Hi everyone. I have been keeping this journal here on DisneyChris.com since 2013, so that anyone interesting in tracking my audio editing and web design adventures will have an easy means to do so. In 2017 I began doing these updates in video format on my YouTube channel "DisneyChrisDotCom" and Melonie Bush has been providing show notes for these videos. On this blog and in these videos, I discusss all the changes and additions I am making to the website, including an insider's look into all that goes into my audio editing work. I will provide insight on the process of editing my audio tracks, the reasoning behind my artistic choices and the work involved in creating this audio for your listening pleasure. I may also share with you some personal antecdotes along the way. In general, this is to be a "sort-of" look inside my thoughts and the inner workings of how DisneyChris.com is being developed over time. I am also interested in your thoughts and opinions. You are welcome to respond to my blog by contacting me via email at DCLyndon@gmail.com. I will respond to any of your emailed questions or comments either within the blog or in a private email response. Just let me know if you choose to be anynomous. You can scroll to the bottom of this page to go back in time to read up on what you may have missed in the past, or you can just start with today's blog post and read or watch the videos from here forward. The choice is yours. Enjoy!
• To view posts for 2017-18 CLICK HERE • To view posts for 2015-16 CLICK HERE
• To view posts for 2014 CLICK HERE • To view posts for 2013 CLICK HERE
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Show Notes by Brian Crawford
Hello Disneyland fans! This will be an exciting update to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour! Join Chris as he takes you on a "Grand Circle Tour" of all the changes made to Chapter 1. Before we get to that let's briefly explore the other updates since the last vlog. Chris completed Chapter 21: Disneyland Bandstand after working on it for 18 months… just a half a year longer than it took for Walt to complete Disneyland! The last two tracks he worked on to complete this chapter were: Track 73: Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Buddy Morrow & Connie Haines Track 74: Buddy Rich & The Buddy Rich Orchestra Head on over to Chapter 21 and relive the magic of the big band era (and more) in the Plaza Gardens. One exciting note: completion of this chapter now puts the Audio Tour at an amazing 1,615 tracks of Disneyland memories! Disneyland Magical Audio Tour Let's join Chris now as he takes us on a tour of what's new in Chapter 1: Welcome to Disneyland - The Disneyland Main Gate. Chris received quite a bit of new audio, and is planning to make improvements and edits to several existing tracks. To prepare for the planned additions, he added new “Coming Soon” slots on the page with new liner notes and included some new photos as well. Of the new tracks being added, many came from other chapters that Chris felt also belonged in this "Welcome to Disneyland" chapter. Many of these tracks from other chapters have already been added to the page. Some will require additional editing. While Chris goes into entertaining detail regarding most of the tracks, these show notes will focus on what's new and what's "Coming Soon". Let's begin with our beloved Uncle Walt! Chris loosely arranged the page so that it is in segments. Some of these segments are specifically listed, other I am naming based on what is contained within these sections... "Introduction to Disneyland" Section (Tracks 1-5) Track 3: Disneyland Opening Day Dedication. Chris added a wonderful color photo of Walt on Disneyland's opening day: July 17, 1955. Although this may be a photo of Walt giving the Frontierland dedication speech, Chris photoshopped it a bit to make it look like Town Square. I love it! Track 5: Griffith Park Carousel COMING SOON. Music from the "carousel that started it all"! "The Songs and Music of Disneyland" Section (Tracks 6-17) Track 6: Disneyland - A Magical Musical Celebration COMING SOON. I'm really excited for this track as it will be a medley of songs you'd hear while walking around the park and experiencing attractions! Some examples will be "Meet Me Down on Main Street", audio from "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Haunted Mansion", "The Country Bear Jamboree" (Awl-rrright!!!) and Chris's favorite, "It's a Small World". Track 8: Disneyland Song Parade NEW. This is a re-mix of songs featuring the original four lands, taken from a 1950s Golden Records children's album. Track 11: The Disneyland Sound COMING SOON. This new track will feature goosebump inducing audio from Walt Disney's television show "Disneyland". Nostalgic fans will associate this music with the general excitement and optimistic feelings of a day at Disneyland. Track 13: It Can Only Happen in Disneyland NEW. This track was already on the page but it was moved up to this section. It is music from an ad campaign in the late 1980s that Chris enhanced with a new ending! Track 16: If You Believe in Magic NEW. This track came from Chapter 2: Town Square and features audio from the popular film, "Disneyland, The First 50 Magical Years" that played in the lobby of the Opera House in Town Square. Track 17: Disneyland, The First 50 Magical Years NEW. The score for the film composed by legendary film composer, John Debney. "Disneyland in TV Land" Section (Tracks 18-30) This section is not to be confused with the existing chapter of the same name. In fact, some tracks from that chapter will be presented here (Tracks 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26 and 28). Just as the previous section, this will encompass Disneyland as a whole over the years and will feature audio from popular episodes of his television series, "Disneyland" and "The Wonderful World of Color". The following tracks are some of the episodes Chris will be working on. How cool will it be to listen to these on road trips to the parks? I can't wait! Track 22: Dateline Disneyland - Opening Day Live Broadcast COMING SOON. Art Linkletter, Ronald Reagan and Robert Cummings bring us the action from this historical day! Track 25: Kodak Presents Disneyland '59 COMING SOON. The Matterhorn, Monorail and Submarine Voyage...a celebration of these engineering marvels! Track 29: Disneyland 10th Anniversary COMING SOON. Who doesn't absolutely love this episode and adore the Disneyland tencennial ambassador, Julie Reihm? Track 30: Disneyland Around the Seasons COMING SOON. Vintage audio from the Candlelight Processional! I'm guessing here...what will Chris surprise us with? "Disneyland at the Movies" (Tracks 31-33) These three tracks (31: Disneyland USA, 32: A Gala Day at Disneyland, 33: 40 Pounds of Trouble) are copied from Chapter 26 - Disneyland in TV Land: Your Host Walt Disney in the section "Disneyland on the Big Screen" "Disneyland Special Presentations" Section (Tracks 34-37) Track 35: Disneyland 10th Anniversary Banquet COMING SOON. This unique track will feature Walt Disney giving a wonderful "off the cuff" speech during this celebration at the Disneyland Hotel. “Traveling to Disneyland” Section (Tracks 38-43) “Entering the Park, Retro Days” Section (Tracks 44-63) Track 49: Kennel Club - Area Background Music COMING SOON. Leave it to "Chris the Completist" to find some very interesting audio of our pets hanging out with Pluto, Lady, the Tramp, Old Yeller, Big Red, Savage Sam while we enjoy the park....I could go on and on...the list of Disney dogs is a long one! Track 51: Disneyland Landscaping Presentation - Jack Wagner COMING SOON. A narration by the famed Disneyland announcer Jack Wagner describing a horticulturist's dream come true that is Disneyland's landscaping. Track 61: Main Gate Newsstand - Souvenirs Medley COMING SOON. This track features a collection of songs that reference the souvenirs you could find at the newsstand before entering the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy! Track 62: The Unlimited Passport COMING SOON. In 1982 Disneyland introduced the Unlimited Passport in place of the ticket books that contained a limited number of coupons that could be used to experience attractions. This track is a 1980s television advertisement featuring the transition from those now collectible ticket books to the Unlimited Passport! “Kodak Super 8 Disneyland Home Movies” Section (Tracks 64-70) “Meet the Disneyland Cast” Section (Tracks 71-75) Track 71: In Search of Excellence – Disney Cast Members COMING SOON. Audio from a 1980s documentary showcasing the rigorous training all cast members experience: Traditions One! Track 72: The Disney Way - Disney University Cast Member Orientation COMING SOON. A film "laden with nostalgia" shown to new cast members! Track 73: Cast Member Orientation - Main Gate / Main Street USA COMING SOON. An early 1980s slide show presented to new hires, narrated by Jack Wagner! Track 75: We Create Happiness - Cast Member Training COMING SOON. More cast member training fun this time from the 1990s! "Disneyland Home Entertainment" Section (Tracks 76-78) These tracks which are also featured on the “Wonderful World of Disney” chapter feature home video releases from the 1990s that provide audio tours and some Disneyland sing-along fun! Veterans of the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour will recognize audio from the old Kodak Making Memories Track. "Promotion, Advertising and Commercials" Section (Tracks 79-84) Track 79: And Now a Word from Our Sponsors COMING SOON. A medley of several television advertisements from the 1980s and 90s that showcase the general nostalgia of Disneyland. I'm sure to recognize many of these being a child of 1980s and completely obsessed with all things Disneyland...the clothesline in the backyard can be turned into the Skyway attraction, right? Track 82: Disney Dollars COMING SOON. Really fun audio from the Disney Dollar advertising campaign created by the first ever president of Disneyland, Jack Lindquist! "Entering the Park, Today” Section (Tracks 85-96) Track 92: The Straw Hat Strutters - Good Morning Concert COMING SOON. This is the small welcome ensemble that sets the perfect Disneyland mood as you enter the park and stroll through Town Square and Main Street U.S.A. "Planning a Disneyland Resort Vacation" Section (Tracks 97-101) Track 99: Disneyland Resort Vacation Planning DVD 2003 COMING SOON. Most of these tracks are also featured on the “Disneyland Hotel” chapter. Chris just came across another DVD and will also be adding the audio to this section. I've got a few of these stashed away somewhere! I'd order one even if I wasn't planning a vacation so I could satisfy my craving for seeing what's new at the parks! “More Disneyland Esplanade” Section (Tracks 102-104) Track 102: Disneyland Esplanade - 2017 Area Background Music COMING SOON. The 2017 version of mood setting Disney tunes you hear as you stroll between Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Track 103: Disneyland Esplanade - Pixar Fest Area Background Music COMING SOON. During the summer of 2018 you can enjoy the familiar sounds from beloved Pixar Films in the esplanade. Chris has captured this audio so we can enjoy long after Pixar Fest has ended! Track 104: Annual Passholder Days - Welcome Center COMING SOON. Chris received a track listing from a friend who heard about this event at the Tomorrowland Starcade. While shopping for exclusive merchandise and signing up for in-park experiences, annual passholders could enjoy a nostalgic loop that featured songs from all over the park. "Downtown Disney Shopping District" Section (Tracks 105-108) These tracks feature loops from the popular shopping and dining area during the day and night. Chris collected audio loops from 2017 and 2018 to include some exclusive Pixar Fest themed music as well as the loop playing in the World of Disney store! Track 109, “Disneyland Medley,” is sort of the grand finale to the chapter. It features pop songs over the years that have had a Disneyland theme. Chris will be adding more songs to this mix in the near future. Well, we've pulled back into the Main Street U.S.A. railroad station after a whirlwind tour of Chapter 1. Lots of great new content already available and even more exciting tracks coming soon! So get to listening and don't forget to check out the 100th episode of the Jiminy Crickets! podcast while you're at it!
7/20/18 Vlog Update
Show Notes by Brian Crawford
"Feed the Birds" Things have been heating up recently at DisneyChris.com...as well as all over the country! We broke a heat index record here in San Antonio over the weekend and Providence, RI hasn't been much cooler. Luckily Chris and I have working air conditioning so he can keep working on the site and I can bring you these show notes to keep you updated! Chris has been busy since the last update so let's dive right in! Podcast Update: Chris and Ruthie finished recording the 100th episode of the Jiminy Crickets! podcast and it is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, August 1st. Be sure to tune in to this milestone episode on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or the podcast home page. While you're there catch up on the recent episodes featuring Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, America Sings and the Hayley Mills live-action film, Summer Magic. Over at Sideshow Sound Radio, Chris was a guest on Mouse Music Episode 13 featuring a look at New Orleans Square in Disneyland and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 49th feature length film, The Princess and the Frog! I really enjoyed the podcast on a recent road trip, especially Chris's historical feature on the legendary Walt Disney Studios composer, George Bruns. Well known for creating the unique "Disneyland Sound" of the 1950s and 60s, Bruns also composed a treasure trove of memorable songs for the studios' animated shorts andfeature films. Chris discusses three such beloved tunes on this fantastic episode! A live podcast? Chris is looking for a volunteer who would be willing to lend a hand in helping the Jiminy Crickets! podcast broadcast a live show airing every other Wednesday at 9pm Eastern Time. If you have any computer expertise, have experience in the technical aspect of setting up a live podcast and want to help a great podcast get even better, send Chris and email at DCLyndon@gmail.com. Become a Subscriber! As lovers of Disney music, this website provides a unique experience to relive Disneyland moments of the past and present. Chris puts a lot of effort into providing over 1600 audio tracks to his fans free of charge. However, there are costs to operating the site and although Chris has a wonderful sponsor (ConciEARS - a professional Disney vacation planning service that creates custom vacations for you...at no cost!), he still counts on Patreon subscribers to help offset the cost of maintaining DisneyChris.com. Please consider becoming a subscriber by visiting his Patreon page. You can also set up a monthly recurring donation via PayPal. As an incentive, Chris provides exclusive audio content to all of his subscribers! Every dollar helps Chris to continue this labor of love! Song of the Day Archive Mickey Mondays continue in celebration of Mickey's 90th birthday this year. Every Monday in October and December will feature special holiday versions of some classic Mickey tunes! Disneyland Magical Audio Tour Now that we got the "mousekeeping" done, let's focus on the Audio Tour! Chris will soon be adding a special new track to Chapter 2: Town Square. The Disneyland Opera House once displayed Walt Disney's working office, including the piano the Sherman Brothers would play "Feed the Birds" on Friday afternoons for Walt. Track 37, "Walt Disney's Formal Office - Grand Piano" will feature some wonderful audio that would've likely been played on this historical instrument. Let's move over to Chapter 21: Disneyland Bandstand. Chris has been extremely busy updating this chapter and is proud to announce that it is complete! A good portion of work since the last update was devoted to finishing up the Big Bands in Disneyland section (Tracks 62-74). In 1984 the Disney Channel presented a 12 episode series that featured Big Bands performing live at the Plaza Gardens. This section was a HUGE undertaking as it took an astounding 8-12 hours to edit each track! Chris was able to capture the audio, edit it and present it here for our enjoyment. For us swing band fans, we will be eternally grateful for Chris's extraordinary effort. All but one track features the actual audio as it was performed in Disneyland. The exception is Track 63: The Glenn Miller Orchestra Directed by Dick Gerhart. Chris has been unable to locate the audio from the Disney Channel series, but instead presents the audio from another television special from the same year. Rest assured that if Chris ever finds the Disneyland audio he will update this track! Track 89: 1990s Grad Nite Party is also done! This is very cool since I graduated high school in 1992 and attended one of the party nights that year...got to get my groove on and enjoy this playlist: 90’s Grad Nite Party 1 – Seduction 1990 – Two to Make it Right 2 – Jody Watley 1990 – Real Love 3 – Stevie B 1990 – Because I Love You (The Postman’s Song) 4 – Kevin Paige 1990 – Anything I Want 5 – Timmy T 1991 – One More Try 6 – En Vogue 1991 – You Don’t Have to Worry 7 – Tara Kemp 1991 – Hold You Tight 8 – C & C Music Factory 1991- Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) 9 – Classic Example 1992 – Don’t Make Me Wait 10 – MC Lyte 1992 – Cha Cha Cha 11 – Mint Condition 1992 – Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) 12 – Shanice 1992 – I Love Your Smile 13 – RTZ 1992 – Until Your Love Comes Back Around 14 – Restless Heart 1992 – Born in a High Wind 15 – Ace of Base 1992 – All That She Wants 16 – PM Dawn 1993 – Looking Through Patient Eyes 17 – Jon Secada 1993 – I’m Free 18 – Boy Krazy 1993 – That’s What Love Can Do 19 – Shai 1993 – Baby I’m Yours 20 – Hi Five 1993 – I Like the Way 21 – All 4 One 1994 – I Swear 22 – Xscape 1994 – Just Kickin’ It 23 – No Doubt with Gwen Stefani 1995 – Just a Girl That's all for this update! Remember, if you have the means please consider contributing to Chris so he can keep the site running. Use the links above to become a subscriber today! See you all real soon!
7/06/18 Vlog Update
Show Notes by Brian Crawford A Salute to Mickey! Hello Disney music lovers! I certainly hope everyone had a distinctly patriotic 4th of July! My family and I traveled to a small town in Texas to enjoy an old fashioned patriotic parade and a civic band in the quaint town square! When it came time for fireworks the weather had other plans, but that's quite all right since Texas thunderstorms can be an entertaining spectacle! I should mention that on the drive we enjoyed a few patriotic tracks from Chapter 23: Holiday Time in Disneyland which got us in a celebratory mood for the holiday. Just one of many reasons we all love and appreciate the hard work Chris puts into building this website. So, what's new this week on DisneyChris.com? Well, not much in the way of updates to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour. Chris tackled a few other things and got them done so he can devote a huge block of time to address the "coming soons" and other track edits he discussed on the last update. So expect a big update on the next vlog! In the meantime let's chat about what Chris has been up to the last couple of weeks: During the first 10 days of July Chris uploaded a daily Disney song to celebrate America's 242nd birthday! Click the link above to enjoy these great Disney songs. Also, Mickey Mondays have been an entertaining addition to the Song of the Day Archive and the songs for July 2nd and 9th feature Mickey showing off his spirit for the good 'ole Stars and Stripes. Mickey Mondays will continue through November in celebration of his 90th birthday, and don't forget that Minnie Mouse also turns 90 as she debuted along Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie on November 18th, 1928. So be on the lookout for some Minnie Mouse songs in November, too! Yoo-hoo! Note: Mickey Mondays will preempt the annual "Supercalifragilistic September" of Sherman Brother songs since, surprisingly, the grammy winning brothers never wrote a song for Walt's best pal! In October Mickey will try to scare us each Monday and I'm sure Chris has a "spooktacular" playlist for the rest of the month we celebrate Halloween. I'd be fine with 31 days of Bing Crosby singing the Headless Horseman from the The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad! Hint hint..... I became acquainted with Chris through his podcast first and then discovered DisneyChris.com. What I love most about the podcast is the music Chris selects for each episode. You'll discover some rare treasures all edited and re-mastered for a superb aural experience. The last three podcasts are no exception! Click the title above and listen to the last three episodes: Episode 97A and 97B - Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room In this very special two part episode, Ruthie and Chris are joined by their favorite fine feathered friend from down south, Wendell Jones of the Sideshow Sound Theatre podcast network. Together these three bird brains discuss the history of Walt Disney's groundbreaking audio-animatronic attraction, The Enchanted Tiki Room, now celebrating its 55th anniversary. They will take you through the entire show, discussing the vocal cast, the amazing musical score, the show's developers, creative artists and technicians, and the very inspiration behind this tropical hideaway filled with joyous song and wondrous miracles. Episode 98 - A Tribute to America Sings This episode, in celebration of the 4th of July, Chris and Ruthie take a fabulous journey through the history of American song, discussing in detail the famous extinct Disneyland attraction, America Sings. Together they will share the history of the attraction, the many voice actors and songs from the show, and the aftermath after the attraction sadly closed in April of 1988. So climb aboard the carousel and join them on a magical, musical journey... Pop Goes the Weasel!!! Episode 99 - Walt Disney's Summer Magic This episode, Chris and Ruthie pay tribute to one of their all time favorite films, Walt Disney's classic live-action musical, "Summer Magic," which is celebrating its 55th anniversary this month. Together they share the behind-the-scenes history of the movie, discuss the cast including the adorable Hayley Mills and the legendary Burl Ives, walk you through the plot including their favorite scenes, and share all the amazing Sherman Brothers songs. So, it's time to do some "Flitterin" back to "Beautiful Beulah" for a nostalgic retrospective on a movie that truly is "The Pink of Perfection." Join us on "The Front Porch" for a little slice of Americana and a big dose of "Summer Magic." In closing, Chris did make a slight adjustment to Chapter 23: Holiday Time in Disneyland of the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour. He rearranged the tracks chronologically by holiday for our listening convenience! The only exceptions are the International Festivals and Year of Celebration tracks; those remain at the end of the chapter. Lastly, Chris had his site updated to conform with the latest security standards to keep us all safe as we surf the site. That's all for this update! We'll see ya real soon!
