Attraction songs, a thing of the past?

[fngoofy]

Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - Carousel of Progress
Tiki Room - Tiki Room (Under New Management)
A Pirates Life for Me - Pirates of the Caribbean
Grim Grinning Ghosts - Haunted Mansion
Its a Small World - Its a Small World
How Do You Do? - Splash Mountain

All great rides with great songs that not only score the experience, but in many cases act as a narrative shorthand to bring you up to speed on the story.

I can not think of music playing an important role in any attractions post Splash Mountain. Can anyone think of a newer attraction that features music to the extent of the ones listed above?

 

[eslocklier]

I just don't think its appreciated anymore, and if not its frankly just an unnecessary expense.

 

[Tigger1988]

The Finding Nemo ride has the Big Blue World song.

 

[WVParkfan]

I don't know, I think there are still some very good songs for newer attractions:

One Little Spark - Journey into Imagination
Condor Flats - Soarin'
Great Movie Ride Theme - Great Movie Ride
Part of Your World - Voyage of the Little Mermaid
You've got a Friend in Me - Toy Story Mania (area music)

But your list of the "originals" is definitely the best.

 

[Fable McCloud]

I seriously miss the original "Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" song. When I was a kid I had a Disney Sing-a-long that featured it, and i always wanted to see the birds singing it in real life.

I was very disappointed by the New Management when I went in '08, and I will see the attraction again, but it makes me sad to hear the song start and get cut off. The song is so wonderful! I miss it.

 

[JustInTime]

The Finding Nemo ride has the Big Blue World song.

You took mine. LOL. Big Blue world.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

I think Soarin's music is spectacular. The music plays a lesser role but there is more instrumental style music with the rides now.

So it's different than in the past and we all know how well the majority of society does with change. :wave:

 

[karlbeau]

I think the music for other attractions is just as meaningful despite the fact that there may be no words. Disney is famous for putting special thought into musical arrangements and backgrounds, even though many people don't notice.

The Impressions de France film, for example, has a fabulous sound track written by all French composers, yet arranged by a Disney arranger. To France, these songs have tremendously significant meaning. The same is true for Canada, which features the "Canadian Idol" winner singing the theme song.

Perhaps the music is not as obvious, but I do think the same amount of thought and planning goes into the music of today's attractions. It would not be Disney if it didn't!

 

[Donfan]

The musical score for the American Adventure in the US pavilion in EPCOT seems to fit your criteria, especially "Golden Dream".

 

[fngoofy]

I think Soarin's music is spectacular. The music plays a lesser role but there is more instrumental style music with the rides now.
So it's different than in the past and we all know how well the majority of society does with change. :wave:

I agree that what we do get now is more like movie scoring, background music that helps to set the feel. The new Soarin' and the Pirates background music in the queue are great examples, I agree. The others seem to be recycled from movies, like Little Mermaid and Toy Story.

To some of the other mentions:
Golden Dreams, One Little Spark, Canada, Impressions de France, American Adventure, and I think the Great Movie ride, all came before Splash.

Big Blue World is the stand out I think that came more recently (as far as catchy tunes go.)

Any others?

 

[sshindel]

I was very disappointed by the New Management when I went in '08, and I will see the attraction again, but it makes me sad to hear the song start and get cut off. The song is so wonderful! I miss it.

Talk about a sore subject for me. Every trip, I go into that attraction thinking it can't possibly be as bad as I remember. The original Tiki Room song starts, I smile and go to my happy place. Then it all comes crashing down on my head.

I'm seriously going to be planning a trip back out to Disneyland for the sole purpose of seeing the original version, in all it's glory, that made that attraction my favorite. I know that there are other things at DLR that I enjoy, but it's truly the Tiki Room Under New Management that makes me start pricing trips to Cali...

Back to the subject, I do think that the Big Blue World song is the best example of a recent theme that works well. Other than that, I think it's just scoring and mood music that inhabit the more recent attractions.

 

[Fable McCloud]

Talk about a sore subject for me. Every trip, I go into that attraction thinking it can't possibly be as bad as I remember. The original Tiki Room song starts, I smile and go to my happy place. Then it all comes crashing down on my head.

Thank you for agreeing with me! My BF's never been to WDW and he doesn't understand why I'm so up in arms about it. This is why I played him to song and tried to find a video of the original attraction so he could see what we're NOT going to see and hear.

 

[MarkTwain]

I agree that having an original song for some attractions is very important. What would CoP, Splash Mountain, or small world be without their soundtracks?

Many have mentioned the Big Blue World song in Nemo, and that's a good point. With the musically-promising Little Mermaid song on the horizon, hopefully this is a sign of a new trend in rides.

Others have mentioned scores for Soarin, Impressions de France, and (I'll add my own in) Universe of Energy. A great soundtrack is a very good thing, but I'm not sure it's quite the same thing as a catchy song - you can't really walk around the park singing your favorite song stuck in your head, can you?

Disney needs to find its new Sherman Brothers or X Atencio that can just create a catchy theme song when needed. Is Danny Elfman or Marc Shaiman anywhere nearby? :lookaroun

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

I agree that what we do get now is more like movie scoring, background music that helps to set the feel. The new Soarin' and the Pirates background music in the queue are great examples, I agree. The others seem to be recycled from movies, like Little Mermaid and Toy Story.

To some of the other mentions:
Golden Dreams, One Little Spark, Canada, Impressions de France, American Adventure, and I think the Great Movie ride, all came before Splash.

Big Blue World is the stand out I think that came more recently (as far as catchy tunes go.)

Any others?

I know the majority of people here don't like the attraction itself but I love the music for Stitch's Great Escape. I think it fits perfectly in the attraction.

Also, the music from China is pretty special as well and Spaceship Earth is great too.

While I do agree it would be nice to have that "catchy" style song but IMO, the instrumental style "movie scores" are more emotionally powerful. Hence the reason Spectro's music evokes more emotion than the MSEP does.

 

[Thrill Seeker]

The last couple attractions I've seen with original songs attached to them are:

"Big Blue World" The Seas with Nemo and Friends
"Destiny" Mission: SPACE

Pretty much everything else uses existing music or just background music.

 

[fngoofy]

The last couple attractions I've seen with original songs attached to them are:

"Big Blue World" The Seas with Nemo and Friends
"Destiny" Mission: SPACE

Pretty much everything else uses existing music or just background music.

I think you nailed it (does Destiny have lyrics? I was too green to notice when I rode.)

I didn't realize Little Mermaid would have any new music in it, I figured it would just recycle from the movie.

Let's see if we can pen something for it:

"Little mermaid...she's little, and a mermaid

Little mermaid, she lives under the water,
except when she has feet and then she lives on the land and isn't really a mermaid anymore...yeah

Little mermaid, she has fish and crustacean friends,
so Red Lobster is not a place you want to take her for diner...yeah"


I think that has a Sherman Brothers ring to it...yeah.

 

[SMRT-1]

anyone know the last song the sherman brothers created for an attraction?

 

[Prince-1]

This kind of reminds me of how television shows no longer have opening credit songs. Now they play 5-10 seconds of music and get right into the episode.