I've been to Disneyland quite a few times in my day and I've been on most of the rides more than a few times each. Everyone who's been there more than once has probably been on the ride "It's a Small World" and has afterwards had that silly song stuck in your head for the next decade.
Well, visitors for the next 10 months or so won't be able to have that pleasure. The ride, which has remained virtually unchanged since it's construction in 1964, has been closed for renovation. Not because it needs to be hipper or cooler. It needs a massive overhaul because overweight and obese Americans have killed it. When the ride was originally installed the flume and boats were built to accommodate average-sized Americans and in the intervening 40+ years, the average-sized American has ballooned in weight, causing the boats to bottom out and stop the entire works until Disney employees can help the overweight offenders off the boats and out the emergency exits. The boats and the ride have been in faithful service with no changes until now and America's expanding waistline is the culprit. (It's reported that the drop in Pirates of the Caribbean has the same problem, but it's not as frequent as the Small World stoppages and I could find no evidence of that ride being further revamped any time soon.)
This is just one example of how America is being forced to change under the buckling knees of the Obesity epidemic we find ourselves in the midst of.
Killer at Large is the name of the film we've spent the last year putting together to show you and the rest of America exactly why it is we're getting so darn fat. We've been able to get interviews with experts in every field of this epidemic to illustrate the causes, effects and possible solution to this problem. From bestselling authors like Michael Pollan (The Omnivores Dillemma) to consumer advocates like Ralph Nader, we've been able to truly go in depth and examine the issue. Even former Surgeon General Richard Carmona chimes in to explain that, "...obesity is a terror within. It is destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out."
It's no longer a "Small World" and if we don't act quickly, it's going to be a very fat world.
In the coming weeks and months, we'll be here with essays about the epidemic and stories to highlight the issue.
(Bryan Young blogs daily at This Divided State. Killer at Large is currently in the final stages of post-production and has been submitted to numerous film festivals, you can find more info about it at its official website.)
Follow Bryan Young on Twitter: www.twitter.com/swankmotron
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(at least in the Anaheim park) I thought it was taken out and other rides put in.
Oh how I remember 'The House Of The Future' in Tomorrowla
The Republican and neocon mantra that has been played nonstop for decades, since Reagan, is that if we citizens want our government to use our tax money to help make this a better country for all of us -- then they will call us names, and ridicule and demean us. They say we're wimps, we want a nanny state.
When will people realize that it's our money, and we have the right to demand that it be used for our benefit to make this a better country. The Republican
Let's see. Nutrition education. Community-
How about this: every overweight American is given some financial assistance to join a nutrition group, take cooking lessons (many people don't know how to cook anything except boxed or take-out), exercise, gym, group counsellin
And we need to re-think our food system. There is something wrong with a country in which people can get so much to eat that they are grossly overweight
All we need is the national will to make this a better country. Just converting the diet to more fresh produce and grain, all by itself, would radically improve people's health. But we don't teach that to people, and we instead inundate people with advertisin
I completely understand a loving grandparen
What is more disturbing is the proportion of people utilizing these motorized vehicles. Not only are they a nuisance to the folks walking through the park but if you look at the people in them, they're not grandparen
It was alarming and disturbing how many incredibly obese parents of young children were puttering around in the scooters.
I'm not talking overweight
Isn't it possible that the "It's a Small World" ride needs an overhaul because "The ride.. has remained virtually unchanged since its constructi
I'm an average sized Canadian who wouldn't tilt the Small World ride but that ride has tilted me. My sis convinced me to ride it when we were young and that evil song is still stuck in my head. Anamatroni