Walt Disney World Resort hotels include their own medley of music loops, from the cozy acoustic sounds of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge to the whimsical, Disney-inspired songs at the Disneyland Hotel. In this episode, we analyze the music loops of the Disney Resort hotels in the EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, and Disneyland resort areas. We also discuss how Walt Disney Imagineering selects music to match the theme of each Disney resort hotel.
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Transcript (Auto-Generated):
Do you love the background music at the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort hotels? Then this episode is especially for you. Welcome aboard Imagination Skyway. Your guided tour through the worlds of Disney and Imagineering. I’m your host, Matthew Krul, and it’s my job to explore the stories and places we love and the people who bring them to life. In today’s episode, we discuss the background music of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels found in the Epcot Resort area and Magic Kingdom Resort area, as well as the Disneyland Resort hotels. These hotels include Disney’s Boardwalk, Disney’s Riviera Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, the Disneyland Hotel, and beyond. If you missed our previous episode, definitely check it out because in that one, we discussed the music of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and Disney Springs Resort areas. Like our previous conversation. In this episode, we discuss what makes each hotels music loop unique and how it connects to the broader Imagineering theme of that property. As you fasten your seat belt, I encourage you to follow Imagination Skyway on your favorite social media app. And if you’re looking for ad free episodes and bonus content, you can become an Imagination Skyway Pass holder at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. Plus, if this episode leaves you longing for that next trip to Disney or any other destination, reach out to our partners and sponsors at travel voted the top travel agency in Orlando in twenty twenty five. To get started, visit travel dot com slash Skyway. As we begin our journey, please remain seated. Keep your hands and arms inside the podcast at all times and enjoy your journey aboard Imagination Skyway. So now let’s jump over to the Epcot Resort area. And I intentionally saved Old Key West for last and then forgot it because I wanted to jump over to the first stop. Uh, is is very close geographically to old Key West. Um, not as closest resort, but, uh, it’s theme is geographically the closest, which is Disney’s Caribbean Beach resort. And, uh, this one is pretty obvious. The theme of this resort is of course the Caribbean. Um, so you’re going to have all the different sections are themed after different islands you can visit in the Caribbean. You’ve got Jamaica there, you have Trinidad and Tobago. Um, you’ve got like a lot of those, those elements of the Caribbean that are there. Um, and this, you know, it’s very, very, very similar, um, to old Key West in its music. So you’re also going to get a lot of calypso music, but you’re also going to get some more. So there’s a lot of steel drum music you’re going to be hearing throughout the resort. Um, but you’re going to get some other Caribbean influences in there as well. So this property is one of the Skyliner resorts you could take. It’s actually it is the Skyliner hub. It is the main Skyliner resort hotel. So you can take the Skyliner to any destination from Caribbean Beach without a transfer. It’s the only resort on the Skyliner line that can say that, and it’s very laid back. It’s island vibes. It’s got a lighthouse that’s sort of reminiscent of some of the lighthouses you would see in the Caribbean. It now has a full service restaurant, which not a lot of the resorts and the moderate level have that. Um, actually now a lot of them do. They didn’t, didn’t used to, but used to just be Coronado Springs and Riverside at Port Orleans. But Caribbean Beach now has a full service restaurant, which is Sebastian’s Bistro. And it’s, it’s surrounding a large lake. So there’s a lot of beachfront property to make it feel like you’re in the Caribbean. And the music, as I said, is meant to feel like a Caribbean retreat. So it’s for people like me. If you don’t want to do a cruise but you want to be on land. Excuse me. Good times. I’m joking to go over to you, Mike. Yeah. So, uh, as far as, uh, what I noted here, too, again, you mentioned calypso style music. I know it’s also, for the most part, it’s very upbeat and cheerful. You have some resorts that are going to be a little bit more calmer, if you will, uh, a little bit more relaxed where this was a little bit again, you want to feel that that you’re on this beach, right? So it’s going to be a little bit more of that kind of upbeat kind of feel to it where still again, very relaxing, but that that kind of an enjoyment. It’s a little bit of a different type of relax, if you will. And what I also noticed too, at least from what I looked into, I did stay at Caribbean Beach, but that was a very long time ago. And so maybe you can help clarify, Matt, is are there any Disney songs that are that steel drum version at Caribbean Beach because I didn’t find any. So that could be that. That was. One thing I did notice was a difference where old Key West feel felt like it focused on Disney songs, but in this calypso style fashion, in comparison to Caribbean Beach, where it felt a little bit more of a traditional aspect of things, where it made you feel like you’re on this beach resort specifically, rather than at a Disney resort hotel. Yep, exactly. All right, so let’s go to my favorite resort, which is Disney’s Riviera Resort. As I said, if you forced me to pick one, this is the property that I love the most. Uh, we did an episode about Riviera resorts. So Kelly and I talked about this property a bit, but this is heavily European influenced, in particular the Riviera, the French Riviera, the Italian Riviera, and Walt’s trips to France and Italy and