6/23/18 Vlog Update
Show Notes by Brian Crawford “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies Sing” Hello everyone! I’m excited to help Chris out with some hopefully entertaining show notes for the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour vlog updates. Chris puts his Disney heart and soul providing a truly unique product for Disney music fans, so let’s see what he has been up to since the last vlog! Chris opens up with a bit of housekeeping explaining that he was up against a deadline on another project which is why it has been a while since the last update. The deadline you ask? June 23, 2018, the 55th anniversary of the widely accepted debut of Audio-Animatronics in the tropical hideaway of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room! In celebration of the anniversary, Chris and his podcast partners Ruthie Brown and Wendell Jones have been furiously working to finish up Episode 97A, the first half of a wonderful episode explaining the history, origins and people involved with our beloved Adventureland attraction in Disneyland. This episode was released on the anniversary and is packed with wonderful rare audio which is sure to please even the most knowledgeable fan of this pioneering attraction. The second half of the podcast is also available to enjoy now! Do yourself a favor, grab a Dole Whip and head over to http://jcricketspodcast.blogspot.com or the Jiminy Crickets podcast channel on iTunes and listen. Be sure to leave a 5 star review and help promote this wonderful podcast. In my opinion it is one of the best Disney history and current event podcasts available. Chris puts a lot of time and effort into making these very entertaining and historically accurate, including relevant and fun audio clips that all of us disneychris.com fans have come to enjoy. So, don’t anger the gods by your “lack” of celebrating; listen to it today! Also in honor of the 55th anniversary of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Chris posted in his Song of the Day archive, one of the signature songs of the attraction, “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies Sing”. This 1969 rendition features the Mellow Men Quartet including one of our favorite Disney voices, Thurl Ravenscroft. During the month of June Chris has been posting some very fun songs celebrating Donald Duck’s 84th birthday on June 9th, and for Father’s Day, music featuring some of our beloved Disney Dads. Chris is also honoring his favorite Disney character by introducing a feature called “Mickey Mondays”. Every Monday for the rest of 2018 Chris will post a song dedicated to the mouse that started it all Coming in November expect a jam packed month full of Mickey music as we celebrate his 90th birthday! Scroll to the top of the page and click on “Song of the Day Archive” and start enjoying the tunes. I like to listen every morning while I shave….good times. Hey, you have to make shaving fun somehow! Now that the housekeeping is all done let’s move on to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour update. In this episode Chris lays out a game plan for the rest of 2018, addressing many of the “Coming Soon” holes in the Audio Tour (he’s talking to you, fans of the Disneyland Railroad Grand Circle Tour!!) and cleaning up the audio on several other tracks. Let’s start at the very beginning (which is usually a very good place to start...oops...not Disney, but close...). Chapter 1: The Disneyland Main Gate Track 69 – Disneyland Esplanade – Pixar Fest Area Background Music. A loop of music from Pixar Films Track 78 – Disneyland Medley. New audio recently discovered will be added to this entertaining mix of popular songs about Disneyland. Besides addressing the “Coming Soons”, this is an example of the work Chris will do to several tracks across all chapters improving the content and audio quality. Tracks 67 – 70 – Disneyland Railroad Grand Circle Tours. Many fans have been dying to hear to this audio and Chris has a plan to add this by the end of the year! The wait will soon be over and it will be “All Aboard” for us railroad fans Track 71 – Disneyland Railroad Grand Circle Tour – 2015. Chris plans on editing this track inserting more authentic train sounds and cleaning up the audio. Chapter 4: Central Plaza ; Chapter 6: Adventureland Chris will update all of the "Coming Soons" in these two chapters by the end of the year! Chapter 21: Disneyland After Dark Originally, Chapters 21 and 22 formed one chapter, but since the size grew to well over 100 tracks, Chris split it into the two chapters currently available. This chapter is "technically done", but Chris is adding some additional content to various tracks including: Track 82 - Tomorrowland Terrace. Added six new bands to this mix. Track 84 - Tomorrowland Terrace - Summer 2017. This track currently exists in the Disneyland Bandstand chapter but is just as relevant in Disneyland After Dark. Chapter 22: Disneyland Bandstand Chris has made some progress on this chapter recently and has 12 tracks left to update. The plan is to complete it during the month of July. Tracks 62 - 74 - Big Bands in Disneyland Summer Concert Series. These are difficult to edit since they are taken from live performances and Chris would like to clean up a lot of the audience noise to enhance the audio experience. The Glen Miller Orchestra track is completed.
Track 89 - 1990s Grad Nite Party. This mix only covers Grad Nite music from 1990-1994 since Disneyland phased out big name entertainment shortly after 1994.
Tracks 102 - 117 - Tomorrowland Terrace. Chris engaged with a Twitter user and discovered two additional bands. He added those new bands plus the other four tracks that needed to be finished:
Track 103: Club Buzz - The Jakes Track 104: Aquabats Track 105: Aly & AJ Track 106: Steve Rushton Track 116: The Bolts Track 117: Thomasina
Chris finished editing these and has declared Tomorrowland Terrace is complete! Chapter 23: Christmas in Disneyland Another chapter with some "Coming Soons" and other tracks Chris would like to complete to enhance our 2018 Christmas celebration! Chapter 27: The Wonderful World of Disney This chapter centers around Disneyland themed television shows post-Walt Disney through the 1990s. Tracks 49 – 53 – Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. This is a 1981 television special previewing EPCOT center and sharing some history of Walt Disney! Chris has finally obtained all of the audio for this special, which is great quality so this should be a quick addition. Track 55 – Big Bands in Disneyland. This is a medley of world famous swing bands that performed at the Plaza Gardens and featured in a 1984 Disney Channel series! Break out those dance shoes! So that does it for the update for June 23rd, 2018! In summary, Chris has laid out a plan to finish editing/adding an impressive total of 102 tracks. Many of these are "Coming Soon" and others are files Chris simply wants to edit and improve. He's heard the clamoring from his adoring fans and rest assured some great additions are COMING SOON! As a final plug, if you enjoy this content consider making a small monthly donation to DisneyChris.com by clicking here! Special mention: The following song lists comprise all of the medley tracks Chris updated in the previous two Disneyland Audio Tour vlog updates. Enjoy! Pop Pourri 1 – The Checkmates LTD – Mastered the Art of Love 1967
2 – Round Robin – I’m the Wolf Man 1965
On Stage USA 1 – New Classic Singers – Call Me 1966 NEW
2 – Gary Lewis and the Playboys – Sunny 1968
Rock N Roll Reunion 1 – Sha Na Na – Remember When
Great American Music Machine 1 – The Jackson 5 – The Love You Save 1970
The Great Rock Circus 1 – The Righteous Brothers – Rock n’ Roll Heaven 1974
More Legends of Country 1 – John Hartford – Gentle on My Mind 1967
Space Stage – Space Age Disco Concert 1 – KC and the Sunshine Band – That’s the Way I Like It 1975
Disneyland Disco Dance Party 1 – Billy Preston – Disco Dancin’ 1977
80’s Grad Nite Party - Part 1 1980-1984 1 – Kool and the Gang 1980 – Celebration
80’s Grad Nite Party - Part 2 1985-1989 1 – Animotion 1985 – Obsession
Pop Pourri (Disneyland After Dark Version) 1 – The Checkmates Ltd. – Mastered the Art of Love 1967
Disneyland Disco Dance Party (Disneyland After Dark Version) 1 – Billy Preston – Disco Dancin’ 1977
Grad Nite in Disneyland (Disneyland After Dark Version) 1 – Kool and the Gang – Celebration
6/8/18 Vlog Update
5/11/18 Vlog Update
4/27/18 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush Down The Rabbit Hole
Hello everybody, time for another update! There was a 3 week gap since the last update and Chris has been very busy falling down a musical rabbit hole. What does that mean? Lots of unexpected new content is coming!
There’s a group on Facebook known as Vintage Disneyland. If you love historic Disneyland, feel free to request to be admitted the group. You’ll learn a lot and see some wonderful vintage photographs and video posted by Disneyland lovers who share their personal material.
A member of this Facebook group started a discussion thread regarding favorite musical groups they had seen perform at their personal Grad Nites from years past. Lots of people commented and listed favorite performers. As Chris looked at the responses he noticed there were several names mentioned of which he had not been aware. This sparked a big research project to confirm that these people and/or groups did indeed play at Disneyland. After they were verified Chris began planning several updates for Chapter 21: Disneyland Bandstand to have the site more accurately reflect the history of these live performances. Prepare to fall down the rabbit hole with Chris as he discusses his unexpected new project.
If you click on the link above and scroll down the page you will notice several tracks have been inserted with “Coming Soon” next to them. Chris has done a vast amount of research and put together new track lists for custom mixes to represent several live events that happened in the park over several decades. He shows the track lists in the update around the 3 minute mark. The new material is highlighted in yellow - everything else on the list is already in a mix and doesn’t need to be edited. (However, it might be rearranged into a new mix). Just looking at how much yellow is in these lists gives an appreciation for how much research Chris has done and how much time he will be putting into editing the new tracks before uploading them to the site. Once the tracks are completed they will be discussed in future updates and lists will be provided to show what’s included in these mixes. You can see the lists on Chris’s computer starting around the 3 minute mark.
The planned additions are as follows:
A new section called The Tomorrowland Stage, which contains tracks 34-38. This is where you start to see a lot of “Coming Soon” signs. Chris uncovered so many new tracks during his research, started by that conversation in the Vintage Disneyland group on Facebook, that if he added it all to an existing mix such as The Great American Music Machine, it would make the mix over 4 hours long. To make things more manageable and also more accurate, Chris has divided the music into decades and is planning to split the current mixes up into 4 new mixes, with the new music added in, to better represent the decade or time period in which they were performed. The mixes are in the final editing stage and once they are uploaded to the site a list of what’s included in each mix will be provided. For now the planned updates to this section are: Track 34 - The Kids of the Kingdom. This track is currently finished and listed as “New”. Since they performed on the Tomorrowland Stage they are being included in this section even though they are also in the After Dark chapter. Track 35 - On Stage USA. When the new Tomorrowland premiered they began to have a concert event called On Stage USA. They were all performed on the outdoor stage known as The Tomorrowland Stage, which was pre Space Mountain. Some of the songs that were previously in The Great American Music Machine will be put into this track to make it more accurate to the decade in which the songs were performed. Track 36 - Rock n’ Roll Reunion. This concert series has several performers from the 1950’s. Some of the songs from the previous Great American Music Machine will be in this mix with new songs added in too. Track 37 - The Great American Music Machine. This was on the site previously but is being split up and redone so that it’s more accurate to the music that was played at this time period and the track doesn’t become 4 hours long. The previous Great American Music Machine is being split up into 4 tracks: tracks 35-38. Track 38 - The Great Rock Circus The Disco mix is being split up into two tracks. Track 48 - The Space Age - Space Age Disco Concert is another track affected by the big discussion on the Facebook page. Several artists who played at this concert were brought up during the discussion and Chris has verified the performers and decided which songs to add to the mix. There’s so much new music going in that it was going to be another 4 hour mix unless Chris did something to break it up. What he decided to do is put the famous, headline-type performers who played on the new Space Mountain Space Stage (which replaced the Tomorrowland stage when Space Mountain opened) and covers 1977-1980. There were also several events where DJ’s came and played and there were dance parties. Track 49 - Disneyland Disco Dance Party will have songs that were more for the dance parties and contain songs or performers who weren’t as well known. When the mixes are done and listened to there will be a definite difference in the type of songs included in each disco mix and the division will make sense and sound cohesive. The Grad Nite section is getting a revision and an addition. Chris is putting in a 90’s Grad Nite mix since many people who visit his site went to these Grad Nites and have fond memories. This will be Track 88 - 1990’s Grad Nite Party. Tracks 86 and 87, which contain the 80’s Grad Nite mixes, are going to be changed, but for now you can still listen to them as they are. Once they are changed a list will be provided to show what’s in each mix and give an easy way to show at a glance the new music that’s been added to each track. Track 102 - The Aquabats. They are a Ska band with a superhero aesthetic. They’re another discovery from the Facebook discussion. They performed at Disneyland in the late 90’s. Before Chris delved into the Pandora’s Box of adding new artist and revamping tracks he had added several new tracks to the site. These are up and running and ready to listen to right now:
A new section called Fantasyland Theatre, which contains tracks 32 - Humdinger! and 33 - Hootenanny! These were already on another Chapter but have been included here since they were performed live in the park. Since these tracks were already edited they are currently available to listen to on the site. These events both happened in the 1960’s. Humdinger! was a pop music festival and Hootenanny! is a folk music festival. They were on Disneyland After Dark but since they performed on a stage at Disneyland they fit into this Chapter as well. Track 63 - The Glenn Miller Orchestra. This was one of the original tracks that Chris had planned for the Big Bands in Disneyland - Summer Concert Series section, and it’s been completed. It’s not the authentic recording from the TV special (all of the tracks in this section are coming from a TV special that was done in the 1984). Nobody had posted that audio, so Chris found a recording from around the same time and posted that instead. You wouldn’t know there was a difference unless Chris told you, which he did - a behind the scenes tidbit. It’s good enough to work in place of the missing authentic audio which he hasn’t been able to find anywhere. The rest of the tracks in this section are still “Coming Soon.” Some of them have poor sound quality so Chris is making sure the sound is up to standard before posting them. This will probably be Chris’s next big project: taking VHS tapes that were recorded many years ago and eventually posted to YouTube and bringing the sound quality up to standard. Thankfully, many of the tracks in this section were released on laserdisc back when laserdisc was a thing, so the sound quality on those is really good and Chris doesn’t have to clean those up. Chris lists which specific tracks came from laserdisc around the 16:10 mark for those interested. Track 111 - Scot Bruce. He is an Elvis impersonator. Track 114 - Tomorrowland Terrace - Dueling DJs. DJs from Southern California come and perform rave-type dance mixes during the summer, at Grad Nites, and during New Years. Track 115 - Tomorrowland Terrace - Summer 2017. Nighttime entertainment went on a hiatus in 2015 but in 2017 several local bands made a comeback and began to play, as well as new bands.
Adding in new tracks, gathering music and rearranging tracks has meant that not a lot of new content has been added, but Chris has still been working hard. In addition to everything listed he has also planned out the Song of the Day list for May. He has also been working with his friend to clean up the behind the scenes code, and they have updated Chapters 1-24. There are only 3 Chapters still needing clean up on code. You should notice that the pages are loading faster and everything is running more efficiently since the code has been cleaned up and streamlined. Chris’s friend has dedicated hours and hours to teaching Chris how to be more efficient in using code and helping Chris to get the pages updated. Chris knows that his friend is listening to the Update, so he wants to be sure to give his friend (who remains unnamed) a big thank you and express his appreciation for the hours of dedication he has donated to make the site a more user friendly experience, and for all of the training that he has given Chris so that Chris can use that knowledge going forward with new additions and updates.
What’s next? Going in and actually adding all the tracks that Chris has been planning. By the time he does the next update he should have several tracks added. Chris will explain everything and provide track notes for the write-up at that point. Also, some of the songs on Chapter 20 will be redone as well because of all the new artists that Chris found out about because of the discussion on the Facebook group. Thank you for your patience. Chris has been very busy working on the site and planning, and he wanted to be able to explain everything once the planning was done instead of trying to explain it in the middle of all of the planning. He will try to get Vlog updates done every other week but if that doesn’t happen it’s because Chris has fallen down another rabbit hole and has a big project he’s completing before he can do a Vlog update.
Spring is starting, the weather is warming up, so everyone enjoy the change of season and Chris will talk to us again soon. Bye!
4/6/18 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush: Hello everybody! It’s been two weeks since the last update and 12 new songs have been added. Some changes have been made to one of the chapters and Chris will go through those changes today.
Chapter one of the audio tour starts with The Main Gate. It represents the main gate as well as the park as a whole. This was completed two years ago, but since then there have been 10 new tracks that Chris would like to add. He won’t be working on them right away, but the tracks have been set up with Coming Soon slots. Chris added these slots because he’s practicing a new method of adding tracks. Chris has mentioned his friend who has generously donated his time to helping Chris streamline the code, and basically rebuilding the entire website. He’s put a lot of time and energy into it and it’s very appreciated. So far they have rebuilt the home page as well as chapters 1 and 2. They look the same as before but they’re much more streamlined and efficient because a lot of the unnecessary coding was taking up space has been removed. In doing this there is now a new method needed to add in new tracks so that unneeded data isn’t put into the HTML code (the language that websites use to make the pages look the way they look). The way Chris was doing it before was copying and pasting things, and in doing so a lot of unneeded residual data was being added which build up a lot of disc space which made the pages load slower than they should. So Chris’s friend taught Chris a new way to insert the tracks, and Chris wanted to practice so it would stick in his mind for future use. So he decided to update Chapter 1 with the new tracks he’s planning on adding as a practice run so he knows how to do it going forward. Also, the navigation area on the top of each page which previously just indicated the chapter numbers, such as “Chapter 2”, for example, now will say something more descriptive such as “CH 2 - Town Square,” so that it will be easier to see what the chapter you click on is about without scrolling down to the bottom of the page and comparing it to the the “Welcome to the Hub” section. You will be able to tell which chapters have been updated and what hasn’t based on whether or not the chapter number has a new descriptive name added next to it on this top of the page navigation area. If you don’t see descriptive names at this navigation area, than it’s a good bet that this chapter hasn’t been updated yet. Also, the “Coming Soon” indications which have traditionally been placed next to unfinished tracks names now have a new look, with the “Coming Soon” now appearing under the liner notes, where the play bar will go when the track has been completed and posted. The ten tracks that are coming soon in Chapter 1:
Those are the 10 tracks that will be added soon. Before Chris works on those, he wants to finish the Holiday Time and Disneyland Bandstand chapter. The Holiday Time will probably be finished in a couple of days. The Bandstand chapter has about 20 tracks left to be added. Once that is done Chris will add those songs to Chapter 1, and then move on to Chapter 2 - Town Square. Down towards the bottom of the page there are several tracks that need to be added and they all have to do with the Disneyland Railroad. They’ve said Coming Soon for about two years, so “soon” is a relative term on the pages. It’s going to have narration from different decades. Chris is also going to try and improve the sound effects so they’re more authentic. As far as working on the Tomorrowland page, as Chris had planned, he’s going to finish up the things he’s had marked as Coming Soon in each chapter, and then he will start the Tomorrowland project. The Holiday Time chapter: Easter has come and gone so those tracks have now been moved to the bottom of the page and the upcoming holiday (the 4th of July) is at the top of the page. The first two tracks are still an overview for the rest of the chapter and will always be the first two. There are three new tracks that still need to be added to the page, and by the time this is released they might already be done. There are also several tracks that have been added since the last update:
The New Years Section: Chris changed the color scheme for the New Years section of the page. It’s blue and silver to represent the night sky and celebrating with sparkling silver things to bring the New Year in. All of the tracks that he discussed in detail during the last update have now been added and that section is complete. If you want to know more about those tracks then you can watch the last Vlog or read the accompanying notes from the last Vlog. Other things to note on the Holiday Time page:
That’s about it for this update. Have a wonderful early spring and Chris will be back in two weeks to talk about more updates. Bye-bye!
3/23/18 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush
Hello everyone! Chris waited an extra week to create the Vlog so that there was more to report on. March 23rd was the first day of the Easter Song of the Day. Up until April 1st there will be a Disney song with an Easter theme every day. You can click here to be taken to the Song of the Day page.
Chapter 20: Disneyland After Dark is now complete. If you haven’t checked it out in awhile be sure to do so. Its sister chapter, Disneyland Bandstand is still a work in progress. It has live bands that played at Disneyland. The country music section of the page has been completed.
Tracks 34- Danny David & The Nashville Brass and 35- More Legends of Country In Disneyland were the last tracks to be added to that section.
