woke up. That was my assumption that you had woken up and texted that, and then possibly fell back asleep.

But it was not true. So, yeah, yeah. Everything's fine. You're here. You're doing all right. But we had to have that Marin-esque moment of true confessional content to discuss your three beer issue. Oh, yeah. Well, that's it.

Yeah, that's a feedback. We're brave of you to go into it today, honestly. The feedback we're getting is that they want a lot more personal dirt from us and stuff, like really what's going on behind the podcast. We'll shortly get to who my guys are, right? Who are your guys? I assume it's Imagineers. It's Raleigh Crump.

Raleigh Crump. Yeah, sure. Joe Rohde. Both Davises. Jeff and Alice. Joe Rohde. Both Davises. Jeff and Alice. And head of Parks and Resorts, Bob Chapek, as well. Disney Parks and Resorts. Had a lot of Chapek talk lately.

Why would any wife or girlfriend be alienated by the references we're pulling out here? These names. Anyway. Anyway, Marissa. Hi. Hey. Marissa Siglin's still here. These names. Anyway. Anyway, Marissa. Hi. Hey. Marissa. Marissa Siglin's still here.

She's still here listening to this. Thank you for that. So what, like, you're a, you love kitsch and fun

and theme park and do you, like, what is your personal relationship with the concept of a theme park? Oh,

that's interesting. I feel like as a child, I mean, I grew up in Southern California, so I would go to Disneyland once a year, but my parents hated theme parks. So like they pondered off on my mom's best friend's daughter to take me to Disneyland. So we'd go like once a year and it was like a big event, even though we lived an hour away from Disneyland. It's like we could have easily gone much more frequently. But my parents, like, don't like corporate things. They're very, like, the kind of music they gave me to listen to was, like, you know, protest music from Nicaragua.

So it was like a six-year-old, like, listening to, like, Nicaragua protest music. I thought that was cool. And I, like, brought it to school, and everyone was like, what are you doing? So my parents were very like anti Disneyland. Like they thought it was gross. They gave me the opportunity to go because they're like, oh, this is fun for kids. But it's not a child. Yeah.

It's not what we want to do with our kids. So our kid, I'm the only one. Right. And haven't you told me that then in your in the later years, your mom and your stepdad went go to Disneyland? Yes. OK. Enjoy one. Right. And haven't you told me that then in the later years, your mom and your stepdad go to Disneyland? Yes. Okay. And enjoy it. Yes.

Yeah. So basically, I have a stepbrother, and he has two children. And they've gone to Disneyland with those kids who are now early teens. And my stepdad, which is the funniest thing he's like in his 70s and he got stuck on the roller coaster in california adventure like on the top of the roller coaster california scream and the ride broke down right yeah it broke down so he was just stuck up there and he was like hey you're just like happy you could see him from i wasn't there but everyone was like bob's just up there um and then he was like, happy as can be.

He's like a very sweet, round man with a gray ponytail. Sounds like a typical theme park goer, yes. We're working on ours. We'll grow ours. I've already got the round part down. Three beers will do that to you. Okay. three beers will do that to you okay but like yeah lifelong disneyland go in spite as a rebellion against your your parents that was the way perhaps to slightly like i feel like it was just like a childhood thing like i loved going and i thought it was like fun and enjoyable um and then the last time i went until

recently was like for grad night when I was 18. Because like everybody in Southern California, many people go to grad night there. I did a grad night. I did two grad nights. I got to go again with my sister a couple years later. Really? Yeah. Very exciting to do two. I feel very privileged. Yeah. It was fun. I don't think we've talked about grad nights.

Yeah. Because Jason and I don't have this. We're not from around here. We would have to go to Disney World once in a while. So I did go with the high school band when I was 18, which is the closest thing to a grad with all a bunch of scumbag 18-year-olds. Did they just cram you guys into an all-star hotel? No, it was off-site. We had to stay off-site. We did not stay on Disney property.

It was like some Hyatt or Hilton that was like off. They'd have to bus us in. Living like animals. Yeah, we took a bus down there. Four kids to a room. Did they tape you in? Did they tape us in? I know when I went on like a school trip to Washington, D.C.,

they taped the doors of the hotel so they'd know if you opened your door overnight. Because the tape would be, the seal would be broken. Like a fucking spy movie? Yeah. Low rent spy movie. Not as advanced as lasers. No.

Yeah, it's an intrusion alarm you could trip. I don't remember if there was tape. I remember there was some controversy of some kids getting out at night. First of all, it was not me. I would never go against the rules of the school and the teachers. I would never make them upset with me. This is not who I

am or was. Let's make one thing clear. 15 years ago, Mike was A+. I think the biggest thing I felt like I was getting away with was I would have Sprite for breakfast every morning. We would eat breakfast in whatever the hotel place was. And I would just like, I'd be like, you know what, I'm going to have Sprite. Like, I don't get to have Sprite for breakfast.

And I was like, I'm going to have it every day. And I did. I was very proud of myself. Meek rebellion is a theme of this episode and the podcast in general. Did you pour it into your cereal? No, no, that's too far. That would be insane. Call you to the insane asylum if you're doing something like that.

But what was Grad Night like from two Grad Night goers? Either of you. Well, as a then theme park nerd, I really enjoyed it, but I was all snobby because they were playing like hits of 2003 instead of, you know, the charming barbershop quartets and country shanties that you typically hear in the park. You know, I didn't want to hear ushers. Yeah. And on mainstream. Yeah. That's the way they make it for teens yeah

yeah they do they do uh to you know turn it into some damn teen nightclub and i didn't i didn't like it but i had fun anyway uh right i mean running around the park like all nights and uh you know yeah staying up all night and the ultimate rebellion The ultimate meek rebellion. After you have your Sprite, you can stay up. Oh, man. I'm getting such a sugar high right now. I don't know. What was your grad night? What I remember is that, like, they bussed us down because it was, like, an hour bus ride.

And I remember I was in the bus I didn't want to be in. So, like, that's one of my biggest memories is being like, all my friends are in the other bus. But I was with a group of people that definitely snuck some illicit drugs into the park. This is the other end of the spectrum to Mike's. Mike's probably had sneaking Sprite at breakfast.

Like Sprite in pill form? What kind of drugs are we talking? Sugar pills. Sprite. Chewy spritz. Chewy spritz. Schultz Cola. This one pill packs the power of four Sprites.

I'm afraid, man. No, it was like ecstasy and cocaine. Ah, wow. So just like crammed into your belly button and taped in? Basically, yeah. Like finding all the little spots that they didn't frisk you. And like the contribution. Did they frisk you?

Yeah, they frisked us. Oh, wow. Did they do that to you? I remember there was kind of a drug patent. Maybe a dog was led onto the bus as well. Wow. And I also remember people like taping drugs and sneaking them in and also puritanical 18-year-old,

like, but you can enjoy Disneyland perfectly sober. What do they need that for? Usher. I was such a grouch. I'm chiller now, if you can imagine, as I do my theme park podcast.

Wait, okay, so how did the night play out for you? The night was really fun. At the time, like, I was a cigarette smoker, too. And so, like, I had this, like, genius move to, like, I know you guys are men, so maybe you don't have as much familiarity with tampons. But I, like, opened tampon wra wrappers took out the tampon and put cigarettes inside of the applicator the cardboard applicator and then smoked them inside you know opened them up and then smoked them uh in the park and that's what i remember being the scariest part was like trying to find a smoking area because like none of us were supposed to smoke

at all but wait no one in the park, yeah. You were 18 at the time. Yeah, but it still was grad night, so there's lots of funky rules. There's extra rules. Yeah. And I don't know if I was 18. I turned 18 in April, and I assume grad night was probably in May or June, so I'm guessing I was 18, but I don't know. But they have to have these uniform rules. Totally, yeah.

And I remember just going by the bathrooms by the Matterhorn or something and being like, I'm going to smoke this cigarette really fast. What a fast rules. Totally. Yeah. And I remember just like going by like the bathrooms by like the Matterhorn or something and be like I'm going to smoke this cigarette really fast. What a fast cigarette. What a pleasure. Oh yeah. Pure pleasure. It's a nice sucked down. That's the best part about cigarettes. They're so efficient. And in and out.

