Continuing on in my (unintentional) series about Disney...

I have of course very fond memories of my time as a Disney Cast Member. I loved spending time alone in the parks, when off-duty. It may sound a bit sad but it is very hard to feel lonely when surrounded by happy families on vacation and all enjoying the warm sunshine and the blue skies, while making memories that will last forever.

My favourite thing to do in the parks was to sit and eat a hot dog while watching the Fountain of Nations in Epcot while it performed it’s explosive and watery shows. Seriously, I loved to do this (plus, I really love hot dogs and it’s the one thing I miss now that I’m veggie!) and I sometimes would hang around so that I could catch two or more shows. I loved it.

Thinking about it now, I think what I really liked about this was that it was a chance for Disney music to shine. I am talking about all that background music that you can hear everywhere on property as well as the music from the rides. I have always found it interesting that these pieces of music – produced by hundreds of people – are so ephemeral. Once we leave the park or the ride, poof! It’s gone... sometimes people don’t even notice the music because it’s only in the background, but it is there, contributing to the overall mood of the place.

I was thinking about this the other day when I stumbled across a tribute website for Horizons, that ride that has now been demolished to make way for Mission: Space. I always thought Horizons had the best music of any ride and when it went, it took it’s music with it... or so I thought! This loving website had tracks for everything – from the background entrance music to recordings of the ride with all the dialogue. I spent many happy hours working with the beautiful sounds in my headphones. I must admit I even got a lump in my throat when I heard the familiar sounds and bits of dialogue from this now-gone show.

This made me hungry for more and I searched and found lots and lots of sites where I could listen to all this wonderful music. I found music from the rides, background music and even recorded announcements from the parks! Listening to the announcement that invites you into Epcot after opening really took me back to the old days and made me even a bit weepy.

But my favourite site is one where I found the music for the Fountain of Nations. So as I am writing this I am listening to the Air Battle excerpt from Surprise in the Skies, which now plays in the fountain during the day. Although I am sitting in a run-of-the-mill office building somewhere in the middle of England, my mind feels it is sitting by the Fountain of Nations, listening to some glorious music while surrounded by happy people and bathed in warm sunshine.

Not bad for some background music, huh?

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