the rest of Europe in the nineteen thirties, where he got inspiration for a lot of animated films that would come after that. Excuse me. So the music that’s here is going to be heavily inspired by those regions of the world. That’s romantic. You’re going to get some bossa nova. You’re going to get some traditional French and Italian music, and it’s just such a luxurious place to stay, whether you’re sitting by the pool or enjoying a meal at Topolino Terrace or in your room, whatever, whatever the case might be. Um, so, Mike, anything you discovered from the music at Disney’s Riviera Resort? Well, as you mentioned, it’s a very European style, very jazz, uh, influence in the type of music. I also noticed, too, that in the case of other resorts, that this one in particular does have a couple of songs that had some vocals in them, and one of them in particular that I noticed was Someday My Prince Will come, which was sung in French, which I thought was great. I actually thought it was perfect for this particular resort, so I really appreciate that element of it. But those are the things I noticed. There’s also some other songs in there too. Everybody Wants to Be a Cat, which I thought was very appropriate as well. It definitely felt very upscale, high society, European. As far as the music, I mean the resort to in general, but also specifically the music was complimentary to that too. Yeah, all pretty much all the Disney songs that you hear. Um, Cruella de Vil is another one. Um, the Bare Necessities, uh, those are all sung in French or Italian. The only one that’s exactly as it was was Le Festin from Ratatouille. Um, because that’s already sung in French. Right. Exactly. Which also I appreciate too. Yep, exactly. I did appreciate the fact that there was a like an original take on the song, which was from Ratatouille. Yeah. So it’s, it’s definitely going to play into those, uh, those romantic themes. And, uh, it’s great that you have the music sung in French and Italian at this resort as well. So, uh, pretty straightforward resort from a music perspective, but one that is also very calming and relaxing as you are on that property. So we took the, we walked maybe or took the Skyliner from Caribbean Beach to Riviera. We’re now going to take the Skyliner from Riviera to Crescent Lake because we have boardwalk and yacht and Beach Club, um, as rounding out the Epcot resorts. And these are just. There are three properties, but they are two music loops because Yacht and Beach Club do share a music loop, but we’re going to start with Disney’s Boardwalk, which Kelly and I also did an episode about boardwalk. And it is, you know, turn of the century American boardwalks inspired heavily by places like Atlantic City. And so the music is going to be very turn of the century. It almost feels like Main Street, but a seaside version of Main Street. So you’re going to get a lot of the music that fits into that theme. There’s also a, you know, a carousel theme that that’s interwoven into, uh, Disney’s Boardwalk because it’s sort of playing on the seaside attractions, the carousels, Ferris wheels, um, circus amusements that you would find in a turn of the century classic boardwalk. Um, but it has a lot of those classic elements. So when you’re walking through the property, you’re staying at the property, that sort of old timey music, the way the songs that they chose are very calming and relaxing. Again, sort of play into that luxurious beachfront or boardwalk property. So it’s, it’s still a really one of my favorite places to say, like I said, one of my top three resorts. But Mike, anything you discovered with the music? Yeah, I would say in addition to that, as you mentioned, to very turn of the century also notes a lot of twenties, forties, early jazz type music in there as well. So you’re going to have artists like Louis Armstrong, also Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, right? All the greats from that era are all being featured in the music loop. Yeah. It’s, uh, you’re going to get a lot of swing in there, like you said. So it’s a lot of swing, swing and jazz. It’s all that within that era. So. So I appreciate that fact. Again, it’s still relaxing, but it’s a little bit more of that swingy upbeat type of feel too, as you’re taking a stroll along the boardwalk. Yeah. Now as you head across Crescent Lake, you’re going to reach Yacht and Beach Club. They share the same music loop, and the theme of Yacht and Beach Club is a little bit more New England’s. Um. In fact, there’s even a bar called Martha’s Vineyard. Right. You’ve got, you’ve got, uh, it’s it’s meant to evoke the luxurious beachside properties of New England’s um, you know, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, very much up in that area of, uh, of the United States. And so the properties have slightly different themes. Beach club is going to get more blues. It’s meant to be more of that, like beachfront property. And yacht club is meant to be a little bit more nautical in theme. So you get more grays, you get more dark wood tones that are in there. And so they have slightly different vibes, but they do share the same music loop, which interestingly, like this is also one of my favorite music loops. Um, of all the Disney properties, it’s, it’s a little bit more, I don’t know how it’s really hard for me to describe the music. So like, maybe you could do a better job of doing it, but you’re going to get a lot of acoustic music in here, first of all. Um, but it’s, it’s, uh, it’s a little bit more like for me, it’s more like a cafe vibe, the sort of the music that you’re getting while you’re there, but it’s very laid back. All these are It’s another deluxe property. Great place to stay. Um, so that’s more of the, the musical element that I find when I’m listening to it. But like any other like takeaways from a musical perspective that you can mention for this property’s music loop. Very guitar heavy, smooth jazz. Um, the best I can encapsulate it all is that’s the one I mentioned. This is very weather channel. So. So, but it’s like almost new agey, smooth, jazzy, kind of a feel