Was that your innovation to hide them in there? Yes. And I still think it's a really good. It is good. That's what I wondered. I super glued the packet back together. So if anybody looked at them, they would be like, oh, this is a tampon. And it feels like a tampon because it's inside the cardboard applicator. But then if you open it up, there's two cigarettes. It's pretty cool.

Yeah, I remember. I mean, this isn't theme park related, but I remember I had... Oh, I shouldn't say this, but marijuana. My mom would be mad. Somebody had given it to me in, like, college, and I didn't want it. So I, like, put it, like, in a tube. Like, I think it was, like, a tennis ball case and put. Those are see-through.

Yeah, well, but wait, wait. That's true. That's true. But then I, like, stuffed, like, different things in there. And then I put, I'm trying to think, like, it was in, like, an air freshener or something. And I was like, well, no one will ever find this. I got to, if somebody, and I was like, I was very nervous about it. And of course, like who's looking, who cares?

And I think I may have put it in my trunk and then like, I don't even know what happened to it. So the earth is a much more calm process probably than me trying to hide drugs. Well, if they had found that, they would have just thought you were a weird man. It's like, wait, why is he carrying around a tennis ball holder filled with air fresheners? Like the Christmas tree kind? No, you know what I think?

Maybe I sprayed like Febreze, like whatever the version of that is in it. So it'd be like, well, that'll throw off the dogs. The dogs will never smell if they smell the Febreze or the air freshener,

Pine Sol. Your intense weeks-long Home Alone-esque plan. Oh, God, so sad. Just as sad as, if they catch me, the string will trigger the bowling ball that smashes the door in. That'll distract them. And the catapult will shoot them across the yard. There was a story just recently of people being asked to leave. They had marijuana edibles on them, and they had their California medicinal marijuana cards,

but Disney still, I think, has a zero tolerance, like not on property. And they just either, I think they just threw them out and let them in the park, or they're like, eh, we got to let you, you can come back tomorrow. But I don't know. Oh, but they got found out because there was a plainclothes security guy. There's plainclothes security people scattered throughout the parks. And the guy was behind them in line like he was just a regular guest and heard them talking about it. Right. So it's an important thing to remember.

If you're at the park and you see a guy with a giant Jack Skellington sweatshirt and a big beard, that could be a cop. You always got to be on your toes. It also could just be a sad guy. Or both. How nice to know you can get secret shopped as a Disney ticket holder. I paid my $100 admission and now can't bring in legal drugs that I was prescribed. We're making the park sound real fun and salivating for any potential...

So what was the experience like being a little bit out of your mind? The main thing I remember from grad night is just like it was fun that it was dark. Do you know what I mean? It was nighttime. It was just colors. And I found $20 on Space Mountain.

So that's the thing that sticks out to me. And I was like, whoa. It was very cool. Jason's hat just flew off. That would be the best sticks out to me. I was like, whoa. It was very cool. Jason's hat just flew off. That would be the best day of my life. One of my favorite rides and finding $20 there. It was very cool. And I looked around and it was just a $20 bill.

And I was like, there's no way to return it, so it's mine. You know? Right, sure. Yeah. Yeah, you're not going to go report it. No. Although if you were talking loudly about it, a secret shopper behind you may have requested that you take it to the lost and found. And if you were Scott, Jason, or I, you would have run up immediately to the employee and say,

Excuse me, I found $20 on the ride. I would like you to find the rightful owner, please. Where's the Sprite? I've had too much Sprite. Stop the ride. It's a financial emergency. Shut all the rides at the park down. We need to find the owner.

Oh, we're fucking losers. So now that you're trapped here in a den of nerds, let's get into it. It's a small world. This was your area of discussion. And, yeah, let's hear into it It's a small world This was your area of discussion And yeah, let's hear about it Let's hear your personal connection to this ride Why did you choose it? What's the deal?

I think It's a ride I've always liked Basically there was like a 10 year gap Where I didn't go to Disneyland And then I started going in the last 5 years And every time I go on it, I think I cry. I cry most of the times I go on it, because that is the world I want to live in. Like, so bad.

So for those of you who might not know this iconic ride, it's basically a boat ride at Disney, at most of the Disney parks. It's a little boat ride through an idealized world where a bunch of little children from all the nations of the world sing the same song in different languages and they're having a G-rated party, basically.

And it's just the idea of everyone singing the same song, bringing what they have. It's about inclusion. It's about inclusion. It's about celebrating our differences in the positive way rather than seeing them as dividing factors. And it's colorful, and I love color. Sure.

It's interesting because Small World is probably the most earnest ride ever, maybe. Maybe not ever. I don't know. That's a crazy thing. But it's very earnest, and I feel like it gets a bad rap. I think people think it's, like, for kids, like little kids. Like Jason? When people are, like, terrified by it, I think.

Like, I think it is so hyper-positive that some people are, like, afraid of it. Our engineer, Brendan, was just talking about his friends who like had a bad trip on the ride and like they were on acid or something and it was going well until that ride and then all of the dolls freaked them out. But I think like, I don't know, it's like, yeah,

it's gotten that rap over the years, which is funny because I don't think there's anything nefarious, certainly not in the creation of it. over the years, which is funny because I don't think there's anything nefarious, certainly not in the creation of it. It is like so disarmingly sweet and sincere. I think, too, maybe like people being afraid of it is because of like horror movies. Like anytime you see anything really like sweet and childish or something like that,

people are like, ah, that that's going to come to life and eat me or something. I don't know. And like lots of tiny dolls all together. I can see the potential for terror in it. There's probably something psychological if you were to meet a person that just about something like that that doesn't have any sort of... There's an apparent lack of anything, cynicism or... I will say, on It's a Small World, they do say it's a world of laughter and a world of tears. That's true.

So they're aware that they're... You know what I mean? We've got both sides in life. Let's get it out in the open. But if there's tears, we help each other. We move on together. We work together's tears, we help each other. We move on together. We work together. Yeah, I don't know.

Looking at the purely sweet side of it, let's stick with that. I like the sweet side of it. I think part of the weird, the fear of the rock, is the song. The song just plays forever. It's just a loop. it's a lovely Sherman Brothers song, but

according to the Wikipedia entry of this ride, the original soundtrack was even more horrifying because, and I'm reading here, its tentative soundtrack featured the national anthems of each country represented throughout the ride all playing at once,

which resulted in a disharmonic cacophony. And Walt Disney, you know, walked through or heard this and was like, this is bad. We can't do this. What a lesson to learn about separatism and not working together. I love that they did it. Like, that they were like, no one questioned that that would be a bad idea. They were just like, yeah, we'll play all the songs at once.

Well, if you're moving throughout, I can see how that idea would that idea would seem like a good idea until like sound bleeds, you know? Yeah. Also like all of these meandering tempo lists, different keys, different languages, all clashing. Uh,

no, uh, uh, the national anthems are not really like hummable, uh, is, is the thing. Maybe you could,

maybe, you know, your own national anthem, but the Star-Spangled Banner is not a real hooky, poppy kind of song. It's difficult to say, let alone, does anyone know any other national

anthem? O Canada? Yeah. But then if I said start singing O Canada, you're gone in four lines, I would imagine. I think after Our Home and Native Land, that's where I start. Sure, yes. Okay, after seven words.

The only one I can think of is Radiohead's National Anthem. But that's not a real one. That's not real. Yeah, so let's do a little history. This was originally created for the World's Fair. Yeah, the 1964 New York World's Fair. Right. And it was sponsored by Pepsi. And a weird fact about it is that it was approved by Joan Crawford. Yeah, Joan Crawford. So this ride came together in 11 months, like Disney was doing multiple pavilions at the World's Fair. And for whatever

reason, Pepsi just did not have their shit together. Joan Crawford was married to the late head of Pepsi at the time, and she was the one who reached out to Walt Disney and was like, you can fix this. You can turn this around. And he did. And he did. Because he could do

anything. In a very short amount, in like 11 months. 11 months. A very short amount of time. He was also doing the pavilions for the state of Illinois, Ford, General Electric, and Kodak. Which is where the Abraham Lincoln animatronic came from, and the Carousel of Progress, right? And the dinosaurs, the primeval world. Major block of attractions, which I think spread Imagineering thin.