The full track list for the Country Music Jubilee, Country Music Spectacular, and More Country Legends In Disneyland tracks are as follows:
Country Music Jubilee 1 – Alabama Jubilee – Roy Clark (Instrumental) 2 – Act Naturally – Buck Owens 3 – Rye Whiskey – Homer and Jethro 4 – Sweet, Sweet Lips – Joe and Rose Lee Maphis 5 – Excuse Me For Living – Freddie Hart 6 – My Dirty Lowdown Rotten Cotton Pickin’ Little Darlin’ – The Geezinslaw Brothers 7 – Bonanza – Le Garde Twins NEW 8 – I’m An Old Cowhand – Jimmy Wakely NEW 9 – The Streets of Laredo – Rex Allen NEW 10 – Steelin’ Home – Noel Boggs NEW 11 – Ain’t You Ever – Collins Kids 12 – Let’s Wait a Little Longer – Canadian Sweethearts 13 – Hickory Hollow – The Dillards NEW 14 – It’s Just a Matter of Time – Sonny James NEW 15 – Giddy Up Go Answer – Minnie Pearl NEW 16 – Sad Movies Make Me Cry – Sue Thompson NEW 17 – Detroit City – Bobby Bare NEW 18 – Feed Me One More Lie – Mary Taylor NEW 19 – I’ve Come Awful Close – Hank Thompson 20 – Yes, I Love You Only – Bonnie Owens 21 – You Finally Said Something Good – Charlie Louvin 22 – Let’s Do What’s Right, Even If It’s Wrong – Faye Hardin and Bob Morris 23 - Happy Sunny Side of Life – The Country Ramblers NEW 24 – He’ll Have to Go – Jerry Naylor NEW 25 – Like a Fool – Dottie West 26 – Texas – Tex Ritter 27 – Little Maggie – The Stonemans 28 – A Woman Lives for Love – Wanda Jackson 29 – I’ll Hold You in My Heart – Tex Williams 30 – I Saw the Light – Roy Acuff and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 31 – She’s a Little Bit Country – George Hamilton IV 32 – Goodbye – David Frizzle NEW 33 – Hello Darlin – Conway Twitty NEW 34 – Louisiana Man – Doug Kershaw NEW 35 – The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA – Donna Fargo NEW 36 – Lonesome – Tony Booth NEW 37 – George Jones – She Still Thinks I Care NEW 38 – Stand By Your Man – Tammy Wynette NEW 39 – Married to a Memory – Judy Lynn NEW 40 – Mama Tried – Merle Haggard 41 – I Just Couldn’t Let Her Walk Away – Dorsey Burnette 42 – Stop the World and Let Me Off – Susan Raye 43 – Try a Little Kindness – Glen Campbell
Country Music Spectacular 1 – Roy Clark and Buck Trent – Shucking the Corn 2 – Roy Clark – Thank God and Greyhound 3 – Buck Owens and the Buckaroos – Together Again 4 – Ray Price – For the Good Times 5 – Jody Miller – Queen of the House 6 – Conway Twitty – I Love You More Today 7 – Bill Anderson & Jan Howard – If It’s All the Same to You 8 – Jeanie C Riley – Harper Valley PTA 9 – Tommy Overstreet – Gwen (Congratulations) 10 – Mel Tillis – Heart Over Mind 11 – May Bee – Let Me Call You Baby Tonight 12 – Dorsey Burnett – In the Spring (The Roses Always Turn Red) 13 – Donna Fargo – Wishful Thinking 14 – Doug Kershaw – Play Fiddle Play 15 – Jerry Naylor – But For Love 16 – Freddy Weller – Indian Lake 17 – Tony Booth – When A Man Loves a Woman 18 – Don Bowman – I’ll Never Get Over Getting’ Over You 19 – Kenni Huskey – A Fallen Star 20 – Sammi Smith – Help Me Make It Through The Night 21 – Buddy Alan – Cowboy Convention 22 – Bakersfield Brass – Buckaroo 23 – The Dillards – Ebo Walker 24 – Jerry Reed – When You’re Hot, You’re Hot
More Legends of Country 1 – John Hartford – Gentle on My Mind 2 – Bobby Gentry – Fancy 3 – Don Gibson and Sue Thompson – Good Old Fashioned Country Love 4 – Johnny Paycheck – She’s All I Got 5 – The Hagar Twins – I’m Miles Away 6 – Kay Austin – Big Red Roses 7 – Faron Young – It’s Four in the Morning 8 – Stoney Edwards – She’s My Rock 9 – Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn 10 – Johnny Tillotson – Your Love’s Been a Long Time Coming 11 – Jacky Ward – Fools Fall in Love 12 – Johnny Lee – Country Party 13 – Susie Allanson – Run to Her 14 – Big Al Downing – Mr. Jones 15 – Becky Hobbs – The More I Get the More I Want 16 – Wild Oats – Heartache 17 – Lynn Anderson – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 18 – Charlie Daniels – The South’s Gonna Do It Again
The biggest section in this Chapter that still needs work is the Big Bands section. It contains music recorded at Disneyland in the Plaza Gardens for a 1984 television special. Then there’s another section of Big Band music that contains tracks which were not recorded for the tv special that need to be finished. The last section that needs work is the Tomorrowland Terrace section, which contains more contemporary type groups.
The Holiday Time In Disneyland chapter is what distracted Chris from being able to work on the Big Bands chapter. The Holiday chapter became so long that the Christmas songs were split off onto their own page. One change that Chris is going to make to the Holiday chapter is to put the most recent holiday at the top, and then the one that was just finished at the bottom, making it a rotation from now on. Now when you go to the Holiday page, the most soon to come holiday will be at the top - with two exceptions. Tracks 1 and 2 will always be at the top because it’s a lead-in to all the holidays and the theme for the chapter.
Easter is currently at the top of the page, and a brand new track has been added for the Easter section. That is Track 9 - Springtime in Disneyland. It’s a 40 minute mix that was a lot of work. Chris scoured the internet to find content to put this track together. It turned out really well so check that track out.
As for the rest of the chapter, there are 12 new tracks that need to be added to finish it. Some of them were already on other chapters but they’re going to be duplicated on the Holiday chapter.
Track 16 - America On Parade - The Sadie Mae is new as well. The Sadie Mae is a fully restored antique carousel band organ. This organ recorded the music for the 1976 America On Parade. Chris has all of the music from that band organ that was used in the parade, and it’s unaltered. The parade featured a lot of electronic music and sound effects but that track has just the Sadie Mae. Chris has both version in that chapter so you can listen to the original music and the parade music that has the sound effects and see what you think and which one you like. Coming soon will be Track 18 - The Dapper Dans - Patriotic Medley, which is a group that sounds a lot like the Dapper Dans and will be used to represent them singing patriotic songs in the park. Track 21- U.S. Military Bands - Fourth of July Concert will be a medley of patriotic songs performed by different army bands who are invited to perform at the park. Track 23 - A Patriotic Grand Finale will a combination of the end of the Fantasy In The Sky fireworks show, which always has a patriotic ending, and the Disneyland Forever fireworks from the 60th anniversary. Disneyland Forever added a patriotic tag at the end of the presentation, so Chris is combining 4 versions of the fireworks show into a little mix. Track 24 - Celebrate The Spirit - Disney’s All-Star 4th of July is coming from a television program that aired every year from 1988 until the mid 90’s. They still do a Christmas program every year, but they also used to do a 4th of July and an Easter program every year. The 4th of July one was always called “Disney’s All Star 4th of July”. In the beginning it was only broadcast from Disney World, but in later years they added Disneyland in as well. Sandy Patty performed a live fireworks finale for several years so that will be included in the track. Track 25 - Celebrate America - Pre Show Area Music will be some pre-show music that you hear as you’re waiting for the fireworks. Track 28 - Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House in the Halloween section was already on the Disneyland Records chapter, but it has been included on the Halloween chapter as well. It’s a tradition to play this record at Halloween time and it has been for years, so it’s appropriate to be on the holiday page. Track 32 - Haunted Mansion Holiday- Scream Along. Chris forgot that he had this in his files but someone pointed out that this was on YouTube and Chris listened to it and remembered he had it, but he was confusing it with the Scarols. So he’s digging that out and adding it soon. Track 47 - Villain’s Victory Party came from a publicity campaign in 2010 where people voted for their favorite Disney Villain. There was also a trivia contest and if you got all the answers correct you could win a ticket to a special event where they revealed who won the favorite villain contest. Maleficent won and they had a whole party on Tom Sawyer's Island. Chris has a live recording of it but the audio isn’t the best. He was going to leave it out but then he figured out some of the songs that were included in the live event. He found 2 of the 3 songs that were used, so he is going to add those studio recordings of what was played in the live show. Track 65 - America Sings - Auld Lang Syne in the New Year section will be added soon as well as track 66 - Country Bear Christmas Special - Another New Year. Track 71 - Tournament of Roses Parade - Walt Disney Grand Marshall. Chris found a piece of audio from the 1966 Tournament of Roses Parade when Walt was Grand Marshall and created a 1 minute audio piece. Track 72 - Tournament of Roses Honor Band has a band that plays in the Tournament of Roses Parade and they sometimes play in Disneyland as well. Chris is including a medley of parade songs to represent them since they have a long tradition with Disneyland. Track 73 - Tournament of Roses Parade - The Royal Court has already been added. It was on the Parade chapter already but has been duplicated onto this one. Track 83 - The Little Man of Disneyland comes from a 1955 Little Golden Record. The main character is a leprechaun. It was on the Disneyland Records chapter but it’s coming to the St. Patrick’s Day section now. Tracks 88 - The Dapper Dans - Irish Sing Along and 89 - Coke Corner - Irish Ragtime Melody used to be together, but Chris split them up and made them into their own tracks. Tracks 90-92 will always be the same and be at the very bottom of the page. So the page has two opening tracks and 3 closing tracks that will stay the same.
That completes the news for the Holiday page. Chris now moves on to Chapter 25: Disneyland Records to discuss a really interesting update and some historical information as well.
“Disneyland Records” is basically a play on words because the name of the in-house recording label that Disney used for decades was called Disneyland Records. They used that as a way to talk about all of their different projects (having “Disneyland” in their project titles, whether it had something to do with the actual park or not). Chris is using this Chapter to represent the park itself. The tracks in this Chapter all come from vinyl recordings that represent Disneyland park in some way.
What Chris recently added was Track 3 - Your Trip To Disneyland on Records. This is a special track. These were 5 little discs on cardboard that came in a set, and you would cut them out and play them on a record player. Because they were cardboard with a layer of vinyl on them the quality of them was really pour. Chris used some of the money from donations to the site to purchase an unopened, factory sealed copy of the records and sent it to a friend who has professional recording equipment. Chris sent him the sealed records, a tool to cut out perfect circles, and a new needle to play the records the way they need to be played. It took a couple of years for the project to be completed. When Chris got the digital audio he dropped everything and added this final track to finish off the chapter. Even though the records were factory sealed and never played they were still 60 years old and so they weren’t perfect. Still, they were an improvement over the other audio from other recordings of the same records that Chris has heard over the years. Chris then went in with his editing software and cleaned it up, so this is probably the best version of these records that exists. Chris worked hard to take out distortions, scratches, noise and background hiss to make this sound amazing. This track now completes the Disneyland Records chapter, which is very exciting.
Have a wonderful Easter. Be sure to check out all the new tracks on the site, check out the Patreon and become a donor if you aren’t already. If all you can pledge is $1 per month that is still helpful. The money is used for the site, so please consider becoming a donor. Bye for now!
3/2/18 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush:
It’s been a long time since the last Vlog. It’s time to get everyone up to date! Chris didn’t do a video for a couple of weeks because he went on vacation and didn’t have access to a computer. Because he couldn’t add content during that time there’s a little bit to report on today, but it won’t be a long update.
The site has benefited greatly from a fan who is also very computer savvy, and he has lent his expertise and gone above and beyond to help improve the site. The home page has been rebuilt, basically from scratch. There’s about half as much code on the page now (the code is what makes the page look the way it does, and it’s all behind the scenes), so the page looks the same but it will load about twice as fast as it used to. This same code cleanup will probably happen with every page on the site but it started with the home page as a tester. Not only does it look perfect on Firefox, which is the browser that Chris uses, but it also looks good on Explorer and Chrome as well. It’s good to have everything be consistent. Using a mobile device is still an issue because a lot of the data isn’t compressed to fit the device. This will hopefully be worked on down the road, but you can at least play all of the music on your phone now, which wasn’t how it was before. That’s because of the new audio player. Speaking of…
The new audio player looks similar and yet prettier at the same time. Going on a slight tangent, you can’t download the music from the website- you can only stream it. This is because there are copyright issues and Chris doesn’t want to get in trouble with Disney, so to keep it available to everyone it has to stay in a streaming form. Disney does know about the site because Chris has had to get permission for a couple of things, including contributing some edited audio from the site to TV specials. Disney was really great about it and Chris even got credited on the documentary. There are also Imagineers who go to the site and enjoy it, so Disney is very aware of the site. In the 5 years it’s been going, Chris has never been contacted by Disney, and he wants to keep it that way. Circling back to the original topic of the audio player, the previous audio player made it easy for people to download the content and that was a problem, so the current player doesn’t allow you to download and fixes that problem. (If you want some audio then become a supporter of the site and you will get exclusive content every month. See the ways to contribute at the end of this update). This audio player is HTML5 so it’s the best of both worlds: all the functions of the old flash player with the compatibility of HTML5 where you can use it on any device. It’s efficient and wonderful and consistent between browsers. As someone who went to design school, it’s very important to Chris that it looks good and works well.
In other news, one of the chapters that Chris has been working on for several months has finally been completed! That’s Chapter 20- Disneyland After Dark. There might be some added in the future but for now, it’s “finished”. “Finished” has to go in quotes because there’s always something that will pop up in the future, but for now it’s done.
Track 24- Skiles & Henderson was added. It’s a stand up comedy routine that was recorded live in the 1960’s. They performed at The Golden Horseshoe stage and The Carnation Gardens, and often filled in when the regular casts had the night off. They were also prolific musicians and they led a band at the park which were called The Disneyland Doodlers. This comedy routine captures the feel of what they were like when they performed at Disneyland, even though they didn’t record the album in Disneyland. It’s very funny and it was a lot of work. It took about 2 hours to edit every 1 minute of audio. Chris worked really hard to clean up the background noise and audience coughing and everything else to get it perfect. It sounds great and so much work went into it, so please check it out.
The other track that was completed it Track 54 - Michael Iceberg - The Amazing Iceberg Machine. This track originally wasn’t going to be included because…. it was forgotten. But one morning Chris woke up and remembered it and made sure to put him in. Michael Iceberg mostly performed at Disney World but he did come to Disneyland sometimes and do performances. In 1985 he recorded a half hour concert at the Tomorrowland Terrace which is on YouTube if you want to check it out. The track that is being used to represent him was recorded at Disney World and he makes a lot of Disney references. It has a lot of the same jokes and sound effects as to what you see on the YouTube recording so it’s pretty authentic to what you would have heard at Disneyland. The applause that was on the original track sounded very strange so Chris added in better applause and a couple of laughs. It really came out great, so be sure to check it out.
The water and music show that takes place at Pixie Hollow had a space on the page for future tracks, but the audio wasn’t able to be obtained and the space holders have been removed. Maybe at some point in the future the tracks can be obtained.
The other track that had to be removed was the Grad Nite Fireworks Special because a piece of that audio needed for it is very difficult to obtain and Chris wasn’t able to get it as hoped. It was going to be located after the current Track 81- as a sort of “Grad Nite” block of audio. The original name of track 81 was “Grad Nite Dance Party,” but it’s been renamed and given a different picture, so that it more represents all DJ events at the Tomorrowland Terrace in general terms, and not specifically Grad Nite. However, the audio is the same as it was before. Track 89 is a medley of songs and musical acts that performed at the recent “Disneyland After Dark” after hours party called “Throwback Nite” that happened in early January. Chris created a track to pay homage to this amazing event. So far Disneyland has not announced any future “After Dark” parties.
Chapter 21- Disneyland Bandstand was originally part of the After Dark chapter and was split off to become its own page. There are 26 tracks left to add to this page, and that’s the priority now. Chris wants to finish this chapter over the next month or so. The majority of it is done. The Michael Iceberg track is included on this chapter also because it belonged on both pages.
Big Bands in Disneyland is the big section that needs to get done, because only one track is done so far. The same is true with the More Legends of Jazz section. They will be done soon. The Tomorrowland Terrace section has several tracks that are finished but still needs a few to complete it. Once the Bandstand chapter is done, Chris is pondering on what to do next. There are a few tracks on the Town Square page that aren’t done yet, as well as some other “Coming Soon” tracks on other chapters that need to be finished before a brand new chapter is completed. Once that is done, the next new chapter could possibly be a 1950’s Tomorrowland chapter. Chris has a lot of audio for it and the retro feel is very fascinating to listen to when you compare it to how Tomorrowland is today.
Please check out the latest Jiminy Crickets podcast about New Orleans Square and Liberty Square. There’s been great feedback on it from listeners and it has information on it that many people may not have known before. Impress your friends with lesser-known facts about these two areas! You can find it at jcricketpodcast.blogspot.com or on Itunes and Stitcher. It’s also been posted on this same YouTube channel. ConciEars vacation planners are the new sponsors for the site. Check them out if you’re planning on taking a Disney Cruise or any Disney vacation. They are official Disney vacation planners and you don’t pay them. Disney pays them! So whatever you pay for you vacation when you go through them is the same as you would pay if you did it on your own. They get you hotels, give you the best rates, walk you through your fast passes, and it takes all the stress out of planning your Disney vacation. There’s no reason not to use them because they don’t charge you at all and they treat you like royalty. Chris doesn’t endorse products he doesn’t believe in, but he believes in these guys and can’t say enough good things about them. If you use them please let them know that you heard about them from DisneyChris so that they know that their partnership with Chris’s website has been beneficial.
Before the end, there must be another plea for people to help with donations to keep the website going. Chris is disabled and on a fixed income and the website costs money to host each and every month. You can be a regular donator on Patreon or you can do a one time donation at Paypal. You can also set up a monthly donation on Paypal if you’re not comfortable using Patreon. You will get special audio content every month if you contribute, no matter what the amount. Even if you donate a dollar, every donated dollar helps and is appreciated.
Spring is coming very soon, daylight savings is coming as well, and so is St. Patrick’s Day. Hopefully there will be another update before that holiday.
Until then, bye-bye!
2/6/18 Vlog Update
1/19/18 Vlog Update
1/7/18 Vlog Update
12/16/17 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush
The last vlog update of 2017!
Hello everybody, welcome to the bi-weekly Disney Audio Tour update! This vlog is a day late because, for the past couple of days, a big project was going on and Chris wanted to finish it before updating everyone.
As more Christmas tracks were added to the Holiday Time In Disneyland chapter, the page began taking longer and longer to load. With over 165 tracks on one page it was time to make another chapter split. Chris had been considering doing this for awhile but hesitated because the Haunted Mansion holiday overlay covered two holidays and Chris was debating on how to handle that. He decided to repeat those tracks on the Christmas chapter and went ahead and divided the chapter right now, instead of waiting for the update of the media player that will be happening in January and doing all the changes at once. It took a couple of days because it’s a major task to add a new chapter to the collection (it took nonstop and diligent work for two days to get it done). There’s a glitch in the program that Chris uses, where if you rename an image it will remember the old image and post that old image instead. It does this for several hours, then adjusts itself and posts the new images. Chris will check this all out and by the end of the 16th. By then the images should have straightened themselves out and be what they should be.
With the Christmas songs moved to a new page, Chapter 23, Holiday Time At Disneyland, now looks like this: Mickey greets everyone wearing his finest. Chris added the sash to this image to create an overall festive look and feel for the page without it being specific to any one holiday. Melonie wants to take a moment and point out Chris’s talents here, which he uses regularly to add not only musical content, but visual content to the Audio Tour as well. It’s very impressive and much appreciated.
The new title card for the chapter, complete with new introduction, has images that come from a 1958 record called Holidays With The Mouseketeers. Chris went with a rainbow background because there are so many holiday themes that one color wouldn’t fit all. Hopefully a rainbow will cover it.
The order of the holidays are now Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, International Festival and New Years.
Also of note, the “Hub” that appears at the bottom of every page has been rearranged. Here is the Hub from the Holidays chapter showing the way things are ordered at this point.
Christmas in Disneyland is now Chapter 22, which bumped everything back one number. Also, Disneyland Anniversaries (which includes major milestones and celebrations) was moved to be at the end of the seasonal chapters because anniversaries can sort of be considered holidays, so it seemed like it fit in with the holidays group really well (originally the Anniversaries was the last chapter). All that rearranging was another thing that took time to do.
If you’re having a problem viewing the Play bars recently, here is the solution. Run your mouse over the space where the play bars should be, and they usually will appear and you can play them as normal. Once the new media player is put in place in January, this hopefully won’t be an issue anymore.
Now let’s look at the Christmas page, which is now Chapter 22.
The order of the tracks has basically stayed the same. When the HauntedMansion overlay tracks were added they were put at the end of the Chapter. These now start around track number 60. Originally there were 93 tracks, and now there’s a total of 99 on the page. In the Holidays chapter, the Nightmare Before Christmas/Haunted Mansion tracks are separate, and each have their own liner notes. On the Christmas page, the tracks are grouped together in one section with one liner note, and the tracks are on a colored background. Track 60 has The French Market area music, which is also played during both Halloween and Christmas. Track 59 is the Grim Grinning Ghosts Christmas. Fun trivia fact: that track was originally in the Halloween folder but Chris decided not to put it on the Halloween page after all. You can only find it on the Christmas page.
Other changes to the page: the end of the Christmas tracks no longer lead into the Halloween tracks, the color scheme was changed to green, and the pictures above the Hub have been changed to all Christmas pictures instead of a mix of the different holidays, and the lettering in the Hub has been changed to red and green. Keep in mind that every letter has to be assigned a color individually. As Chris said, lots and lots of work went into making this new chapter.
All of that is what has been changed in the past couple of days, but before that, several new tracks were added as well. Let’s take a look at those now.
At this point, the blog turns towards the parades. This is because Chris wrote an article for a website about the history of Disneyland’s Christmas parades. Up to this point he had been mostly editing and adding tracks in order, but he skipped ahead to get the parade tracks done so they could compliment the article. You can read Chris’s article here on the Disney Avenue website. Some of the tracks Chris added were already there but he improved the audio. The rundown for the parade tracks are as follows:
Moving down the page, we resume the non-parade tracks:
Just as a heads up, on December 20th, Episode 85 of the Jiminy Crickets podcast will be released. It will be all about Babes in Toyland, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should go watch it. You can stream it on Amazon for about $4. You won’t regret watching the movie, and you would benefit from watching the movie before listening to the podcast.
