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So today I determined to go down to the park and finally catch up on all of the recording I haven't been doing over the past four months or so. In addition to some observations which I'll share here I was able to record three complete loops, two of which were in response to specific requests here at MagicMusic which I'm looking forward to being able to fulfill.
After the craziness of NYE at Disneyland today was an extreme contrast. Actually one of the things that struck me was how much louder the area music seemed with so few people about. Things did pick up towards the end of the day, however, as many schools are still on vacation.
While the Holiday season has only been over for a couple of days, already most remnants of the festivities at the parks are gone. Some decorations remain in Critter Country and Toontown but all of the music loops have switched back to their normal modes.
Such is not the case, however, at the hotels, which are still celebrating the season both in decorations and music. The Grand Californian was playing it's holiday loop throughout the hotel, confirming that the loop does indeed play inside as well as outside (even in the elevators). When I visited two weeks ago there was no music playing inside the hotel; likely it was switched off due to the intermittent performances of Carolers, the lobby pianist and Santa Claus.
The opposite happened at the Disneyland Hotel. While decorations were generally still up the hotels holiday music loop was not playing in any of the towers, nor was the regular music loop. The loop was playing by the pool however, which means that like the Grand Californian the usually separate interior and exterior loops (the DL Hotel doesn't really have an "exterior" loop but it does have a separate pool loop) are both superseded by the holiday loop. The good news is I was able to record it, it's actually rather short (only about 35 minutes or so) and has at least two tracks in common with the Epcot/DHS Chrismas loop from Walt Disney World.
The Space Mountain concourse area was conspicuously quiet with the closure of Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Today the outside of the theater was quite thoroughly repainted. Oddly enough Disney did not put construction walls up around the theater but stationed a CM at the entrance to explain to guests that the attraction was closed. For much of the day while they were repainting the doors were wide open and you could see straight into the theater from both the entrance and exit sides. Of larger note, the Space Mountain Concourse music loop that usually plays in the bathrooms near the Space Mountain exit was not playing. This is the first time I can remember the loop not playing, and while I'm tempted to connect it with the ongoing work on the Magic Eye Theater and the Starcade it very well could have just been "one of those days" where the loop was turned off for no particular reason. I'll check again next time.
While construction walls have now completely consumed the area surrounding the Orange Stinger/Silly Symphony Swings site (forcing guests to walk around through the Pizza Oom Mow Mow area) the Orange Stinger version of the Paradise Pier loop continues to play from two sets of pole speakers. With the new attraction set to open this spring the loop could disappear any time now. On the other hand, the Orange Stinger has been gone for a while, and the loop may very well continue to play in that area even once the Swings open.
With the Christmas season over I will probably put the Disneyland Hotel Holiday loop on the backburner for a little while; I have a small cache of incomplete holiday listings to work on over the course of the year and once I've had a bit of a break from all of the Christmas music I'll swing back around to them and hopefully make some progress in time for next season.
The two other loops I recorded were the Mickey's Star Traders loop, which was actually from a topic started here over six years ago. The other was the Hungry Bear Restaurant loop. As both were requests and both came with leads as to the origin of the tracks I'm hoping to compile listings right away, though as I'm going away this weekend I may not have anything to post until next week (or I may have something tomorrow. Who knows?)
After the craziness of NYE at Disneyland today was an extreme contrast. Actually one of the things that struck me was how much louder the area music seemed with so few people about. Things did pick up towards the end of the day, however, as many schools are still on vacation.
While the Holiday season has only been over for a couple of days, already most remnants of the festivities at the parks are gone. Some decorations remain in Critter Country and Toontown but all of the music loops have switched back to their normal modes.
Such is not the case, however, at the hotels, which are still celebrating the season both in decorations and music. The Grand Californian was playing it's holiday loop throughout the hotel, confirming that the loop does indeed play inside as well as outside (even in the elevators). When I visited two weeks ago there was no music playing inside the hotel; likely it was switched off due to the intermittent performances of Carolers, the lobby pianist and Santa Claus.
The opposite happened at the Disneyland Hotel. While decorations were generally still up the hotels holiday music loop was not playing in any of the towers, nor was the regular music loop. The loop was playing by the pool however, which means that like the Grand Californian the usually separate interior and exterior loops (the DL Hotel doesn't really have an "exterior" loop but it does have a separate pool loop) are both superseded by the holiday loop. The good news is I was able to record it, it's actually rather short (only about 35 minutes or so) and has at least two tracks in common with the Epcot/DHS Chrismas loop from Walt Disney World.
The Space Mountain concourse area was conspicuously quiet with the closure of Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Today the outside of the theater was quite thoroughly repainted. Oddly enough Disney did not put construction walls up around the theater but stationed a CM at the entrance to explain to guests that the attraction was closed. For much of the day while they were repainting the doors were wide open and you could see straight into the theater from both the entrance and exit sides. Of larger note, the Space Mountain Concourse music loop that usually plays in the bathrooms near the Space Mountain exit was not playing. This is the first time I can remember the loop not playing, and while I'm tempted to connect it with the ongoing work on the Magic Eye Theater and the Starcade it very well could have just been "one of those days" where the loop was turned off for no particular reason. I'll check again next time.
While construction walls have now completely consumed the area surrounding the Orange Stinger/Silly Symphony Swings site (forcing guests to walk around through the Pizza Oom Mow Mow area) the Orange Stinger version of the Paradise Pier loop continues to play from two sets of pole speakers. With the new attraction set to open this spring the loop could disappear any time now. On the other hand, the Orange Stinger has been gone for a while, and the loop may very well continue to play in that area even once the Swings open.
With the Christmas season over I will probably put the Disneyland Hotel Holiday loop on the backburner for a little while; I have a small cache of incomplete holiday listings to work on over the course of the year and once I've had a bit of a break from all of the Christmas music I'll swing back around to them and hopefully make some progress in time for next season.
The two other loops I recorded were the Mickey's Star Traders loop, which was actually from a topic started here over six years ago. The other was the Hungry Bear Restaurant loop. As both were requests and both came with leads as to the origin of the tracks I'm hoping to compile listings right away, though as I'm going away this weekend I may not have anything to post until next week (or I may have something tomorrow. Who knows?)
