This is unbelievable but...
After I read this board yesterday at a public terminal a few blocks from my house (I still don't have a computer!), and posted that I hadn't gotten the set yet, I went home and saw a UPS truck in the area.
Minutes later, my set arrived!
I had no idea they delivered that late in the day, but I guess they were behind schedule or something!
Thanks to DelivEars for upgrading to second day air shipping! It looks like I was better off than had I gone with DisneyDirect.
As for the set itself, it's the biggest, longest CD release in my collection, and while "bigger" doesn't always mean "better"...
In this case it DOES!!!!
I stayed up ALL NIGHT listening to it, in order, and was carried away on a magical, musical tour of Disneyland!
It is my favorite CD release in my collection!!!!
I love how it FLOWS perfectly from attraction to attraction and land to land!
Some of my favorite tracks are the Tiki Room, the CBJ shows, Splash Mountain, America Sings, and EVERYTHING in Fantasyland (esp IASW, Dark Ride Suite, and Band Organ)
But there are some instrumental gems as well, such as "Swisskapolka" "Happy Rag", "Bearless Love", "Monorail Song", "Nation on Wheels", etc.
I also enjoyed the sound effects, which create a sense of atmosphere and context while also allowing attractions to be represented on the set that otherwise probably would not be.
I LOVE the new fireworks show, even though I've never seen it, and even though the MSEP mix was slightly shorter than the version I own on the Fantasmic! CD, I enjoyed hearing the different approach taken in the Alice and Pete segments (diologue and more sounds from Wonderland), so the MSEP track was highly enjoyable as well!
Even though I didn't finish listening to 4 AM CST, I was eager to listen again!
But I decided to read the book instead, which was very interesting and informative and has really nice concept artwork!
Congratulations to Randy for creating the "soundtrack" of Disneyland!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
David