There will be more tracks coming, possibly as many as at least one new tracks a day. Check Chris out on Twitter or Facebook, because anytime something new is posted to the website, Chris lets people know through these social media channels that new tracks are out.
Have a very merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and may all your wishes come true this holiday season. Chris will do another update….next year! Can you believe it? Have a wonderful rest of 2017!
Bye bye!
12/1/17 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush
Happy Holidays, everybody! The website has been decorated with some holiday artwork. The homepage has a special link to skip right to the Christmas songs section. It also has the Song Of The Day towards the bottom, which are Christmas themed for the month of December. There’s been a major milestone for the website! As of December 1st, a total of 1,500 tracks have been added! When the website first started there were about 380 tracks available, and in five years it’s grown so much. There’s still more to add, so in another 5 years there will probably be 1,000 more tracks, and after that there will probably be more still. Thank you to everyone who has followed the website, supported it, and enjoyed the music. You are the ones who make it worth all the work that goes into it.
Two weeks ago, when the last Vlog was recorded, the audio was still being set up for the holiday tracks. That’s been finished and lots of tracks have been added since that time. The “work folder” started out with 78 files and it’s now down to 53 files yet to be added. Several of these files are brand new, and several files are existing tracks that will be redone to be improved. See the Vlog for a peek inside the work folder to see Chris’s list and get the behind the scenes details on which songs will be redone.
Here’s the rundown on the tracks which are on the Christmas Page at this point:
Track 1 - The Holidays At Disneyland. This is a 1957 radio ad that had some music added from Walt Disney’s firehouse apartment. It’s been on the site for years and is a classic which hasn’t changed. Track 2- Holiday Time In Disneyland - Walt Meets Santa. This is from a 1962 episode of The Wonderful World of Color, called “Holiday Time at Disneyland” (which is what the Christmas chapter is named from). This is an introduction to that program, and through the magic of special effects, it was snowing at Disneyland when Walt met Santa. It was on the site before but has been improved. Track 3 - A Christmas Adventure In Disneyland - Tree Medley. This is from a 1958 record called “A Christmas Adventure In Disneyland.” It was a story of some kids going through Disneyland on Christmas Eve, and the full version is on the Records page. This one contains just the 4 songs from that record, and the sound quality is really good. Track 4 - The Holiday Bowl. This is the bandstand that was in Town Square before opening day, then when the park first opened it had been moved to the west of the castle in Central Plaza and eventually moved to an area between Adventureland and Frontierland. A popular event took place here each December called the Holiday Bowl, which was a live show during the 1950’s. No audio from this exists, so some audio that has the correct feel to it serves as a representation. Chris worked really hard to find the right sound for this track and put a lot of thought into it. Track 5 - The Firehouse Five Plus Two - Jingle Bells. This is from a 1950’s TV special called “One Hour In Wonderland.” This version of the song is nearly identical to the one played on the TV special but was taken from a studio recording. Chris included this song because the Firehouse Five have such a strong connection to Disneyland. Track 6 - Parade Of Many Lands. This has audio from the “Holiday Time In Disneyland” TV special, as well as from the “A Gala Day In Disneyland” news special. Both describe the Parade of Many Lands, and elements from each were combined to create this track. It’s not authentic audio recorded in the park but it’s vintage audio from that time that was produced by Disney describing the parade. It’s a good one, so check it out. Track 7 - Babes In Toyland Exhibit. This is a few songs from the 1961 cast album from Babes In Toyland. The album was produced at the same time that the exhibit was open, so this music is an educated guess as to what was played in the park. Track 8 - March Of The Toys Parade. This comes from the 1962 holiday special. Lots of editing went into it to clean up the audio. Track 9 - March Of The Toys Parade - Toy Train Choir. There’s a segment in the same 1962 special where a float came out and you hear a high pitched “Deck The Halls.” In 1957 the Walt Disney Christmas Concert came out with “Ludwig Mouseinski” conducting an all-mouse choir singing Jingle Bells, using a recording technique that was later used in Alvin & The Chipmunks and it came out really cute. Track 10 - Silent Night - The Disneyland Boys Choir. This is from the 1964 album “It’s A Small World’ where an all boys choir sang traditional songs from around the world. Silent Night represented Germany and is the only song from that album on this track. Track 11 - Matterhorn Mountain - Christmas Star. Chris took a piece of music that has a Disneyland connection to it and added the authentic sound effects of the wind from the Matterhorn. This represents the Christmas star that used to be on top of the Matterhorn for Christmas. Track 12- Fantasy On Parade- Promotional Radio Spots. These are 3 different advertisements recoded from the stars from Blackbeard’s Ghost. This was on the site before but Chris added some different music to it. Track 13 - Fantasy On Parade - Premier Season. This was on another page of the site (the Parade chapter). It has been added to this chapter and had some extra clean up work done on it. Track 14 - Fantasy On Parade - 1973 Season. This is just the Christmas segment from the 1973 version of the parde. It is authentic. If you want to hear the full parade, it’s on the Magical Milestones chapter and the Parades chapter as well. Track 15 - Fantasy On Parade- Wacky Reindeer. This will probably be renamed as Silly Reindeer at some point. This is 3 version of Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer taken from various area loops. Track 16 - Carousel Of Progress- Mid Century Christmas. Chris is very proud of this one. He wanted to represent the Christmas scene that happened at the end of the Carousel. I took awhile to figure out how to do it since Christmas was only mentioned very briefly. Chris took this brief mention and then faded it into other Christmas music taken from a couple of albums from the same time period. It definitely sounds like what Mother and Father would be listening to in that scene, when they talk about being able to dim the lights to match the music, etc. It came out really fun, so check that out. Track 17 - The Kids Of The Kingdom - Christmas Medley. This one isn’t done yet, but it will most likely be done by the next Vlog and Chris will explain it then. Track 18 - Christmas In Disneyland Television Special. This comes from a 1976 TV special. It was a lot of work to get this track right, and Chris is happy with how it turned out. If you compare this to what you can find on YouTube, the sound quality is very different because of all of the work Chris put into it. Track 19 - A Disney Christmas Gift - Christmas Morning. This is a song at the beginning of a 1982 TV special. The song is played while the characters are shopping and decorating Main Street. Track 20 - Christmas In Disneyland - Jack Wagner. This was already on the site but Chris found a longer version that had intro music on it, so it’s been redone. Tracks 21 - 26 are different TV commercials from over the years. Track 26 - Christmas 2006 - Year Of A Million Dreams has Burl Ives singing Holly Jolly Christmas. The commercial itself isn’t very great as an audio experience so Chris took the song by Burl Ives which was used as background music for this commercial and used that for this track. Track 27 - Coming Soon. Track 28 - Mickey Mouse Holiday Phone Greeting. This is a short piece of audio that’s maybe 10 seconds long, so Chris took a piece of music from the same actor who performs for Mickey, singing Jingle Bells, and merged the two audio pieces together. Track 29 - Are You Ready For Christmas - Neil Patrick Harris. This was technically performed in Walt Disney World during a 2013 TV special. However, Disneyland was featured in this TV special along with Disney World, and it’s a great song, so it’s being included.
That’s basically everything that’s been added thus far. Chris plans to work diligently at it from now until Christmas, so something new should be added every day. Check him out on Facebook under Chris Lyndon or on Twitter at DisneyChris73. Every time something is added to the site it’s posted in those two places.
One other thing to mention is Patreon. Yes, the sales pitch again. Chris really does need all the listener’s help because it costs money to run the website. The more audio that’s added to the website, the more it costs to run. There will eventually come a point where it will be cost prohibitive to add any more audio to the site unless the listeners come forward to help. Any amount will help, even one dollar. If ten people donated only one dollar, that’s ten less dollars that Chris has to pay for. Every little bit can help and every little bit is appreciated. Special exclusive audio content is given to Patreon subscribers, and if you donate $1 you get the same content as those who donate $10. Please consider it and see if it is something that you can do, since there’s a limit to how much Chris can afford to do on his own. All Patreon subscribers so far are really appreciated, and Chris is thankful for all of those donations and ponders every day on the generosity of people, and it warms his heart. Have a wonderful holiday season and we will see you in two weeks. Enjoy all the festivities and decorating and everything going on during the holiday season.
Bye-bye!
11/17/17 Vlog Update
11/03/17 Vlog Update
Notes by Melonie Bush
Hello everybody! Welcome to the vlog update for November 3rd, 2017! Several new tracks have been added to the site, and the Song of the Day for November has been set up. This month doesn’t have a theme for the whole month, unlike last month that had a Villains theme. November 18th is Mickey Mouse’s birthday, so for the week leading up to his birthday there will be all Mickey Mouse songs. The week following his birthday there will be a week of Thanksgiving themed songs. So half of the month will have a theme, half will have no theme, and the half that does have a theme will have 2 themes. In December there will be a Christmas Song of the Day all month long. Now for the updates:
Chapter 20 - Disneyland After Dark.
Track 1 - The Flag Retreat. This has been redone again. It’s now been redone two times. The first time was to get some more echo into it, but upon relistening, it still needed something. So more bass was added and the announcer’s voice was tweaked to sound better.
Track 34 - The Great American Music Machine, had a tweak to it. An additional group was discovered from a post on a Facebook fan page that Chris visits a lot. Here is a picture of them performing in the 70’s:
The group is Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart. They did record an album live in Disneyland. It was never commercially released, and it was probably recorded just as something for the members of the group to have, not for the public. It’s so rare that there’s probably no way to get their album. They performed at Disneyland for three nights in a row, July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 1976. This makes them the Rock and Roll band who was performing during America’s bicentennial, which makes it historically important. This was the only time they ever played at Disneyland. Two of these members were in the group The Monkees, and the other two were members of another popular group in the late 60’s who also actually wrote a lot of the songs for the Monkees. They combined and made a third group with two members from each band, and this is the band that is featured. This band was formed when a reunion tour for the Monkees was discussed, but two of the members of the group didn’t want to do it, so Boyce and Hart teamed up with Dolez and Jones and formed this new group. They released two albums commercially. One of them was a live album recorded at a concert in Japan, which is available for purchase but not digital download. Their other album has all original songs. One of these songs they sang in Disneyland, and the reason this is known is because there’s a recording of the Disneyland concert on YouTube which an audience member recorded and posted online years and years later. So the song they performed in the concert which they also recorded in the studio is the song that was added to The Great American Music Machine. If you want to listen to the concert on YouTube you can click here and listen.
Here is a list of the songs that are now included in this mix:
The Great American Music Machine 1 – The Love You Save – The Jackson 5 2 – Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry 3 – Tutti Frutti – Pat Boone NEW 4 – Light My Fire – Jose Feleiciano NEW 5 – Hooked on a Feeling – B.J. Thomas 6 – Woman, Woman – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 7 – The Tears of a Clown – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles 8 – Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) – Helen Reddy 9 – Silver Bird – Mark Lindsay 10 – Music Music Music – Theresa Brewer NEW 11 – Precious and Few – Climax 12 – Sooner or Later – The Grass Roots 13 – Down By the Lazy River – The Osmonds 14 – Top of the World – The Carpenters 15 – Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree – Tony Orlando and Dawn 16 – Billy Don’t Be a Hero – Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods NEW 17 – The Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Night and the Pips NEW 18 – Betcha By Golly Wow – The Stylistics 19 – Want Ads – Honey Cone 20 – Stagger Lee – Tommy Roe 21 – Yes We Can Can – The Pointer Sisters 22 – Indian Reservation – Paul Revere and the Raiders 23 – Minnie Riperton – Seeing You This Way NEW 24 – Without You – Sami Jo NEW 25 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight – Robert John 26 – Gene Cotton – Only the Lucky NEW 27 – Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids – Did You Boogie With Your Baby NEW 28 – You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt 29 – I Honestly Love You – Olivia Newton-John 30 – Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart – I Love You (And I'm Glad That I Said It) NEW 31 – Shaun Cassidy – Doo Doo Run Run NEW 32 – Rock N’ Roll Heaven – The Righteous Brothers
Track 50 - The Bear Country Hoedown - Nashville Brass. This track was also tweaked just a little removing some of the songs with less bass in them and the sound quality is more cohesive. There was also additional cleanup done that was missed during the first go around.
There are three tracks left to do on this chapter. Skiles and Henderson (it’s a very tedious clean-up so Chris is trying to do one minute of clean-up on it a day - which can take about 5 hours just to do 1 minute,) Pixie Hollow Enchantment and Grad Night Blast. To hear more about these unfinished tracks, see the last vlog update or read the accompanying notes, which have all the details.
Chapter 21 - Disneyland Bandstand
This is the chapter with the most additions.
Track 32 - Country Music Jubilee and Track 33 - Country Music Spectacular come from old vinyl recordings that need cleanup. It takes a lot of time to perfect the sound on these. Remember that this is classic country music, not modern day country music, so if you don’t like modern day country music then you might still like this. It has a Country Bear Jamboree feel to it. Give it a chance, you might like it.
The songs on the Country Music Jubilee mix are: 1 – Alabama Jubilee – Roy Clark (Instrumental) 2 – Act Naturally – Buck Owens 3 – Rye Whiskey – Homer and Jethro 4 – Sweet, Sweet Lips – Joe and Rose Lee Maphis 5 – Excuse Me For Living – Freddie Hart 6 – My Dirty Lowdown Rotten Cotton Pickin’ Little Darlin’ – The Geezinslaw Brothers 7 – Bonanza – Le Garde Twins NEW 8 – I’m An Old Cowhand – Jimmy Wakely NEW 9 – The Streets of Laredo – Rex Allen NEW 10 – Steelin’ Home – Noel Boggs NEW 11 – Ain’t You Ever – Collins Kids 12 – Let’s Wait a Little Longer – Canadian Sweethearts 13 – Hickory Hollow – The Dillards NEW 14 – It’s Just a Matter of Time – Sonny James NEW 15 – Giddy Up Go Answer – Minnie Pearl NEW 16 – Sad Movies Make Me Cry – Sue Thompson NEW 17 – Detroit City – Bobby Bare NEW 18 – Feed Me One More Lie – Mary Taylor NEW 19 – I’ve Come Awful Close – Hank Thompson 20 – Yes, I Love You Only – Bonnie Owens 21 – You Finally Said Something Good – Charlie Louvin 22 – Let’s Do What’s Right, Even If It’s Wrong – Faye Hardin and Bob Morris 23 - Happy Sunny Side of Life – The Country Ramblers NEW 24 – He’ll Have to Go – Jerry Naylor NEW 25 – Like a Fool – Dottie West 26 – Texas – Tex Ritter 27 – Little Maggie – The Stonemans 28 – A Woman Lives for Love – Wanda Jackson 29 – I’ll Hold You in My Heart – Tex Williams 30 – I Saw the Light – Roy Acuff and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 31 – She’s a Little Bit Country – George Hamilton IV 32 – Goodbye – David Frizzle NEW 33 – Hello Darlin – Conway Twitty NEW 34 – Louisiana Man – Doug Kershaw NEW 35 – The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA – Donna Fargo NEW 36 – Lonesome – Tony Booth NEW 37 – George Jones – She Still Thinks I Care NEW 38 – Stand By Your Man – Tammy Wynette NEW 39 – Married to a Memory – Judy Lynn NEW 40 – Mama Tried – Merle Haggard 41 – I Just Couldn’t Let Her Walk Away – Dorsey Burnette 42 – Stop the World and Let Me Off – Susan Raye 43 – Try a Little Kindness – Glen Campbell
The songs on the Country Music Spectacular mix are:
Tracks 45-52 are from the Rollin’ River Revue and they are all done. This is includes a track for every themed week, plus a track of the random stars that performed for the rest of the summer. Here is the breakdown of the songs included on each mix:
Rollin’ River Revue - Surfin’ 60’s Week 1 – Frankie Avalon – Beach Party 2 – Jan & Dean – Surf City USA 3 – The Ventures – Walk Don’t Run 4 – The Association – Never My Love 5 – The Surfaris – Wipe Out
Rollin’ River Revue - Swing Week 1 – Cross Over the Bridge – Patti Page 2 – Boogie Blues – Ray Anthony & His Orchestra 3 –You’re Nobody ‘Till Somebody Loves You – Roberta Sherwood 4 – Corner Pocket – Ray Anthony & His Orchestra 5 – Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man – Connie Haines 6 - Rose Room – Ray Anthony & His Orchestra
Rollin’ River - Country Week 1 – Donna Fargo – Don’t Be Angry 2 – Sylvia – Drifter 3 – Jacky Ward – Fools Fall in Love 4 – Steve Wariner – Your Memory 5 – Eddy Raven – Who Do You Know in California 6 – Lee Dresser – A Beautiful Song (For a Beautiful Lady) 7 – Billy Thunderkloud and the Chieftones – Come to Me
Rollin’ River Revue - Jazz Week 1 – Spyro Gyra – Little Linda 2 – Buddy Rich – Tales of Rhoda Rat 3 – Roy Ayers – Destination: Motherland 4 – Seawind – He Loves You 5 – Freddie Hubbard – Midnight at the Oasis 6 – Bill Watrous and Refuge West – Tiger of San Pedro 7 – Cal Tjader – Sabor
Rollin’ River Revue - Latin Week 1 – Jose Feliciano – La Bamba 2 - Albertico Perez Su Orquesta y Su Juli – Juan Donde 3 – Los Diablos – Niña de Papá (L'Olympia) 4 – Trio Las Reyes – Como Un Belero 5 – Mariachi America – Homenaje a Vicente Fernandez 6 – Mariachi San Marcos - El Son De La Negra
Rollin’ River Revue - Pop Week 1 – Kool & The Gang – Steppin’ Out 2 – Shalimar – Make That Move 3 – Tiera – Together 4 – Bruce Johnston – Disney Girls 5 – Papa Doo Run Run – Do It Again
Rollin’ River Revue – Bluegrass Week 1 – Leon Russell – Delta Lady 2 – New Grass Revival – Souvenir Bottles 3 – Earl Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Breakdown 4 – The Dillards – Greenback Dollar
Rollin’ River Revue Special Guest Stars 1 – The Pointer Sisters – Duke Ellington Medley 2 – The Spinners – Working My Way Back To You 3 – Brenda Lee – Break It to Me Gently 4 – Pearl Bailey – St. Louis Blues 5 – Pete Fountain – Lazy River 6 – Paul Revere and the Raiders – Good Thing 7 – Jessy Dixon and the Dixon Singers – You’ll Never Walk Alone 8 – Billy “Crash” Craddock – Walk Softly 9 – Shalamar – This is For the Lover in You 10 – Patti Page – Old Cape Cod 11 – The Lennon Sisters – Theme from A Summer Place 12 – Doc Severinsen – Brass Roots
At this point, these two chapters are going to be set aside for awhile while the Christmas tracks will be worked on from now until the end of the year. At first, this was going to be done after Thanksgiving. Upon reflection it was realized that the pages have to be set up, the liner notes need to be added, and all that has to be done before the tracks can be edited. If Chris starts with the setup now, this can all be done in a timely way which will still allow the tracks to be edited near enough to Thanksgiving that his neighbors won’t think he’s crazy for listening to Holiday music off-season. There are several things to be added, several things to be updated, improved, and lengthened. It’s going to be nice to have something else to work on since Chapters 20 and 21 have been the focus and worked on since March, so it will be nice to do Christmas music and have a change. Chapters 20 and 21 will be worked on again at the beginning of the new year.
The next update might be short because things will still be getting set up, but there will still be a video to let everyone know what’s going on. Did you guys have a good Halloween? Chris was without internet for 2 days so someone played a trick on him, it was definitely no treat. There was a big wind storm in Rhode Island and it knocked the internet out, and it was a long two days to be without it. How did we ever live without the internet?
Hopefully everyone is having a happy early November and we will talk to you again in two weeks! Bye!
10/20/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
Notes by Melonie Bush Hello everybody! It’s time for another update. Today is October 20, 2017. New tracks have been diligently added to the site, most of which have already been explained on previous videos. For those who haven’t seen the previous videos, the updates in the last two weeks will be detailed.
There are 34 files that are ready to be edited and put in Chapter 20 and Chapter 21. That will complete the two chapters. The closest to being done is Chapter 20, which needs only one more track! Some of the 33 files that are left to edit for Chapter 21 are already partially edited or finalized. A list of tracks that are color coded is shown in the video so one can easily see what is already completed for the medleys. This happened because Chapter 20 has some of the same medleys, only shorter, and they have been completed and posted already. It’s the longer versions for Chapter 21 where more material needs to be finished and posted. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, which is good timing since Christmas audio will be worked on once Thanksgiving happens. The pie in the sky scenario is for Chapters 20 and 21 to be finished, or at least mostly finished, before Thanksgiving, since whatever is being worked on will be dropped in favor of editing Christmas songs once Thanksgiving is done.
