Day 1151: Hours and Hours

When I get really behind on blog posts there's only one thing for me to do: bunker down in some comfortable clothes with plenty of food and good music until I somehow manage to catch up everything that I've missed. However, finding the motivation needed to write for hours and hours on end is pretty difficult, even when it means I do get to talk about Disney the entire time. Really though, as every college student knows, you can only write for so long before you just get really, really bored of sitting in front of your computer typing out some combination of 26 letters. 

Which is why I've gone back to some of my roots in Disney on the internet, including Disney Parks music that's kept me working for years now. Unforunately, Live365 recently shut down, meaning that I have to go elsewhere to find my recorded Disney music. Thankfully, YouTube has a wealth of options in regards to Disney music, and this time I went back to Dan Gooding's Disney Park Mixes, which is definitely a fan favorite. His combinations celebrating various parks really just bring the magic of Disney Parks Music to life, which is why I could probably listen to these videos for hours. 

I added on the Hollywood Studios Mix above, but you can check out his entire channel HERE, and it's filled with tons of great Disney Parks Music celebrating Disney all over the world! 

Have a magical day! 

Day 1040: Obscure Disney Music

I had someone a while back ask me about some of my favorite obscure Disney music, and truth be told, I think I listen to more of the obscure stuff than I do mainstream Disney. Don't get me wrong, I definitely know the lyrics to pretty much every famous Disney song (a la "Colors of the Wind," "Part of Your World," "Beauty and the Beast," etc), but that's not really what I listen to on an everyday basis.

But instead of just writing a blog post on the topic like I usually might, I headed to YouTube, and yes, you may even hear me sing...

As I mention in the video you can find all of the songs I talk about on a Spotify playlist, and for your convenience, here's a list of everything I talk about in the video: 

And here are all the songs I talk about:
Welcome (Brother Bear)
Out There (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Life's a Happy Song (The Muppets)
The Incredits (The Incredibles)
Everybody Wants to be a Cat, Volume 1
IllumiNations 25
Makin' Memories
Impressions de France
Welcome Medley
Space Mountain Soundtrack (Disneyland)
Suitcase and a Dream

Let me know what some of your favorite Obscure Disney songs are in the comments below!

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on December 30).

Day 994: Song of the Day

I'm always trying to find new ways to bring little bits of Disney into my daily routine. After all, that's what this blog is all about! Well, I'm happy to say that I've found yet another way for Disney to make an appearance, and this time it occurs pretty much every morning on my walk to class! This year, I'm lucky enough to not start any of my classes until, at the earliest, 10 each morning. It provides a little extra time to get work done, whether it is filming a video, working for one of my on-campus jobs, or catching up on homework on practicing, AND means that I can take my time heading to my first class of the day.

To make life more interesting, I've started doing #DisneySongOfTheDay, in which I play a different Disney song everyday, take a screenshot of it on my phone, and then post it on Twitter with the hashtag! So far it's been a ton of fun picking various songs, and it's an awesome way to go through the music library on my phone!

Here's a few of the songs I've included so far:

I would love to see some others adopting the Disney Song of the Day into their routine too! I throw in some earbuds and listen on my two-three minute walk to class, but maybe you listen during your drive home, while making dinner, working on homework, or even taking a shower! Let me know some of your favorite Disney songs in the comments below too! 

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 26 due to a tight schedule).

Day 830: Study Away

Studying, studying and more studying. That's the life of a college student, although I feel like it may be closer to working, working and more working. Either way you get the point: College students are busy and often times it includes long hours sitting in front of a textbook, computer or, goodness gracious me, a chalkbaord (yes they do still exist...at least here at my college they do). It leaves the question, however: How do you make it through the long days? For instance, today, while I have other things going on and a break here and there, I definitely have had six blog posts to write, I've got French to study and I need to start a music analysis project. How am I going to get through all of it, besides the use of coffee and copious amounts of CaptainSwan tea? 

The answer? Disney Music. 

I listen to a wide variety of music when studying, as you very well know. It changes by day, but there's one playlist that I go back to time and time again when I really need to focus, with the addition of one other song that I'll tack on the end because it's sort of important based on the homework I'm currently doing. I do believe that everything on this list is music from one of the Disney Parks, and I love all of it, which makes it easy to focus and keep my spirits up while working. 