There was not as much stuff going on in Disneyland for a little while, but then all of those rides moved over to Disneyland. Except for the Magic Skyway, where you rode a Cadillac-shaped ride vehicle. Is that what that was, really? Yeah. I think that was... Was that the first

Omnimover? Oh, maybe, I don't know. I guess the Fantasyland Ark rides were kind of around, but I think that debuted there. Also, Circle Vision. Right. They had an early version of Circle Vision before this, but this was the one, the Kodak Pavilion. This is one of the things we should ask the listeners. Do they know what the first Omnimover was?

If you do, let us know. Tweet at us or send us an email. Do you understand any of what we're talking about? Because several times I've been talking about the fact that we're doing this and people have said, now, Disney World, that's the one in Florida, right? And I realize we're just throwing out Omnimover willy-nilly. You forget people do not have these things memorized. I think some people do, though.

I think people are. And hopefully some of them are listening to this and enjoying it and thrilled at the discussion of the 1964 World's Fair. What an exciting time. And the attraction. World's Fair sounded pretty cool, I will say. Yeah. Like, they exist in the world, but you never hear about them. They aren't as big of a deal as they used to be. But this is where, you know, it wasn't like television

debuted at a World's Fair. These were massive deals. The Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel. Ah, right. Was that the Chicago World's Fair? Uh-huh. Isn't that the Eiffel Tower? I don't know if that was a World's Fair, but something similar, like an exposition is a similar term? Yeah, I think the Eiffel Tower.

The Statue of Liberty was going to, but it wasn't ready. Oh, really? There is a TV special called Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair. Okay. Where Walt walks you through Imagineering and shows each attraction. And it includes an animated short short which is a very weird short about the histories of fairs period.

But it looks like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. It doesn't look like a Disney cartoon. They outsource it maybe? Yeah. It's very strange to watch. Also they gloss right over H.H. Holmes and his murder castle at the Chicago World's Fair.

They don't mention it at all in this cartoon. I think life has glossed this over for me. What's this story? Oh, he was like one of America's first serial killers. He built the book Devil in the White City. Best seller a few years ago was about this. He was a crazy con man and he built an insane house in Chicago

around the time of the Chicago World's Fair and it had all sorts of trap doors and like false walls and like gas pipes and a giant industrial furnace and like 30 people disappeared in this murder house. And then he went

on the run. Your hero? Yeah. This is one of my guys. This is H.H. Holmes. You seem like an H.H. Holmes guy. Jason would use all those places just to hide snacks though at the house. Treats for the

episode that only he could get to them. No one will rob me my cereal wait what's his connection to the World's Fair oh well he would rent out rooms in this house he turned it into a resident hotel and so people would come

people from all around the world were like flooding Chicago for the World's Fair. So all these places got converted into hotels or like boarding houses. And he would rent rooms. And, you know, back then, sometimes family members, you know, would leave their hometown.

And sometimes you just never hear from them again. And that's sometimes because they started a new life and sometimes because they were disappeared by H.H. Holmes. Were some people so inspired by the World's Fair that they didn't go back to their families? I'm going to go invent a new, better, something better than electricity. I think that's probably right. I mean, Walt Disney remade himself. You know, he was a self-made man. He left.

Sounds like you didn't just take off from his family, though. No, but he had to restart. You know, that was easier back then. You could just, like, have a fresh start before there was, like, a long history. It feels like I'm about to confess. No, I know. It feels like we're leading somewhere with this. What happened in this three-year drunken stupor?

What did you do? Oh, last night? Yeah, yeah. Went to sleep with all the lights on, as usual. Like a real murderer. That's because you're scared. Oh, that's true. We're scared of the ghost of H.H. Holmes.

We're scared of the ghost. H.H. Holmes might break into my place and build a trap door for me while I'm sleeping. Well, you did it. Well, you did it. You forced H.H. Holmes into the podcast. I forced H.H. Holmes into the podcast. You've been threatening to do it for weeks now, and you finally did it. So, good work.

Hey, and if you're out there, if you're doing Airbnb, just ask if there's any scary trap murder doors. Yeah, make sure all the doorknobs work and there's no gas pipes emptying into the room. When you do your advanced search, don't click the trap door box. But the 1964 World's Fair, that's sort of where my family's Disney fandom can kind of trace back to because my dad grew up in Philadelphia. He was a child and went to the New York World's Fair four or five times and saw all these Disney attractions. His older brother would take him out of school on weekdays.

The nuns at the Catholic school were like, oh, you're going to the World's Fair? Yeah, that's educational. Just go for it. And, you know, it's not that far of a drive. So it was sort of like, you know, going to Disneyland. And then eventually, yeah, a lot of the, you know, so he grew up up him and my mom both would have grown up watching like the wonderful world of Disney and like he saw the world's fair so much

so then like when Disney World opened in Florida they went down there a bunch pretty early on did he see all these rides before they were in the parks yeah he rode all of them I believe

can we get him on the phone now Before they were in the parks? Yeah, he rode all of them, I believe. We should... All four? Can we get him on the phone? Now? Well, we'll do it. We'll have an episode with him. We can in the future, yeah. Yeah.

So, all right. So he's saying it's a small world to you every morning. Every morning, yeah. All night, every night. And little did he know, that little seed of small world singing and his world's fair, like love of the world's fair, would lead to him raising a weird little son. A son who looked like one of the dolls. A son who looked like one of the dolls.

With mild facial hair. All right, we've gotten to the portion of the podcast where Scott owns my ass. Yeah, finally. I'm just whipping him. I do love the dolls, though. I truly love the style. Like, I love how everything looks. I love how everything's, like, spindly wood

with just, like, cheerful painted faces. I think I grew up with, a lot of like like Swedish, like my mom's side of the family, Swedish American. And like there's a lot of like folkloric things. And so like Mary Blair's style feels very folklorish and and just like vibrantly colorful 1960s, which is, like, all... I love being, like, immersed into a whole feeling, and I feel like with the ride, it's, like, a feeling. You're, like, on it. It's not like, what's this about?

Like, you know. It's a very, like, exploded-out illustration come to life. Like, and if you look at concept art from the ride, like, it so reflects what ended up being there yeah i think that's the big thing it has going for it is uh yeah so so many great aesthetics there's sort of like a uh you know kind of a kooky semi-psychedelic feel but also this like little kid arts and crafts vibe and uh yeah they like they everything sits together really well uh well we should talk about some of the people

who made the thing you mentioned Mary Blair she was responsible for the overall design sense of the ride Mark Davis I think did the scenes and characters and his wife Alice Davis did the costumes I think I called him Jeff Davis earlier

is that a comedian? is that like a whose line is that? Jeff Davis, I don't know. Or I may have just made up that name. Let us know. Mark Davis, the real Imagineering. All of these people, Imagineering legends. Disney legends.

Yeah. In looking at the list of the major figures who put the thing together, it seemed to be like by this point they had kind of an all-star team. Like the people, the Imagineers that you read about being major figures in all of the rides, by this point, they're all assembled and at Imagineering. Because a lot of the early Imagineers moved over from working on the movies in the 40s and 50s. And by now, they were settled into their creative roles at Imagineering. So Mary Blair was a big one because she did a lot of concept art on Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Cinnabarola.

Mm-hmm. Another guy, Blaine Gibson, who I believe sculpted all of the dolls. I don't know if you guys can affirm this. I think that's true. I don't know the name Blaine Gibson. You don't know Blaine Gibson? I don't. Blaine Gibson was one of the big animatronic sculptors who did not only that base of Small World Doll,

and I think they do all have the same face. I think that's part of the... There are some different faces, I think, because some of them feel more papier-mâché and some of them feel wood, and then now they have the more rubbery, like when they've retrofitted it with Little Mermaid and stuff.

Some of them look a little different. Oh, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they look a little more like their characters. But maybe originally there was one, so I don't know. It was all sort of based on the original. But Blaine Gibson did all of the, he did the statue of Walt and Mickey that's in the center of Disneyland. And he did, I think, all of the Hall of Presidents, maybe up through Obama, or at least up through Clinton, I think he had done.

When they added new ones, this was the guy who always made them. And he died just in time. It was a big assignment he didn't have to do. They're never going to reopen that all of a sudden. I don't think so. They're just going to keep pushing it. Months and months.