to it, if you will. Like that’s the best. I could probably explain it. Is that also very because when was um, when was yacht and beach club built. Two. That’s a good question. I think it was. Let me look it up. I want to say late nineties, early two thousand. That’s what I want to say. Yeah. That’s when. Oh never mind. Nineteen ninety. Nineteen ninety. Mhm. Wow. That is Way older than I was expecting it. That’s that’s interesting. I wonder if they updated the music loop because it felt it felt like it was again, like very late nineties, early two thousand Weather Channel. And I wonder if that was a renovation, because I know that Beach Club went through a couple of renovations over the years, so I wonder if that was the timing of it. But it definitely reminds me of music in that particular time frame. Yeah, it could, it could definitely be. It’s new age was the word I was looking for or the genre I was looking for to describe it. The acoustic heavy and jazz is in there too, like you said. Um, but that’s why I, like I said, it’s, it’s almost like a cafe vibe to the music that you’re listening. I like, I like you mentioned cafe vibe. I can definitely see that for sure. Absolutely. Um, okay, so we’re going through these pretty quickly now because I realized the, uh, the pace at which we’re going through the first few, but I know as we go through Animal Kingdom Lodge in the entire history of like, okay, pre prepared for five hour episode. Yeah. So here’s the fun bit. I think well, these are all fun. But now we move into the Magic Kingdom resort area, which includes Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, Disney’s contemporary resort, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. So there’s five properties at in the Magic Kingdom resort area, rivaled only by ESPN Wide World of Sports, because all stars are technically three properties, but these are five quite different properties from each other. Um Wilderness Lodge is the newest of them from the from the nineties. But if you take that out of the equation, um, the three original Magic Kingdom, sorry, the three original Walt Disney World resorts were here. Um, Fort Wilderness Resort, contemporary resort and Polynesian like these are all within the first year they opened at Walt Disney World within the first couple of months. Actually, they opened at Walt Disney World, and they play into the three or three of the lands at Magic Kingdom. Fort wilderness is meant to be an extension of frontier lands. Contemporary is meant to be an extension of Tomorrowland, and Polynesian is meant to be an extension of Adventureland. So the music that you hear is also very much going to play into those themes. So maybe we should actually start with those because they were the original three. And we’ll start with Fort Wilderness Resort. And really the only place you hear music here is in Pioneer Hall because it is a campground. So you’re not going to hear music out in the campgrounds, but you will hear them at Pioneer Hall. And for me, like this is just as if it’s another building in front of your land because it’s going to play into that eighteen hundreds style of music that you would hear in the Old West. Um, so, or at least reminiscence of that and some of Americana style of music that you’re going to hear too. Um, but anything, any takeaways from Fort Wilderness because this one, you know, to me is the most directly it plays into that frontier land theme. But anything you notice about the music loop. Yes, you’re going to put on your Sunday best because it’s going to be a hoedown. So a lot of bluegrass, a lot of funk country. You’re going to have a lot of banjos in there, fiddle, upright bass, anything that you can think of about that Appalachian, you know, country style of music, that’s what it’s going to feel like when you are in this area. But in addition to that too, I did mention that, you know, you mentioned before about extension of frontier Land, and the music does sound very similar to what you would hear on Big Thunder Mountain. So think of that if you remember going on that cue, what that music is like. That’s what reminisce of myself When I was listening to this particular music loop. I will dare to say this is probably the wildest resort in the wilderness. Ha ha ha. I like it, I like it. Um, yeah, it’s it’s very much that like rustic cabin lodge type of theming. And, uh, so that’s, that’s the music that you’re gonna hear there as well. So that’s a, a good way to summarize it. Um, you know, maybe by extension, before we jump to the other two, opening day, uh, resort hotels, let’s jump over to Wilderness Lodge, which is a favorite. Like I, I love wilderness Lodge that the grand lobby, the fireplace, the like everything about this, it’s, it’s, it’s like luxurious. And the weird thing about it is I always say it feels both intimate and grand at the same time. It’s a huge lodge, but it feels like an intimate small lodge at the same time. Just the design. The architecture of it is so smartly done. Um, and the thing the Wilderness Lodge has one of my favorite music loops too. Um, and here it’s a little bit more and I don’t know the, again, like the musical term to describe it, but you’re going to get a little bit more like organic, natural sounds that you would find in a, an American, um, national park. So, uh, you’re going to hear like woodwinds, you’re going to hear some light acoustic guitar. Um, you’re going to hear, uh, you know, occasionally some other instruments that are going to play there as well. But it feels very majestic. Like you’re like, when you hear that music, it’s as if like you’re going around a corner and see the Grand Tetons, or you’re going to be like, you feel like you’re wandering through Yosemite and discovering like the, the, the natural beauty of Wyoming or Montana. Like it just it has. And its designs its its does have a heavy inspiration from the lodge at, uh, Yosemite, sorry, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park. Um, but like it, that music definitely plays into like, it’s partially muted. Some of the songs are muted and relaxing and like