Horizons ---- RANDY THORNTON ???

[WDWGuy08]

Hi, All! I have recently been trying to figure something out. Why has their never been a proper Horizons release? I know World of Motion and Journey Into Imagination and SpaceShip Earth, etc... have never gotten a proper reelase either, but for this topic, I am focusing on Horizons only, ok? Are their rights, or money issues, involved, as always, or? Does Composer George Wilkins, Richard Bellis, or John Debney, have any say in this? Or even, Randy Thornton? I know there have been a few tracks from Horions released over the years, but the rest of the music deserves to be released, as well. I am sure it is easy to do, as it is from an old and extinct attraction. Will Hoirzons ever get a proper release in the future? It would take an entire CD, probably, with all the music from the attraction. Horizons has a massive amount of material. Perhaps, if Disney decided to do this one day, a Ride Thru could be done and released to the fans. Randy Thornton! Any insight in to why this was never done? Did someone shoot this idea down or? Please share your insight in tho this matter, as I am sure MANY of us are curious as to why, as well! Take Care, all!

 

[diegorivera2]

And fireworks, too. Don't forget the fireworks.

 

[WDWGuy08]

huh?

 

[Dr. Know]

I like the music written for Horizons as much as anyone else who posts here, but I'm pessimistic that we'll see any kind of official release in the near future. In the wake of the Disneyland 50th anniversary set, I had hoped something similar would appear for EPCOT's 25th. Alas, that wasn't in the cards.

 

[Gurgitoy2]

And a historical retrospective set, much like the Disneyland 50th set, would be the only way this would get released, in my opinion. It just doesn't make any sense for Disney to create a CD for an attraction that is no longer there. Now, maybe if they made a Mission Space CD and included Horizons on it, maybe, but highly unlikely.

I, for one, hope somehow, somewhere an EPCOT 25th CD, or boxed set sneaks under the radar and gets released this year. I know that's a pipe dream, but hey, I can keep dreaming, right?

 

[wedroy1923]

If we can dream it, then we can do it . . . sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[X-S Tech]

To answer the original question, the reason Horizons (or any of those other Classic Epcot attractions) didn't get an official release of any significance, is simple- why would they? I mean we would all like it, but Disney has never shown any interest in releasing whole CD's based on one attraction, until the Haunted Mansion album and then it was only a major anniversary that prompted it. They certainly are not daring enough to do it with anything less obscure than a 30 year old favorite that's in 4 Magic Kingdeom parks and been seen by billions of guests. And understandably so. Until the advent of online music downloads, the time and effort to release a proper Horizons CD probably would have been prohibitive compared to the relatively few people who would buy it. Here's hoping that Disney's deal with iTunes will soon expand to include WDI stuff.

 

[BLM07]

and if we close our eyes...and clap real hard...

there'll be a Hannah Montana CD out for the Epcot anniversary.

I don't think we will need to clap very hard for that to come true.

 

[Horizons]

And understandably so. Until the advent of online music downloads, the time and effort to release a proper Horizons CD probably would have been prohibitive compared to the relatively few people who would buy it. Here's hoping that Disney's deal with iTunes will soon expand to include WDI stuff.

I think this is the 64k question...how successful would selling park music on itunes (or CD, apart from an official album)be? Does anyone know why the Forever system was discontinued? I suspect that there was limited demand, maybe due to the $20 cost per CD, which may have been a bit expensive for 10 tracks (no matter how long the track was). I know I would purchase just about any park music that was released (even from Stitch's Great Escape), but I wonder how many times It's Fun to be Free - Version 15 would be downloaded by the masses. The good thing about itunes is that the cost of distribution could be fairly low, so even if there isn't a huge demand for some tracks, Disney could still turn a profit (isn't that what it's all about?).

 

[Ximagineer]

Does anyone know why the Forever system was discontinued?

The story floating around WDI when the Forever system was introduced was that Michael Eisneer stated that if any of the songs showed up on the internet, he would shut the project down. Whether that's true or not is pure speculation, but I think you hit it on the head: limited demand & high price. With the exception of those of us on this web site, how many Disneyland guests actually cared about spending $20 for a CD of the America on Parade music (which, in my opinion, gets really old after the first two minutes)?

I would love to see this stuff on iTunes, but is it worth it for Disney to pay Randy & Company all that money to remaster this music only to be sold to a limited number of fans at 99 cents a track (minus Apple's take)? Probably not, especially when most of it is already available on newsgroups and such.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[X-S Tech]

Unlike the Forever system, a digital music store release has almost no overhead after the initial release. The probelms that I kept hearing about with Forever was that the Parks didn't support it, they only wanted to reap the profits, not pay for upkeep or new releases. They were not the ideal partners for a music release- they wanted to treat the Wonderland/Forever systems like all thier other product and it wasn't- it required a different strategy. With a digital music store release, Disney Records and iTunes are the only ones who are involved and they are both thoroughly understand the music business.