Apparently there was a date on the website. I was just looking into this, and they were saying November 2017, and that got taken off. So I think, yeah, I think call of presidents. I think the technical errors of, I don't know what it is. Just the wiring is giving us so many problems. The Muppet thing. The Muppet thing we built above it.

It's just, I don't know. It's just really hard to work with. It's hard to do both. The Muppet infrastructure. But the other one, Raleigh Crump was the other big name, who I hadn't really, until preparing for this, I hadn't really looked into how all these things were made.

The dolls are more kind of rubbery, but all of those, they call them the toys, like all of the, you know, like the rocking horse and all of these. Now I can't remember any of these characters, but like a all of these. Now I can't remember any of these characters.

But like a lot of these characters were made out of papier-mâché, like you said, and styrofoam, and they still are. Like the arts and crafts that was quickly done in the 60s in New York, it's still the same things. And they've been refurbished and touched up. But I think that's a very charming thing about the ride that it's joyful i love it you have the little kid vibe because like little kid materials were used to make the ride was there a time or something that was there a time do you because when you were younger this didn't affect you emotionally like it did now do you remember the first time as an older person when you went on and you were like oh my god i think it was when i went back like five years ago or something yeah the first time as an older person when you went on and you were like oh my god i think

it was when i went back like five years ago or something yeah the first time i went back because i was like i like as a kid my favorite rides were pirates and haunted mansion like i was like always like those were my number one rides that i would go to but then as an adult i'm like oh my god small world like is so good like, it really is so good. I love it. I don't know. Like, in my mid-20s, a woman without children. I was like, ooh, I love this.

Were you imagining adopting, like, a child from each country, maybe? No, no. I just want to, like, be around them. If you could adopt for a day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just want to be around them. If you could adopt for a day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rent a kid. But I also love at the end, everybody comes together and it's like a mishmash.

You've seen everybody and now they're together. That is so great. And in white versions of what they were originally wearing, which is a precursor of Captain EO, when he takes, he transforms. I guess, well, no, they're all like multicolored dancers and stuff. But I like the idea of everybody's wearing dark, frumpy, evil clothes, and now they're all white and peaceful. Yeah, it's a delightful finale.

Yeah, it's like all white and gold, right? Isn't it gold also? Yeah, there's gold in there. And that Ferris wheel going. Happy sun. I think we're looking at heaven being depicted in the finale of that, right? And let's not forget that big, pink, leering purple hippo. Is that what I'm talking about?

There's a big hippo puppet. And he's just kind of like, hey. I think he's in the fun jungle section. I don't think he's celebrated in heaven. Everything is all white and the hippo comes back like, we're the heaven gang. I would love a hippo in heaven. Who wants to party? The hippo does not

talk for everyone who knows. This is my... That hippo is really, I do know exactly the hippo, because there's a lot of different animals and kids on the ride, and it's hard to remember them all, but when you say pink hippo, I know exactly who we're talking about. I think they sell

stuffed animals of it, right? There's a couple of the, there's like a crocodile too, right? There's like one with an umbrella. He's very fun. He jumps out. Who are other characters within the dolls and the toys who have had an impact on you? That's a good question. I like the girl leading the geese in song, and they're distinctly back in the White Heaven version. She's still

trying. She'll teach them one day. Yeah, they stand out. I have, I collect, okay, believe this or not, I collect these toys called Park Stars, which are Disney Here's the thing. They're toys, but they're exclusively

just characters that you'll find only in Disney parks. You're not going to find, it's not going to be a Peter Pan toy, but it will be Sunny Eclipse, the alien robot who plays, that's who you were talking about. Marissa started playing a piano. I think she knew I was going to say that. That's the international sign language for Sunny Eclipse.

Sunny Eclipse, the animatronic. Tomorrowland-only hamburger restaurant, Lounsinger. In Walt Disney World only, right? Walt Disney World. And he has a brother in Japan, though. There's a pizza robot in Japan. Oh, yeah. I saw the pizza robot.

You saw the pizza robot. Yeah, I saw the pizza robot. And a woman, I guess my brain, I don't think about the rides and the things as much but what happened at that moment this woman came up to me and she was like what's up with Donald Trump like this sweet little Japanese woman and I was like watching the pizza robot and I was like we all hate it you know and then she was like okay because we do too and I'm like yeah yeah yeah can you see how longingly I'm staring at this pizza robot? Do you think I am a Trump support? Yeah, because it was in November.

It was like a week after the election. Oh, gee. What a wonderful thing to get to answer for this when you go like, no, look. I truly, I think everyone hates it. I don't know the people who like it. That's right. Marissa, you're the only one here who's been to the international Disney parks. Scott's been to Paris.

Oh, you went to Paris. Oh, that's right. Oh, you went on your honeymoon. That was my honeymoon, yeah. One thing there, international exclusive characters. Rex, the Paul Reubens-voiced pilot in Star Tours, has a girlfriend who is only in the Star Tours in France. What? Although it's just a robot that now is just silently flapping around, and you can tell it's missing something.

It's after the ride. You go into a Star Wars-themed arcade, and there's a robot just flapping around and just making hydraulic sounds for nobody and I looked it up later what it was and it used to have a soundtrack and it was Rex's girlfriend or at least maybe Rex's wannabe girlfriend who was like bragging about how brave he is and how the pilot training is going really well and she's like a fawning Rex fan which is really adorable. A real strong

female character. A thirsty French robot. What is that test that measures how often a female character says anything other than just loving the main character? The Bechdel test. That's how you pass it, right? Is if you never say anything that isn't just taunting over a strong male pilot or firefighter. I don't remember her name.

Were you going to ask me the name? I was going to ask you that. Yeah, maybe look it up. What about your park pals? They're called Park Stars. Your park pals. Let's be accurate. They're called Park Stars,

and stars is spelled with a Z at the end, just for a flourish. I have maybe 60 of these, but they have a lot of the small world. They're blind boxes. They come in boxes, and they have a lot of the small world. They're blind box. They come in boxes, and you don't know what you're getting. And it's sort of inspired by, like, Kid Robot collectible vinyl toys. Or, yeah, Funko.

I mean, those are bigger. Also, the thing is, yeah, blind boxes are you don't know what you're buying until you open it after you've paid for it. That being said, you know what you're getting when you buy a case. When you buy the whole a case like I do. And it has the whole thing in it because I'm a madman. But anyway, they have some of the toys are the small world. So you get

little Dutch girl with a blue hippo. You get a Japanese girl with a penguin. There's the little Mexican boy with a pink poodle. There's a goat, right? You have the goat, right?

He's got a cute little blue goat with, I guess that's flowers on the side? You have that cactus one too, don't you? Yes, I do. I have this. I don't know what country he's from. He's got bright orange hair. Probably Ireland would be my guess.

Why does he have a cactus? Well, it doesn't make sense that poodle's coming from Mexico. I don't think poodles are traditionally. But I could see a poodle living in Mexico. You can't see a cactus living in Ireland? I can't see a cactus living in Ireland. No, my people, it rains too much. It would kill the cactus.

Wait, your people? My people. My people. It's Irish. You It would kill the cactus. Wait, your people? My people. My people. I'm Irish. You're Irish? I never knew that. Huh? I never knew that.

The Sheridan side of the family is Irish, and then my mom's maiden name is Murphy, so that's all Irish. So what percentage are we talking? I don't know. I think I could. 100? I mean. Jason doesn't do anything 100%. I'm 100? I mean Jason doesn't do anything 100%

I'm 100% true blue American brother and I personally hated all that negative Donald Trump talk earlier I think we gotta Jason

oh my god oh man I think we gotta give him a chance no ugh heel yuck yeah even as a bit Oh, my God. Oh, man. Come on. I think we've got to give him a chance. Ugh. Heel. Yuck.

Yeah. Even as a bit. Don't let him into that small world, Rye. He'll have all kinds of terrible ideas. Building walls between the rooms and what have you. Well, that would fix the sound bleed. Look, the sound is a disaster. We need separate national anthems, full volume.

This will make it possible. Yeah. By the way, Rex's girlfriend, hang on, pins and needles, it's R-O-X-N, which I assume is like Roxanne. Roxanne. And in the Star Wars wiki, she's listed as having feminine programming. What?

