The Second Sense: A Disneyland Playlist, Part 1

In analyzing the new area loop for the Esplanade last week, I got to thinking about what such a music loop is, and the answer was both obvious and food for further thought: it's a themed playlist. Users of Pandora and similar internet radio services will be familiar with this concept—you choose a set of songs (and/or instrumental pieces) to enhance a mood, illustrate a concept, or otherwise adhere to, well, a theme. Think of the mixtapes of “makeout music” people would put together back in the day when tapes were still a thing. Or a student's “study playlist,” comprising songs that help them concentrate on their academic work.

The theme of the Esplanade music loop is, of course, “The Disneyland Resort.” The objective is to give arriving guests a foretaste of the sorts of attractions the two parks offer. I would say it succeeds (even without any reference to the Haunted Mansion), although first-time guests may not pay much attention or connect the rides they go on later with the snippets of music they heard upon arriving. They will probably at least recognize the tunes, and so the loop sets an appropriate “wonderful world of Disney” atmosphere.

We Disneyland fans, of course, like to create our own playlists honoring the park(s). Of course, ours generally consist of music and even non-musical audio taken directly from the attractions, live entertainment, and other experiences within the parks. We scour released albums and the internet for as much genuine Disneyland music as we can lay our hands on, and arrange it geographically, land by land, to create the perfect, comprehensive collection.

My Disneyland playlist easily occupies a 40-hour work week. Not that I'm bragging.

But suppose you didn't have access to all these specialized theme park albums? Suppose you wanted to create a working Disneyland playlist from the much more commonly found Disney film soundtracks and general genre music? Say, one song per significant attraction, maybe another to bring across the ambiance of each land? It wouldn't be 40 hours long, obviously, but it might occupy a long drive. (Such as the drive to Disneyland? Well, that depends on where you live.)

It needn't be completely devoid of park-specific melodies, as many of the more successful songs have been released on Disney compilation albums. Additionally, many of the individual performers and groups that have been stationed at Disneyland over the years have released recordings, some of which are still available.

For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing my version of such a thing. I've had to break it into segments because this post would be unfathomably long otherwise. So here's Part 1—Main Street and Adventureland.

Mellomen – “Meet Me Down on Main Street”

What better way to introduce Main Street, USA than with a barbershop-style song that calls it out by name? The Mellomen did a lot of work for Disney, including the voices of the card painters in Alice in Wonderland and including this little ditty.

Firehouse Five Plus Two – “Firehouse Stomp”

The Firehouse is an important Main Street landmark as well as a common place for live musical performances by various groups, including Walt Disney Studios' own fire department-themed jazz band, the Firehouse Five Plus Two. “Firehouse Stomp,” from their album Dixieland Favorites, is just one of the fire department-themed standards in their repertoire. That five-alarm opening was too good to pass up as a musical selection to represent the Firehouse itself.

“Golden Dream”

This was a tough one to decide on. There are quite a few potential musical options for the Main Street Opera House—befitting its name, I suppose—but most of them are either not widely available, or too somber for a pleasant exercise like this (looking at you, “Two Brothers”), or their usage was too short-lived. “Golden Dream,” though it originated with Epcot's American Adventure, has been adopted as the closeout song for the Opera House's most celebrated attraction, “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln.”

Chris Calabrese – “Main Street Medley”

This piano medley from a veteran Disney parks performer includes several tunes that have been part of Main Street area music over the years. As such, I consider it ideal to represent “walking down Main Street”—or riding, perhaps, in one of the Main Street Vehicles.

“Steamboat Willie”

Once semi-obscure but coming into mainstream prominence since it started being used in the logo for Walt Disney Animation Studios, this tune represents the Main Street Cinema, where the debut Mickey Mouse cartoon of the same name plays on an infinite loop. This particular arrangement actually comes from the Mickey's Toontown area music loop but has been widely adopted as the definitive version of the tune outside the context of the short. I like the idea of tying two areas of the park together this way.

“Jolly Holiday”

Since Main Street is a little light on memorable attractions, I'm throwing in a fanciful themed eatery to plump out the playlist. The Jolly Holiday Bakery has several years of service under its belt at this point, and it being named after a well-known Disney song makes the choice here obvious.

Ferde Grofe – “On the Trail”

Technically, the Disneyland Railroad is the first bona-fide attraction you encounter upon entering the park, since you have to walk under it to get in. Official Disneyland albums tend to put a track referencing the railroad right at the start of Main Street, but I tend to stick it on the back end, as if we've arrived at the Hub, been unsure as to where to go next, and backtracked to the train station in order to get a quick preview of the other lands.

As to the melody here, it is perhaps the most famous movement of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite, snippets of which play as the train passes by the Grand Canyon diorama. It's a lot more accessible than the music that accompanies the Primeval World diorama, and more fitting as a wrap-up to the friendly atmosphere of Main Street.

The Jungle Book - “Overture”

The main title instrumental of The Jungle Book is about the most perfect imaginable musical illustration of the Adventureland gateway. It was composed precisely to convey the impression of entering a tropical jungle far from civilization, and it's done in that great mid-century Disney style courtesy of George Bruns.

“In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room”

It's great when an attraction has its own instantly recognizable signature song, isn't it? This will come up again as the playlist continues.

“Arabian Nights”*

Just the intro to The Jungle Book makes a great intro for Adventureland in general, this song from Aladdin really dives into the mystique of Golden Age Arabia and the opulence suggested by Aladdin's Oasis.

I was tempted to use a song from Moana here, since it's currently being used as a meet-and-greet for the title character, but I decided this playlist ought to be more evergreen.

“Weird Al” Yankovic – “Skipper Dan”

Given that the Jungle Cruise is one of the signature Disney attractions, going all the way back to Opening Day, I'm a little surprised it has never garnered a Disney-produced theme song of its own. Instead, I've gone outside the Disney portfolio entirely, to the always delightful “Weird Al” Yankovic, who wrote and performed an amazingly on-point song about the trials and tribulations of being a Jungle Cruise skipper.

“Raiders March”

Another easy one. I guess there are some advantages to the fact that movie-based attractions are all the rage now and for the foreseeable future.

“Strangers Like Me”

Tarzan's Treehouse has its own unique arrangement of songs from the film Tarzan playing non-stop in the immediate area, but it's not the sort of thing that winds up in wide circulation. Our hypothetical amateur Disneyland playlist-builder would probably resort to the soundtrack version of “Strangers Like Me,” which is the most prominent melody in the arrangement.

Tune in next week for Part 2, covering New Orleans Square, Critter Country, and Frontierland!

* Content notice: This video uses the original lyrics for the song.