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3. Soarin’

There is perhaps no ride on Disney property that needs its music more than Soarin’. Without the music, this ride would likely be a mere shadow of the fantastic attraction it is today.

Think about it: What is there to this ride? There’s a gentle motion simulator, recreating a calm and rather uneventful glide above California. There’s the film, grainy and imperfect, showing beautiful landscapes of a state far away. And, well, that’s about it – unless you count Patrick Warburton’s goofy pre-show video (“Even these beauties!”).

And that’s where Jerry Goldsmith’s perfect composition comes into play.

Disney’s attractions don’t need a plot to tell a story, but they do need something. A beautiful collection of images is fine and dandy, but nobody’s paying nearly $100 each day to experience the rough equivalent of an art museum. Soarin’ tells a story, but against all odds, its primary storytelling mechanism is its score.

It ebbs and flows, builds and collapses. At risk of sounding hackneyed (too late!) it soars through your ears and into your heart. Its synchronicity with the film and the motion of the simulator is bewilderingly precise – and, ultimately, it brings together every element of the attraction such that the whole far exceeds the sum of its parts.

There are people out there who don’t like Soarin’, and that’s perfectly fine, but I’d be willing to bet it’s because the music simply doesn’t move them. Without that, the ride loses what makes it special and, at that point, it’s just a nice movie theater.

4. Impressions De France

How do you capture the essence of a country? How do you teach guests a culture with which they are unfamiliar, and give them an understanding of it that reaches them on an emotional level? How do you explain a nation in 15 minutes?

These are the questions Epcot’s World Showcase pavilions have to answer, and for the part, they do alright. No, visiting the World Showcase isn’t going to give you the same experience as actually travelling to those places, but it is something of a reasonable facsimile.

The France pavilion is really no more or less successful than any other, but it sure is more ambitious.

Its film, Impressions De France, is about as old as Epcot itself. It’s the kind of attraction Disney wouldn’t even think about making today – it features very little original music and no Disney characters. It celebrates the culture of France, and that’s it.

But man, it is absolutely stunning.

Without the score, Impressions De France is little more than a nice travelogue, and that’s perfectly fine, but because of the brilliantly curated accompaniment, the ride elevates into something approaching a transporting experience. You may not truly understand France, but you come as about as close as you can without visiting. Sure, it’s probably unfair including it here due to the fact that it features music by Camille Saint Saens, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel (arranged by Buddy Baker), but, I mean, look at that list of names. How could I leave it off? 

5. Splash Mountain

Believe it or not, Splash Mountain is based on a Disney movie. It just so happens that the movie on which it is based, “Song of the South,” is disappointingly and uncomfortably racist. And, as such, it has long since been placed into the Disney vault, never to see the light of day again.

However, the film isn’t without any redeeming qualities. In fact, parts of it are downright brilliant.

And so, in the late 1980s, Walt Disney Imagineers did something incredible – they deconstructed “Song of the South” and brought its most charming story and music to the parks. In doing so, they created one of the most ambitious attractions they’ve ever worked on.

Unlike other Disney rides based on their movies, guests riding Splash Mountain have almost certainly never seen the original film. Because of this, the tried-and-true “book report”-style ridethrough popularized by Peter Pan’s Flight and Alice in Wonderland simply wouldn’t work.

Instead, Disney crafted a fully-realized short story and set it to the music of the Southern United States. The result is a ride that feels in every way like an actual Disney film. There’s character development, there’s action and conflict, and there’s a satisfying resolution (and a pretty spectacular denouement).

But, above all else, there’s that charming and catchy score. Splash Mountain would probably work with a replacement-level substitute, but it wouldn’t be nearly as incredible. Songs like “How Do You Do?" and “Ev'rybody’s Got a Laughin' Place” add color and depth to the world of the attraction and, of course, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is as enduring and infectious a tune as any.

There’s a school of thought in musical theater dramaturgy that says the only time a character should sing is when they’ve run out of other ways to express themselves adequately. The same is true for theme park music – it is there to express ideas that designers cannot express any other way. Disney understands this better than anyone, and because of that, they’ve been able to create lasting and memorable attractions that work as escapist fun and popular art.

And they’ve sold a lot of CDs doing it.

 
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Comments

Number 1 should be It's A Small World. Who doesn't have that song in their head for the rest of the day! And what about There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. Those are two very iconic rides.

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