Originally Posted By sjhym333 I worked an overnight the other night at work to do a special project. I plugged my iPod into my ears and spent the next several hours listening to music. My music of choice that night was Disney attraction music. I spent the first 27 mins listening to the original entrance music from EPCOT Center. What a magnificent piece of music. Not a splicing together of music like you find today in the park but an honest to goodness 27 min suite of music that incorporated most of the music from the attractions on opening day. I have listened to it many many times over the years but this night in the quiet of work I was really moved by the beauty of the piece and that Disney cared enough to create this wonderful suite. As I listened thru my several hours of Disney theme park music I was struck at how important music has been as a part of my Disney experience. From the classics like Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Small World to the m eclectic pieces I listened to like the full Magic Journey's show with the whole Making Memories pre-show. There were beautiful reminders of attractions that are long gone from If You Had Wings and Delta Dreamflight to the original Journey into Imagination, El Rio Tiempo and both Energy Songs. I listened to both versions of O'Canada back to back and listened to Hall of Presidents from the original show to Clinton to Bush. One of my favorite newer attractions has been Soarin with the sound effects. All this to say how much I love Disney theme park music and look forward to the day that Disney once again offers music as an intrical part of its attractions.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Honestly, music is the one thing that is still done great by Disney. Even attractions that most deem crap have pretty good music. SGE has really good music. Same with M:S. Soarin' has terrific music. And the background tracks in parks like DHS and DAK are amazing.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 True, but only Soarin' has been an attraction that music takes center stage like many of the classic attractions. What is the last attraction built that you left singing the song?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I often put on music from the parks while I work. I've found it's pretty convenient to make a YouTube playlist (since I don't have a lot of it myself) of various songs, and have at it. The orchestral stuff from Epcot (both from the park's opening and the Millenium Celebration) seems to be a particular favorite of mine these days, but it's all pretty good.
Originally Posted By magic0214 May I ask, where did you get your attraction music? I have been wanting to get old EPCOT tracks for months now, and have not been able to find it.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I have collected them over the years from different sites and friends. My ipod tells me that I have over 100 tracks and over 11 hours of music.
Originally Posted By DlandDug <----- would also like to see the return of the attraction specific soundtrack. With MP3s there's no real risk in making even obscure tracks available to those who value them...
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper ^^^^You can find them everywhere on the net for free. Disney doesn't sell the soundtracks, so it's not illegal to download them.
Originally Posted By standor Go to you tube and enter disneyworld music and a lot of soundtracks and pictures come up.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <^^^You can find them everywhere on the net for free. Disney doesn't sell the soundtracks, so it's not illegal to download> is that how justify it?
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer Speaking as someone who has 12.08 gigs of background loops and park music, YES, Disney music is very, very, great. (I collect...)
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Preaching to the choir here. The background music at EPCOT Center was just another element of that park that made it amazing to me. It was one of the reasons I was so disappointed with the music for Disney's California Adventure -- with that collection of 'California' songs that would seem to repeat every 12 minutes. ugh. I imagine with the new street and entrance area that the music will change too. Here's to Disney Theme Park Attraction songs!