That's the gender they put on her. And I just listed all of her characteristics. The end. They've got to make her a toy and I have to buy it. Someone get on it. I would buy it today. There's one purchase at least. So yeah, what other things,

like robots, do we like on the ride? I mean, I just like it all. I feel like I'm the kind of person in this world that I like a collection of things at once. Like when I go into a fabric store, I love all the fabrics together. I love all the fabrics together. I love all the papers together in a stationery store.

Like I like all of it. So I think to me, it's just like the experience of all the kids together. But I do like those giraffes too, if you want a specific. If there was a piece, we talk about this sometime and Scott has a piece of memorabilia from the parks,

like a piece from the park. So say for some reason, everyone got too cynical and we're going to close all the small worlds, which would be horrible, of course. But say there was a big auction and you had a nice amount of money and you could afford. Is there a piece on small world you think you would want or a particular kid? You really want to give me a child? I think two things jumped into my brain. Right. One, if I had to take something specifically from the ride, I would take the sun.

Because it's this very fun, happy sun. It's something I could see in a living room. The clock sun? It's just kind of rotating. It might also have a clock face. I don't remember it. On the outside or within the ride? Inside.

Oh, okay. Inside. Inside the ride. Inside the sun. It can't picture the sun. It's a very happy sun. It's like a 1960s, 70s sun that is just living its dream. Like, it's just happy. Basking in its own mid and late.

He's like, I'm cool. Very friendly sun. Or, and, whichever, I love, this isn't really specific specific but it is Mary Blair related I would take those murals like those tile murals that are in Tomorrowland like I would 100%

buy those say okay so say you had like you say you had five million in the bank okay okay

how much would you be willing to spend for those just off the top of your head do I have other money coming in you okay let's say all right I set up a scenario that I have other money coming in? Okay, let's see. I've set up a scenario that I have to flesh out a little more. Now we're talking my life.

Say you have a decent sized house already in Los Angeles. Say most things are paid for. So, you know, you probably have you could probably lose a couple mil and it would be okay. This is a fantasy not even Walt Disney himself could dream up.

A home in L.A. I don't know. I mean. 50 grand? Yeah, sure, sure. I would definitely do that. 500 grand. I don't know.

Like, I don't know what kind of person I am with those conditions. You know, maybe I want to spend my money in other ways. But definitely I would throw money to fulfill a little dream of mine, of course. Okay, so how about this? You could also go the Michael Jackson route. I don't want to. I'm not talking about everything. I'm just talking about in the sense of building your own.

Actually, we could do a better reference. Bobby Sherman, the singer from the 60s that my mother's obsessed with, that was on some episodes of The Monkees, which everyone's looking at me like, who the hell? Not a Sherman brother. I just don't know where you're heading. Just like a doofy. He also has a little Main Street in his backyard.

He built that as well. I guess that's a thing that certain people have done. You could just also go that route. This is what I would do, okay? Yeah, yeah. I would have a room in my house that's big. You know, like, I don't know, not the size of a gym, but maybe a quarter of the size of a gym.

That's pretty big still. Like a basketball court. You know what I mean? Like a big, like a child, you know, a children's gym. I don't know. Do people think... A gym-ery?

No, I just didn't. Once I said gym, I was like, oh, do people think like LA Fitness? That's not what I'm talking about. Like a basketball court

you'd play in, in school. And I would make it super fun and themed. Like I would have like a cool like tiki bar and then I would love, like it'd be so themed like i would have like a cool like tiki bar and then i would love

like it'd be so fun to have kind of like tropical or like you know what i mean mary blair room that like feels like that jungle room or even a little bit of that heaven room i don't want a full heaven room but like a slice of heaven would be fine nice heaven heaven closet. Oh, seven minutes in heaven? Oh yeah, so people could. You know who else designed a very specific insane room? H.H. Holmes!

Oh no! He was an architect. He designed and built his own houses. No one give Jason these millions. these hypothetical millions we're discussing. Patreon canceled now. Not happening. Mentioning the Sherman brothers a couple times.

The way the timing works out on the creation of this ride, they said when they were writing the song, one of the things that influenced them, like, not, I think, I think to try and do the opposite of this event, but they wrote It's a Small World around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. So, like, that was on everyone's mind.

They wanted to do the opposite of the Cuban Missile Crisis? It made them realize how, like, yeah, the world is very small. do the opposite of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It made them realize how, yeah, the world is very small. Although the opposite of the Cuban Missile Crisis is a missile. Launching? We don't want the opposite. But they wanted people to realize the world was small, not because, oh, get that missile.

That missile's real close. It's small and we need to work together. Right, yes. Foster a spirit of cooperation. Let's talk about this song. Because the song is like, people claim it's the most listened to or heard song of all time. I have a record of it. Like, I have an LP of the track.

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. I just found, I forgot that I had this. I forgot where it came from. But, like, I have a souvenir, like a 45 that was given out at the World's Fair. That's fun. Yeah, it just has the song, but there's enough space to have it in Italian and Spanish and a few different languages. With a little Mary Blair design cover.

That's wonderful. So I was going to say, let's go through the lyrics real quick. Let's great. Yeah, yeah. Very cute. That's wonderful. Yeah, yeah. So I was going to say, let's go through the lyrics real quick. Let's just do the lyrics of the song. Because people, it's such a, there was a period in the 90s especially where it kept creeping in. There's a jab added in Lion King. What? In the movie Lion King.

He starts singing, I think, what is it? One of the characters starts singing it. It's like one of the hyenas starts singing It's a Small World, or Zazu, I forget who does it. It started to become, I feel, a very Gen X kind of cynical,

you know, yeah, like, screw this, lame. They're in the Epic Mickey video game, where you play as Mickey Mouse, and it's like a mash-up of different Disney stuff. there is, I think, either the sun or the giant clock face. It's the clock on the outside. Yeah. Of the ride.

His boss is a villain and he's been driven insane by hearing the song for 50 years. Oh, wow. Disney, yeah, between that and the Lion King they like Disney will do self-referential like can I say one thing about the Lion King really quickly which gives a window

into also my parents parenting style I went to see a double feature when I went to see the Lion King I was in like fifth or sixth grade

whatever grade it was but my parents didn't take me to the Lion King I saw the last 30 minutes of the Lion King and then Natural Born Killers. At like

8 or 9? So, wait, why did you only see the last 30 minutes? Oh, because we were interested in Natural Born Killers. Like, I didn't want to see the Lion King. Oh, this is you too. Right, right, right. Because I was like, oh, that's for kids. And I'm like, 11 11 and i'm not a kid anymore i'm 11 but also my parents were like yeah

this is normal let's take her to this and also what what cinema pairs those movies that's crazy well wait a minute you're saying it was back to back in the same theater it was a double feature what yes what yes you didn't leave, you didn't exit the theater, it just started rolling on to the next one. What theater? Do you remember what theater it was? I think it was on Beverly. I don't know where. Screwed up Hollywood. We gotta look

into this. This is weird. This seems like they would not be allowed to do that. Well, that's why it sticks out in my mind because it's insane. Are you sure you didn't switch theaters? No, it was a one theater. It was like one of those old one theater. Are you sure that to save money, there was a crossover

like from 7 o'clock to like 9 o'clock and they start switching and you guys crouched down in the back of the theater when they came to clean it out to me and you were pretending you were like garbage or something. And then you just sat down again when they were leaving and then the movie came on.

I don't think so. I really think it was a double feature. I'll ask my father. He would be one to crouch around and look like garbage. Like you brought a trash bag and threw it over the top. Or hide in the garbage in the back here.

So you didn't have to pay the two-movie price. You can save a couple bucks. So if you at home went to a similar double feature, like if you saw The Great Mouse, or The Rescuers Down Under and Sliver, it is a double feature. If you were part of this perverse theater. Oliver and Company and Caligula.

Re-released. Yeah, fair enough. That was not the same year. Caligula was many years earlier. Wait till you see who Oliver's company is this time. I just looked this up because I half remembered another pop culture connection to the song. So the A.V. Club did a series a few years ago where they interviewed people about songs they hate. And they asked David Lynch and he said, it's a small world.

