Walt Disney once said, ‘Music has always had a prominent part in all our products, from the early cartoon days. So much so, in fact, that I cannot think of the pictorial story without thinking of the complementary music that will fulfill it” Though he was speaking of the studios film work, he could just as easily be describing the Disney theme parks.
From the moment you approach the main gate of any of the Walt Disney World parks, music is already doing its part to immerse you in the magic, even if you dont real ize it. As you move through each park the music provides a soundtrack, or ‘audio wallpaper,’ to enhance each leg of your journey.
Many of the parks’ composers are also known for their outstanding contributions to film. Jerry Goldsmith, who created the unforgettable music for the Soarin attraction, penned the scores for Disney's Mulan, as well as many oth: er films including Lilies of the Field, Patton, Hoosiers, and The Omen, for which he won an Academy Award. Disney Legend Buddy Baker, whose attraction music can be heard in the Magic Kingdom’ Haunted Mansion and the Impressions de France film in Epcot, created the scores for a number of Disney animated and live-action films, such as The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Shaggy DA.
Bruce Broughton, whose music from Silverado appears both in Disneys Hollywood Studios and in the queue for Soarin, can be heard throughout Walt Disney World: he penned the soundtracks for One Mans Dream, Spaceship Earth, Ellen's Energy Adventure, and the films O Canada! and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Though his television work has garnered multiple Emmy Awards, and Silverado earned him an Oscar nomination, Broughton has a special place in his heart for his theme park compositions. "I have begun several of these projects with the thought that I didn't have a clue either as to what was going on or how I would do it," he said, "but I've honestly never worked on a theme park project that I didn't enjoy from top to bottom. I've often told people that theme parks and animation are the two jobs that are the most fun, partly because the composer is viewed as a real creative partner. The people you work with are very, very imaginative, prepared, and skilled. They know everything about the project down to the smallest detail."
[…]
