Every summer since we got married, my wife and I travel to Orlando to visit our favorite place on earth, Walt Disney World. It is no secret that we're huge Disney fans and we look forward to our vacation every year. "But why go back year after year?" you say. "Don't you get bored of the same thing every year?" you say. Everything about the place is magical and so well-designed. There are changes constantly being made, with new attractions and resorts being added yearly. Even after all these trips, we still haven't experienced it all. And being the music nerds we are, there is a constant barrage of music to keep us happy and interested. In fact, there is probably a lot about the music around the parks that you don't know about. So I'm here to fill you in on some of the finer details that you may have never noticed.
First of all, let me say that every detail in the parks is researched and planned by a team of experts called "Imagineers." There are no accidents to the way everything is put together. The guest sees and hears everything exactly as they are supposed to. And the music you hear throughout the park is no exception.
The parks are designed to be a movie that the guests literally get to walk through. Walt Disney first made his fortune through movies, and the theme parks were just a natural extension of that. So walking through the front gates, the first thing you experience are the coming attractions (just like the movies). Musically speaking, you hear an
overture featuring songs you will hear throughout the park, although arranged in a different way than you will hear them later. This is done subtly, in the background, and you might not even notice, but the musical motifs are planted in your head right from the get-go.
Then as you walk through the different "lands" throughout the park, the music is themed to the style of the land. Take the Magic Kingdom, for example. The Magic Kingdom is divided into Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. So as you walk down Main Street, you hear
music from the turn of the century. Then as you enter Adventureland, the music transitions to
more tropical music with African drums and steel drums. Frontierland plays
bluegrass music. Liberty Square plays
American music like Yankee Doodle and Sousa marches. You get the idea. Now here is where the planning is going to blow your mind. As you transition from one land to the next, one type of music is faded out while the other is faded in seamlessly, and the songs are composed in the
SAME KEY so that it is not as noticeable when the background music changes. Speakers are hidden so well, that you constantly hear background music, but have no idea where it is coming from. Hint: some rocks and bushes aren't what they appear to be. While I just used Magic Kingdom as an example, this design applies to all the parks.
Many rides and attractions have their own theme song to go with it. We all know
It's a Small World. And you might also know
Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me from Pirates of the Caribbean. There's also
The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room,
Grim Grinning Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, and
There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow from the Carousel of Progress to name a few. The thing with these songs is that they are so catchy and repetitive; they are hard to get out of your head once you hear them.
Epcot, of course, has the World Showcase. As you walk from country to country, you can hear traditional music authentic to each country. There are even live musicians native to the countries who perform, such as
Japanese drummers and a
mariachi band in Mexico. You can literally take a musical trip around the world in just a few hours. What a great cultural experience. That alone is worth the price of admission. Epcot also has some of the
best symphonic scores composed as
background music throughout its Future World part of the park. The music is
truly timeless and defies any specific genre. And my favorite of all may be the music composed for the nightly fireworks called
Illuminations. Gavin Greenaway, the composer, really hit the nail on the head with this one. The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps even used the music as part of their
championship-winning show in 2000.
Hollywood Studios uses more familiar music throughout the park. The overture played at the entrance is composed of famous movie and television score music, such as James Bond, Star Wars, The Magnificent Seven, Gone With The Wind, etc. The park is actually set in 1940s Hollywood, so naturally you hear big band swing music as you stroll down Sunset Blvd. The music helps set the time frame. Hollywood Studios also has a nightly fireworks, water, and pyrotechnics show called Fantasmic, that also has a
unique and catchy soundtrack.
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| Finding Nemo - The Musical |
The imagineers have a great sense of humor as well. In Dinoland in the Animal Kingdom park, one of the songs playing in the background is REM's
It's the End of the World As We Know It as a nod toward the dinosaurs' impending extinction. Most people are too busy eating their overpriced burgers to notice. It's these subtle touches that make it so appealing to me. If you just slow down and take it all in, you'll notice that there is more to the design than just what you see on the surface. Animal Kingdom is also home to
Finding Nemo - the Musical, a Broadway-style show based on the Pixar movie.
It's not only the parks that get in on the themed background music. You can also find appropriately themed music at the Disney resorts. The Polynesian Resort plays traditional
Hawaiian ukulele music as you wander around the lobby and the grounds of the resort. The Grand Floridian Resort plays high-society jazz, and even has a
jazz orchestra that performs in the lobby. The Port Orleans Resort plays dixieland jazz. The Animal Kingdom Lodge plays African music. You get the idea. And if you take one of Disney's buses to the parks, you'll hear music playing in the background on the bus that previews the park you are about to visit. And on the trip back to your hotel, you'll hear the resort's background music being played on the bus.
You can also find great live music throughout the resorts. On our last trip, we went to Jellyroll's, a
dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk resort. The piano players would take requests from the audience and then play them on the spot. I requested some Pink Floyd, and so they played Comfortably Numb on two pianos. It was awesome. There is also the House of Blues at Downtown Disney which hosts touring acts throughout the year. I once saw Galactic perform there. And you can also see various school groups such as marching bands, show choirs, jazz bands, etc. performing throughout the parks. I'm proud to say that I led my students in a parade down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. It was definitely a magical experience.
Walt Disney clearly appreciated great music and saw its importance in the entertainment industry. Don't forget,
Fantasia was only the second feature film he ever produced back in 1940. The Disney Imagineers have kept his legacy going and honored his values with the way they have incorporated music into the parks. I think Walt would have been proud of what his parks have become.
Here are some more great musicians from Walt Disney World:
Fantasyland Sax Quartet performing the Theme From Monster's Inc.
The Disney Philharmonic performs on Main Street
The Dapper Dans sing barbershop tunes in the Magic Kingdom
Future Corps at Epcot was one of the best groups ever, but were cut some years ago. Shame on you, corporate Disney executives!
Future Corps was essentially replaced by
the Jamminators. While entertaining, they're not quite the same.
Off-Kilter rocks at the Canada Pavilion at Epcot's World Showcase
African Drums and Dance at Animal Kingdom
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