It's A Small World Refurbishment

[Fastpasssteve]

Hi All,

I am travelling to WDW in October when IASM reopens after its refurb. I was just wondering if anyone knows what they will be doing during this refurb, or is it just because it butts up agains the ongoing ToonTown Refurb? What are they doing? Just curious.

Many thanks.

[PharmD]

Hey fastpasssteve,

It appears that they are reconfiguing the queue and moving the ride entrance back to it's original location near Pinocchio Village Haus. It's supposed to reopen on Oct.23

[Strmchsr]

There's no changes being made to the ride itself (like the addition of characters seen at DLR). It's strictly fixing the loading areas and switching the entrance and exit areas.

[MagicalGuest]

I've read previously that the changes are to make the loading area more accessible for physically-challenged guests.

Just returned from DW last week, and we all missed IASM and Toy Story at HS, especially DS(6). But I guess there's always something to look forward to when you return!

[mermaidmarian]

I really missed IASM during our last trip. I was wondering what the extent of the refurb would be too.

[klb]

I'm interested to see what this reconfigured loading area looks like. When we were last there, wheelchair users (like my son) had to travel against people getting off the ride and heading to the exits. This wheelchair aisle works in theory but assumes that people exiting the attraction stay on their side of the walkway and don't walk four or five people across. People are excited (I understand that) and don't always pay attention to where they're going. I've seen several near misses where people running have nearly plowed over guests in wheelchairs.

[Strmchsr]

I've seen several near misses where people running have nearly plowed over guests in wheelchairs.

That's a lot of what is being fixed. The accessibility issue was a large motivating factor in the refurb. This was initially supposed to be done when they did the big refurb in 2005, but they ran out of time/money. Hopefully it'll be better for you when it re-opens!