It's a Fat World After All

Small World?Disney is sayin' they're renovating the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland to introduce new characters, but what they're really trying to do is trim the fat ... people.

The boats on the ride are the same old ones when the ride first debuted at the World's Fair in 1964. Here's the prob -- 44 years and 20 billion Mickey D burgers later, America has become all blubber, and it's effing up the ride.

Two hundred pounders and up were populating the boats, which increasingly began bottoming out and stopping the ride dead in its tracks. And anyone knows you can become certifiable listening to "that song" for more than three minutes.

It became too embarrassing to escort passengers to dry land, explaining that the girth was just too much to bear.

Disney previously has denied the renovations have anything to do with weight issues.




Reader Comments

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16. Well, it's about time they renovated the boats on that ride! I was in Disney the summer of 1990, and went on the ride with my brother and my sister-in-law (basically to get out of the heat for a few minutes) and we got stuck with a VERY LARGE family on our boat. We ended up on that ride for about 45 minutes because every time the boat was about to enter another section of the ride, it bottomed out. It was awful being exposed to that damn song for that long (but granted, it really wasn't THAT horrible... we had gotten high on the sky tram right before, so it ended up being pretty damn funny).

Posted at 9:28AM on Apr 16th 2008 by mglopkin

17. 1) This is really old news, like 2007 old which for a gossip site updated several times a day is ANCIENT
2) Disney has never denied the renovations had to do with weight changes in the population since the 1960's
3) TMZ gets lamer by the day with it's stupid, inaccurate, pointless, sexist stories getting more posts about spelling, grammar and proofreading errors than about the story.

WTF, TMZ? You've gone from awesome to unreadable in less than a year!

Posted at 1:33PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Jess

18. Here we go again TMZ making fun of fat people... I wonder how many obese staffers you have working for you Harvey?

Have you seen your self in a mirror lately?

Posted at 1:39PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Curmudgeon

19. One of the primary causes of obesity in the U.S. is the large amount of time people sit on their fat asses blogging on websites like this.

Posted at 1:40PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Fat Albert

20. We need to control this obesity problem in America!

Let's boycott McDonalds, Burguer King and all fast food restaurants!

We can do it!

Posted at 1:44PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Sophie

21. THAT IS NOT 100% TRUE really only about 50%

Yes people are heavier and the weight is slowing down/ stopping the boats BUT it is because after being an open attraction for 44 years the plastic "flume" the attraction floats in has been patched SEVERAL ( X many many) times and is giving less and less clearance for the boats so by them sitting lower in the water it is a problem but the main problem is that the flume has never been fully removed and replaced just patched in constant wear areas.

Posted at 1:50PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Jeff W

22. Yeah, Sophie, I'm sure McDonald's is going down now.

Posted at 1:49PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Would you like fries with that?

23. I'm a 210 pounds plus size model and I'm very proud of my body!

You can kiss my fat ass!

Posted at 1:51PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Tyra Banks

24. I'm 650 pounds and very proud of my body.

Posted at 1:55PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Free Willy

25. Well, Dallas, they may be fat but maybe they know that you dont pluralize with an apostrophe and s.
Potato's?? NOT.

Posted at 2:01PM on Apr 15th 2008 by linda

26. LMAO the blubber was effin' up the ride! Priceless!

Posted at 2:09PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Daneen

27. i love how everyone blames mcdonalds, burger king and so on for why so many people are very overweight. Nobody makes them order so much food or to eat there everyday. If u eat at those places once in awhile you would be fine. But when u pile on the burgers, fries, and shakes dont blame the restaurants, blame yourself. Yes some people are overweight cause of health issues, but 75% of you just eat too much. You need to work on your weight. Because not all rides will be able to be changed to fit your weight, its a safety issue. Lose the weight and enjoy life, in moderation of course.

Posted at 2:12PM on Apr 15th 2008 by mystee

28. I am a disgustingly fat super sized hogzilla type person. I'm being dead serious, I am a realist and I can admit it. I got really fat due to a combination of a hormonal issue and plain old overeating out of depression. I dont eat much anymore and my meals are much healthier, I dont drink pop or anything with caffiene in it etc. Switched to wholegrains, tons of veggies and all that good stuff. But I'm still huge because i live a very sedate life. Once you get this big (I'm around 340) it is very hard to start excercising. I have so much pain if i try to walk a lot and i am so fat and out of shape i get scary breathless with the smallest of efforts. I probably need water aerobics and mild walking but I cant afford a pool in my backyard and I am too embarassed to go to a gym or YMCA because I know the world is full of people like all of you who would laugh and stare at me and make jokes.

It is no ones faults but my own that I am fat and out of shape. I would never go to DIsney or any public place and attempt to get on a ride because Id be way to embarassed and afraid that I wouldnt fit on the ride. I miss outg on a lot because of my fatness.

I encourage anyone with a few extra pounds to stop now and work out and dont let the pounds add up until you're as big as me, because once u are this big its almost inpossible to get the weight off and it ruins your life. If i had the nerve to get on the Its a Small World ride with my fat self and risk the boat botteming out and stopping the right, I guess I'd have the nerve to go to a gym and work out in front of the thin in shape people too.

Here is my opinion, if you are too embarassed or lazy to go to a gym, you should be too embarassed and lazy to go to DIsney and get on the ride and inconvienence the fit people by holding up rides and lines by being too heavy.

Maybe I should get a big staph infection and go on a coke binge and drop some pounds like Gummi Bear did?

Posted at 2:20PM on Apr 15th 2008 by Hogzilla

29. Perhaps if society would stop making changes to accomodate the obese they would catch a clue that they are fat and need to do something about it. I'm shocked at the number of fat kids walking around these days, let alone the number of fat adults. If you can't fit in a ride at Disney Land you are consuming more than your share of food, there are starving people on the planet, leave a decent share for them.

Posted at 2:21PM on Apr 15th 2008 by did I say that out loud?

30. linda, that was funny.

Posted at 2:22PM on Apr 15th 2008 by roller girl

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