you’re sitting by a fireplace in the lodge and you’re just thinking about your day reflecting like it’s, it’s that sort of like, again, very woodwind heavy, very, very, uh, a lot of acoustic guitar, very like, uh, but at the same time, then you’re going to also have these songs that are, that are grand and majestic and meant to speak to the natural beauty of the area in which this resort represents. So that’s my very poor way of describing it. But is there honestly, you did a great job, and I will say that in addition to that, so that, again, that majestic, almost cinematic element of if you were in a Western film, this frontier film. Right. And if you were there better, that would that was that’s the feel that I got from, you know, listening to this music. And I have stayed at Wilderness Lodge as well. It was actually right around when it opened. It was relatively new. And I remember going there as a kid. And one of the things I loved was the boat that would take you to the park. So that was one of the things that I loved. But in addition to that, though, as far as the music is concerned that, you know, almost like Americana, classical style to it too, to a degree is, is kind of in there. The one thing that I, I had to check, and I am not one hundred percent sure on this, but I did check a couple sources, but I think they incorporate it into their. The one of the soundtracks from The Mighty Ducks two. Interesting. And I write because somebody. So I was looking online and somebody made a comment about this and I’m like, is this true? And then so I looked into it a little bit further. And yeah, there are a number of people that confirmed that the music from The Mighty Ducks two is at the Wilderness Lodge. And I did listen to it, and it does make the section that they took did make sense. It’s a very again, that majestic feeling that is that was part of it at that part of the film. So that I thought was interesting. But again, I couldn’t find any anywhere that made it made it one hundred percent clear. But there was a couple of areas that confirmed that The Mighty Ducks two music is in the Wilderness Lodge. Um, I’ll have to go back and check because I honestly don’t know. Um, I have to think about the theme. Like I’ve listened to the resort loop a bunch, but, uh, can’t recall if that’s the case. I mean, sometimes what they’ll do is they’ll write, I think, and we’ve seen this happen before too, where they will grab music that is very much aligned to everything else, but is such an outlier in comparison to everything else. And it comes to mind is the, uh, the theme to Air Force One being in a part of Soarin, for example. So, uh, so just like, like a case in point where it’s very, even though it has to do with flight, it’s a very different type of film in comparison to, let’s say, The Rocketeer or some of the other films that are incorporated into that music loop. But yeah, so again, I want to clarify that it’s not one hundred percent confirmed, but at the same token, I did find that was very interesting. Yeah. That’s, uh, any, anybody who could fact check us at home. Let us know if you’ve heard that yet. Please do, because I did check around. I looked at a number of different sources, but I couldn’t find anybody that actually was able to grab a video having that music being played at the Wilderness Lodge. So if you happen to find that, please let us know. Yeah, absolutely. Um, okay, that’s Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. And that reminds me, by the way. So I’m going to say I’m going to change my dream resort answer to a resort I haven’t stayed at before because it doesn’t exist yet. Um, but Disney is building another sort of wilderness inspired, um. Resort in this area. So they’re going to have Fort Wilderness. They have Fort Wilderness, they have wilderness Lodge and taking up the old, uh, river country. Part of Bay Lake is Reflections, a Disney lakeside lodge that is opening next year. So that is going to be we’ll say we’ll see what music loop that has and that I’ll put as my dream resort, uh, above Grand Floridian club level. Like I had to just put them like I haven’t done that before, but I’ll even put, um, reflections, uh, Lakeside Lakeshore Lodge ahead of that. Um, okay. We still have three properties in the Magic Kingdom resort area and let’s go to the closest one to Wilderness Lodge in Fort Wilderness, which is Disney’s contemporary resort. And Mike, you mentioned this as one of your, you know, your favorites. It’s got the monorail going through it. Like I said, it’s themed after Tomorrowland. Um, and now they’ve updated that with The Incredibles theming, which fits in that retro era vision of the future. Mhm. Um, it’s intentionally a part of the Tomorrowland skyline because if you’re in magic in the park, you can see contemporary behind Tomorrowland. It’s meant to be a part of Tomorrowland, the monorail going through it again, like right through the middle of the lobby. Meant to be an extension of Tomorrowland. But the music is not Tomorrowland music. Um, so it doesn’t have that like, which is maybe intentional. Uh, it was definitely intentional, but it’s, it’s more, um, this is going to sound very like obvious, but it’s contemporary music is what, it’s what you’re going to hear in there. I literally had that as a note on here too. It’s like you say, almost contemporary. I’m not. I’m not giving you a lazy answer. I’m giving you the real answer. It’s contemporary music. It’s true though it is. It’s very new age. It’s very smooth jazz. It’s like again, very it. And maybe that was by intent, but also to. I feel that a lot of that music again, is very relaxing, but also has this modern feel to it. And that’s a really challenging blend to have because a lot of times that modern feel can, can feel dated, if you know what I mean. Where this type of music for the most part feels, I don’t want to say completely timeless, but it does definitely feels it doesn’t feel as dated as some other styles of music will be. So I feel like for something like this where again, it’s meant to be the future and tomorrow and so forth, they want