As a side note: if you are using Firefox, you might be experiencing issues. Firefox did an update and now it’s sometimes not showing the play bars. They are there, and if you hover your mouse over that area they will pop up. It’s not known why that’s been happening but it’s not that big of a deal if you know to just put your mouse over it. Wait for the page to load, hover your mouse, and if the play bars still don’t show up, refresh the page and try again.
(7:30) Chapter 20 Updates:
At this point, Chris got excited about explaining Chapter 21 and moved to that. He returns to Chapter 20 to finish explaining the additions at a later point in the video, which will be listed below.
(20:27) Chapter 21 Updates:
Rollin’ River Revue Special Guest Stars 1 – The Pointer Sisters – Duke Ellington Medley 2 – The Spinners – Working My Way Back To You 3 – Brenda Lee – Break It to Me Gently 4 – Pearl Bailey – St. Louis Blues 5 – Pete Fountain – Lazy River 6 – Paul Revere and the Raiders – Good Thing 7 – Jessy Dixon and the Dixon Singers – You’ll Never Walk Alone 8 – Billy “Crash” Craddock – Walk Softly 9 – Shalamar – This is For the Lover in You 10 – Patti Page – Old Cape Cod 11 – The Lennon Sisters – Theme from A Summer Place 12 – Doc Severinsen – Brass Roots
(25:27) Heading back to Chapter 20:
Country Music Jubilee (Chapter 20 Version) 1 – Alabama Jubilee – Roy Clark (Instrumental) 2 – Act Naturally – Buck Owens 3 – Rye Whiskey – Homer and Jethro 4 – My Dirty Lowdown Rotten Cotton Pickin’ Little Darlin’ – The Geezinslaw Brothers 5 – Bonanza – Le Garde Twins 6 – I’m An Old Cowhand – Jimmy Wakely 7 – The Streets of Laredo – Rex Allen 8 – Steelin’ Home – Noel Boggs 9 – Let’s Wait a Little Longer – Canadian Sweethearts 10 – Hickory Hollow – The Dillards 11 – I’ve Come Awful Close – Hank Thompson 12 – Like a Fool – Dottie West 13 – He’ll Have to Go – Jerry Naylor 14 – You Finally Said Something Good – Charlie Louvin 15 – Texas – Tex Ritter 16 – Little Maggie – The Stonemans 17 – A Woman Lives for Love – Wanda Jackson 18 – She’s a Little Bit Country – George Hamilton IV 19 – Hello Darlin – Conway Twitty 20 – Louisiana Man – Doug Kershaw 21 – The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA – Donna Fargo 22 – George Jones – She Still Thinks I Care 23 – Stand By Your Man – Tammy Wynette 24 – Mama Tried – Merle Haggard 25 – Try a Little Kindness – Glen Campbell 26 – I Saw the Light – Roy Acuff and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 27 – Ray Price – For the Good Times 28 – Jody Miller – Queen of the House 29 – Mel Tillis – Heart Over Mind 30 – Lynn Anderson – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 31 – Freddy Weller – Indian Lake 32 – Jerry Reed – When You’re Hot, You’re Hot 33 – Jeanie C Riley – Harper Valley PTA 34 – John Hartford – Gentle on My Mind 35 – Bobby Gentry – Fancy 36 – Don Gibson and Sue Thompson – Good Old Fashioned Country Love 37 – Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn 38 – Johnny Lee – Country Party 39 – Charlie Daniels – The South’s Gonna Do It Again
The Great American Music Machine 1 – The Love You Save – The Jackson 5 2 – Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry 3 – Tutti Frutti – Pat Boone NEW 4 – Light My Fire – Jose Feleiciano NEW 5 – Hooked on a Feeling – B.J. Thomas 6 – Woman, Woman – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 7 – The Tears of a Clown – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles 8 – Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) – Helen Reddy 9 – Silver Bird – Mark Lindsay 10 – Music Music Music – Theresa Brewer NEW 11 – Precious and Few – Climax 12 – Sooner or Later – The Grass Roots 13 – Down By the Lazy River – The Osmonds 14 – Top of the World – The Carpenters 15 – Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree – Tony Orlando and Dawn 16 – Billy Don’t Be a Hero – Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods NEW 17 – The Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Night and the Pips NEW 18 – Betcha By Golly Wow – The Stylistics 19 – Want Ads – Honey Cone 20 – Stagger Lee – Tommy Roe 21 – Yes We Can Can – The Pointer Sisters 22 – Indian Reservation – Paul Revere and the Raiders 23 – Minnie Riperton – Seeing You This Way NEW 24 – Without You – Sami Jo NEW 25 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight – Robert John 26 – Gene Cotton – Only the Lucky NEW 27 – Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids – Did You Boogie With Your Baby NEW 28 – You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt 29 – I Honestly Love You – Olivia Newton-John 30 – Shaun Cassidy – Doo Doo Run Run NEW 31 – Rock N’ Roll Heaven - The Righteous Brothers
Rollin River Revue Featured Performers 1 – Frankie Avalon – Beach Party 2 – Patti Page – Old Cape Cod 3 – Donna Fargo – Don’t Be Angry 4 – Spyro Gyra – Little Linda 5 – Jose Feliciano – La Bamba 6 – Shalamar – This is For the Lover in You 7 – Kool and the Gang – Take It to the Top 8 – Earl Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Breakdown 9 – Leon Russell – Delta Lady 10 – The Pointer Sisters – Duke Ellington Medley 11 – The Spinners – Working My Way Back To You 12 – Brenda Lee – Break It to Me Gently 13 – Pearl Bailey – St. Louis Blues 14 – Pete Fountain – Lazy River 15 – Paul Revere and the Raiders – Good Thing 16 – Jessy Dixon and the Dixon Singers – You’ll Never Walk Alone 17 – Billy “Crash” Craddock – Walk Softly 18 – The Lennon Sisters – Theme from A Summer Place 19 – Doc Severinsen – Brass Roots
That’s it for this update! Apologies for jumping around. Have a very happy and safe Halloween. Please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber or do a one time donation to help pay for the costs of running the website. Thank you very much and see you in two weeks. Bye!
10/06/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
Notes by Melonie Bush
Hello everybody! Two weeks has flown by because so much has happened. First of all, Halloween season is upon us. The home page has been decorated to celebrate the holiday with the Song of the Day featuring the Disney Villains. The song of the day is about two thirds of the way down the page. Here’s an example of what to look for:
You can listen to songs from previous days by clicking underneath the villains banner where it says “To Listen To Your Favorite Musical Selections From Days Past, Click Here,” OR, you can scroll to the top of the page and click on “Song Of The Day Archive” and that will take you to this page:
Someone had asked if the song “Trick or Treat” from the 1952 Donald Duck short will be featured, and the answer is no, because this year’s Halloween theme is villians, and since Donald Duck isn’t a villian he won’t be there. However, if you click on “Song of the day Index” at the top of the page, it will show every song that’s been featured in the past, starting from January of 2015. In October 2016, one year ago, Halloween-specific songs were featured in October, and if you look at the bottom of the song listings from October you will see a blue link that says “Click Here”. If you click on it, it will take you to that page and you can listen to all of the songs from last year. So any song that was featured as a song of the day is always available to listen to. There are 3 versions of Trick or Treat - 1) From a Disneyland record with the Mouseketeers from 1958, 2) The Lawrence Welk show from 1965, and 3) The original soundtrack version from 1952. So you can really get your Trick or Treat song fix if you want to.
If you want to listen to Halloween songs from the park, you scroll down to the bottom of the page and there is a link to click on:
That will take you to a special page on the Magical Audio Tour that has just the Halloween songs from Disneyland, and looks like this:
It’s a temporary page that will be available in October for convenience, and you can get there from the Song of the Day archive page. You can also listen to it in 4.5 hour installments if you want to hear them in a chunk. So you can definitely get into the Halloween spirit from the website. Now onto the updates!
Disneyland After Dark and it’s split-off called Disneyland Bandstand are the ones that have been being prepped for several weeks. The final editing process can be tedious and take a lot of time, but tracks have begun to emerge.
At (8:40) the updates for Chapter 20:
Chapter 20 is very near to be completed. The two main obstacles that will slow it down are the Skiles and Henderson track and the Firehouse Five Plus Two track that have very difficult editing work that need to be done. But the completion is in sight!
At (24:11) the updates for Chapter 21:
So that is the overview of what has happened on the site since the last update. There’s a chance that Chapter 20 might be completed by the next update, so fingers crossed! Meanwhile, here are some lists of the various medley tracks, showing what songs and artists are included:
Cavalcade of Big Bands 1 – Benny Goodman – Don’t Be That Way 2 – Charlie Barnet – Cherokee 3 – Count Basie – April in Paris 4 – Les Brown – I’ve Got Me Love to Keep Me Warm 5 – Lionel Hampton – Flying Home 6 – Gene Krupa – Sing Sing Sing 7 – Tex Beneke – American Patrol 8 – Harry James – Two O’Clock Jump 9 – Wayne King – Josephine NEW 10 – Duke Ellington – Take the A Train 11 – Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Buddy Morrow – Opus One 12 – Charlie Shavers – Moten Swing NEW 13 – Si Zentner – Lazy River 14 – Stan Kenton – The Peanut Vendor 15 – Woody Herman – Four Brothers NEW 16 – Ray Eberle – In the Mood NEW 17 – Les Elgart – Bandstand Boogie NEW 18 – Buddy Rich – Jumpin’ at the Woodside
Humdinger 1 - Humdinger - Freddy Cannon 2 - This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis and the Playboys 3 - Patience Baby - The Pair Extraordinaire 4 - The In Crowd - Dobie Gray 5 - Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups 6 - She'd Rather Be With Me - The Turtles 7 - Things - Jody Miller 8 - Across the Street is a Million Miles Away - Ray Peterson 9 - Kicks - Paul Revere and the Raiders 10 - Papa Oom Mow Mow - The Rivingtons 11 - Baby I'm Yours - Barbara Lewis 12 - Deep Purple - Nino Tempo and April Stevens 13 - Five O’Clock World – The Vogues NEW 14 - I Fought the Law - Bobby Fuller Four 15 - Dream For Sale - Joey Paige 16 - What the World Needs Now is Love - Jackie DeShannon 17 - The Birds and the Bees - Jewel Akens 18 - Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - The Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans 19 - I’m Into Something Good - Herman’s Hermits NEW 20 - Windy - The Association 21 - Two Lovers - Mary Wells 22 - More - Vic Dana 23 - He’s a Rebel - The Crystals 24 - Love Letters Straight From Your Heart - Ketty Lester 25 - It's My Party - Leslie Gore 26 - Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me - Mel Carter 27 - Dirty Water - The Standells 28 - Goody Galum-Shus - Bobby Sherman 29 - Nowhere to Run - Martha and the Vandellas 30 - Good Lovin' - The Rascals 31 - Come A Little Bit Closer - Jay and the Americans 32 - Cherry Cherry - Neil Diamond
Pop Pourri 1 - Mastered the Art of Love - The Checkmates Ltd. 2 - Sunny - Gary Lewis and the Playboys 3 - Love’s the Only Answer - Kelly Garrett 4 - I’m the Wolf Man - Round Robin 5 - I Want Love - The Individuals 6 - Something About You Baby - The Vibrants 7 - Heartbeats - Dick and Dee Dee 8 - She Done Moved - The Spats 9 - Candy - 1910 Fruitgum Company 10 - Girl It’s Over - The Six Deep 11 - The Duck - Jackie Lee 12 - Annie Ya Ya - Jim Doval and the Gauchos 13 - Follow Me - The Bantams 14 - Follow the Bouncing Ball - The Hondells 15 - I Live For the Sun - The Sunrays 16 - That Ain’t Right - Freddy and the Sounds of Soul 17 - Tainted Love - Gloria Jones 18 - Get on This Plane - The Premieres 19 - Heartbreaker - H.B. Barnum 20 - You’ll Never Know - Mickey and the Invaders 21 - Our Love is Gonna Snowball - Jackie and Gayle 22 - Chocolate Cherry - The Joe Tex Band 23 - Follow the Sunshine - Don Grady and The Yellow Balloon 24 - You’re Absolutely Right - The Swinging Apollas 25 - Free as the Wind - The Brooklyn Bridge 26 - Spanish Flea - Doodletown Pipers NEW 27 - Tequila - New Classic Singers 28 - You’re the Sound of Love - Peppermint Rainbow 29 - Words - The Regents 30 - That’s My Bag - Shango 31 - Two Can Have a Party - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell 32 - Knock on Wood - The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
The Space Stage - Space Age Disco Concert 1 – Billy Preston – Disco Dancin’ 2 – Hues Corporation – Rock the Boat 3 – Gary’s Gang – Keep On Dancin’ 4 – Con Funk Shun – Shake and Dance with Me 5 – The Spinners – Rubberband Man 6 – Peaches and Herb – Shake Your Groove Thing 7 – Starbuck – Moonlight Feels Right 8 – Never Can Say Goodbye – Gloria Gaynor 9 – Party Lights – Natalie Cole 10 – Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes – Don’t Leave Me This Way 11 – Willie Bobo – Always There 12 – Ohio Players – Love Rollercoaster 13 – KC and the Sunshine Band – That’s the Way I Like It 14 – High Inergy – Lovin’ Fever 15 – Roy Ayers – Runnin’ Away 16 – Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough 17 – Starguard – Which Way is Up 18 – Sea Wind – King Grand 19 – Meco – Star Wars Theme 20 – Rose Royce – It Makes You Feel Like Dancin’ 21 – Willie Aames and Paradise - Why Don’t You Answer 22 – Anita Bofill – What I Wouldn’t Do (For the Love of You) 23 – Voyage – Souvenirs 24 – Sister Sledge – He’s the Greatest Dancer 25 – Shalamar – The Second Time Around 26 – Teri DeSario – Ain’t Nothin’ Gonna Keep Me From You 27 – Manhattan Transfer - Birdland 28 – Kool and the Gang – Good Time Tonight
Big Bands in Disneyland (all instrumental covers in same style as original artists) 1 – Big Bands in Disneyland Main Title 2 – Glenn Miller – Moonlight Serenade 3 – Count Basie – April in Paris 4 – Woody Herman – Two Brothers 5 – Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher 6 – Bob Crosby – South Rampart Street Parade 7 – Ray McKinley – Celery Stalks at Midnight 8 – Jimmy Dorsey – So Rare 9 – Artie Shaw – Begin the Beguine 10 – Lionel Hampton – Flying Home 11 – Les Brown – Leapfrog 12 – Tommy Dorsey – Opus One 13 – Buddy Rich – Bugle Call Rag
Tomorrowland Terrace 1 – Papa Doo Run Run – Surfin’ USA 2 – Friendship Train – I’ve Got the Music in Me 3 – Sunshine Balloon – Dancin’ Machine 4 – Sandbox – Don’t Stop Believing 5 – Hard Day’s Night – I Wanna Hold Your Hand 6 – 80z All-Stars – Jump 7 – Barrage – Calypso Jam 8 – Stellar Show Band – The Rules 9 – The Suffragettes – I’m in Love 10 – Instant Replay – Call Me 11 – Suburban Legends – Under the Sea 12 – Scot Bruce – Hound Dog 13 – The Bolts – Don’t Let Me Go 14 – Tomisina – Out There
Legendary Big Band Singers in Disneyland 1 – Jukebox Saturday Night – Tex Beneke with Paula Kelly & The Modernaires 2 – Walking Happy – Frank Sinatra Jr. 3 – I’ve Heard That Song Before – Helen Forrest 4 – I’ll Never Smile Again – The Pied Pipers 5 – Lullaby of Birdland – Mel Torme 6 – Fever – Peggy Lee 7 – September Song – Patti Page 8 – Racing With the Moon – Vaughn Monroe 9 – How High the Moon – June Christy 10 – Minnie the Moocher – Cab Calloway 11 – Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive – Ella Mae Morse 12 – If You Could See Me Now – Billy Eckstine 13 – Take the A Train – The King Sisters 14 – Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey – Helen Humes
Rollin’ River Revue - Surfin’ 60’s Week 1 – Frankie Avalon – Beach Party 2 – Jan & Dean – Surf City USA 3 – The Ventures – Walk Don’t Run 4 – The Association – Never My Love 5 – The Surfaris – Wipe Out
The days are getting shorter and the leaves are changing color in Rhode Island, so happy Fall to everyone and we will see you in two weeks! Bye!
9/22/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
Happy fall! Today is the first day of fall for 2017. It’s been two weeks and it’s time for another update of the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour!
There hasn’t been any new content added since the last update although behind the scenes, there has been a lot of work done, getting ready for things to be added. Before the details of that happen….
Everything on the site is free for people to use, but it does cost money to run the site. If anyone is willing to become a Patron, it would be greatly appreciated. You can do as low as $1 per month. If 10 people donate $1 per month, that’s ten more dollars that can go toward the expense of the site. When all is said and done, the site will have about 3,000 audio tracks and the more content that is added, the more the web host charges in monthly fees. In order to keep adding new content to the site, support is needed. Even a small, monthly, recurring donation is appreciated, and you get exclusive content as a reward for being a Patreon donator. If you don’t want to do the monthly donation you can make a one time donation in any amount. On the very bottom of the home page you can click on “Donate” and it will take you to a Paypal account. Those who do a one time donation are also included in the special content that the Patreon donors receive (if you donate this way and you don’t get that special content, contact Chris and he will be sure to get that to you).
Since the last update, there have been more fliers found. This flier in particular was a big find...
The first reaction to this find was “Oh no! What is this?” Originally, the Country Music Jubilee (which was a weekly concert series held in peak seasons, from 1966 until the 80’s) was what was going to represent country music in Disneyland. Then, this Country Music Spectacular flier was found. This was an after hours, once a year, special event, similar to the Dixieland in Disneyland. Big artists performed in a concert and then went around the part to perform as well. It was only one night and it happened once a year. From the information found, this started in 1971 and ran every September until 1974, maybe 1975. This sort of took over from the Dixieland in Disneyland yearly concert where the park closed early and the special ticket let you go on all of the attractions as well.
The flier only says Saturday Night September 23rd. Using deductive reasoning and calendars from the 70’s, this was advertising the 1972 concert. Doing more digging produced articles for the 1971 concert and the 1973 concert. This led to a new problem: how to represent all of these country stars? They were previously represented all in one track in the Country Music Jubilee, which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and is a medley of the performers from 1966-1972 who appeared in the ongoing, weekly concert series. To solve this problem, another section will be added.
Incidentally, if you’re having a problem on Firefox, right click and then hit “Activate this plugin” and “Allow and remember” and it will fix the problem. In early 2018, the method for playing the music will be changed from a Flash-driven system to an HTML system, which will allow the music to be listened to on any browser as well as any mobile device.
Back to the country music, there’s a new section! The Legends of Country in Disneyland. The Country Music Jubilee will have its own track and have a few additional artists added to it. Then, the Country Music Spectacular will be split into two sections, 1971 and 1972. Anything post-1972 will go in the track called More Legends of Country in Disneyland. The popularity of country music started to fade, and in the 80’s the style of country music started to change. The music featured on the site will be a classic country sound, so if you have a great distaste for country music, don’t be afraid to give this a listen. It’s really great music. If you like the Country Bear Jamboree, the music is in that style more than what you hear on country radio today.
Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass will get his own track as part of the new country music section that’s been added. All of the music for this has been gathered and a medley is being put together for it.
You can also take a look at a master list that Chris has put together listing all of the artists, the years they played, and the availability of music. The list is color coded and explained and it’s pretty interesting to see a behind the scenes look of how this music is being gathered, organized, and put together. The After Dark page will have a medley of only the most famous singers and songs and be put together in one, 1 hour medley. The Bandstands page will have significantly more. As of right now those two chapters have 55 tracks that need final editing. Once the music is posted to the website, a list of songs will be provided in the vlog notes that accompany the vlog update so anyone can look at all of the lists and glean information from them and look up artists, songs, years, etc.
Taking a look at the actual site, starting on the Chapter 20, the After Dark page:
Now let’s look at Chapter 21, Bandstands at Disneyland.
And that’s the end!
Once the country music tracks have been gathered, new music tracks will start to be added to the site again. All of the work that’s been done behind the scenes for the last month will start appearing, and probably appearing rapidly. It was hoped this would be done by Chris’s birthday, but all of the new stuff that was discovered has pushed that back. However, once Thanksgiving Day hits, everything will be dropped and Christmas music will be the focus for the rest of the year. Then the new format for playing audio will put in place, and once that is done the Bandstands chapter will be finished up. What will happen after that hasn't been decided, so if you have an idea, Chris is open for suggestions.
Happy fall everybody, and see you again in two weeks! Bye-bye!
