Among my favorite things to collect are Disney Park compact discs. I always enjoy being able to hear music and sounds from the Disney Parks, even when I'm at home; those sounds and music bring back pleasant memories of my adventures in the parks. I guess it all started when I bought the Disneyland/Walt Disney World Official Album on tape after my first visit to Walt Disney World.

The best Disney Park for releasing CDs is Tokyo Disneyland. Many CDs from parades and attractions at Tokyo Disneyland have been released. For their 15th anniversary, they even released a boxed set of discs. So here are some notes on the Tokyo Disneyland CDs that I have. Please note that I am by no means a music critic; all I can do is tell you what I like. Also, I have never been to Tokyo Disneyland, so all I can really comment on is what you hear on the CDs.

Tokyo Disneyland Magical Music On Parade

Tokyo Disneyland Magical Music On Parade was released on March 21, 1996. Interestingly, the release date for each CD is printed on the back label; I don't know if this is just for the Tokyo Disneyland CDs, or if this is common on all Japanese releases. This CD features music from different parades and shows at Tokyo Disneyland. Among those included are the 10th anniversary theme It's Magical, the song Tokyo Disneyland is Your Land, and the Disney Party Gras Parade. Adventureland Revue features a brief introduction by the great Jack Wagner.

Aladdin's Great Adventure features over 10 minutes of music from their Aladdin stage show. Of particular note is the Genie, and the voice actor sounds very much like a Japanese Robin Williams, making the song quite enjoyable. As with the rest of the CD, portions of this track are in English, while much of it is in Japanese.

The main reason I purchased this particular CD is for the last track, a 10 minute version of Mickey Mania. The music used at Tokyo Disneyland is the same as that used in Walt Disney World's version of the parade. This entire track is in English. I always enjoyed the Mickey Mania parade at Walt Disney World, so I was particularly delighted to find the music on this CD.

I think it is a great idea to release some of the parade and show music on a CD. While many of the songs are the familiar classic Disney songs, some new material is often used, and that is mainly what is included on this disc.

Disney's Fantillusion!

Fantillusion! replaced the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade as the nighttime parade in 1995. The Fantillusion! CD, released on July 21, 1995, features the soundtrack from the parade. The parade, which ended its run earlier this year, featured large floats that would transform; for instance, the float with Jafar would transform into a large snake. The story of the parade was that the villains would steal the light and turn everything to darkness; of course, there was always a happy ending.

The new theme written for the parade is quite enjoyable, and seems to fit the parade's theme perfectly, even when it is in a minor key for the villains' floats. Bruce Healey has done his usual fine job of incorporating several classic Disney songs into the score. This entire CD is in English.

As a bonus for this CD, three tracks are included which feature both the underliner and the float music. The underliner is the basic theme that repeats continuously, playing from the speakers along the parade route. The floats play their own music, which is timed to fit in perfectly with the underliner. With this method, when you are watching a parade, you still hear music, even when a float is not directly in front of you. On the CD, the underliner music is on the left channel, while the float music is on the right channel. By adjusting the balance, you can hear how the float music fits in with the underliner, and this, for me at least, is quite fun to play with.

A special Sayonara Fantillusion! disc was released this year for the end of the parade's run, but only the packaging was different from the original release.

Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights

Tokyo Disneyland's newest nighttime parade is a new version of the popular Electrical Parade. The music for the parade is the familiar Baroque Hoedown, but with a slightly different twist than before. And this version of the parade features floats from some of the more recent movies, such as Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and A Bug's Life, as well as such classics as Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and Pete's Dragon. A section for Winnie the Pooh has also been added.

The music for the new Dreamlights parade starts out much like the music from the original version, all completely synthesized. However, as the parade progresses, the music slowly becomes orchestral, by the end being almost completely orchestral with just a few synthesized instruments. Then the ending is once again completely synthesized.

As a bonus track, the music from the original Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade as it ran from 1985 to 1995 is included on the CD. Of interesting note is that Toko Disneyland's parade was never called the Main Street Electrical Parade, because Tokyo Disneyland doesn't have a Main Street; the entrance area instead is called World Bazaar. And because of the huge glass roof over that area, the parades don't travel through World Bazaar.

This disc was released on June 6, 2001. Another date appears on the packaging, which is December 5, 2002; I wonder if this is the last day the CD will be available. Also of note on the packaging are the Tokyo Disney Resort logo, and the "Walt Disney's 100 Years of Magic" logo.

I really do enjoy the new Dreamlights version of the music. It seems to be a little more bouncy than the original, if that makes any sense. The synthesizer arrangements are fun, and the change to orchestra is so subtle that you almost don't notice it. I also thought it was fun hearing the different characters speak Japanese. While the Blue Fairy, Alice, Snow White, Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook, and Pete speak English, everyone else speaks Japanese; all the English speaking characters are face characters except for Captain Hook. It is also fun to compare the Dreamlights version with the original version. I thought it was a great idea to include both versions on the CD; I still enjoy the original version, and I suppose I always will.

Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation

Another CD that I have isn't a Tokyo Disneyland CD, although it was released by Walt Disney Records Japan. Disneyland/Walt Disney World Music Vacation, released July 18, 1997, is a 2-CD set. The first disc includes Light Magic, Fantasmic!, and Fantasy in the Sky from Disneyland, as well as Remember the Magic Parade, SpectroMagic, and Illumniations 25 from Walt Disney World. The second disc is a 12 minute attractions medley that includes the Fantasyland Castle medley, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, Indiana Jones Adventure, Sieze the Future from Alien Encounter, music from the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and the music from Disneyland's Space Mountain.

This set is noteable because it has the only releases of Remember the Magic and SpectroMagic. Most of Illuminations 25 was included as a bonus track on some copies of the Walt Disney World Music from the Park CD, but this is the full version. Also, many of the selections from the attractions medley had not been released before. The three selections from Disneyland on the main disc had all been released previously.

My main reason for purchasing this disc was the SpectroMagic track; the parade had always been a favorite of mine, and I had been hoping that the music would be on CD. Unfortunately, it has only been on this Japanese CD which most Americans don't know about, and I believe it is now out of print. The attractions medley is also quite enjoyable, and it brings back great memories from all the attractions included.

For many years, Tokyo Disneyland did a much better job of releasing CDs than the American parks. This has improved somewhat over the last few years, as Walt Disney World released CDs for Fantasmic, Animal Kingdom, and the Millennium Celebration, as well as the most recent Walt Disney World Official Album. Also, the Disneyland Resort this year released CDs for Disneyland and California Adventure (neither of which I have heard yet). Hopefully, this trend will continue, so that the American parks will be equal to Tokyo Disneyland in the quality and quantity of CDs released. And a CD of the full SpectroMagic soundtrack would be quite nice!

- Story by Steve Burns; Artwork ©Disney
Posted

Steve is a three-time Disney Store National Trivia finalist and webmaster of BurnsLand, home of Steve's Disney Railroad Adventures.

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