And he's one of the things he said about the song. It got stuck in my head and it was like having a disease and this is David Lynch creator of nightmares but that feels

so on the nose it does feel very on the nose like that feels premeditated I feel like he knew what he was gonna do yeah

well that's what I yeah I think it became a very like standard opinion to have like saying saying like disco sucks or that kind of thing. Or like this era, we talk a lot about the Beatles and how there was this awful time when people were forsaking Paul McCartney as a bubbly, light, frothy, no-substance guy and ignoring of these wonderful songs through the 70s and

80s. What a cynical dark time. I mean, you can like John too, but oh my God, what a weird, cynical folks who can't handle silly love songs. That's exactly who silly love songs is about. That's true, yes. I like that song. He was goofing on people.

People were saying he was too schmaltzy and he was like, yes. I like that song. He was goofing on people. People were saying he was too schmaltzy, and he was like, oh. That was his little comment on himself way before Taylor Swift was addressing her public persona and doing nothing else in any songs ever. Yeah, McCartney did a little critic jab, and we were all tapping our toes to it. Some of us were. Jason didn't because he doesn't he doesn't enjoy toes.

I don't enjoy toes. I don't understand music. I think it's passing fat. We'll get over it one day. Well, in that in this service of that this very positive song. Yes.

So the lyrics are it's a world of laughter a world of tears it's a world of laughter, a world of tears, it's a world of hopes, and a world of fears. All right, so that's true. I love it.

I love it because it's given you all, like, you know, in life, you get to choose what you see. You know what I mean? You're going to be

confronted with everything, but you get to choose how you're going to interpret it and what you're going to do. So they're not lying to you about what's going on in life. That's good. Let's go.

Yeah, we'll do this. We'll analyze the lyrics line by line here. There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all. And obviously that's saying, you know, wake up. Get cheap, Will. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Why is it time now?

There's so much that we share that it's time. I think they're just saying like calling to the present, being like, hey, like we can make a choice in this moment. You know, I don't know why they're saying time now, but I guess it's speaking to them. When the

ride was first graded too, it was also, Pepsi was the sponsor, but it is originally acted as a tribute to UNICEF. The United Nations International Education Fund, is that right? I don't know. That seems right. Yeah. I know it's for children. And all the tickets sold at the fair, like all of that money went to UNICEF.

I love that. That's perfect. Wonderful. Well, but the song's annoying. All that good is outdone by... And the Disneyland version of the ride is the World's Fair one. I mean, it's been, you know, stuff's been rebuilt

and added over the years. But many of the same set pieces, a lot of the same stuff came from New York. What did not come from New York was the giant sculpture, the, oh God, what is it called? The Tower of the Four Winds? Oh, yeah.

I know there's four of them. I can't think of the name, the official name. You can look that up. I'll go through the last lyrics here. The Tower of the Four Winds. There is just one moon and one golden sun, so you wanted the sun in your secret, your little room. I mean, Google image charts that sun. Yeah, it's so beautiful.

Is it the same? Are there multiple suns? Because I'm remembering the one where there's the crisscrossing, there's the, like, spikes, the sun spikes. That's the correct term. The rays, yeah, and the other one. That is the sun you're talking about. Okay, okay.

Because I love that effect a lot. Me too. What a neat little in-person optical illusion, watching that little flash of the rays go by. I love it. Love that sun. There's no moon you've got to step it up in this ride. Not as good of a moon.

And a smile means friendship to everyone. That speaks to my heart so much. You sounded like your voice was cracking. I know. and a smile means friendship to everyone which I love like that like speaks to my heart so much you sounded like your voice was cracking I know

like I feel tears you're trying to get to her that's what's happening I mean I secretly have been trying to get her to break down and cry on the podcast it would be good

it's a good podcast you know people on the reddit will go nuts they'll be like oh my god they broke down they broke her down three white men broke down a, they broke her down.

Three white men broke down a woman in a pub. Yeah. Yeah, got her. The internet just celebrates. The internet is, we dragged her in a room.

That doesn't sound like Reddit at all. Also, that's not 100% true, though. A smile means friendship to everyone. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs.

You don't necessarily want to bury your friendship in dogs. They're not talking about dogs. They're talking about folks. People, yeah. Also, a smile's not friendship if it's a scary it clown or something. Oh, that's true. There's scary smiles. That's true.

There are scary smiles out there. The type of smile a joker would put onto your face. Yeah. Not a good one. No. But that's not what the Sherman brothers meant. No. Come on.

Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide, it's a small world after all. Yeah, right? So it is true that it's a small world after all. The vague lyrics are as true as they ever were. But yeah, like we're all on this planet guys. We're all here and like we are connected. Like, like I don't care.

Anybody can have whatever feelings they want, but like we are all part of this one living earth, you know, that's cool. Well, and children aren't born to hate. They all, like as a child,

you love everyone. You have to be taught to. Yeah. Now I'm going to break down. Let's all cry today. When you're a precious little child, you don't deserve. No,

we got to honor everybody. You know, let's, let's love each other, guys. I think it's, it's the time for this ride to be pushed a lot stronger

and to, you know what they should do? Don't build the new hall of presidents. Take it out, rip it out, build an extension of It's a Small World or just a second It's a Small World Small World 2, locked and loaded. How about you replace all the

presidents with tiny little Small World versions of the presidents? So you can sit in their little suits and stuff. Aw, jeez. That group will be a lot less diverse than the small world. That's fair. Be only one black one. Man, we can fudge that.

We can switch it up. No one will notice. Actually, there were some girl presidents back in the 1800s. I don't know why it was such a big deal recently. You totally forget it was so long ago. Oh, there's a girl presidents back in the 1800s. I don't know why it was such a big deal recently. You totally forget it was so long ago. Oh, there was a hippo president, too. 1890, he was our first hippo president.

In a top hat and a tie. He looked very sharp. Oh, he was great. A lot of social reforms he passed. It was really wonderful. So it's a seated theater, theatrical experience. Yeah. The Hall of Cute Presidents. it was really wonderful so it's a seated theater theatrical experience yeah yeah yeah

the cute hall of the hall of cute presidents so yeah I mean this is it's so I mean when you're a teen and when you like

Hot Topic it's so nice and easy to be cynical and you're still we're all still railing against 18 year old railing against high school you i guess i don't know you like hot topic uh you're drinking sprite for breakfast you're watching

natural born killers you got a big hh holmes poster on your wall typical cynical kid uh um hey no but hey look you you came around you were around. You were a no good Nick, it sounds like. And now you weep at this doll ride. So there's hope for everyone. There's hope for Marissa. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, just ride that ride. I think if everybody just rode that ride and really thought about it, took it in, maybe we'd be nicer to each other.

Mr. Trump, ride this rock. This is what the podcast is going to become. Was that Reagan telling Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the wall? Was that the same voice? I guess it kind of inadvertently kind of was. I was just trying to do one of those Twitter guys, one of those people on the internet who's always like, Mr. Trump, how dare you, sir? I thought the ghost of Reagan was telling

Donald Trump to ride. It's a small world to understand the world better. Donald Trump, I would call the natural heightening of Ronald Reagan. The second beat of Ronald Reagan. I like that. The second beat. I like this fantasy, though, of Trump riding it,

which he now could because they widened the seats for larger riders. Don't forget. That is true. They changed that. So it wouldn't sink. And once he made it safely back, like, imagine him, like, they've set up a press conference for him. And this ride has melted my icy heart.

I now say open borders. I say, yeah, it's a delightful little thing. It would be great. Mm hmm. The last little fantasy. It would be great. That's all it'll take. 15 minutes of Disney fun. The other question I wanted to ask Marissa is about, they added a few years ago, we briefly mentioned it, they added to the ride little sort of Mary Blair style. She's shaking her head already.

Marissa's already. She's very upset about this. They added Disney characters. The positivity is gone. The positivity is gone. The positivity is gone. Don't give me a little paper machine Nemo. No, thank you. Yeah, so they added Disney.

So there's a little Aladdin and Jasmine flying around on a flying carpet. And it is, in my opinion, tastefully done. But what is your feeling about it? I will say it is so much better than the Pirates editions and stuff like that. But I love, I think one of the reasons why I love It's a Small World is because it isn't linked to any kind of intellectual property. Like, I love that it just is the heart and the truth of things, rather than, and like one particular stylized version of the world,

rather than character, character, character, character. I mean, we get those everywhere else in the park. Can we just have one space that was originally not that? You know? But I do think they did a good job making them appear in the style of. Yeah. Yeah, the dolls themselves, the new Little Mermaid and everything. Yeah, it's kind of an inexplicable change.

