Area Music Past and Present


exetor999

Member
I have noticed, walking in the DL park, and California Adventure, that the new area music cues seem to involve all sorts of different music. In the past they had been only Disney music, but now I hear all sorts of different music. At the soarin ride in CA, they even have music from the movie "Exploreres" which was not a Disney movie. On main street, you can hear many tracks from "The Music Man", which was not Disney. In Frontierland, you can hear the theme from the "Magniciant Seven". Also, I noticed that "Pirates" has closed down, for about 3 weeks, and the girl I spoke to in the pieces of eight store said that it won't reopen until after November! Anyone know what is going on?
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
I have noticed, walking in the DL park, and California Adventure, that the new area music cues seem to involve all sorts of different music. In the past they had been only Disney music, but now I hear all sorts of different music. At the soarin ride in CA, they even have music from the movie "Exploreres" which was not a Disney movie. On main street, you can hear many tracks from "The Music Man", which was not Disney. In Frontierland, you can hear the theme from the "Magniciant Seven". Also, I noticed that "Pirates" has closed down, for about 3 weeks, and the girl I spoke to in the pieces of eight store said that it won't reopen until after November! Anyone know what is going on?

Most of the area music loops have never been all Disney. Main Street has never had any Disney stuff at all and Frontierland is also seriously lacking in Disney Music.
I'm mainly going by all the other parks but I doubt that DL differs much in that aspect but I may be wrong (DL loop listings are not as common as I'd like).
Which loops are you thinking about when you say they had been only Disney music?
I'm happy to be corrected.
 

monorail91

Member
At least for DL/DCA, there are only a handful of loops that are purely Disney. Critter Country and A Bug's Land loops are the biggest "scopes" of Disney-specific area music, and of course attractions based off Disney films have music their respective scores/soundtracks playing in queue lines.

A few Disney songs do appear on Main Street, however, from "The Happiest Millionaire" and "Summer Magic." The main loop in Tomorrowland at DL (also MK I think?) has "Strange Things" from Toy Story.

Also, Hollywood Pictures Backlot (and of course the Animation Building and Off the Page shop) have predominantly Disney songs.
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
At least for DL/DCA, there are only a handful of loops that are purely Disney. Critter Country and A Bug's Land loops are the biggest "scopes" of Disney-specific area music, and of course attractions based off Disney films have music their respective scores/soundtracks playing in queue lines.

A few Disney songs do appear on Main Street, however, from "The Happiest Millionaire" and "Summer Magic." The main loop in Tomorrowland at DL (also MK I think?) has "Strange Things" from Toy Story.

Also, Hollywood Pictures Backlot (and of course the Animation Building and Off the Page shop) have predominantly Disney songs.

Forgot about the tracks like Fortuosity but they are an exception I think you would agree but exetor999 seemed to think that pretty well everything was Disney, which it hasn't been, of course.
The Discoveryland loop at DLRP should count as Disney as it was written especially for the area but that begs the question of what IS Disney music? Many of the older loops were recorded especially for the parks but would the BTMR loop count as Disney I wonder (even if there is the odd Disney track - like Bang goes old Betsy - hidden in there)?
Or do we mean from Disney movies rather than just commissioned by/for Disney.
Exetor999 did say "In the past they had been only Disney music" which I would disagree with, I think, after finding the bulk of stuff available on non-Disney CDs for DLRP and reading Horizon's blogs for WDW where the same applies.
DLRP has actually gone the opposite way with adding Disney stuff and removing some non-Disney tracks. Colonel Hathi's BGM was altered to include Jungle Book tracks, Hakuna Matata altered to play Lion King music and, of course, the new area at the studios Toy Story area playing Toy Story music.
I suppose a lot depends on the area and whether it's Disney related in the first place or not.
Can of worms maybe ;)
 

monorail91

Member
Yeah that's definitely true. I'm very interested to see what will happen with the addition of the Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street in Disneyland - will it get its own Mary Poppins-themed loop? Or will the Main Street loop change to include Mary Poppins songs (which I think it should)?
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
Yeah that's definitely true. I'm very interested to see what will happen with the addition of the Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street in Disneyland - will it get its own Mary Poppins-themed loop? Or will the Main Street loop change to include Mary Poppins songs (which I think it should)?

That's an interesting though.
As much as I like the BGMs one does sometimes wonder what exactly they have to do with Disney.
Of course, if they change them, we'll all moan about it, won't we. :lol:
 

DavidG

Member
That's an interesting though.
As much as I like the BGMs one does sometimes wonder what exactly they have to do with Disney.
Of course, if they change them, we'll all moan about it, won't we. :lol:

I really don't feel they have to refer a previous Disney project. Personally I don't need to hear the Mickey Mouse Club March on Main Street; I'd much rather hear music from other sources which helps convey the proper sense of place without distracting from the experience. That to me is much more "Disney" than a movie or TV show reference shoehorned into a loop.
 
