The Disney Theme-Park Background Music Bracket -- Round One, Day Six
Who's ready to ride the carousel?
Friends, we have some very exciting tracks in today’s set of matchups in the first round of the Disney Theme-Park Background Music bracket. So much so that I don’t want to waste any time with a preamble. Let’s go!
(2) Carthay Circle Restaurant loop vs. (15) Smokejumpers Grill loop: Let me tell you something, there are few background loops I enjoy more than what you can hear at the Carthay Circle Restaurant in Disney California Adventure. (I am less enamored with how much they’ve scaled down their menu over the years, but that’s a discussion for a different day.) The premise of the loop is simple enough for me to put into words without being a skilled music critic: Disney songs given the jazzy treatment. The closest comparison I can make, even though it’s reductive, is to encourage you to imagine a Vince Guaraldi-style take on Disney music.
The Smokejumpers Grill loop is a bit too country-fied for my tastes, but if it wasn’t, it would still have a stiff hill to climb here. Carthay all the way.
Carthay Circle Restaurant
Smokejumpers Grill
(7) Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village loop vs. (10) Bear Country loop: I make friends every time I tweet, and when I tweeted about my opinion of the Country Bear Jamboree, it was no exception! I know people adore that show, and yet sadly, I am not one of those people. So if nothing else, I am voting for the Kidani Village loop simply to not vote for the Bear Country loop. (The knowledgeable among you may know that there are not only two sections of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but two separate background loops. Only one made it to this bracket!)
Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village
Bear Country
(3) InnoVentions (Epcot) loop vs. (14) Carousel of Progress Suite loop: We are essentially deciding here between two versions of the future. As you listen to each of these loops, you may notice that the InnoVentions loop is, like the era in which the walk-through exhibits were unveiled at Epcot, very much 80-style synthesizer-heavy music. It is music of its era. And arguably, the same is true for the Carousel of Progress Suite, which combines a series of riffs on the Sherman Brothers’ “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” and other optimistic-futurism pieces of the era.
I prefer the 60s-era, mid-century-style of music in the Carousel of Progress Suite. A no-doubter for me. How about you?
InnoVentions (Epcot)
Carousel of Progress Suite
(6) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh loop vs. (11) Country Bear Jamboree audio: “So, Josh,” you may be asking yourself, “What’s the difference between the Country Bear Jamboree audio you have here and the Bear Country loop?” Well, it’s simple enough, imaginary voter. The audio here is, as you’ll notice, the audio straight from the Country Bear Jamboree show. Bear Country? Well, that loop is more music of the now-defunct Bear Country section of Disneyland, so it may be in keeping with the attraction, without directly being that attraction’s audio.
And I would vote for Bear Country over Country Bear Jamboree. So you know I’m sticking with Pooh here. (I would anyway — I like the gentle background music of the loop.)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Country Bear Jamboree
I didn't vote for either bear loop because they sound like something I'd hear in Bear Deliverance. (I could never stand that damn jamboree, so I'm biased.) I did vote for one bear's music, however: Rock 'n Roll Hoochie Pooh got my vote.
When I lived in SoCal and went to Disneyland pretty much every week -- in the 90s -- I always took the time to appreciate the BGM loops. When I moved to NorCal in the 2000s and cut back Disneyland trips to six or eight per year, I slowly lost that sense of place, trying to get more and more into fewer and fewer visits. Now that I'm out of California completely, but still making it to DLR four or five times a year, I'm going to remember to take the pause and appreciate the place I'm in. Thanks.