Disneyland has taken a new step towards diversity and inclusion with the addition of two new disabled animatronic characters in their “It’s a Small World” ride.
The costumed dolls were revealed when the ride reopened as “It’s a Small World Holiday,” and join approximately 300 others throughout the ride, representing singing children from nations all around the world.
Every year, Disney adds temporary holiday-themed decorations and carols to the ride, but the new dolls—which have been placed in the Latin American section and the finale, will remain in place when the seasonal decor is broken down in the new year.
In a statement to the Associated Press, per NBC, Disneyland credited the addition to an ongoing effort “to reflect more accurate representation of diversity around the world.”
They worked with a special unit heading up park accessibility over a period of more than six months to design and produce the new characters, which are the first characters seen in wheelchairs in the park’s nearly seven-decade history, according to the publication. Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris’ versions of the ride will also see similar dolls added sometime next year.
Erin Quintanilla, the manager of accessibility for the Disneyland Resort and a wheelchair user herself, described the dolls’ designs as combining authenticity with the original colorful style of the existing ones.
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In a statement to CNN, she said, “I feel seen. I feel represented. It’s a monumental moment to have my community be in an attraction and represented. I teared up when I saw them in the attraction.”
Her team ensured everything about the new characters was authentic, even the angle of the dolls’ feet on the footrests. “…there are details of the wheelchair like having a push rim so that the doll would be able to move through the story in a way that I move through the world,” Quintanilla added, calling the accuracy of the details “pretty special.”
Kim Irvine, the executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering for Disneyland Resort, said they’ve been looking at the park “with a magnifying glass” for places to develop more inclusivity.
The two dolls in wheelchairs are replicas of the dolls that previously stood in the spots, recreated in the same clothing and styles in a seated position in chairs that were designed to match the style of the attraction’s creator, Mary Blair.
“What a wonderful story that Walt and Mary Blair, and the original Imagineers, put together about the children of the world and our unity all under one bright sun — and how we really should rejoice together in that,” Irvine added.
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