I don't know why they needed to put those in. I would guess it's because they do these surveys, and kids go on these rides, and the kids probably went like, I don't know any of these characters. Yeah, but I hate that. Like, that's what I want to rail against. Like, let's enjoy a world without characters sometimes.

Learn some new characters. Yeah. Children are born. They have to be taught to only like intellectual properties. When I was a kid, I liked,

one of the things I liked about going to the parks is seeing stuff that you could only see there. It's like, there's not a small

world movie or TV show or that sort of thing. You just have to go to the park. Sony Eclipse. I love Sony Eclipse. You call them Sony?

I heard Sony, too. My Sony Eclipse. That's my phone. It's like a Z. I'm sticking with it. It'll come back one of these days. But I love that. It made the parks feel special to me.

Sure, yeah. And I think it is a thing. And now they just, yeah, I think it's tastefully done in Small World, but it is a little like, you know, when they shove characters into stuff, when they closed Alien Encounter and kept

the ride system, but it's like, it's Stitch who comes out now! I went on that, it's so weird. It's really weird. They've pretty much shut it down. It's a seasonal, only if the park is at max capacity will they open that. They're like, let's get some people in here to ease up the other lines. It's purely Space Mountain relief. Stitch especially is also, I think Lilo and Stitch is a very lovely movie with a very nice message too.

You know, the Ohana means family, family means no one gets left behind. But the way they... Can you do a Stitch impression by any chance? What does he say? Mr. Gorbachev. Mr. Gorbachev. Ohana means family. No, you don't have to.

Doesn't he like... Very good. Very good. Very good. But when it came out, and from there on out afterwards, the marketing of Stitch, to me, always seems like, here's Stitch, and you like Stitch now.

Like, Disney pushed Stitch so hard there for a while. And there's still, like, I think it is a popular plush. I feel like there's always Stitch stuff around. But I think there was such a dearth of successful animated films and characters at the time that it was like, oh, you kind of like this? Great, we're shoving it down your throat. That's true.

I'll say I definitely agree with that. That they're like, hey, you should like this. You like Stitch now. When I was in Tokyo, I went on their version of Tower of Terror. What is it? The Harrison High Tower. I don't remember. But there's like this little guy who's like causing all the ruckus.

This guy, little Shiriki Utundu. Like he's this little like statue. And I was like, oh, I want to get a piece of merchandise with this character on it. Like, I'm very excited. And I went into the gift shop and it was all Stitch. That's very weird. At the exit of the, like,

of that ride. That's the dumbest thing I've ever... Yeah. That's very strange. Like, that happened with Tower of Terror in Orlando and Anaheim

where the original, the actual, like, Tower of Terror merchandise just got, the section got smaller and smaller and more and more Nightmare Before Christmas stuff showed up. Just because it's like a perennial bestseller, I guess. And people weren't really looking for Rod Serling action figures as much. I was. Yeah, we're the type who all want those weird fit characters, but most tourists are just like,

yeah, give me some Stitch. Give me a sweatshirt with Stitch on it. But why would you want Stitch at the end of a ride that Stitch has nothing to do with? We were in Orlando a couple years ago when we got off the Country Bear ride, and we were high from it. We loved it so much.

Oh, my God, we haven't seen this in years. This is the greatest show. And we ran up to them and played. Where's the merch? Give us the merch. We want everything you've got. And they're like, oh, we haven't seen this in years. This is the greatest show. And we ran up to them and played. Where's the merch? Give us the merch. We want everything you've got. And they're like, oh, we don't really have any. And I was like, what the hell?

And it must just be people, for some reason, most tourists don't want a hillbilly bear on a shirt. It's weird. Or it's like they had it, but they wanted you to go away. That's possible, too. Did you see what Liver Lips McGraw did? Did you see? And they're like, yeah, yeah,

I've been here for a while, buddy. I feel like Disney goes back and forth on that where they will have like a lot of park exclusive merch for a while. They have a lot of variety

and then for a while it'll just be like the same shirts, the same stuffed animals in every store. Yeah, like the, it's all like crap like Peter Pan, they have a Peter Pan shirt on that just says like, I'm so fly. Oh, oh, I hate that.

You're a ghast. Oh, that is like that, that was like a gut punch. That feels horrible. Yeah, it's bad. Wait, this maybe wasn't Disney, but didn't Lindsay post like a crazy, it was like the Popeye characters as Breaking Bad or something? Oh, yeah, my girlfriend, when we were in Orlando a couple weeks ago or a couple months ago, I guess. Yeah, there's a Popeye and Bluto Breaking Bad parody shirt in Universal Studios. Who? For who? Why?

Yeah. That's even weirder. Stop mixing two. Don't mix yeah completely unrelated i will say disney is losing money though if they don't have a shirt of the queen of hearts from alice in wonderland with her giant axe sword thing going uh and it says slay queen right that seems like a give it oh that is good, they should make that. Everyone would absolutely get that. It's funny. We're all saying we used to not fit in with teenagers of the time,

but clearly you've got a grip on the youth culture. You should work for Hot Topic. Our new shirt conceptual artist. Well, if anyone from Hot Topic corporate is listening, Jason Sheridan is his name. Line of shirts about all the different American World's Fairs. Knoxville, Seattle, New York,

Chicago, Philadelphia. You wouldn't get it. It's a Chicago World's Fair thing. The Philadelphia World's Fair shows up in the American Adventure or American Experience, what's the Epcot ride? Oh, yeah, the American Experience or American Adventure? I can't. One of the robots, I just saw robots fell over while the show was going on a couple of days ago.

Oh, the best thing that can happen. That's the one where Mark Twain talks to- Ben Franklin. Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison. They co-host the show. They shake hands. But then the World's Fair segment, there's like four or five luminaries all standing in their booths, and they're all talking at each other.

It's very strange. That ride is super weird. We have to do an episode on that. I think I said in a previous episode, the first time I went to Disney World, I read about it in a book on the way, that attraction. And then it was closed for refurbishment. And I cried and cried. It's a seven-year-old who really wanted to see Benjamin Franklin shake hands with Mark Twain.

And they're like at least a foot apart. Their hands are a foot apart when they're shaking. It's so great. That's very funny. They give it a go for five weird seconds and then kind of look up like, close enough. We did it, gentlemen. In my mind, there's like a creaking noise to it. To like signify that they're touching, but that might be in my own brain.

Is there an overall statement to make about that? We missed anything? Marissa, do you have any final thoughts? We have a little wrap-up for this section, but do you have any final thoughts or anything? I mean, I feel like I've been saying it the whole time. Sure, sure. Your message has been cleared.

Your thesis. Oh, sorry. Do you believe in people getting along and harmony? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Inclusion, inclusion, inclusion. Colors are fun. Yeah. I love, like, fun style.

I love, like, the joy of togetherness and to celebrate that rather than, you know, tearing each other apart. Well, that's, I mean, that's wonderful. I mean, we all can agree on that stuff. So what we do is when we're doing a ride, we have a scale, basically. And there are three choices you can have when dealing with this ride. It's would you keep it exactly the same as it is? Would you plus it up? And then what would you do with it? Or three, would you just burn it down in a mysterious fire for insurance purposes? So we'll each go around and we'll choose what we would do to It's

a Small World. And we're probably talking about the Disneyland version because we all know it the best. Yeah. Does anyone want to start? I can start. Sure. I'll start. Okay. I would plus it up. Here's the thing that kind of bothers me about it.

You can clearly see that the sky is a building, and I don't like it. And on Pirates and on Haunted Mansion, at least when it's not Haunted Mansion Holiday, you can't really see that. You can see it might be sky because it looks just very convincing. It's dark in there, and I understand that's a big part of it. But I don't like it that. You could see it might be sky because it looks just very convincing.

It's dark in there, and I understand that's a big part of it. But I don't like it that it just looks like, you know, there's air ducts up there. It's like a Costco ceiling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like a BJ's brewery. It looks like a BJ's, which, by the way, is a wonderful restaurant. They don't need to simulate a sky, and they aren't obliged, but it's a small world. There's a reason most dark rides take place at night. Yes. Because it's hard to hide. And they're called dark rides. Yeah, they're called dark rides. You know what though?