I think part of the reason the Disney songs in the Main Street USA loop work is due to proper orchestration, style, and that they don't pull you out of the era Main Street is trying to portray. The fact that there are Disney songs in the BGM is only secondary to the purpose of the loop... and since the films they are from aren't well known, it just works well. They just "sound" Main Street USA-y.

It's part of the problems I have with Disneyland's current Frontierland loop. The movie based songs are all "western" in theme, lyrics, etc. -- but their style reflects the era the movies came out. So, good song selection, but perhaps a new orchestration would help make them mesh a bit better.
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
I think part of the reason the Disney songs in the Main Street USA loop work is due to proper orchestration, style, and that they don't pull you out of the era Main Street is trying to portray. The fact that there are Disney songs in the BGM is only secondary to the purpose of the loop... and since the films they are from aren't well known, it just works well. They just "sound" Main Street USA-y.

It's part of the problems I have with Disneyland's current Frontierland loop. The movie based songs are all "western" in theme, lyrics, etc. -- but their style reflects the era the movies came out. So, good song selection, but perhaps a new orchestration would help make them mesh a bit better.

Personally I prefer the themed loops to the Disney ones. That's just me.
I love the Main Street loops and the Frontierland loops.
I think (again to me) the the DisneyLAND feel comes from hearing the music there and therefore referring it back to the park rather than hearing a Disney tune playing. I like the Disney Fantasyland audio but feel that trying to gather, say, POC tracks from the movies and replacing the Pirate Cove loop (DLRP) wouldn't, for me, work. The Maginificent 7 theme, for instance, will now always remind me of when the train exits the tunnel and you see BTM and the paddleboats rather than the film (which I've seen far too many times).
The idea of the theme aspect was to give a feeling of the area hence the use of general classic film scores at the studios, classic (and that's maybe why they don't re-orchestrate them - they are so well known themes) - cowboy stuff in Frontierland etc.
Regarding the Disney stuff in the Main Street loop, they are "set" in the same era so yes, they work.
I wasn't suggesting that the loops should reflect Disney but rather that we sometimes confuse Disney as a film-maker and Disney as a theme park maker. To me the themed areas are what makes Disneyland stand out from other parks together with the loops.
My comment on "what has that got to do with Disney" wasn't a complaint but rather the fact that Disneyland parks are not (well, not everything) based on Disney films and the ones that are can just as well have music appropriate to the setting and not restricted by Disney creations.
Sorry if I gave the wrong impression :(
 
My comment on "what has that got to do with Disney" wasn't a complaint but rather the fact that Disneyland parks are not (well, not everything) based on Disney films and the ones that are can just as well have music appropriate to the setting and not restricted by Disney creations.
Sorry if I gave the wrong impression :(

No wrong impression given. :) Sounds like we agree... if a Disney song fits well for the theme and style of the place, use it. However, don't just shoe-horn it in simply BECAUSE it's a Disney song... or exclude other valid music for the loop just because it's not Disney.
 

exetor999

Member
Well, when I was talking about the music loop cues for main street, I remember, in the past, hearing songs like "Minnie's yoohoo song" or old 1890's music, and the barbershop quartet, things like that. Now they have music from the "music man" (alot) and stuff like that. I know that it's not the original music from the films, but a redo. Music from tomorrowland had a kind of space mountain sound to it, and in Frontierland they had banjo music, theme from "Davy Crockett", and similar music by the waterfront, now they play the themes from "Magnicient seven" and other non-disney films like that. I was just wondering how they can play music that is not Disney copyrighted! They must have to dish out a ton of royality payments.
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
Well, when I was talking about the music loop cues for main street, I remember, in the past, hearing songs like "Minnie's yoohoo song" or old 1890's music, and the barbershop quartet, things like that. Now they have music from the "music man" (alot) and stuff like that. I know that it's not the original music from the films, but a redo. Music from tomorrowland had a kind of space mountain sound to it, and in Frontierland they had banjo music, theme from "Davy Crockett", and similar music by the waterfront, now they play the themes from "Magnicient seven" and other non-disney films like that. I was just wondering how they can play music that is not Disney copyrighted! They must have to dish out a ton of royality payments.


Got it in one. It's far cheaper to license the music than record it yourself.
Most of the Main St loops were performed by Albert White or the Paragon but (certainly with the Paragon) they won't touch anything after a certain date (I know, I wrote to them to ask).
http://www.magicmusic.net/blog/2/entry-134-main-street-usa-area-music/
The DLRP loop now includes some tracks from Ragtime (Randy Newman) although still the same idiom.
The DL loop hasn't had Minnies Yoo-ho since at least 1971 (all Albert White tracks then) and I think the WDW loop played from 1992 (as did the DLRP loop when the park opened)
http://www.magicmusic.net/blog/2/entry-232-frontierland-area-bgm/
Has that changed to the movie theme loop as used in DL and DLRP now then? (they do use sections of this one in DLRP in various locations within Frontierland but the main area is the movie theme loop and has been since 1992).
I think it's fair to say that Disney has used Licensed music from CDs since at least 1992 and probably much further back than that (they certainly did at Anaheim as the Main St loop from 71 - 92 was from the Album Your Father's Moustache vol 2 by Albert White and the Gaslight Orchestra).