music that’s going to reflect that, and that’s very challenging to do. And I feel like that this is a good balance for this type of a resort. Yeah, it’s you know what it is. It’s not cliche. Like it’s not it’s not cliche Tomorrowland. It’s not like a, a movie about the future. It’s meant to actually transport you into a almost like a retro what a hotel the future might be. And in a hotel, the future, you’re still going to have that luxurious vibe to relax at the end of the day. So they pick this like weather channel, like music, um, to really, um. Bring you at ease. Like when you walk into that lobby, it, it visually speaks Tomorrowland and like contemporary design and architecture, but you’re also going to have that laid back feeling, like you said, and this is another one of those really long music loops. So that’s, so that’s contemporary. Um, we’ll continue on the monorail, the resort monorail, because the next stop after the transportation and ticket center is Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. And I covered this in another episode with Kelly. We’re sort of making our rounds through the different resorts at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. And, uh, this one, not surprisingly, uh, you know, Polynesian is one of the opening day resorts and it’s evolved over time, but it still plays into the Polynesian islands. Um, you know, you have, uh, the different islands represented there, like Samoa’s represented there. Hawaii’s represented there. Tangaroa. You have a lot of those, um, you know, those Polynesian, um, islands represented. And so the music is not surprisingly very traditional. Um, you’re gonna hear a lot of traditional laid back music from Hawaii, Samoa and beyond. Um, this is like an over a three hour music loop. So it’s it’s because a lot of people spend time at Polynesian and they. This is one of those cases where Imagineers again, design music loops for how long they think you’re going to be there. Um, and it’s a, it’s a resort that’s visited a lot. So the music, um, again, like, I don’t know any of the specific artists, uh, but I do know that all the music that’s there, you feel like you’re on a Hawaiian vacation. Um, or you’re in Tahiti or, you know, it’s, it’s meant to play into the traditional music of that part of the world. Um, Mike, any standouts for you or anything you noticed about this? Yes. Because it was interesting that you mentioned before about how a number of these resorts are extensions of Magic Kingdom and in this case scenario, specifically with Adventureland. So I did notice that they do have a version of Tiki Room in there in the tiki tiki Tiki room. So I thought that was a nice connection between the. Specifically for Adventureland in the Park as well as the Polynesian resort. Never stated Polynesian before, but this is a resort that I do frequent quite often because a lot of times it’s usually going to the restaurants, but also to. It’s such a beautiful resort and just lounging around. And also it’s an easy stop, right? Especially if you’re going from a ticket and transportation center over to Magic Kingdom and so on and so forth. So I love the resort and the music. I mean, what you think about when you think of Hawaiian music, that’s what they’re going to be playing. Absolutely. And we’re gonna, before we jump to Disneyland, round out the Walt Disney World Resort hotels, because there, as you can tell, there are many with what they consider to be their their flagship resort, which is Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. Originally when it opened in nineteen ninety eight, sorry, nineteen eighty eight, called Disney’s Grand Floridian Beach Resort. Um, they changed names in, I believe about nineteen ninety seven. So. Grand Floridian, you know, you could argue is maybe an extension of Main Street, USA. That’s kind of a loose theme because it’s not a direct, uh, the Victorian era. It sort of plays into the Victorian era. So we could sort of see a little bit. It’s almost like it’s some somewhat like Crystal Palace in its theme and its timeline. Um, but it’s certainly not meant to be like Kansas City, um, or like Marceline, Missouri. It’s really more inspired by like architecturally inside. It’s a little bit more inspired by English Victorian hotels and exterior wise, it’s actually almost a, like a very heavily inspired by the Del Coronado in San Diego. Um, so which is a beachfront property. So it gets that beachfront influence outside from its San Diego Inspiration and then it gets its interior inspiration. You know, it has a tea room. It has like, it’s it’s very and it’s got a lot of glass. And so it’s got a lot of that, that traditional English Victorian era appeal to it. But it’s also recently gone through a refurbishment and it’s incorporated more Floridian influences with the flora. Um, you know, like the, the new carpet is a lot of heavy floral inspiration from Florida’s flora and flowers and trees and gardens. And then the birds that you would also see in the state of Florida sort of painted on murals. Um, and the new, uh, the new lounge that’s in the lobby. So it, it plays into a few of these things. Um, it’s a one part beach resort, one part Florida resort, one part English Victorian hotel. And the music is very Victorian era. Like, here’s where it ties into Main Street. It almost feels like an extension of Main Street U.S.A. Music Loop, because you’re going to get very turn of the century music, um, Victorian era music, classical music, um, and all very it’s meant to feel upscale because it is their flagship property. So it, the music loop fits into that often in the evening you’ll hear someone playing the grand piano live in the lobby. Um, so that’s the feeling that they want you to have is that ultimate luxury, upscale experience musically as you’re walking into this resort. And that includes the spa as well? Absolutely. It very ragtime, very swing kind of style to the music and so forth. So again, you’re going to have that, that, that very classy vintage, uh, type of music that you’re going to be coming into ironically it to me. It reminded me actually