Another great playlist? The Once Upon A Time soundtracks. I'm pretty pumped about the fact that Mark Isham has announced that there will be a new soundtrack for Season 4, so I'm ready for that to come out sometime this year! Meanwhile I'll spend my days listening to Seasons 1 and 2, although I have to note that it gets a little distracting from time to time. Or maybe it's just me and the urge to start sword fighting during Hook's theme in The Duelists. 

And finally, I'm really into the Festival of Fantasy music lately. I'm pretty sure I listened to it at least four or five times today. I have a problem. Then again, I may be trying to learn the words, so maybe it's not such a great soundtrack to listen to while studying. On the bright side, as I mentioned a while back in a blog post, it does feature Rondo from Mozart's Night Music, which just so happens to be my chosen piece for my music analysis project due at the end of the semester. So listening to it has it's benefits, right? 

What do you listen to while studying, whether or not your in college! 

Have a magical day!

Day 672: Minecraft

My brother loves his computer games, and perhaps the only one I truly understand is Minecraft. Alright, so I'm still not 100% on what you do with the game, other than the fact that it looks like a complicated computerized version of legos. That makes sense, right? Regardless, he's spent more hours on Minecraft that I've probably spent dreaming about Captain Hook (not only is that up for debate, but may have been the weirdest sentence I've even written. Dreaming of Captain Hook? When did that happen?)

Either way, it seems that Minecraft fans are also sometimes fans of Disney, hence the incredible Magic Kingdom server put together. I've included the walkthrough video just down below, but I highly suggest you go through and check out some of the other things they've recreated from the Disney parks.

By far, the thing that impressed me the most wasn't in this particular video, but rather in another on the channel, where they've put together Wishes via Minecraft. How awesome is that? Granted, you have to sort of use your imagination a little bit as you walk through the Magic Kingdom in block form, but it's all incredibly well done. I can't even imagine how long it took to creat the entire thing, but one thing's for sure: it looks really realistic. 

In addition, they added in the park music for each individual land, bringing the park to a whole new level of authenticity. I don't know about you, but I listen to Disney Parks music on loop, so it certainly ads something to have that stuck in there as you "walk" through Tomorrowland or past Big Thunder Mountain. 

Have a magical day!

Day 416: WDW Official Album

I take pride in the fact that I own just about every Disney Parks CD. What exactly does this mean? Well, first off, I have more Disney CD's than I can possibly count. Second, I literally have 7 versions of Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me), 5 recordings of Golden Dream and 5 copies of Grim Grinning Ghosts all on my phone. I've got music from the 80's, 90's, 2000's AND 2010's. Wondering what that one song that played on Spaceship Earth years ago was? Tomorrow's Child...and I can play it for you. In the mood for Kitchen Kabaret? Got you covered. Want to listen to two plus hours of Disney Parks background music? I do my homework to it.

I'm pretty sure at this point I really should stop, because in reality, there are only like two Disney Parks Official Albums I DON'T have. There's one from 1997 that I don't have (but am NOT paying a ton of money for thank you very much), and then the 50th Anniversary one. I mean, I love my collection, but not enough to buy music I already have...multiple times over.

On the opposite side, I DO happen to own the Candlelight Processional CD, the official Wishes and Illuminations soundtracks (Illuminations I used to have on Cassette...we listened to it all the time in our van when I was growing up. Like...ALL. THE. TIME.), and The Festival of the Lion King CD.

The list continues with the various other ones I have. But that's not what this is about. Remember a while back when I freaked out about the new Official Album (maybe I did...maybe I didn't. I can't find it. But behind the scenes...I freaked out). Anyways, I noticed there was a new one and made plans to get it for Christmas. Of course, it kind of fell through and I didn't actually buy it until now, but that's ok...I have it, and all is good.

The Album is literally like 90% the same as the last one I have...but that's ok. There are a few minor differences...and they're worth it! Sadly, Welcome Medley from Main Street is gone, but we have Flitterin' now, so that's good. Later we have music from NEW FANTASYLAND! Yeah, that means Be Our Guest Instrumental and a 10 minute long "The Little Mermaid Medley." Plus, Circus Parade and Casey Jr. from Storybook Circus!

