As the world’s fairs of the 20th century struggled to compete with both the allure of international travel and increasingly immersive media, a baton of sorts was eventually passed on to another type of world building. Though the 1964 New York World’s Fair was one of the first expositions to cost significantly more than it recovered, and therefore one of the last of its kind, it is at least memorable for the debut of a single attraction: in its first year of operation, Walt Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’ ride guided more than 10 million visitors by boat through a serpentine path of self-defined multicultural unity.

Walt’s contribution perfectly complimented the theme of the world’s fair - “peace through understanding” - as a highly immersive image of world peace: a wrap-around facade of “every corner of the Earth” setting the stage for over 300 audio-animatronic traditionally dressed children singing the praises of universal harmony in blissful repetition.