in the queue line for Twilight Zone, Tower of Terror and going through the lobby. It’s very similar to that kind of music. Definitely. However, however, I will say though, that probably staying at the Grand Floridian probably could be a much better experience than staying at the Hollywood Hotel. Just just saying. The the elevators work just fine. I’ve stayed there before. The elevators work just fine at the Grand Floridian. But you’re right, it actually tower. That’s a perfect analogy, and I never really thought to make that analogy before, but it’s meant to be what the Hollywood Tower Hotel was. So, you know, before the incident, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s elite staying here, um, to, to see and be seen at this hotel. And if you think about the music loop for Tower of Terror, take out the, um, the editing they’ve done on those songs to, to add more reverb and echo and slow down the pacing. More haunting? Yeah, exactly. None of that, of course. The original version, the original versions of those songs like. That’s pretty much what the Grand Floridian music loop is. I love that analogy, Mike. Exactly. I’m sticking. I’m not gonna forget. I’m not gonna forget that one. That’s probably the best analogy I’ve heard. I tried to do my homework. You do? You absolutely do. All right, let’s, uh, that sort of rounds out Walt Disney World. Um, wow. That was a huge feat. And now we’re gonna go clear across the country. It’s going to be just as long. Another hour and a half just to talk about the three properties at the Disneyland Resort. Um, but yeah, these are, there’s no resort areas for Disneyland. They are all just Disneyland resort hotels. Um, and there are three, um, so you have, um, but actually multiple multiple music loops, which we’ll talk about. So you’ve got the Pixar Place hotel, which is new, that has a new music loop. You can actually find this music loop online on Spotify? Disney has released it and on Apple Music as well. Uh, the Disneyland Hotel, which has four music loops because each tower has its own music loop. And Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. So let’s start with the Pixar Place Hotel. Um, you know, Pixar Place Hotel is is a new version, as you said, Mike of the Paradise Pier Hotel. And it is a Pixar theme. And so you’re going to see Pixar interwoven throughout the resort. It’s one of those that’s similar to pop century or art of animation, like I said before. It’s very, very much a direct theme. It’s a Pixar theme. It’s not it’s not muted. It’s not subtle. You’re going to have Pixar characters, Pixar colors, Pixar photos and murals and all kinds of Pixar interwoven into the theme. And so the music that you hear is also going to play into Pixar. Um, but, uh, it is not, you know, to your point, Mike, like this is one of those properties again, where you’re not going to just hear a recreation of the Pixar soundtracks, you’re going to hear songs that, you know, like Remember Me from Coco or define dancing from Wall-E, or the end credits from The Incredibles or Le Festin from Ratatouille, or you’ve got a friend in me from Toy Story, but they are not the original versions, um, like the ones I just mentioned. Remember remember me is by uh, is is redone by Chantry Johnson. Um, define dancing from Brian Tan, Brian Tan, the end credits by cartographer. Um, so you’re actually going to get like different versions of these songs, which is kind of cool. Um, Mike, I know you said you stated this hotel before, but that was when it was the Paradise Pier Hotel. Yes, very much different. Same bones of a hotel, but different theming. Um, but, uh, I know you said you appreciate when the music is not just copied and pasted from films, Disney films, but redone in a way that fits with the storyline. So, um, how do you like the music for the Pixar Place Hotel? I loved it, in fact, because the Retheming was done relatively recently, one of the things that I really appreciated was that this is modern. Modern, if you will. This is even more modern than when we were discussing as modern, where modern we were discussing, as I kid you not like the last twenty years, right? Of that new age kind of style. This is very, you know, lo fi kind of versions of all these Pixar songs. And I actually made a note here. It’s like when you are putting on those lo fi chill streams to have in the background, that’s the kind of music this is, and I think that works perfectly for a hotel I never thought about before, but again, that the whole point of a low fi chill stream is for something in the background while you’re working or relaxing, whatever the case is, and they just incorporate it into the hotel setting. So I thought that was a great idea. I think it makes it very fresh. And again, using the word modern, but I would say definitely a newer take on the you music loops for specifically, particularly for hotels where it’s not your standard versions, if you will, of what you would normally expect in a hotel. Yeah, absolutely. And I think especially as you’re getting ready for sleep, like that’s another reason you might want to listen to that type of music as well. Um, so it might just be a way for them to, uh, to get you ready for, uh, a night in. Um, but that’s, that’s great that you picked up on the, uh, the genre that’s, uh, that’s present here. Um, all right, let’s, you know what, let’s jump to. Disney’s Grand Californian hotel. Because I want to save Disneyland Hotel for last. