It's not such a small world after all

[jmctechie]

So It's a Small World, a classic Disney ride, is being closed after the Christmas season and will be closed for almost a year. It appears that due to American's ever growing girth, the boats continually bottom out and then cause all the boats to back up inside the ride where the cast members don't know about it until they see that boats are no

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[sjthespian]

And.... I spoke too soon. I haven't seen it anywhere else, but MiceAge has a mention of this. It's not just the weight issue (although they are taking turnstiles out of the park because of guests who can't fit through them), it's also because they are still using the original boats from the '65 World's Fair! Here's a bit from MiceAge:

While the 41 year old structure and facility could certainly use some new paint and TLC, the main reasons behind this refurbishment aren't the addition of more glitter to the sets and false eyelashes to the can-can girls. The real reason the ride will be closed for so long is because after 43 years of near continual use, the original flume and fleet of boats used at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair have finally neared the end of their long, useful life. As hard as it may be to believe, those fiberglass boats and the trough they travel through are the originals from the World's Fair, with only a few minor modifications made over the decades. The project will require major demolition to take place inside the sprawling warehouse that houses the ride, and it will actually require a race to the finish to complete the huge project in the 10 months of allotted time.

(and then he goes on to talk about the boats bottoming out because of American super-sized riders).

[jmctechie]

I was talking with some random girl in a class who said she was going to Disneyland and she mentioned that it was closing and it was because of fat Americans.

I hadn't heard that about the turnstiles though, that's kinda interesting and pathetic.

I'll definitely check out that article on MiceAge though.