The experience: Singing along with new symphonic versions of your favorite Disney songs

The Trick: Picking and recording the perfect Happily Ever After soundtrack

Image @ Disney

Given the choice of films used during Happily Ever After, the musical accompaniments fell into place fairly easily. Park planners chose the most popular and timeless songs from the films, paying attention to whether these brief snippets of music would integrate well visually. Anything that didn’t lend itself to a quick storytelling segment had to go.

Happily Ever After is an 18-minute show. During the presentation, 25 different songs play, some of them twice. With so many musical accompaniments in such a short timeframe, most of the tunes are choruses that you know by heart, but Disney updated them for dramatic effect. The company hired a 75-piece London orchestra to create grandiose versions of the music pieces.

Happily Ever After does have one commonality with Wishes. Both productions required the performance of an entirely original piece to anchor the story. But Disney cheated with Happily Ever!

Image @ Disney

The company had commissioned a song for the 10th anniversary celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland. They named the event Happily Ever After and performed versions of the title song in Cantonese and Mandarin. Since they wanted to tell a story based on the premise at Magic Kingdom, park officials hired rising singer Jordan Fisher and country musician Angie Keilhauer to perform Happily Ever After. The show plays snippets of the song at three intervals, including the start and finish. You will notice something about the rest of the tracks listed here:

• Happily Ever After – Jordan Fisher and Angie Keilhauer
• Down in New Orleans – The Princess and the Frog
• When You Wish Upon a Star – Pinocchio
• Part of Your World – The Little Mermaid
• When You Wish Upon a Star – Transition
• Out There – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Touch the Sky – Brave
• One Jump Ahead (Reprise) – Aladdin
• How Far I’ll Go – Moana
• Friend Like Me – Aladdin
• Trashin’ The Camp – Tarzan
• Hakuna Matata – The Lion King
• I’ve Got No Strings – Pinocchio
• You’ve Got a Friend in Me –Toy Story
• The Bare Necessities – The Jungle Book
• That’s What Friends are For – The Jungle Book
• You’ve Got a Friend in Me –Toy Story
• Love is an Open Door – Frozen
• Can you Feel the Love Tonight – The Lion King
• You’ll Be in My Heart – Tarzan
• A Whole New World – Aladdin
• I See the Light – Tangled
• He’s a Pirate – Pirates of the Caribbean
• Go the Distance – Hercules
• Happily Ever After (Reprise)
• You Can Fly – Peter Pan
• Happily Ever After (Reprise)

In reading this list, most of the songs should have immediately played in your head. Disney chose the most memorable tunes to enhance the relatability of the show. It’s the final piece that pulls the story of Happily Ever After together.