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel opened with California Adventure around the same month in two thousand and one, and it is the most deluxe property at the Disneyland Resort. You and I have stayed there together, Mike. Twice now. Many times. Yeah, twice. Yeah, yeah. Once for our stay for the Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering tour that I had. You were great. You came with me. And then the other time was for Brian’s bachelor party, which we’ve talked about before, getting the chance to stay in the Grand Villa at the Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian. So this is it’s meant to be. And it is by sounds musically very similar to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. Um, even the same architects that worked on Disney’s Wilderness Lodge worked on Disney’s Grand Californian hotel, but it’s playing more specifically into the natural beauty of the state of California. So you’re going to get more of a you know, it’s it’s not that you’re maybe walking through the majestic landscape of Yellowstone, but of Yosemite. Um, or, you know, going through the redwood forest or, um, even, even, you know, just wandering through the Bay area like it’s meant to, it’s meant to evoke the natural beauty of the state of California and in particular, of course, to the lodges that you would find in a place like Yosemite. Um, and so the music is also, um, very acoustic again, like acoustic woodwind, organic, natural sounding, um, but tied a little bit more directly into California. Um, so it’s a very luxurious day in the music adds to that. And again, another case where you have grand piano in the lobby in the evenings you’re going to hear someone playing the grand piano in there. Um, sort of set the mood for the evening. But anything you notice, Mike, about the music for Grand Californian? Yes. It’s actually more tied to California than you think. And one of the things that I noticed. So first of all, one quick little note is that the intro to Hotel California is in the loop, which I thought was very cute to have that thrown in there. But the other thing that I noticed is that the majority of artists that are a part of that music loop are all associated, whether they are part of the roster or part of a compilation to this label called Windham Records and Windham Records, including the founder, Will Ackerman, who’s in a number of the songs in the Music Loop. He was the founder of the label, and that label was based in Los Angeles. So the the basically the entire music loop is based upon artists within, you know, that are based upon a California label. So that’s one of the things that I really did appreciate is that that very subtle detail, but that they want to make sure that Grand Californian was a true representation of California. It’s, uh, I had a feeling you were going to say that I didn’t go as far as to deep dive the, uh, the artists or the labels, but I’m glad that you did, because I had a feeling that they would tie closely to the state of California in that respect as well. And it makes sense. The hotel is based in California. The Imagineers who worked on it are based in California. It’s very easy to also identify and work with local California artists, um, to help with the music loop, not that they were created specifically for this resort, but to sort of identify and find those California influences in the grand. Absolutely. And of course, also finding that that style, right, is that particular, that that very acoustic instrumental style, that’s like a combination of classical folk and jazz and found it very interesting because that was also associated with that label, where at the time they really were trying to find their place and couldn’t really identify the music. And so again, it just makes sense for them to use this particular type of music. That’s this relaxing style that we’ve seen through many of the resorts with, with, with Disney to be incorporated into Grand California, but again, be associated with California label specifically. Yeah, absolutely. Um, all right, the last one we have on this tremendous list is the Disneyland Hotel. And as I said, there are four music loops because there are four towers. You have the Adventure Tower, the Fantasy Tower, the Frontier Tower, and the newest one is the Discovery Tower. That’s where you’ll find the villas at the Disneyland Hotel. So, um, I have stayed in most recently the Discovery Tower. Mike again on that day we had for the Walt Disney Imagineering Campus Tour. Uh, I stayed. We did a split stay between Grand Californian and Discovery Tower. So we and we both stayed in both those properties. Um, and I am pretty sure on my first visit to Disneyland, we stayed in the, I believe it was the Adventure Tower. Um, but I could be mistaken about which tower it was. Um, but I do remember the direction we were facing. I’m pretty sure it was either that or the Frontier Tower. I do not think it was the Fantasy Tower. Um, anyway, so that’s, that’s what the, um, that’s the Disneyland hotels, four towers. And of course the music loops are going to play into much like the Magic Kingdom resorts. Um, they’re going to play into those themes, but a little bit more directly. Um, so the Adventure Tower is going to play into not just the Adventure Land’s section of Disneyland, but also, um, movies that play into that too, like Jungle Book and Lion King, um, fantasy tower, same idea. Some very classic Disney songs in addition to things like it’s a Small World. Um, and then Frontier Tower, you’re going to get that frontier land influence, which you’ll even get like a Toy Story influence in there as well. So you’re going to get some more of those, um, types of movie related elements incorporated. And then the Discovery Tower is pretty much all jazz, jazz renditions of Disney animation songs from Disney animated films. Um, so each one has something different to offer and they all play into the different themes, which feels very Disneyland with the different lands that you could go and visit. Similarly, here with the hotel, you have different towers. Each one has a different visual theme, although the towers are pretty much identical except for Discovery Tower. Um, and the music will carry with that too. What I appreciate, too, if you think about it, is that all four of these towers encapsulate the the wide range that Disney uses for their resorts. So outside of the outliers, the ones for example, Polynesian, where it’s very specific, for example. Right. The other ones that are a little bit more contemporary or modern or anything along those lines. It’s interesting to see that each of the towers goes through all that. So as you mentioned before, Fantasy Tower being very much more on the classic side where