Indeed, "It's A Small World" will mark it's 50th anniversary of its' opening at The New York World's Fair in 1964. The current ride is getting a clean up for it's big day. ABC has a special planned to mark the occasion. I share the following from Wikipedia:
It's a Small World was created by WED Enterprises as the 1964 New York World's Fair's UNICEF pavilion sponsored by Pepsi. It featured a kinetic sculpture, The Tower of the Four Winds, a 120-foot perpetually spinning mobile created by WED designer Rolly Crump, at its entrance. It was one of four attractions (Magic Skyway [Ford], Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln [Illinois], and The Carousel of Progress [GE]) which were used by Disney to test concepts and ride systems, then moved and re-built at Disneyland after the World's Fair closed in 1966.
Legend has it that the Pepsi Board of Directors took so long to agree on what type of attraction to sponsor, then board member and widow of past company president Alfred Steele, the one and only Joan Crawford prevailed upon her longtime Hollywood friend Walt Disney to design such an attraction as would be suitable for Pepsi. Because of the short lead time to design, create and construct such an attraction she insisted that the Board of Directors accept his proposal seeing as he was already designing attractions for the state of Illinois, Ford and General Electric and knew Walt was the only one who could accomplish such a feat in the short time left until the fair was scheduled to open. The company was given only 11 months time to create and build the ride.
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