Monday, June 19, 2017

The Magic Kingdom Vintage Background Music Source Page

Welcome! if you've ever wanted to know what the music that played at Walt Disney World in the 1970s and 80s sounded like, this is the site for you!

My name is Foxx and I am the author of the blog "Passport to Dreams Old & New". Here I gather up all of this site's published content covering the topic of music heard and played in the Disney Theme Parks. Myself and my friends and collaborators have spent many years researching, verifying and reconstructing these extremely obscure and vintage pieces of music, which were in real danger of being lost. This page collects all of our efforts.

It was last updated on July 9, 2024.

If you are interested in the old-time music of the Vacation Kingdom, a great place to start is this own site's Another Musical Souvenir of Walt Disney World, which compiles hours of retro park music into an entire "day" trip to the Walt Disney World of old.


A Social History of Background Music
A Brief Introduction to Early Walt Disney World Music

Magic Kingdom Area Music
Transportation & Ticket Center (1972 - 1991)
Main Entrance (1972 - 1991)
Main Street USA (1971 - 1976)
Main Street USA (1976 - 1991) (Morning)
Main Street USA (1976 - 1991) (Evening)
Adventureland Bridge (1972 - ????)
The Adventureland Veranda (1971 - 1977)
The Adventureland Veranda (1977 - 1994)
The Jungle Cruise / AWOL Airwaves (1991 - 2021) 
Sunshine Pavilion / Tropical Serenade (1971 - 1998)
Tiki Room: Under New Management Exterior (1998 - 2011)
Tiki Room: Under New Management Garden (1998 - 2011)
Caribbean Plaza (1973 - 1993)
Caribbean Plaza (1993 - 2006)
Liberty Square (1971 - 1980)
Liberty Square (1980 - 2021)
Liberty Square (2010 - 2017)
Frontierland (1975 - 1991)
Cinderella Castle Area (1971 - ????)
Skyway and Pinocchio Street (1974 - 1991)
Skyway and Pinocchio Street (1991 - Present)
Tomorrowland Concourse (1972 - 1983)
WEDway Peoplemover (1975 - 1993)
Tomorrowland Concourse (1983 - 1990)
Tomorrowland Concourse (1990 - 1993) (1994 - 2003)

Disneyland Area Music
Main Entrance (1972 - 1991)
The Matterhorn Bobsleds (1978 - 2009)
Skyway and Village Haus (1983 - Present)

Specific Case Studies
Dead Media from Tokyo Disneyland - a look at the park's 1984 Deluxe Gatefold LP soundtrack. November 2019.

The Secret Recording Career of George Bruns - three lost LPs released by Bruns during his career but outside of Disney, including restored presentations of Moonlight Time In Old Hawaii and Have A Good Time With Big George Bruns. May 2018.

The Mysterious "Bridge" Loops - quick overview of some very obscure pieces of music which once played between areas at Magic Kingdom. October 2017.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Two Soundtracks - full attraction sound mixes for the original attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. June 2017.

The Music of Country Bear Jamboree: Part One - definition of the show's genre, who recorded the music, and the first part of the show. May 2013.

The Music of Country Bear Jamboree: Part Two - the second half of the show, and a personal reflection on its appeal. May 2013.

The Music of Country Bear Jamboree: Part Three - two deleted songs. June 2013.


Other Disney Park BGM Resources:
Disney Parks Music Compendium - Michael Sweeney has helped out with a great deal of the playlists on this site, and he's put online dozens of carefully curated, extremely accurate playlists of music heard inside the parks.

Disneyland Resort Music Loops - This is a searchable, sortable database of all of the music from Disneyland put together by Aburey, who has really taken up the mantle of researching all of this material.

MouseBits - Features a lively discussion community with numerous playlists, and a torrent seeding resource for a great number of of the commonly circulated pieces of Disney music.

Magic Music - Another discussion forum, this one featuring yet more playlists with a focus on current music and many impressive compilations by site owner Jay.

Tokyo Disneyland BGM Lists - Star Orion has migrated their Wikia site to this slickly designed page, which is easy to navigate even if one does not read Japanese.

Disney Chris Audio - Chris Lyndon spends an enormous amount of time polishing and perfecting the tracks in his Disneyland Tour, which is so extensive I can't think of something he doesn't have available for listening on his site by now.