But that's not even the one I'm most excited about. Literally the #1 reason I got this CD is the new Test Track theme. My brother and I listen to this music all the time (that tradition from when we were kids lives on), and one of the songs that's probably up there on the most played list is the old Test Track Medley (which I do have...multiple times over). The new score for 2.0 though...some of my absolute FAVORITE music at Walt Disney World. I love it (and haven't stopped listening to it for like the last 24 hours). Finally, the only other changes really are Indy being split up a bit and the addition of music from TOY STORY MIDWAY MANIA! Ok, so maybe I'm pretty excited.

Sadly, I don't have the Disneyland one yet. Soon people. Soon.

I just really love my Disney Parks music. And soon I'll be able to hear it in person. =)

Have a magical day!

Day 330: Playing the Piano

Today is our last day of college before our Thanksgiving break, and lucky for me two of my classes have been canceled for one reason or another. That means that this morning I have extra time to do whatever I wish to do, even if I should be working on my homework. 

Well, what I DID do this morning kind of has to do with homework. I was talking yesterday briefly about the arrangement I have to do for my music theory class, and today that's what we were working on. So after a brief discussion in the classroom, a bunch of us went down into the practice rooms in the basement to use the pianos. I nabbed one for myself and went through my Disney Piano Music to try and come up with a song I wanted to do an arrangement of. 

I played through my two classic Disney movie books, or looked through them rather, playing a song here and there, and then thought that maybe I should move onto my book with my Disney Parks Music. I have no clue where or when we got it, but I love it because it has all of those Epcot songs stuck in it for voice and piano. This basically means that I have everything from Grim Grinning Ghosts to the song that this blog post is ultimately about. 

For what seems like the thousandth time, let's head to The American Adventure. Considering this is probably my second favorite attraction in all of Walt Disney World, I suppose it's sensible that it comes up so often, but that's beside the point. I was going through the piano book and happened to eventually find the last song, which I can honestly say I have never really looked at before. I just never had a need or want to I guess. I had no clue what was back there because I don't look at the song list on the cover either. That's just not how I roll. 

So I flip back there for some reason or another and what do I find? The song about the Pilgrims from The American Adventure! This is one of those songs that I've been wanting to learn for years and here it was, I've had it the whole time! 

And you can guess what happened next. I spent a good hour and a half learning this song, which I can now kind of sort of play. I'm a bit rusty on the piano, but that's why my books are there, so I can continue to play every once and a while so I don't totally lose my ability to play the piano. 

Don't ask me to pick it up and play of the songs from the book though, just out of the blue. Chances are I won't be able to play them and you will never have heard the music in your life anyway. 

 

Remember When...there were trees on Main Street USA? Yeah, that's today's Frumpstagram Picture, and I can honestly say that I don't really remember the trees all that well...if I ever actually saw them in the first place. This is one of the pictures straight out of some of my family's oldest Disney photo albums, and I love looking through them to see how much Disney has changed. It's ridiculous! 

Here's today's Disney History: 1942: The Warner Brothers romance film Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Peter Lorre, is released. A scene from this film is represented in Disney's Hollywood Studios' The Great Movie Ride. It is also among the trailers shown in the ride's queue area. 

Have a magical day!

Day 87: Disney Parks Music

There are often times amazing things on Youtube, and recently I found a series of videos that are simply amazing, especially if you love the parks.

Dan Gooding has put together an entire series of beautiful videos that take you through the Disney Parks from all over the world. Currently I'm listening to "We've Just Begun to Dream - Volume 1" which is the first of two videos put together for Epcot's 30th Anniversary. Each one features songs and audio from throughout the parks and they're certainly worth a listening to. 

Here's a couple of the videos and you can watch, and listen, for yourself!

Here's today's Disney History: 1910: Original Mouseketeer MC & 1992 Disney Legend Jimmie Dodd, the adult leader on television's Mickey Mouse Club, is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. A talented guitarist and musician, Dodd was originally hired by Walt Disney as a music writer. He went on to write and compose "The Mickey Mouse Club March" and all the daily opening songs for the show.

Have a magical day!