In May 1966, Walt Disney opened âItâs a Small Worldâ at Disneyland. As part of the ceremony, children poured water from different countries (while wearing traditional outfits from those lands) into the attractionâs âriverâ while Disney himself poured American water from Davy Crockettâs canteen.
While the children were actually all from the U.S. (with a wide range of ethnicities/heritages), the water was from different places around the globe. It was the brainchild of Disneylandâs Marketing Director, Jack Lindquist, who said â[We] came up with the idea of going to Disney reps all over the world and saying, âSend me a bottle of water,â and they did a great job. Pretty soon my office had about 15 different bottles. Water came from the Thames, Seine, Amazon, Danube, Nile, Volga, Rhine, Ganges, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Atlantic, Pacific... also Australia, China, Japan. To me, it was just a symbolic way to open the ride."
In his dedication speech, Walt said, âIâd like to welcome all of you to the dedication of Itâs a Small World, and Iâd like to thank all of these wonderful children who have performed here to make these dedication such a success. Thank you, children! When we completed Itâs a Small World for presentation at the New York Worldâs Fair, we felt that we had accomplished what weâd set out to do. We wanted to foster a better understanding among nations of the world by showing the dress, the customs, the language, the music and a little of the culture of our neighbors around the world, and we wanted to show it to be a very happy one. I think itâs safe to say that having fun has universal appeal.â