I actually have it in my notes that I like the ceiling. Really? What? And it's a really specific detail that I noted and really appreciated in the Simpsons ride at Universal Studios that you're like crashing into different rides at Krusty Land in that ride

and you go into the Happy Little Elves ride and if you look at the ceiling it is very clearly the unadorned small world ceiling. Oh, it's just dropped tile, right? Yeah, yes. I know exactly what you're talking about. Really deep theme park nerd detail that I'm very happy that they did. Like, oh, small world ceiling.

So I might not even, maybe I don't change anything. So do you like it because the Simpsons referenced it? I like it more now for that reason. But that reference definitely read to me. I find it sort of I think it's kind of charming and connects it to the World's Fair

roots. That it's just like an industrial building and they did a little bit to it, but it didn't go nuts. I mean, I'm not saying it has to be some immersive sky, but I almost want at least a cartoon, something on the top of the ceiling that looks more like a child. Like happy stars? Maybe happy stars.

That's a good idea. Maybe just more hanging things. Like you could put, you know, things that, if it's the jungle part, it feels like there's vines or something. I just feel like I want to be immersed more in the ride. And I look up and it takes me out of it a little bit. Fireworks at the end. Fireworks would be good. Two, if it was possible, I know it would be a total... I think part of the thing that makes people roll their eyes at the ride is that it is so slow and pleasant.

Let's do a couple drops. Get out of town! Well, that does happen in the movie Tomorrowland. Yes, that's true. Which we had not talked about. I've never seen that movie, but I know there is a sequence where they get on the small world boat, it stops, and a trap door opens.

Is this your fanfic, Jason? No, it's Brad Bird's fanfic. So, H.H. Holmes student. I'm not saying splash, mountain level drop. I'm saying just some fun, maybe twirls where the boat would twirl or they would go up. I'm just saying, if you give it a little pizzazz in the feeling department, I think you're going to get more people that are on board for a message of unity and hope. That's all I'm saying. I think if you give the body a visceral thrill, it's more willing to accept a message of hope and peace.

No way. No. Like you see, if you're trying to get someone to donate to a charity, you spin them around. That is exactly what I'm saying. Give them a little brain high.

That is exactly what I'm saying. All right, so that's me. Who wants to go next? I don't think I have my, I think there's so many things you should do in Disneyland before you start changing It's a Small World too much

and they did this little change that isn't a great change. It is really, it's real slow at the end there. I think that actually is a bummer about it, that you leave and then you still got the two minutes of sort of like boat parking. And I don't know what you can do there to speed that up. Just, I don't know, put some extra dolls outside,

add some dolls. That bugs me about pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean and Disneyland, they will let boats back up before you go up that lift hill at the end. And I know they just run too many per hour or whatever, but I don't remember that happening

as a kid. Yeah, and it does, like, it's not horrible. It doesn't, like, kill your experience on the thing, but you do have that moment, like, like, hey, well, that was great't, like, kill your experience on the thing, but you do have that moment, like, hey, well, that was great. I'm glad we went on this. Mm-hmm. Two minutes go by.

There's a real deflation that happens. As opposed to Indiana Jones or something where you're, like, right off it immediately, pretty much. If there's something to do, let's tighten up that ending. Okay. I don't know, like, videos explaining how we can donate to UNICEF. If we want to create a small world in our own community, what can we do?

Give me a QR code that I can scan and donate right then and there. Yeah, let's do some good with those extra two minutes. How about that? Plus it up. Plus it up. Plus it up. All right, Jason? I was going to say keep it as it is.

All right, next. Marissa? No, no, no, no, no. I try not to go in too hard when Disney does make changes to rides and stuff. I feel like people can get very upset, but I do think it is a good idea to preserve some stuff as the original, or not original, but early attractions, like the Tiki Room or some of the stuff from the World's Fair.

They become kind of historical documents at a certain point, like an old movie. You want to maybe watch it as it was intended to be. Yeah, and I think, I mean, Disney himself said, you know, Disneyland will always be growing and changing. It'll never be complete. But you can't change everything all the time, but then you can't keep everything the same all the time.

So I think it's a balancing act. So I think like, and I think the company does tend more towards preserving the stuff that Walt did work on. Like the Tiki Room and the stuff that came out when he was alive.

Especially the animatronic stuff. Sure. Hey, wait a minute. I have an idea in retrospect also. We haven't talked about the Christmas version. There's not much to talk about, but I think they did a great job with it, and the exterior looks really great with Christmas lights. Halloween version. Everybody. Yes.

There we go. That would be fun. I would love to see that. That would be adorable. 300 different. And also, my wife and I are both, we love, like, there's a specific costume term called baby bunting. Like, when you see a costume for babies that doesn't require feet, like if a baby is like a carrot or like peas in a pod or like a minion or something. Like an egg.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When a baby's just in a bag. So let's put a bunch of baby buntings on all these dolls. I love that phrase. What a boring... What's a bunting? It's a baby bag. It's a fun baby bag.

Do they make those for adults? That sounds very comforting. Let's get you... That'll be our first merch podcast. That's the right adult buntings. Adult bunting. Also, you know what let's throw some

minions in there they're fun Marissa looks aghast they hate it that is cross company cooperation it's the

inclusiveness you were talking about Disney and Universal coming together to shoehorn minions

to its small world the minions and the dolls I would hate that. I would hate it. That is a nightmare. Papagayo. Oh, my God.

That was a Minion impression. Oh, my God. Mr. Gorbachev, here's a banana. My version of the ride, I would plus it by getting rid of the new guys. I'd take it back to like 10 years ago. And yeah, I was like thinking about the, I'm like, oh, I like your idea about changing the ceiling. Like, I don't hate that. But then once you spoke, then I was like, no, let's keep it the same.

All right. Good excuse. 60s tiles. Perfectly preserved. One thing I also enjoy about like the end which is too long

I agree like after you after they're like bienvenue and like bye bye whatever I do like that you're like

which lane am I gonna go in because like the boats separate and you don't know which one you're gonna get that's kind of fun so keep that keep the lane keep the lane splitting up for the boats I don't keep which one you're going to get. That's kind of fun. So keep that.

Keep the lane. Keep the lane splitting up for the boats. That'll keep things moving traffic-wise, too, I'd imagine. Sure. So we land at, basically keep it. Basically, yes. I've been overridden. My ideas have been overridden, and it's going to keep being kept the same. I don't need mine to happen.

If they did, I wouldn't mind. Well, there you have it. I would like mine to happen. If they did, I wouldn't mind. Well, there you have it. I would like mine to happen. So can we rip out the new guys? That's on you to do next time you write it. Jump off and rip them out. We'll be right back.

All right. So we're, so we're agreed. Small world, kind of as is. Basically as is. But I mean, I'm fine with taking out the new characters.

That's fine with me. So Marissa, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your love of Small World. Yeah. Do you have anything to plug?

I mean, not really. A Twitter? Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you like tweets that are from 2010, feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Perfectly preserved like an old Walt Ray. Yeah. Yeah. It's at M-A-R-I-S-S-A-G-O-G-O, which is either Marissa Go-Go, which is how I imagine it, or Marissa Go-Go. Your choice. Yeah. Yeah. Marissa Go-Go, which is how I imagine it, or Marissa Go-Go. Your choice. Yeah, yeah. I perform at UCB.

You can see me at UCB. And I don't know. Check the Internet. I feel like things are happening. Things are going to be forthcoming. You're skulking around the Internet. If you want someone to go to a link just to have a nice day and see some good art or something or buy a,

I don't know, how do people brighten their day right now? Oh, you know what brightens my day? I like the painter Matisse. Hmm.

Okay. I don't know. Matisse. Good old Matisse. Check out some Matisse paintings and like, really ponder them.

Also check out Podcast the Ride at Podcast the Ride on Twitter and Podcast The Ride at gmail.com if you want to send us thoughts. Yeah, you can yell at us in any different way, Twitter, email. In any language. And yeah. Or if you just want to talk about H.H. Holmes. No, we're not doing, no more about him. And follow Jason Sheridan only.

And our spin-off show, the H.H. Holmes cast, where we go chapter through chapter at Devil in the White City. Trap door by trap door. All right, let's get out of here before he turns into a murderous rage. Okay, you survived Podcast The Ride. Thanks for listening.

Bye-bye. Bye.