they’re the orchestral versions of famous Disney songs, right? Adventure tower also, for the most part, very similar, but again, wide range though from everything from, you know, cinematic to easy listening, anything along those lines, but also focused. What would you consider adventure like The Lion King and Jungle Book, things like that. And then Frontier Tower, as you mentioned, close to Frontierland. So that kind of the western orchestral style music that we have mentioned in other like Wilderness Lodge, for example, and Fort Wilderness, um, things like that. But then also incorporating music from Toy Story two, like Jesse and the Roundup gang. Right. That’s also incorporated in there too. I also know that they love Silverado, so they throw that in there sometimes too in the mix. And, and then of course you have Discovery Tower, which we stayed at, as you mentioned. And that was all like, really? I found that was actually the most interesting because it was various different styles. A lot of it was jazz influenced, but also some lo fi style tune there a little bit here, here and there as well, all renditions of classic Disney songs. So I appreciate that each one had classic Disney elements into them, but we’re doing it in a different particular way based upon the theme of the tower. And I think that Disneyland Hotel, honestly, at the end of the day, is the full encapsulation of how they select the music loops in all these different resorts in both Florida as well as in California. Yeah. It’s the it’s the original Disney Hotel. Um, it’s not the first one that Disney owned. So that’s kind of a caveat here. We talked about that in the Disneyland Hotel episode I did with Falander. Um, but it was the first hotel, uh, you know, sort of like attached to or part of or meant to be incorporated with a Disney, uh, park. So this is really the most classic of the classic when it comes to Disney resort hotels. And the music loops, I would say are also, um, especially for the first three adventure tower, fantasy tower, frontier tower, the most classic of the classic you can get when it comes to music, um, on Disney properties. So that rounds out our list of twenty nine music loops. That was twenty nine, twenty nine twenty nine. I didn’t even, I didn’t even count. I was like, yeah, let’s go. Yeah. Twenty nine. We kind of blended a couple here and there, but virtually these were twenty nine music loops. So I’m going to round this out by asking, which I know that you haven’t always listened to all these, all these music loops on like an ongoing basis. Mike. But you did a lot of it for researching this episode. So is there one that you love the most? Ooh, that’s a good question. I, I, I did really like the contemporary one. I thought that was really good. Uh, that’s the one that I found was very relaxing. So, and that’s kind of what I would prefer is that that modern type of style. So I would say if I was to look at this list, I mean, again, that’s really hard because it really depends upon my mood. I notice a number of times I’ll listen to Polynesian too. So I think, I think for me, Polynesian is if I want a power nap, Polynesians want. I’m going to be going to. If I want something that’s a little bit more. Just chill in the background while I’m getting things accomplished. Probably something closer to contemporary would be my my choice, but I would say probably that would be my guess is probably going to be one of those. Yeah. For me, it’s yeah, you, you mentioned you have a couple of different ones, right? That you really like. Yeah. I actually think the top of my list from a musical perspective is the yacht and beach club resort. Um, that one I listened to more than any of the others and it is the most, um, like it works, it works really well for work. It works for a relaxing drive it relax for just sitting back and relaxing or getting housework done. It sort of fits. It checks a lot of boxes and it’s one that I really love that music loop. So I think the Yacht and Beach Club Resort Music Loop is probably my favorite of the bunch, so I’ll select that one anyway. As always, we’re we’re very short winded and, and concise and succinct with our answers. We never, you know, we never go two hours with a podcast episode. How does that happen? Never, never. Um, but the music of Disney is so expansive and I didn’t want to, you know, it was too, too little to do. I couldn’t do a Walt Disney World and Disneyland one because we just went through like Disneyland’s quick. Um, and it’s to break Walt Disney World out. Like he’s already broken into different podcast episodes of part one and part two. So we’re just covering all of them together. And then probably in a future episode, you know, we’ll, we have to jump to another park. We have more, more music to do. Um, you know, more, more music to do at, at the, for the movies and, and other elements of the film. So whether the Disney movies, Pixar movies, we’ve even tapped into Marvel or Star Wars yet. So we have lots of different branches of Disney music to, to branch out to. But, um, Mikus has been, as always, a lot of fun. And, uh, and I want to cue up some music from the resorts to enjoy for the rest of the day. Same here. Thanks so much for having me. Welcome back to Imagination Central. Before you exit this episode, remember to follow Imagination Skyway on social media and share the show with anyone who might enjoy listening to our program. If you’re looking for ad free episodes and bonus content, become an Imagination Skyway Pass holder at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. When you’re ready for your next vacation, remember that listeners of Imagination Skyway can get rewarded for booking a trip to Disney in twenty twenty six through k m v travel. Voted the top travel agency in Orlando in twenty twenty five. Simply fill out the form at k m v travel dot com and make sure that you select Imagination Skyway under the. How did you hear about us? Question. To be eligible for a special gift from the team. Terms and conditions apply as you disembark. 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