9/08/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
Notes - By Melonie Bush
Since the last update it doesn’t appear that much has been done to the site. However, behind the scenes things have been very busy, as you will see. The reason for this is that more information has come forward which means more content is going to be added to both the After Dark chapter and the Bandstand chapter.
Before getting started, let’s express our concern and do a group prayer for those in the path of the hurricanes. Please evacuate if asked and don’t try to ride it out since it’s probably the most powerful hurricane that has ever hit Florida. Stock up on all your supplies now, and please fill up all your pots and pans with water in advance so safe drinking water is on hand in case something happens to the water supply. Prayers and thoughts go out to everyone in Florida.
That being said, let’s move on to happy news. Supercalifragilistic September is happening now, with songs written by the Sherman Brothers. The September 7th song Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat turns out to not be a Sherman Brothers song after all! The Sherman brothers wrote 3 songs for this movie, two of which made it in. It was assumed that Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat was one of them, but a lot of people pointed out that this song was a mistake after it was put up as the Song of the Day. Oops! The song was left in the queue so we’ll call that artistic license. Even though it’s not officially a Sherman brothers song it sounds like one and people really like it. Next month will be the yearly Halloween month, starting October 1st. Last year a general Halloween theme was done, so this year the songs throughout October will be about the Disney Villains (Cruella De Ville, Poor Unfortunate Souls, etc). (5:33) A couple of articles have come forward which turned out to be the main reason why new content didn’t get added since the last update. A few months ago it was mentioned that the names of the performers of an After Dark event called The Rollin’ River Revue would like to be obtained. In the last update a podcast by Jim Hill was mentioned that gave the names of some of the performers. Since then, another article was found.
This article lists performers that were not included in the podcast done by Jim Hill. The plan to create a medley of the artists at this Revue had to be scrapped, because if all of these performers were included it would go from a 1 hour medley to a 5 hour medley. There was also confusion because some performers that were known to have performed at the Revue (like Pearl Bailey) are not listed in this article. This was cleared up a bit when another article was found.
On the right hand side of the page you see an article that says “Disneyland Is Rocking At Night.” You can see the previous article ends on June 13th, but this one starts on June 26th. It appears the concert series was extended beyond what the first article advertises.
Putting two and two together, this is probably what happened. The first several weeks of the Rollin’ River Revue there were musical events happening all throughout the entire park and the Rollin’ River Revue was part of it. These events had themes and the themes encompassed all of the entertainment, all over the park, all evening long. So the artists listed in the first article did not all play at the Revue, some of them played at the Carnation Plaza, etc. After these themed weeks ended, the Rollin’ River Revue continued throughout the entire summer. The performers that played starting June 26th didn’t follow a theme, they were more like special guest stars. That’s where Pearl Bailey comes in. There was even an extra week, not mentioned in the article, where the leader of the Tonight Show Band, Doc Severinsen came in and closed out the event with the last performance.
So from May through mid September, every week, this was going on. That led to rethinking how all of these entertainers were represented and reorganizing the Bandstand page once again to accommodate the solution. With that being said, let’s go ahead and look at the chapters and see what they look like now.
(12:09) Chapter 20, Disneyland After Dark
(22:36) Now let’s take a look at the changes that have been made to the new chapter. Chapter 21 Disneyland Bandstand
(30:41) That’s about where things are at right now. Music is being gathered and put together to create the tracks, it’s being organized and getting ready to go into editing. There are still a few more artists to find music for. The Current Projects folder has tracks that are ready for final editing, so if you want to see what’s in that folder, you can go on the vlog and take a peek. There are 24 tracks in that folder. Have a terrific final few weeks of the summer. Again, those in Florida, stay safe, hunker down, get your supplies ready. Prayers are going out to you.
We will see you again in two weeks. Bye-bye!
8/25/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Notes - By Melonie Bush
Hello everyone! There is a lot to report on during this update. While there haven’t been a lot of new audio tracks added, the website has had some big things happen. To begin with, the Index Page has been reconfigured. There were a couple of reasons for this. For one, there was a lot of residual HTML code (behind the scenes stuff that makes the website look the way it looks) so a 15 year old computer genius (Chris’s nephew!) helped get rid of all of that unneeded code, and the page pops up much quicker. The second reason was that although it looked beautiful on Firefox, there was an issue when people used Chrome (pictures were cut off on the edges, etc). So now it looks good on both browsers, and it took several days to go fix and was A LOT of work, so go check it out! (Use the link above for quick access).
The Disneyland After Dark Chapter is the next big thing to be worked on. It felt as though it was getting out of control with 145 tracks, where the other chapters have 80-100 tracks at the most. It took awhile to figure out how to split it up. It was finally decided to let Disneyland After Dark be about the nighttime shows and fireworks and create a separate chapter for all the live bands that played after dark. So instead of having all the live bands on that chapter, a brand new chapter was created that, with only a couple exceptions, features all the live bands that have played in the park.
Chris now introduces the newest chapter, Disneyland Bandstand.
So that’s basically what’s going on with the new chapter. The “Welcome To The Hub” at the bottom of each page has the new chapter link added, so you are able to navigate to the Disneyland Bandstand chapter from every page. Adding in this new chapter and all it entailed took several days of long, hard work to do. Every image and mp3 file had to be renamed to reflect the new chapter number, because what was Chapter 22 is now 23, etc. That took forever to redo. Also, new artwork and new pictures for the new page had to be created, which took up even more time. But it had to be done because even more tracks were going to be added to the After Dark chapter which would make it even longer, and it just really needed to be split up.
Let’s go over and look at the new Disneyland After Dark chapter.
First off, in order to keep the After Dark chapter from having gaping holes in its history by the removal of the bands to the new page, a creative musical solution has been devised. Whereas before, the different genres of music were represented by several tracks, they will now be represented on this page by one track only. What this means is, instead of having every individual artist from the Bandstand’s page represented, a custom mix will be put together to represent each genre (Swing Dange, Go-Go, etc). These will be a “Best Of” mix that representing the best of each genre. That way they are still represented in the After Dark chapter in some way, give a nod to its importance as history to the park, and not take up as much space as before. These mixes are Coming Soon. When they do come, and if you like an individual artist and want to hear more from them, head over to the Bandstand page.
It should be noted that since the site is a work in progress, the track numbers listed were correct as of 8/26/17. They may or may not match up to what was in the video at the time Chris recorded it, and they may change again later. As of 8/26/17, these track numbers are correct to what is on the site.
And that is the new Disneyland After Dark chapter! There is still work to do, not everything is completed, so if you check out the page in the next few days there might be some strange things happening. Some descriptions underneath the tracks might not make any sense because they haven't been rewritten and you’re seeing the place holders, some tracks might not play, etc. It’s under construction so be patient and soon everything will be back in order. Then new songs can be added. If you can’t play a track, try back in a few minutes. It’s probably temporary as things are being rearranged. It doesn't mean the site is down, it means things are under construction.
That’s everything for this update. Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful summer. See you in two weeks! Bye-bye!
8/11/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Notes - By Melonie Bush
Hello everybody and welcome to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour update for August 11, 2017. I’ve made a lot of additions to my website since my last update. But first I want to mention that beginning September 1st, I will have my annual “Supercalifragilistic September,” a month long tribute to the Sherman Brothers, as the Disney Song of the Day. Every song throughout September will be a classic Sherman Brothers song. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and people seem to enjoy it, so look for it again this year.
All of the additions to the site since the last update are from the Disneyland After Dark chapter, and it’s pretty much everything that was mentioned in the last update that I said I would be adding.
Hootenanny 1 – Hootenanny - The Glencoves 2 – Erie Canal – The Yachtsmen NEW 3 - Please Don't Sell My Daddy No More Wine - The Greenwood County Singers 4 - Jordan's River - Modern Folk Quartet 5 - This Land is Your Land - The New Christy Minstrels NEW 6 - Alabama Bound - Jim & Jean 7 - Dooley - The Dillards 8 - Done Laid Around (Gotta Travel On) - Joe & Eddie 9 - Silver Dollar - The Back Porch Majority 10 - The Unicorn - The Irish Rovers 11 - Three Legged Man - John Denver and the Mitchell Trio 12 - Shenandoah - Phil Campos and Paul Hansen 13 - Old Home Place - Richard & Jim 14 - Thunder and Lightning - Hoyt Axton 15 - Green Rocky Road - Casey Anderson 16 - Red River Valley - Glenn Yarbrough and Marilyn Child 17 - Willow Tree - The Limeliters 18 - Mule Skinner Blues - Jose Feliciano 19 - Waves on the Sea - The Mitchell Trio 20 - Little Rag Doll - The Womenfolk 21 - Boll Weevil - Sam Hinton 22 - St. James Infirmary - Josh White 23 - Molly and Tenbrooks - Steve Gillette 24 - Proud to Be Together - The Stoneman Family
Humdinger 1 - Humdinger - Freddy Cannon 2 - This Diamond Ring - Gary Lewis and the Playboys 3 - Patience Baby - The Pair Extraordinaire NEW 4 - The In Crowd - Dobie Gray 5 - Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups 6 - She'd Rather Be With Me - The Turtles 7 - Things - Jody Miller NEW 8 - Across the Street is a Million Miles Away - Ray Peterson NEW 9 - Kicks - Paul Revere and the Raiders 10 - Papa Oom Mow Mow - The Rivingtons 11 - Baby I'm Yours - Barbara Lewis 12 - Deep Purple - Nino Tempo and April Stevens 13 - I Fought the Law - Bobby Fuller Four 14 - Dream For Sale - Joey Paige NEW 15 - What the World Needs Now is Love - Jackie DeShannon 16 - The Birds and the Bees - Jewel Akens 17 - Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - The Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans 18 - Windy - The Association 19 - Two Lovers - Mary Wells 20 - More - Vic Dana NEW 21 - He’s a Rebel - The Crystals NEW 22 - Love Letters Straight From Your Heart - Ketty Lester NEW 23 - It's My Party - Leslie Gore 24 - Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me - Mel Carter 25 - Dirty Water - The Standells 26 - Goody Galum-Shus - Bobby Sherman 27 - Nowhere to Run - Martha and the Vandellas 28 - Good Lovin' - The Rascals 29 - Come A Little Bit Closer - Jay and the Americans NEW 30 - Cherry Cherry - Neil Diamond
Pop Pourri 1 - Mastered the Art of Love - TheCheckmates Ltd. 2 - Sunny - Gary Lewis and the Playboys 3 - Love’s the Only Answer - Kelly Garrett 4 - I’m the Wolf Man - Round Robin 5 - I Want Love - The Individuals 6 - Something About You Baby - The Vibrants 7 - Heartbeats - Dick and Dee Dee 8 - She Done Moved - The Spats 9 - Candy - 1910 Fruitgum Company 10 - Girl It’s Over - The Six Deep 11 - The Duck - Jackie Lee 12 - Annie Ya Ya - Jim Doval and the Gauchos 13 - Follow Me - The Bantams 14 - Follow the Bouncing Ball - The Hondells 15 - I Live For the Sun - The Sunrays 16 - That Ain’t Right - Freddy and the Sounds of Soul 17 - Tainted Love - Gloria Jones 18 - Get on This Plane - The Premieres 19 - Heartbreaker - H.B. Barnum 20 - You’ll Never Know - Mickey and the Invaders 21 - Our Love is Gonna Snowball - Jackie and Gayle 22 - Chocolate Cherry - The Joe Tex Band 23 - Follow the Sunshine - Don Grady and The Yellow Balloon 24 - You’re Absolutely Right - The Swinging Apollas 25 - Free as the Wind - The Brooklyn Bridge 26 - Tequila - New Classic Singers 27 - You’re the Sound of Love - Peppermint Rainbow 28 - Words - The Regents 29 - That’s My Bag - Shango 30 - Two Can Have a Party - Marvin Gaye andTammi Terrell 31 - Knock on Wood - The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
(11:10) That’s it for what has been added so far. The next project on the agenda will be to get the Tomorrowland Terrace section added. Everything has been gathered, it just needs to go through final editing (which can be the longest and most difficult part of the process). Also needing to be completed is the Big Bands in Disneyland section. If you or anyone else has access to the Disney Channel series “Big Bands in Disneyland” and can get good quality audio recordings from this series, please get in touch with Chris. As things stand, the Glenn Miller episode is missing. The version that will be added is from the same year with the same orchestra but is not the recording from Disneyland (although it’s a great place holder). The sound quality on some of these is not great and it was considered to leave some of these tracks out, but after further debate, it was decided to keep everything in, and try to clean up the audio as best as possible. Mostly it’s the applause in between the songs that sounds bizarre. Some applause swapping might occur from tracks whose applause doesn’t sound as muffled, but it really would be ideal to just get a better quality audio to begin with. The Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw audio are the ones most needed. If you have access to any of these, please let Chris know.
(14:30) There are about 25 tracks left on these tracks left to work on, and each track is about an hour each. That’s 25 hours of music left to edit and add. Hopefully by Chris’s birthday in September, fingers crossed, this chapter will be finished.
(15:03) Once that is finished, the Holiday Time in Disneyland chapter will be revisited. It wasn’t appealing to listen to Christmas music in May, when the chapter was being worked on earlier this year, so while all the other holidays have been added, the Christmas section is the last holdout. It’s getting late enough in the year that editing Christmas tracks won’t feel so out of place.
(15:44) But before that gets worked on, some new things will be added to the Welcome to Disneyland chapter. It was already completed but some new material has been obtained. If that’s all finished and it’s still not Thanksgiving yet, the Disneyland Railroad tracks on Chapter 2 Hometown USA might be worked on. A lot of people have been asking for these but they’re quite difficult to edit so they’ve been put off. They might get worked on this year, but they could just as easily be postponed until next year.
(16:55) That’s what’s going on with the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour. I hope everyone is having a very enjoyable summer and I will talk to you in two weeks! Thanks for listening and bye-bye everybody!
7/28/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Notes - By Melonie Bush
Goodmorning everyone! Can you believe it’s been 2 weeks already? Summer is flying by. Since the last update, June Foray - a woman who should be considered a Disney legend - has passed away.
By CBS Television - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20436867 She was the voice of Rocky from Rocky & Bullwinkle, Natasha the Russian Spy from Rocky & Bullwinkle, Cindy Loo Who, Granny from the Warner Brothers cartoons, Granny Gummy from Gummy Bears for Disney, and a witch named Witch Hazel both for Disney and for Warner Brothers, making it unique that there’s a character with the same name and personality for two different studios. She also provided the sounds for Lucifer the cat in Cinderella, and the Indian Mother in Peter Pan, and many other voices. Her impact has been felt through the animation world for decades and decades. She died in her 90’s so she lived a full life, however, she will still be missed and her death is a great loss. Then this morning, more sad news. One of the last remaining links to Walt Disney has passed away. His name is Marty Sklar.
Marty started working in a low position in the Disneyland parks, even before Disneyland opened to the public, and he rose through the ranks over the years, eventually becoming the President of Disneyland and then the President of Walt Disney Imagineering. He was there from the beginning and he was there for it all. His philosophy and impact will be felt throughout the theme park industry forever. It is hoped that the imagineers that follow will remember the lessons that Marty taught and retain the philosophy from him, and through him, from Walt.
These particular people were so important to Disneyland, and Disney animation and the parks that this is devastating news. They will never be forgotten and we are so blessed to have had them because of how they have affected our lives in positive ways.
Pressing forward despite this sad news, the updates to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour!
(5:44) A discussion on Pop Pourri, which is a “Coming Soon” project. A friend named Scott has been working with Chris, hand in hand, to figure out the history of audio and the Disney parks in general. Scott sent some fliers from events which have taken place in the park and a significant one got overlooked. In the mid 60’s a concert series took place called Humdinger, which has a track in the Disneyland After Dark chapter (Track 38). However, once the Tomorrowland Terrace opened there were other performers who played and, until now, have been overlooked on the site. They are now going to be represented. These groups cover the gamut of what was going on in pop music at this time, so Pop Pourri is an accurate name to represent this event. This and other things have led to additions which will be made to the Disneyland After Dark chapter. Since changes were to be made, a brainstorming session about anything else that could possibly be added to the chapter took place, since it’s a huge endeavor and hours of work to add things to a chapter each time a change is made. All images and tracks and sometimes even coloring of letters have to be changed and it can take hours for just one track, so it’s better to do it all at once. Look for these changes in the near future.
(10:18) Track 13 - The Space Bar - Annette and Bobby Rydell. This is the first new thing being added to this chapter, going through numerically. It’s a segment from The Wonderful World of Color.
(10:49) Track 36 - Hootenanny! This has been on the page for a couple of months now. A little history: there was one group from this festival where music couldn’t be found. At last the reason they were so difficult to find has been discovered. It turns out the name of the group listed in the promotional material is a different name than what the group recorded under. Through a happy accident the actual name of the group was found and so one song is going to be added to this track. Also, in the last update it was mentioned that there was a Yachtsmen song in the version on the Disneyland Showtime chapter that wasn’t in this track on the Disneyland After Dark page. Going forward, there will probably be a Yachtsmen song added to this track as well, but a different song than the one in the Showtime chapter. So, there will be two new songs added which will enhance and extend this existing track and give better representation to the performers and the legacy of this event.
(12:28) Humdinger and Pop Pourri kind of relate. The track for Pop Pourri will eventually be placed within the number 40-something’s tracks. The last few days have been spent gathering the audio for this. When Humdinger was originally done, the more obscure groups were left out to make room for the main players so it didn't’ turn into a 2 hour mix. That meant there was a big chunk of material left out. Since it was around the same time as Pop Pourri was going on in Tomorrowland Terrace, the stuff that was left out of the Humdinger mix will be included in the Pop Pourri mix. There will be about 6 songs added back in, which is a happy thing and, along with the Pop Pourri mix, will give a more accurate representation of this style and era of Disneyland performances.
(17:10) While looking at the 2017 Electrical Parade announcements track which was discussed during the last update, a typo was noticed. A demonstration on how the line notes are put in and/or corrected for typos is given. This gives a “Behind the Scenes” look to how the site is made. If anyone ever comes across a typo please send an email so it can be fixed so the site is typo-free. No offense will be taken. The site should be error free. The same goes for subpar audio- some of the Big Bands tracks might go away since the audio isn’t as high a quality as would be desired.
(21:06) When Fantasmic was on hiatus there was something put in place at night to keep the guests entertained. The Jambalaya Jazz Band, who usually performs in New Orleans Square, performed a concert on one of the Tom Sawyer Island rafts. As a pre-show to Fantasmic they’ve had other bands perform on the rafts to the concept isn’t new. In addition to the Jambalaya Jazz Band there was another group that also performed along the river and there will be a track added for them in the future as well.
(22:48) Someone sent the countdown announcements to Fantasmic, so that’s new audio that will be added soon to the site. The full Rivers of America - Dixieland Jazz Loop will be added with the announcements placed within it. There are two reasons for this. The first is, as guests sit and wait for the show, this is what they hear, so it makes an authentic experience. The second reason is that in the audio for the announcements, that very music can be heard in the background anyway. Instead of editing it out, it’s being embraced and enhanced. There will still be an audio file in the New Orleans Square chapter without the announcements.
(22:18) The 2017 edition of Fantasmic premiered just a few days ago. The audio for this probably won’t be obtained for a long time, but the exit music for it has been obtained. It turns out this music is the same that they use in the Tokyo version. Once the audio is cleaned up it will be posted. As of this Vlog, it wasn’t posted yet- it’s still a “Coming Soon.”
(25:40) The Swing Bands in Disneyland section has been finished! All the missing tracks have been added so that full block of audio is now complete.
(26:10) Track 141 - Disneyland Forever - A Kiss Goodnight. The track has had a space blocked in and is coming soon.
(26:23) Track 142 - Wurlitzer Music Store - Town Square Evening Concert. This track will be extended soon. Currently there is only 1 song but the full album will be added. It will be different than the track on the Disneyland Records chapter because it will have sound effects over it to create the feeling of being on Main Street at night.
(26:55) Track 143 - Disneyland Park Closing Announcements - Jack Wagner. Previously there was only the Jack Wagner version of these announcements available. The present day version with announcer Bill Rogers has been obtained and will be added soon. There haven’t been as many tracks added lately as in previous Vlogs because there has been so much planning needed to figure out how to integrate the new tracks, plus the actual time it takes to rearrange the structure of the site (which takes hours and hours per track). In addition to that project, someone sent a bunch of cassette tapes which have been converted to digital, which took several days as well. Also the Disney Song of the Day for the month of August was being set up. While it may look on the outside that there hasn't’ been much going on, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes - at least 10 hours a day, every day, 7 days a week. However, this behind the scenes work all eventually leads up to new audio being posted to the site which can be seen and heard, and it all pays off. Stay tuned to see all of this, coming soon and/or, eventually.
(29:40) For those who listen to the Jiminy Crickets podcast, there are some major changes happening including losing one co-host, gaining another (a woman this time!) and moving to a bi-weekly format. More detailed explanations as to why these changes are being made are given both in the Vlog and the podcast itself.
