The holiday season may technically be over at Disneyland, but there was a bit of a holdover as the holiday version of It’s A Small World was in operation until just a couple of days ago. It’s a popular version of the attraction, and it was apparently so popular just before it began its transition back to the standard ride that a boat ran aground due to being too heavy.
January 8 was the last day that It’s A Small World Holiday was in operation, and it appears that so many people were trying to get one last ride in on that day that some boats became a bit too full. This resulted in one boat getting stuck, which was captured on TikTok. This then caused a chain reaction of people getting stuck on the ride and stuck in line.
@todisney_andbeyond ♬ It’s A Small World - Little Apple Band
While I’m not sure I would go so far as to say the boat looks overfull, it certainly does look full. That is a full boat, and it’s full of a lot of adults, so it’s going to weigh a lot more than a boat full of children. Clearly there is either too much weight, or it’s all distributed wrong, causing the boat to bottom out in the load area.
There really isn’t any such thing as a slow time at Disneyland Resort anymore, but January is often about as close as we get. While some of the holiday themed attractions hang around a bit longer, the park itself transitions back into its normal state after the first of the year. But it does sound like the crowds were there in force on this last day for this specific experience.
It’s unclear exactly how long this little traffic jam ran but a boat ride like It’s a Small World runs continuously so it’s almost impossible for any sort of significant slow down or stoppage to not cause a noticeable delay, and every second that continues the whole thing just cascades. It takes a lot of extra fast loading and unloading to catch up once things have stalled like this.
During the holiday season several attractions like It’s A Small World get a facelift. The music shifts and becomes a sort of mash-up of the classic earworm tune and Jingle Bells, and the sets and characters get changed out for holiday versions of the normal attraction. As of now, It’s a Small World is closed while the attraction is transitioned back to the standard version.
The Nightmare Before Christmas themed Haunted Mansion Holiday is still in operation and will continue through the end of the month. Last year It's A Small World received serious damage during the transition into its holiday theme. This resulted in a mad dash to get the popular Fantasyland attraction back up and running.
