Coronado Springs, a taste, a comment and confusion
You know there have been some interesting discussions on the use of sound and music on Disney property to set the mood, tell the story, and make you feel like you've been transported to a time, a place or story. We've also had some interesting critiques of some of the playlists, For example, the playlist at Pop Century, omitting some important songs, while including some that weren't so popular. Other discussions include wondering why on earth a person with the power to develop an official playlist would put the list in alphabetical order?
So A couple of weeks ago, I was in Orlando for a conference at Disney's Coronado Springs, which was my first Disney based conference. Also, my first time at Coronado Springs, I'm sure with the conferences I attend, that I'll eventually be back.
So, my introduction to the Resort's theme came on a Disney transportation bus. Which referred to "Ancient Mexico and the American Southwest" as the stated theme. When I started noticing some irregularities in the music, I looked up the theme on the Disney website. which says "Relive the romance of Spanish Colonial Mexico at this enchanting Resort hotel. Find your mythical city of gold in a Southwestern-themed haven of brightly colored casitas, rustic ranchos and beachfront cabanas encircling a glimmering 22-acre lake. Each accommodation provides a unique escape and welcoming home away from home."
We've established that Mexico is part of the theme, but there is a long way between Ancient and the Spanish Colonial period.
Ancient Mexico... Let's for sake of argument use 1400 BC through 1521 AD when the Spaniards landed in Mexico. Not sure how you would find music for this. Not exactly like there is a lot of CDs with Olmec, Aztec, Toltec, Teotihuacan or Mayan music out there.
Spanish Colonial Period... Let's look at 1521 until the 1810 Mexican war of Independence. Here it is easier to find the music, but you'll find that this isn't much represented either.
American Southwest? This can mean a lot, but there isn't a time period listed so that leaves it open to interpretation.
Let me give you some of the tracks I was able to document during my trip. I wasn't able to get them in order or a whole playlist.
1) La Cucaracha
2) Butterfly/Juniper <4 Kelly
3) Capricho Arabe
4) Pajaro Carpintero
5) Viva Autlan
6) El Borracho
7) Cogele El Gusto
8) Wipala
9) Wind Band
10) Adios
11) La Torolita
12) La Chula Linda
13) Torero
14) Cachi Mucida
15) Turkish Night
16) Wipala
17) La Margarita
18) La Sandungar
Now, there are a few tracks that are so far off base here that it is impossible for me to fathom how they decided to place the song into the playlist.
Mariachi music, while commonly associated with Mexico, it isn't found historically until about 1880 in Jalisco. So the style of music doesn't fit the time.
Tracks such as 7 and 12 are actually Cuban and in a style typical...
Then we have track 16... Andean music... Land of the Incas, not Mexico or otherwise...
Track 9 is for me a WTF track. it doesn't fit, it makes no sense in any way I can find.
So this is a perplexing list, and in many ways doesn't tell the story. to me this may be one of the most far off the mark playlists for telling the resort's story, that I've seen.
![Coronado Springs Resort [1997]](/data/resource_icons/0/34.jpg?1459489342){kind=icon}