(31:17) Happy summer, and I look forward to updating you more in two weeks! Goodbye everybody!
7/14/17 Vlog Update See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Notes - By Melonie Bush
Hello everyone!
A special 10 day block of songs devoted to Disneyland was recently featured during the Song of the Day. Be sure to check that out. The next special block will be in September and will be called Supercalifragilistic September, a month long tribute to the Sherman Brothers.
The Disneyland Magical Audio Tour has hit a new milestone. The 1,400 track mark has been surpassed! There are 1,4021 tracks now in the collection. In addition to Disneyland After Dark, songs that fit into other chapters have been crossposted. This will hopefully make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for. For example, The Main Street Electrical Parade fits the theme of Disneyland After Dark, but it also fits into Parades. So it’s now part of the Disneyland on Parade chapter. So if someone is searching for it and they look for it under parades they’ll find it there, and it will make it easier for them to locate. This is just one example of many duplicates that have been added to other chapters. Additionally, new tracks have been added as well.
To start, we will go over what has been added to the Disneyland After Dark chapter.
As a side note, if you’re having trouble playing the songs, you need to make sure you have Adobe Flash installed and running on your browser. While possibly antiquated, this is the current mechanism used to play the songs on the website, and while it might be replaced with something different someday, this is what it is now. If you check to make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed and running and you still have a problem, contact Chris and we’ll figure out what’s going on.
(13:42) Moving on to a different part of the audio tour. Chapter 14 is called Disneyland Showtime and it’s a chapter about all the live shows, stage shows and different types of entertainment and limited time events that have been held in the park over time. A few things in the Disneyland After Dark chapter also belonged on this chapter, so these have been cross posted.
The same type of thing was also done with the Disneyland on Parade chapter (Chapter 5). This chapter presents things in chronological order rather than having things grouped together by type (for example, all the Electrical Parades from the 70’s until now are grouped together in Disneyland After Dark). Chronological is the presentation style for this chapter.
Holiday Time in Disneyland has one new track.
Today is the first day of D23 and hopefully everyone visiting in Anaheim has a good time, stays safe, drinks lots of water, gets lots of rest, and takes good care of yourselves.
The last thing to mention is how to become a Disney Chris financial supporter. The site costs a lot of money to pay for to run. Music on the site is free with no ads, and it costs money to bring them to the site. If you can see it in your heart to make a donation, even a $1 donation a month, that greatly helps. Plus, you get additional content unavailable anywhere else when you donate through Patreon. If you donate another way and you still want access to the exclusive content, just let Chris know and with no questions asked, that exclusive content will be sent to you as well. There is a link at the top of every chapter on the site called “Donate to Site”. All donations go directly toward adding more music to the site, not into anyone’s personal bank account. The three ways to donate:
(33:49) I will talk to you in two weeks and share with you all the wonderful new additions that will be made over the next two weeks. Bye-bye!
June 30th, 2017 - Vlog Update Notes by Melonie Bush
See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
Here is the written version of my last Disneyland Magical Audio Tour Youtube Vlog Update from June 30th - Thanks again to my dear friend Melonie for doing these extensive notes. Welcome! There are a few things to talk about on this update before we get into the audio tour.
First up, there will be a change in the frequency of videos, from doing one video every week to doing one video every two weeks. The first reason for this is that the videos which aren't about the updates to the Magical Audio Tour aren’t as popular (only half as many viewers). Secondly, it’s difficult to figure out what to say on those other videos. Rather than struggle to come up with content, all effort will go into doing one really good video every two weeks. From here on out there will be a video every other Friday discussing the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour and the website in general. The Jiminy Crickets podcast is also available every week, and if an interesting topic comes up that isn't covered through those methods, there could be a separate video dedicated to that subject as needed.
Also, going into the 4th of July weekend, it means 2017 is half over. Can you believe it? On the website there will be a special Song Of The Day from July 1st- July 10th which will be all Disney songs of a patriotic nature. Special artwork will be posted on Facebook and Twitter to announce the song of the day. After the 10th of July there will be a special 10 day block of songs to celebrate Disneyland’s 62nd anniversary. (July 17th is the actual day of the 62nd anniversary).
Because there aren’t that many new additions to discuss this week, time will be taken to briefly discuss the 25 chapters that comprise the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour. These can be found at the bottom of each page, and they’re called “The Hub.” This starts around the (5:05) mark. It has not only descriptions but interesting trivia and teasers of things that will be added in the future.
Around (18:00) the updates start. The first step to getting the tracks on the site is to set them up. During setup mode, you won’t see a lot of new content on the site because it takes a few weeks to get things ready for final editing. There are 34 tracks in the folder that are now ready for final editing (which will finish the Disneyland After Dark chapter). Over the next couple of weeks (or maybe months) all of these tracks will be added- the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen! There was a lot of research that had to be done in order to locate tracks for this chapter. There was a television show in 1984 called Big Bands in Disneyland. Several legendary Big Band orchestras performed at the Plaza Gardens and it was all filmed for TV. If anyone has better sounding recordings of these Disney Channel specials from the 80’s please contact Chris. Better audio quality is definitely desired. Some of the tracks might not be posted because the audio from the specials on YouTube aren’t up to standard. There was also a track that had a portion of the video that freezes during part of it, and one episode that is missing and not posted on YouTube (the Glenn Miller orchestra). The audio that will be placed there is a place holder until the authentic Big Bands in Disneyland version can be found. Again, please let Chris know so he can replace what is planned for that chapter with the authentic audio.
(24:03) Four tracks in Swing Bands in Disneyland have been added (not be be confused with Big Bands in Disneyland). The difference is that these are not the legendary performers, these are groups that were formed in later years that replaced the authentic bands as the authentic bands wavered and died out, due to the march of time. These tracks are from the 90’s up until the present day. (25:58) Track 98- Stanford Freese & the Disneyland Big Band. This was an in house band, formed by Disneyland. Stanford Freese was a conductor with the Disneyland Marching Band, and he kind of moonlit with another group that performed at the plaza in the early 90’s. It’s Disney songs performed in the Big Band style. It’s a very fun track although not authentic audio performed in the park.
(27:45) Track 99- The Swing Kings. This is authentic audio. Fun trivia fact: it was difficult to find the audio for this track so a placeholder was set up. However, authentic audio was found while looking for something else, so the place holder was scrapped and the authentic audio was put in instead.
Track 100- Doc Anello & The Swing Machine. This is authentic audio.
(28:55) Track 101- Jump, Jive & Swing: Swingtown. This track is a place holder. This band still performs at Disneyland. They used to perform at the Carnation Gardens, and were the last band to play before the Carnation Gardens were taken down to make way for the Fantasy Faire Village. While they are one of the most significant bands to play at Disneyland, authentic audio is hard to find since they haven’t produced a studio album. Chris has even gone so far as to contact the group and ask if they have audio they are willing to offer up to include on the site. While this track is a place holder, it does a good job of representing this group. Hopefully someday they will get back to Chris with authentic audio.
(32:10) Question: Is it unethical to post all this music on the website? Does this take away from supporting the artists? Answer: not really, since all of this can be readily found on YouTube, and if it can be listened to on YouTube it can be listened to just the same on DisneyChris.com For other bands, permission was given from the bands themselves to put it on the website. If you enjoy the music from these bands, you’re encouraged to buy their albums (if they have one) to support them.
(33:25) Personal story from Chris about his experiences in the late 90’s, when he was living about half an hour away from Disneyland. He used to bring his dancing shoes and go swing dancing every weekend and, in his opinion, he was a pretty good dancer back in his 20’s. This was during the swing dance revival which was partially kicked off by the movie Swing Kids. The older crowd that had been dancing at Disneyland since the 50’s and 60’s was there, mixed in with a younger crowd who were part of the swing dance revival.
(35:37) If you listen to this before the 4th of July, remember to check out the holiday chapter and scroll down to track number 91. You can listen to all of these tracks related to the 4th of July to get you in the mood to celebrate. It’s a couple of hours worth of music. Be sure to check that out if you haven’t already.
(36:20) Farewells. Chris will see you in two weeks! Be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook and have a happy and safe 4th of July!
June 16, 2017 Here again is the written version of my last Disneyland Magical Audio Tour Youtube Vlog Update from June 16th - Thanks again to my dear friend Melonie Bush for doing these extensive notes. See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom
June 2, 2017 Here is Melonie's written summary of my latest Youtube Vlog See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Update Summary by Melonie Bush
Welcome to the second vlog update of the DIsneyland Magical Audio Tour at DisneyChris.com! As promised, there will be a video every week. There will be a general video one week, and a vlog update the next week. So there will be a weekly video, but it will alternate between a general video and a Disneyland Magical Audio Tour update. Once again, time markers are included (although not guaranteed to be perfect down to the second) to help you locate a spot on the vlog if you want to jump straight to it.
With Lilly the cat as a special guest host, this week we will talk about new additions as well as history and answers to FAQ’s about the site. There are 5 of them that will be answered today and go down in history as canon as “The Answer” so they don’t have to be re-answered over and over again in the future.
The tour of the site update begins with Donald Duck. This month he is taking over the site with the song of the day as well as images on the page headers. Here’s a sample of what to look for.
The update for this week is the Chapter 20, Disneyland After Dark. As of the last vlog update, everything up to track 45 was completed. Now, 10 new tracks have been added, starting with track 46, and moving up through track 58, with two exclusions. Tracks 48 and 50 remain unchanged. The summary of the new tracks and interesting tidbits:
(4:02) Track 46- Country Music Jubilee. This is where we get into some history, and it’s very interesting. The history starts around (4:10). From about 1966, well into the 80’s, there was a weekly concert series that took place at Disneyland. On Sundays during peak periods, popular recording stars from the country music industry were invited to do live performances. It started at the Fantasyland Theatre. In 1967 it moved to the Tomorrowland stage. The roster of performers is a who’s who of anybody who was anybody in classic country music. This track is a compilation of several artists (although not all of them) who performed in the park. This track was pieced together and edited into a whole, specifically for disneychris.com, making it exclusive to this site. The following list details whose performances are in this Country Music Jubilee track:
1 – Alabama Jubilee – Roy Clark (Instrumental) 2 – Act Naturally – Buck Owens 3 – Rye Whiskey – Homer and Jethro 4 – Sweet, Sweet Lips – Joe and Rose Lee Maphis 5 – Excuse Me For Living – Freddie Hart 6 – My Dirty Lowdown Rotten Cotton Pickin’ Little Darlin’ – The Geezinslaw Brothers 7 – Let’s Wait a Little Longer – Canadian Sweethearts 8 – Ain’t You Ever – Collins Kids 9 – I’ve Come Awful Close – Hank Thompson 10 – Yes, I Love You Only – Bonnie Owens 11 – You Finally Said Something Good – Charlie Louvin 12 – Let’s Do What’s Right, Even If It’s Wrong – Faye Hardin and Bob Morris 13 – Like a Fool – Dottie West 14 – Texas – Tex Ritter 15 – Little Maggie – The Stonemans 16 – A Woman Lives for Love – Wanda Jackson 17 – I’ll Hold You in My Heart – Tex Williams 18 – I Saw the Light – Roy Acuff and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 19 – She’s a Little Bit Country – George Hamilton IV 20 – Mama Tried – Merle Haggard 21 – Big Red Roses – Kay Austin 22 – I Just Couldn’t Let Her Walk Away – Dorsey Burnette 23 – Stop the World and Let Me Off – Susan Raye 24 – Honeymoon Feeling – Roy Clark 25 – Try a Little Kindness – Glen Campbell 26 – Fancy – Bobbie Gentry 27 – The South’s Gonna Do It Again – Charlie Daniels
(5:18) The performers on this track also have a tie-in to the former Country Bear Jamboree attraction which used to be held in Critter Country by Splash Mountain. When it came time to select the songs for this attraction, the songs were selected from artists who had performed over the years at the concert series. Selected songs were re-recorded, Disney-style, except for one. The one song that wasn’t re-recorded came from Tex Ritter and his actual recording was used as-is in the attraction (you can hear more about this in detail around the 7:30 mark). The details are well worth listening to, so take the time to listen this fascinating research of both classic country music stars performing in the park, as well as some development of how the Country Bear Jamboree came to be.
(6:19) This fascinating information comes Foxxy, who has a blog site called Passport to Dreams Old and New. She has in depth articles about Disneyland and Walt Disney World that gives information you can’t find anywhere else. Please go to her website and look at her articles - they are well researched and extremely informative. Several of the artists discussed in the Music of Country Bear Jamboree article appear in Track 46. It’s a lot of fun to see a photo of the country music artist next to their character from the Country Bear Jamboree.
(10:05) Track 47- The Great American Music Machine. Here is where we get into more history of the now-nonexistent Tomorrowland Stage, especially for people who weren’t at Disneyland during this time or weren’t born yet. This stage is not to be confused with the Tomorrowland Terrace. The Terrace was more of a dance stage, whereas this one had outdoor seating and dancing was discouraged. There are wonderful pictures that are shown to describe the development of the stage through the years and illustrate who performed there. The vlog goes into depth and is a must-see for Disney music and history buffs, especially those who weren’t born yet or couldn’t be there at the time these performances on these stages took place.
(16:48) A roster of guests who performed at the “Great American Music Machine” concert series is shown. These are grade-A, top level entertainers of that time, available for the price of admission to the park. If you want to hear a medley of all these different artists, listen to Track 47, which is a second custom medley of artists who performed on this stage, carefully selected and blended as another custom mix exclusive to disneychris.com. The artists on this track are:
1 – The Love You Save – The Jackson 5 2 – Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry 3 – Hooked on a Feeling – B.J. Thomas 4 – Woman, Woman – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 5 – The Tears of a Clown – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles 6 – Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) – Helen Reddy 7 – Silver Bird – Mark Lindsay 8 – Precious and Few – Climax 9 – Sooner or Later – The Grass Roots 10 – Down By the Lazy River – The Osmonds 11 – Top of the World – The Carpenters 12 – Tie a Yellow Ribbon “Round the Old Oak Tree – Tony Orlando and Dawn 13 – Betcha By Golly Wow – The Stylistics 14 – Want Ads – Honey Cone 15 – Stagger Lee – Tommy Roe 16 – Yes We Can Can – The Pointer Sisters 17 – Indian Reservation – Paul Revere and the Raiders 18 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight – Robert John 19 – You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt 20 – I Honestly Love You – Olivia Newton-John 21 – Rock the Boat – Hues Corporation 22 – Never Can Say Goodbye – Gloria Gaynor 23 – This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) – Natalie Cole 24 – Rock N’ Roll Heaven - The Righteous Brothers
(20:28) Track 49-Baroque Hoedown. This is the song that was used to create the music for The Main Street Electrical Parade. This song came out in 1966, pre-dating the parade itself, and has been covered several times by different artists. This track is a compilation of a few of those cover versions that have been turned into over an hour of music containing variations of the song.
(21:20) Track 51- The Main Street Electrical Parade- Commercials. One radio and 3 TV commercials have been combined. Excellent audio of vintage material.
(21:34) Track 52- Main Street Electrical Parade- Announcements. Jack Wagner, “The Voice of Disneyland” announces the parade.
(21:46) Track 53- The Main Street Electrical Parade. This was on the site before but it has been updated and extended and enhanced. This is the most thorough, most accurate, best version of the song. A lot of music transitions on other tracks are not very smooth and it pulls you out of the experience a little bit. On this track, attention to transitions have been given special attention so that it flows and fades well from one section to another to give an optimal listening experience.
(22:33) Track 54 - Main Street Electrical Parade - Pete's Dragon Medley. In 1978 the Electrical Parade took two sections (Alice in Wonderland and Pete's Dragon) on a road tour. They were included in the Orange Bowl halftime show in Florida and special music was used for the Pete’s Dragon segment. This special music includes existing music from the parade, plus new material. It’s like an extended version of the Pete’s Dragon segment of the parade, and this extended segment has been pulled out from the halftime show and placed as track 54.
(23:14) Track 55 - Main Street Electrical Parade- Return to Oz. This was a very short lived float in the parade, meant to promote the 1985 film “Return To Oz.” Music from the film was meant to fit in with the existing electrical parade music. This bit has been pulled out and is now track 55.
(23:05) Track 56 - Fantasy In The Sky- 1970’s.
(24:05) Track 57- Fantasy In The Sky- 1980. This was created for the 25th anniversary of Disneyland. It was very popular and ran through peak seasons over the next 2 years.
(24:14) Track 58- Fantasy In The Sky - 1983. This version of the fireworks spectacular was created to coincide with the opening of a fully refurbished Fantasyland and included the welcome return of Tinkerbell, who flew through the skies to signal the opening of the parade. This is the version of the fireworks show that most people are familiar with. As a special bonus, this track includes the original Jack Wagner introduction, which isn’t available on the official releases of the show.
(24:50) Track 135- The Main Street Electrical Parade - 2017. This is the 4th from the last track on the page. This is the present-day version that returned this year. The musical arrangement is completely different than the 70’s/80’s versions. It was a lot of work to set this up because most of the music is taken from versions from Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. It was compiled together to represent the Disneyland version and is pretty authentic to how it sounds at Disneyland today.
(26:27) A small preview of what will be worked on next: Tomorrowland entertainers from the 70’s and 80’s. Things are set up and ready for final editing. In the next update (in 2 weeks) these tracks will be described in detail.
(27:00) The 5 FAQ’s and their answers.
(27:12) Question 1: Can I be added to your favorite Disney Web Links page? Short answer: unless you are truly a favorite link, the answer is no. If you’re a tourism or vacation planning company, that isn’t what this page is about. Profit-making organizations aren’t what this page is about. This page is meant to show the specific go-to sites used to develop the disneychris site.
(29:37) Question 2: How can I download the songs on your website? Answer: You can’t. You have to listen to them on the site because it runs into copyright issues. Making songs downloadable will make the page subjected to being shut down due to copyright infringement and that would destroy years of work. To keep the site safe, and protect all the work that was put into the project, the music is not downloadable.
(32:00) Question 3: Are you planning on doing a California Adventure or Disney World magical audio tour? Answer: There are thousands of tracks still to add to the Disneyland audio tour and it will take years to do. If that gets done, several years down the road, a California Adventure collection might be the next project. Disney World is just way too daunting to think about.
(33:56) Question 4: Where do you find all your music? Answer: a lot of it comes from networking. People who have worked at the park in the 70’s and 80’s, websites (especially Mouse BIts, a site listed on the favorite Disney Web Links - they have audio that is out of print and is not being sold currently) networking, sharing with people, collecting music since childhood, etc. It’s not one easy answer, it’s many different things, but mostly networking. Through the website many fantastic people have come forward to share what they have so the world can hear this music.
(39:44) Question 5: Do you have this song or that song? Answer: Every single song on the audio tour is indexed on the Disney Audio Tour Index. It’s categorized by chapter. An example of how to look up a song is given so fans can look up music at any time. Additionally, there’s a wish list shown around the (37:00) mark of tracks that will hopefully be found and added to the Audio Tour at some point in the future. A few tracks on there have been obtained since the list was created, so there’s every hope that more tracks on the wish list will emerge in the future.
(37:55) If you have other questions that you want answered on the vlog, you can email them to dclyndon@gmail.com
(38:15) Farewells
May 19, 2017 Hello everybody. I am trying something new. From now on I am going to do video "Vlog" updates of the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour, rather than the writen blogs I have been doing in the past. Let me know what you think of this new format. For those who prefer the updates in written form, someone has generously volunteered to do a summery of each video update going forward. So from now on, there will not only be a video update, but a few days later it will be followed by a written version. Thanks to Melonie for doing the written summaries! Here is the first one, for the video posted on May 19th...
See Video on YouTube Channel: DisneyChrisDotCom Vlog Update Notes by Melonie Bush -
It’s been a month since the last update, so there’s a lot of ground to cover in this vlog. This makes it the lengthiest vlog which will be produced. Future vlogs will be shorter since they will be done on a bi-weekly basis. At the request of a fan, a written blog post such as this one will follow the vlog and serve as a write-up of what was discussed so fans can know what interesting tidbits to look for at a glance. Time markers are included (although not guaranteed to be perfect down to the second) to help you locate a spot on the blog if you want to jump straight to it.
The last update was April 16th. Since then, two chapters have been updated- the Halloween section of Chapter 21- Holiday Time In Disneyland, as well as Chapter 20, Disneyland After Dark. Chapter 21 is mentioned first because it has the most additions. To see all the additions at a glance, look at the index where new tracks are identified.
Additionally, recommendations are given on which browser to use if you want the best viewing experience. Firefox is the preferred browser, although Chrome works as well. Explorer isn’t good, visually, and Safari is no good at all. For the best experience, try to use Chrome or Firefox.
Detailed explanations as to why are in the vlog.