My particular interest is in DLRP so I can't go by personal recordings etc but I'm fairly sure that Minnie's Yoo Hoo has never played in Main street although it may have played in a nearby loop (as used in the Walkways of DLRP) which was all Disney music. Possibly the esplanade loop?
Does this loop ring a bell at all
http://www.magicmusic.net/blog/5/entry-108-parking-lot-walkway-loop-dlrp/
This is used from the parking lot to the park at DLRP and may well have come from another park in 1992 when DLRP opened (lots of second hand loops there).
Can you say what years you are remembering back to? If it's within the last 20 years you could check the running dates in the blogs here or if it's not there, at www.disneymusicloops.com but that's not totally accurate and is badly out of date in some places (you can guarantee that the blogs here are accurate as far as the loops go).
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
WOW. You have alot of info on that, very impressive. Do you work for Disney?
No. Too old, bearded, living in the UK and probably far too grumpy to smile at guests all day without a few unDisney remarks coming out.
Much of the knowledge is learned from places like this where there are many people with much more information than I have to hand.
You also learn quite a lot when you compile the playlists and have to ferret around looking for source albums and the dates the playlists refer to.
The blogs here are an excellent reference source when looking for details of area loop and they accurate - which is important.
Your compliments should really be directed at them, they did the work and were good enough to publish it for us all.
My blog is also compiled by wedroy1923 and needmagic as a joint venture and without their hard work it would be pretty empty!
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
the United Kingdom! Must be nice being able to drive to Disney Paris anytime you like. :)

Like you Americans can all slip to DL and WDW any times you like :lol:
300 mile drive to Dover, ferry over the channel, 151 miles to the park, I don't think so.
4 days a year while I can afford it.
 

exetor999

Member
Of course, if you lived in dover, then it wouldn't be so bad. Try driving the los angeles freeway system in the mornings or evenings. I live in Thousand Oaks, and it's a nightmare drive to Anaheim, unless I get up at 3:00am and drive down there. Takes about 2 1/2 hours through stop and go traffic, and then another 3 or 3 1/2 on the way back. I just prefer to go in the middle of the afternoon, drive down and rent a room somewhere, and just spend the weekend. Most days, too many people crowd the park, which they always overfill at this time of year, so we leave in the early afternoon, and come back after dark, and stay until closing. LOL
 

eyore

DLRP explorer
Playlist Author
Of course, if you lived in dover, then it wouldn't be so bad. Try driving the los angeles freeway system in the mornings or evenings. I live in Thousand Oaks, and it's a nightmare drive to Anaheim, unless I get up at 3:00am and drive down there. Takes about 2 1/2 hours through stop and go traffic, and then another 3 or 3 1/2 on the way back. I just prefer to go in the middle of the afternoon, drive down and rent a room somewhere, and just spend the weekend. Most days, too many people crowd the park, which they always overfill at this time of year, so we leave in the early afternoon, and come back after dark, and stay until closing. LOL
Your drive to Anaheim is a lot quicker than my drive to Paris would be (a 2 1/2 hour drive would see me around the middle of the UK - halfway to Dover or thereabouts). I'd reckon around 10 - 12 hours journey minimum allowing for waiting for the ferry and customs to get to the park - and the same back, of course.
I think people don't realise that the UK is quite a big country due to the high volume of built up areas and that the motorways are always full of traffic all day and every day.
Petrol (gas) is also expensive on this side of the Atlantic (just looked at US gas prices of around $3.50 a gallon - compared to around £6UK here - that is, I think, around $9 but our gallon is bigger than yours) :p
It's still one heck of a lot more expensive here!
The cost of driving there and the cost of flying there is comparable (still expensive). I'd rather fly than drive 900 miles there and back thank you! You get two extra days in the park :D
May as well have those two nights on-site, I think.
 

exetor999

Member
I really wouldn't know about that, I have converted my van to run on hydro! I just pump water into the tank, and off I go. I understand that I can get about 3 times the mileage that I would compared to gasoline! I keep chomping at the bit for flying cars to come along, that would make your trip about 35 minutes to Paris. Of course someone could invent the MET transporters, like they used on Star Trek, then we could all have lunch in Paris and be back at work less than an hour later.If only.....Hey, Jay sounds pretty well informed as well, does he work for Disney, or just a fan like you?
 

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