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Here's to Disney Theme Park Attraction songs!>> And how I wish they would go back to creating attractions with original songs. A really good dark ride with an original score would be wonderful! And why, oh why, don't they bring back the "Listen to the Land" song at EPCOT? That ride really, really needs a new beginning and ending, and I think having "Listen to the Land" back would really be a great way to "plus" that attraction.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA true that plpeters70. I often wonder who decides to take out an attraction song in the first place. Snipping out the song 'Listen to the Land'? Why?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA It's remarkable how much original music was created for EPCOT Center in the early years. As I was writing some of these down, I did a bit of online research to find out who wrote what... Spaceship Earth 'Tomorrow's Child' as its theme (written by Ron Ovadia & Peter Stougaard -- two people I've not had much luck finding information about) Imagination Pavilion 'Makin' Memories' - part of the 'Imagination' pre-show (written by The Sherman Brothers), and then... 'Magic Journeys' -- the theme song in that original 3-D movie 'Magic Journeys' (also by The Sherman Brothers) and then... 'One Little Spark' -- part of the actual 'Imagination' attraction (again The Sherman Brothers) The Land Pavilion "Listen to the Land" -- the original boat ride in the Land pavilion (written by Bob Moline) I don't know much about Bob, but he's an Inspirational composer -- here's a link to a page about him <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/BobMoline" target="_blank">http://www.squidoo.com/BobMoline</a> As a side note, Bob Moline also wrote the original 'Oh Canada!' theme for the CircleVision movie in Canada. 'Canada, you're a life time journey for the traveler...' Mr. Moline also wrote the beautiful melody for 'Golden Dreams' with lyrics by Imagineer Randy Bright. Not to be confused by 'Just One Dream' that was written for 'Golden Dreams' at Disney's California Adventurew --hich was written by John Bettis and Walter Afanasieff (John Bettis co-wrote the hit 'Yesterday Once More' with Richard Carpenter -- Walter Afanasieff was a producer and wrote songs for Mariah Carey for years) But I digress...back to The Land pavilion 'Kitchen Kabaret' -- all the tunes there were original, including 'veggie-veggie-fruit-fruit' -- co-written by Buddy Baker and Scott Hennessy (and Imagineer) Universe of Energy In the pre-show, just after that cool movie with the multiple moving screens, they played 'Energy (You Make the World Go Round)' (also by Bob Moline) and then... The song 'Universe of Energy' at the end of the theatre show. Which I've just learned was written by Al Kasha / Joel Hirschhorn who (along with writing 'There's Got to Be a Morning After' for 'The Poseidon Adventure' also wrote the songs for Disney's musical 'Pete's Dragon') Horizons The song 'New Horizons' started in the queue and continued with various themes continued throughout. (written by George Wilkins, who was apparently the 'Composer in Residence' at WDI for several years) <a href="http://www.pasoroblesfilmfestival.com/Panel%20Members/george_wilkins.htm" target="_blank">http://www.pasoroblesfilmfesti...kins.htm</a> World of Motion The catchy 'Fun to be Free' song (I though it was written by The Sherman Brothers. Not so! It was Buddy Baker and X. Atencio -- who wrote 'Grim Grinning Ghosts' for the Haunted Mansion) That was fun. I may have missed some things, please feel free to add to this...
Originally Posted By plpeters70 Great Post Jim - love all those songs! Of all the Disney Theme Parks, EPCOT Center probably had more original music created for it than any other park. The original designers really knew the value of a good attraction song, and how it could make that attraction that much more memorable. It's what you walk away humming. It's really a shame that Disney has basically stopped creating attraction songs these days. I guess I understand why the newer rides don't have songs - they're either based on an already existing franchise, or they're to short to need one. The original EPCOT Center attractions, and rides like Pirates and Mansion, were really more like traveling shows. They had opening acts, a middle, and a grand finale - so there was time to introduce a song, and re-enforce it throughout the ride blending in different themes. They just don't seem to build those rides anymore. One interesting modern attempt at incorporating a song into a ride is the use of "Big, Blue World" in The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Here was a great opportunity to create a fun ride with a cute theme song that would have been memorable. But, unfortunately, they kind of botched it. They only play that song for the last few seconds of the ride, as you're traveling past the windows, so there isn't much time for it to connect with you. They should have worked the theme into more of the attraction - and created some original music for the queue that incorporated that theme. That would have helped create more of an impact, but instead, you really just hear it for about 30 seconds at the end of the ride.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA This is a fun thread. Years ago, a poster here - I think arstogas -- posted his 'review' and commentary on the EPCOT Center suite of music. He was able to identify most of the pieces of music. I'd love to be able to read it again, but have not had much luck finding it.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 I thought of another original song you left off the list Jim - the theme song for El Rio del Tiempo! I was only able to find this info on a discussion board, but apparently the song was written by X. Atencio with music by Armando Corral!
Originally Posted By sjhym333 What about: Two Brothers (Irving Gordon) New World Bound (X. Atencio and Buddy Baker)
