3008. Holland Girl

It's a Small World (stylized as "it's a small world" by The Walt Disney Company) is a indoor musical boat cruise ride located in the Fantasyland area at each of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide: Disneyland (in California), the Magic Kingdom (in Florida), Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. The ride features over 300 brightly costumed audio-animatronic dolls in the style of children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing the attraction's title song, which has a theme of global peace.

Created by WED Enterprises in record time as the 1964 New York World's Fair UNICEF pavilion sponsored by Pepsi as a gift to the children of the world featuring the kinetic sculpture Tower of the Four Winds, a 120 foot high magical, ever-turning mobile created by WED designer Roland "Rolly" Crump. It is one of five attractions (Magic Skyway [Ford], Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln [Illinois], it's a small world [UNICEF/Pepsi], Carousel of Progress [GE], and a tentative Circlerama 360°) which were used by Disney to test concepts and ride systems, then be moved and re-built at Disneyland after the World's Fair closed in 1966. The company was given only 11 months lead time to create the ride.
Mary Blair was principally responsible for the attraction's whimsical design styling. Blair had been an art director on several Disney animated features (including Cinderella, Alice In Wonderland, and Peter Pan). Like many Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, scenes and characters were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife, Alice Davis, designed the costumes for the dolls. Rolly Crump designed the toys and other supplemental figures on display. The animated dolls were designed by Disney sculptor Blaine Gibson, and manufactured and created by New York (Valley Stream) artist, Gregory S. Marinello. Walt was personally involved with Gregory's development of the dolls facial design. Each animated child doll face is identical in shape (hence the name "it's a small world").

"Children of the World" was the working title of the attraction. The attraction's tentative soundtrack design featured each national anthem, playing all at once, which resulted in a cacophonous noise. Walt demonstrated the miniature mock-up to his staff songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. As he and the Sherman Brothers walked through Walt said, "I need one song." a single song for the attraction which could be easily translated into many different languages and which could be played in round. The Sherman Brothers wrote "It's a small world (after all)". in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which influenced the song's message. They first presented "It's a small world (after all)" to Walt by singing in counterpoint while walking through the mock-up. The attraction became known as "it's a small world" after Walt Disney approved the Sherman Brothers' title song.
In the spirit of international unity, "It's a small world (after all)" was sung and recorded in various studios around the world – by a church choir in London, TV performers in Mexico City, a school chorus in Rome, and by local children from Tokyo and California.
It is argued that this song is the single most performed and most widely translated song on earth. The song tune and lyrics are the only Disney creations never to be copyrighted, as UNICEF requested, and can be heard worldwide on musical devices ranging from keyboard demos to ice cream trucks, it remains "a gift to the children of the world."