The updates for the tracks in Holiday Time In Disneyland chapter are as follows:
In the vlog, the other holidays are scrolled through and mentioned in a general way. Two things are given particular attention:
The other chapter to be updated is Disneyland After Dark.
This makes the Disneyland After Dark chapter complete for tracks 1 through 45. However, there are still more tracks to come, and more work to be done on existing tracks after track 45. There are 17 additions lined up to be added, which will probably be available by the next update. At the (40:08) mark, these tracks are listed. They include 2 mixes of Grad Night, the 2017 version of The Main Street Electrical Parade, and many more.
The last thing to mention is how to become a Disney Chris financial supporter. Music on the site is free with no ads, and it costs money to bring them to the site. All donations, even a $1 donation, are gladly received and appreciated. There is a link at the top of every chapter on the site called “Donate to Site”. All donations go directly toward adding more music to the site. The three ways to donate:
(46:17) Thank you for watching. Updates are planned on a bi-weekly basis, and future videos will be shorter since there won’t be so much time that has passed.
April 16, 2017 Happy Easter everyone. Sorry it has been so very long since my last blog update. I have been so very busy adding new content to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour, that I forgot to update you all on what's new with the collection. I have been working on two chapters since my last blog post. The first one is of course, "Disneyland After Dark," but then I left that chapter for just a while in order to work on my "Holiday Time in Disneyland" chapter. For those who don't know, the concept of this chapter is to represent EVERY holiday. It is not just a Christmas themed page. I have a section representing Christmas, and of course Halloween, but there is also audio for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and New Years. I even included some audio from festivals representing international holidays. What inspired me to temporarily leave the "After Dark" page and do some work on the "Holiday" page came from a good on line buddy of mine. He actually sent me some rare source park audio from the 1990's Easter parade. He also asked if I was planning on doing a week or two of Easter songs for my "Song of the Day" feature on my website. I had planned to do only about a 5 day Easter block, due to lack of Easter songs. However, after he sent me more to work with, I decided to do a 10 day block of Easter "Song of the Day" selections this year. That got me inspired to then do my Easter section of the Disneyland Audio Tour, and I added 8 all new Easter themed tracks on that page, but once I finished that, I then wanted to work on the rest of the chapter, so I proceeded to finish all the other holiday audio with the exception of Christmas and Halloween, and thought to myself, I would then go back to "After Dark" and get those other two Holiday sections done later in the year. But once I finished all the other holidays, I then decided, I might as well just get Halloween done too, and that is what I am currently working on. I will not work on Christmas until after Thanksgiving this year, just because I don't generally like to listen to Christmas music outside of the Christmas season. And the people in my building think I am weird enough as it is, without them passing by my apartment and hearing Christmas music playing in April. So that one section is on hold till a more appropriate time of year. I do have quite a collection of Christmas songs already posted on the Holiday page, but I have a ton to add, and also will be improving many of the existing tracks. So stay tuned for that in the late fall. Meanwhile, I just completed setting up 18 all new tracks for the Halloween section, and am ready to begin the final editing and adding these tracks to the site, you may even see a few added later today. I am also redoing a few of the existing tracks. So Halloween will be celebrated in April this year! So rather than go through each individual track, as I have done in the past, I will just do a brief summery of what has been added to the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour since my last blog post. Too many things have been added to go into great detail. this blog entry would end up being a novel. Disneyland After Dark - http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/138-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-18.html I have worked on two sections of this chapter since my last post. "Tomorrowland Bandstand" (tracks 13-22) and "Dixieland in Disneyland" (tracks 23-32) I have almost finished these two sections in their entirety. I just have three tracks left to add. I have an individual 45-60 minute track representing several individual bands or artists, that were major contributors to the history of these After Dark events, and then at the end of each section I have a medley of many groups to represent the aforementioned bands as well as many of the less significant ones. Sort of like my Hootenanny and Humdinger tracks that I talked about in my last blog post. I tried to use live concert recordings of these individual artists if I could find them, and tried to use audio recorded around the same time they would have been appearing in the park, so while not 100% authentic, it is a good representation of what these artists would have sounded like at the time they would have appeared live in Disneyland. Also, the Benny Goodman track is 100% authentic. This one was actually recorded in the park. Holiday Time in Disneyland -http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/134-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-21.html This chapter is divided into three sections. First is Christmas, then Halloween, then a section for all other holidays. The "Other Holidays" section is then divided into several smaller segments representing several holidays. With the Halloween and Christmas sections, I stuck strictly to the rule of only using audio that specifically is used for the holiday itself. For the smaller holidays, I included year-round things in the park, that fit the theme of the holiday. For example, I used the Ireland section from the "It's a Small World" soundtrack as one of the tracks to represent St Patrick's Day. I feel these tracks are pretty self explanatory, so no need to get too descriptive on them. If anyone has any questions on individual tracks I have added, just shoot me an email and I am more than happy to provide you with more detailed information. So my current agenda is to finish the Halloween section of the Holiday page, then I will go back to the After Dark chapter once that is complete. I have also decided to do something nice for the people who have been generously sponsoring me on Patreon. I have not provided any specific rewards in the past, but as a thank you to those who support what I do, I am going to send them links to download some exclusive audio collections. I already have two of them I am currently working on. They are related to either the audio I have been adding to my site recently, or my "Jiminy Crickets" podcast. So if you are a DisneyChris.com supporter, look for some special gifts from me to you, coming soon. The first collection will likely be sent this coming week. If you have been on the fence about supporting me on Patreon, now is a good time to do so, because you will get access to these exclusive audio collections. Any amount you can contribute is fantastic! You can also make a one time contribution on my Paypal page - To get the links to contribute, just visit this page on my site... http://disneychris.com/donate.html And again, all the money contributed goes right back into the site, in order to add new content, pay my web hosting fees, etc etc. Nothing good in life comes free, and there are costs involved in sharing all this audio with you. I am also a disabled person and on a fixed income, so it is really helpful to have people support this endeavor. So Happy Easter to all, and stay tuned for another update, coming soon!
February 26, 2017 Well high time for another update, and this time I have a lot to report on. I have been very busy with the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour. My focus has all been on one chapter, "Disneyland After Dark." Here is a direct link to that page, so you can follow along... http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/138-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-18.html I will report on each new track that has been added, in numerical order as they appear on the page, not in chronological order as they were completed. In addition, I am going to discuss a few things I am currently working on, but are not yet completed. 1 - Main Street Color Guard - Flag Retreat Ceremony: I only made a slight tweak to this track, hardly worth mentioning, but in order to be thorough I will. I lengthened the drum roll under the Jack Wagner intro. I felt it ended too abruptly, so made a little fix to satisfy my perfectionism. 4 - Light Up Time in Disneyland: This was an existing track called "Disneyland After Dark TV Theme." I renamed the track and made some improvements. First of all, I added an introduction using Walt's voice, extracted from the Disneyland After Dark TV episode. Then I removed a few beeps and bells that I did not like. I improved the Jungle Cruise gun shots. Then added the announcement that used to be at the start of the track, to the end of the track. This was also taken from "Disneyland After Dark." I like the flow of the new improved version much better than the original. 5 - Fantasy in the Sky: This is a brand new track. It is audio from the 1962 Wonderful World of Color episode "Disneyland After Dark," also using a bit of audio from 1958's "An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom," at the opening of the track, to give it a cleaner intro. The two pieces of audio matched up very nice. This is to represent the very early years of Disneyland fireworks, before Jack Wagner was involved. I will have two other versions of Fantasy in the Sky, which have Jack Wagner's announcements, later in the chapter. In case you have not noticed, the chapter is set up in roughly a chronological ordering, with the exception of the first few tracks, which serve as an introduction to the chapter. So when we get into 1970's stuff, Jack Wagner's versions of the fireworks will be featured. 6 - Main Street USA Evening Area Music: full credit for this track must be given to my friend Foxxy, who runs a very informative historical Disney theme park blog called "Passport to Dreams." Through some major sleuthing and research work, she unearthed a long forgotten area loop from Walt Disney World, that played on Main Street only in the evenings. Please read her blog for more information on this: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2013/04/main-street-usa-1976-1991-evening.html-Through some more fact finding on my part, I deduced that this loop was also used in California, despite everyone's original gut feeling that is was exclusively a Walt Disney World loop. But I distinctively remembered hearing selections from this loop in California as a child. so I looked into it. And low and behold, a couple of early 1980's homemade camcorder videos were posted on Youtube featuring songs from the PM loop playing in the background at Disneyland. Now as to whether Disneyland used this loop only as a nighttime loop, as Walt Disney World did, is not clear because the videos found were shot during the day. But I decided to pull out my artistic license on this one, and I am using it to represent Disneyland's Main Street at night, since it has just the right feel to enhance this chapter. 7 - Coke Corner Pianist: To me, the Coke Corner piano concerts are equally a daytime and a nighttime thing. So in order to represent the nighttime version, I have used music I did not place on my Main Street USA page. All the songs come from a CD called "Four Hand Piano" featuring Rod Miller and Alan Thompson Jr. 8 - Date Nite in Disneyland: This is a redo, I combined two vintage radio ads that promote the Date Nite events. 9 - Date Nite with the Elliot Brothers - Plaza Gardens: This is another redo. I originally had an abridged version of the 1957 Date Nite album posted on this page. I have replaced it with the audio from the entire album. This is not just me posting the album as as. I never post ANYTHING as is. I have removed a great deal of background hiss and minor editing glitches from the original recording. So this is the DisneyChris 2.0 version. 10 - Plantation House - The Wayne King Orchestra: As of writing this blog, this track is not yet completed, but it is high on the agenda of things to do, so it may be done by the time you are reading this. This track was originally just called "The Plantation House" with no reference to which band was playing. I had already completed this track, and it was posted on my site for several weeks, but I just removed it a couple of days ago. The original band featured is one of my favorites, the Lester Lanin Orchestra. I always have enjoyed Lanin's music; it has sort of a Rock n' Roll meets the Big Bands vibe to it. And I could not find ANY authentic music for the Plantation House, so since he did a few albums that had songs that were plantation or old south themed, I decided to use his stuff as a placeholder. I felt a little guilty about this because it was totally inauthentic. I originally wanted to use another artist named "Arvon Dale" (Also known as Colonel Dale when performing at the Plantation House) since he is documented as being an official artist that played at this venue. But I could not find any recordings by this band, whatsoever, aside from some very old 1930's phonograph recordings and one 1940's recording that did not have the right sound quality. Then I was doing some research for a block of tracks I will be adding under the title "Tomorrowland Bandstand" and came across the music of The Wayne King Orchestra. What left me sort of bewildered on what to do with this group, who performed in Disneyland multiple times throughout the 60's, was the fact that their music did not at all match any of the other groups that performed at the Tomorrowland Bandstand at this time. Their music was much more somber and romantic, with love ballads, and waltzes. In fact Wayne King is often called the "Waltz King" - So I decided to move Wayne King to the Plantation House. His music has a very moonlight concert, romantic quality to it that I think is befitting the Plantation House, and that way, I do not have to include a stand out group that does not match my others in the Tomorrowland segment. So now I will have an authentic Disneyland group representing the Plantation House. 11 - Tahitian Terrace Royal Tahitians: This is the exact same track I am using on my Adventureland page. I have included it here also, since these shows were performed mainly at night. 12 - Three Cute-Lasses - The Pirate Trio: This is another re-purposed track. I have it also on my "Original Fantasyland" page, but these concerts were held at night, according to all the black and white images I have seen of this group, so I decided to also include it here. The reason I did not include actual images of the group, is because I could not find any in color. And I have a strict all-color photo policy on my site (with the exception of the TV Land page) Here is a link to the black and white images in case you are interested: http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/2011/07/disneyland-pirate-trio-by-paul-f.html 13 - Benny Goodman and his Orchestra: This is authentic audio recorded in Disneyland in 1961. The audio comes from a live TV special. What is neat about having this, is the fact that Goodman was the very first Big Band orchestra to perform in Disneyland. (other than the in-house Elliot Brothers of course) So it is great to have the real thing to document this historical event. As a side note, let me briefly mention what I am planning on doing with the rest of this block of songs, under the "Tomorrowland Bandstand" title. I did some internet digging and found a few very helpful articles documenting every Big Band orchestra that ever performed in Disneyland. Mainly this article was extremely helpful:http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/bigbandsatdisneyland.html- Looking at the roster of guest performers, I decided which groups were most notable and deserved an entire track devoted to just them. I will then represent those and ALL the other groups in a track called "Cavalcade of Bands" at the end of the Tomorrowland section, track 22. This will have one song from every single band that played in Disneyland from 1961-1967 - It will be about an hour long. All of the individual bands that are represented in tracks 14-21, I am trying to use audio from live concerts, to match the feel of the Benny Goodman track already posted. But the "Cavalcade of Bands" will be studio recordings only. Also, one group "Tex Beneke with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires" will have studio recordings, because I could not find any live music from this group. Stay tuned for all of this. This is high on my to-do list. I also want to mention my Dixieland in Disneyland section, I have done research on this too, and in addition to including all the individual artists that I feel have more historical significance, so are deserving of their own track, I am also including a track with one song from EVERY band that played at this event from 1960-1971, with just a few exceptions. Either I could not find any audio from a group, or the music does not match the rest. (For example Stevie Wonder appeared in 1971 - I am leaving him out because his music is not Dixieland) So stay tuned for all of these planned additions. 35 - Hootenanny! - This was a weekly summer event that was held for several years in the mid 60's. This track includes one song from every group that I could find good quality audio for that played at this event in 1965 and 1966 - I do not have any information about what artists played the other years. I found out my information from the following two blog posts on a site called "Disneyland Nomenclature" -http://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2008/06/tencennial-summertime-entertainment.htmlandhttp://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2009/11/1966-summertime-entertainment.html- In case you are wondering, here is a complete track list for this medley of songs: 1 - Hootenanny, by the Glencoves - Not an authentic group that played in the park, just using this song as an introduction to this track Sorry that numbers 15 and 17 do not have the artist listed. I neglected to make a record of it and tried to go back and find out the details on the songs after the fact, and could not find them again. If anyone has any song identification software and can identify the songs for me, it would be greatly appreciated. 36 - Spring Fling: I did have this track combined with the music of Kay Bell and the Spacemen, but I have given Kay Bell and the Spacemen their own track now, so this is just the Spring Fling radio ad by itself. 37 - Fantasyland Theater - Humdinger: Like the Hootenanny track, I used the same two blog posts on the "Disneyland Nomenclature" site to assemble this mix. Unlike the Hootenanny tracks, I was able to find a ton of material from the artists that performed at this event. Since I had so much music to choose from, I opted to go with the more recognizable and less obscure songs, otherwise it would have been over two hours long. Here are the songs I used for this mix: 1 - Humdinger - Freddy Cannon / This song is not by an artist from the actual event, but wanted to use it as a special introduction song to the mix:
Tracks 38-43 Disneyland A-Go-Go: These track represent several of the regular rock n' roll performers featured in Disneyland throughout the 1960's - All the audio is by the authentic groups that played in the parks. Most of the music I used is from studio recordings by the same artists, but in one case, Kay Bell and the Spacemen, it is authentic audio recorded in the park. This group released a 45 of two songs recorded live at the Space Stage in Disneyland. 44 - Disneyland After Dark - 1968: This is a a segment from a 1968 Wonderful World of Color TV episode entitled, "From Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow." 45 - The Tomorrowland Stage: Kids of the Kingdom - This is almost the entire Kids of the Kingdom album from 1968. I left out one song, "I Love a Parade" because it did not have the same feeling of a live concert as all the other songs did. I also added a nice opening announcement. To hear the entire album, with the song "I Love a Parade," you will find it posted on this page, track numbers 70-71 - http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/134-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-21.html 48 - The Disneyland Entertainment Experience: This is an abridged version of a Jack Wagner slide show presentation featuring just the nighttime entertainment. You can also hear the full uncut version. It is track 1 on this page:http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/143-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-12.html 50 - The Main Street Electrical Parade Premiere Season: This audio is from a 1972 souvenir album sold in Disneyland. I have done some major clean up on the album and it sounds pristine. 55 - Disneyland Entertainment - 1970's Advertisements: This is two vintage TV ads, a lot of fun 78 - Videopolis Dance Party: This is the same track already posted on my "Disneyland Showtime" chapter. I added it here too for obvious reasons. Interesting, the second song in this mix is from the 1986 Disneyland Record, "Totally Minnie." It is obviously by the same artist who did the Videopolis theme song, and has the same spirit and feel, so I thought it would be fun to include it and make a little mini medley. 85 - Big Thunder Barbecue - Area Background Music: This is a temporary placeholder. I plan to redo this track to a longer version, so stay tuned for that. I have the same track posted on my Frontierland page, and decided to also include it here. 104 - Imagine, A Fantasy in the Sky: This track is sort of a coveted piece of audio by many Disney park music collectors. The only existing tracks available, before now, were very bad audio quality. A friend of mine sent me a very good copy of this, and with his blessing I am happy to share. It is also interesting to note, that the 1999 Walt Disney World version of Fantasy in the Sky was the original source for much of this audio, but this indeed the Disneyland version, with all the proper narration. --- Fweew! That was a long update. I have been incredibly busy as you can tell. Since I have been working hard, I think it is a good time to remind everyone about my Paypal account and Patreon page - I am a disabled person, and on a very tight fixed income. I do all this work out of love for what I do, but it does cost money to bring you new content, pay my web hosting fees, and pay for my internet fees, among may other expenses. If anyone is able to make a one time donation to PayPal, or become a monthly subscriber to my Patreon account, it would be so appreciated, and every little bit helps. I appreciate anything you can possibly spare. Remember, my site is 100% free, and I do not advertise anywhere on my site. I have no sponsorships whatsoever. Also, I do have some nifty T-shirts on sale, and they help support my site as well. You can find all of the links to all of these ways to contribute on this page from my site: http://disneychris.com/donate.html- And thanks in advance for your generous contributions. Well, that is all for today. Back to work on more audio editing! I will keep you posted as soon as more new tracks have been added. Stay tuned...
February 1, 2017 Hello everybody. Wow, this year is already flying by, I can't believe it is February already. I just have a quick update for today... I have been very busy working on the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour since my last blog update. However, I have not added any new audio to the collection just yet. What I have been doing is setting up my "Disneyland After Dark" chapter page so that I can now easily add in all the new additions I have waiting in the queue as they are completed. What that means is I have added all the artwork, liner notes and spaces for the audio tracks I will be adding to this chapter. I have gone from 39 tracks to 113! So if you check out the chapter now, you will get a sneak preview of everything I will be adding. Be sure to check out the page regularly in the days and weeks ahead, as I am going to start adding new audio at a rapid rate. Here is a link to the page -http://disneychris.com/15-disneyland-soundtracks/138-disneyland-audio-tour-chapter-18.html Also, be sure to check out my daily Disney Song of the Day. For the month of February I will be posting a Disney love song every day, as part of my month long tribute to Valentine's Day.http://disneychris.com/song-of-the-day-archive.html To get up to the minute updates on the new tracks as they are being added to the "Disneyland After Dark" page, be sure to follow me on Twitter @DisneyChris73 or Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/DisneyChrisDotCom - I also have a DisneyChris.Com Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/DisneyChrisWebsite/ Of course, after I have added a dozen or so new audio tracks to the page, I will also update this blog, with all the details. So stay tuned for more.
January 24, 2017 Hey everybody! Long time no blog. Sorry about that. The reason I have not updated my blog in such a long time, is because I took a break from editing new content for the Disneyland Magical Audio Tour, and really had nothing to report on since October. But never fear, the Magical Audio Tour is still going to grow and it is not an abandoned project. I have over 1000 new tracks to add to the collection, and plan on getting back to work very, very soon. I am excited to get back to work at this point. I am seriously thinking about working on my "Disneyland After Dark" chapter next. The reason why this chapter is in my mind now, is because of the recent return of the Main Street Electrical Parade to Disneyland. I want to add the soundtrack for the 2017 version to the site, and while I am on my "After Dark" chapter, I may as well work on the rest of the content, of which I have A LOT to add. What have I been up to since my last blog post? I have continued to release my weekly podcast "Jiminy Crickets!" http://jcricketspodcast.blogspot.com - I have been on an extended visit to North Carolina to visit my family over the holidays. - I have continued to write articles of the "Disney Avenue" blog.http://www.disneyavenue.com/search/label/Chris%20Lyndon- I have continued to do my Disney Song of the Day every day, and I have remained very active on social media, both Twitter and Facebook. I did need the break from editing content for the site. I was getting burned out from it, and was finding it to become more of a chore and less of a pleasure. But now I am starting to get that itch again, and I am ready to plunge back into my project. So stay tuned for more audio additions in the very near future. Meanwhile, be assured that all is well, and I have no plans of giving up on my obsession to bring you the most extensive audio tour of Disneyland in existence. Talk to you very soon!
Questions, comments or suggestions? Contact me at DCLyndon@gmail.com or Twitter @DisneyChris73
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