Every celebration has its theme song. At Disneyland Paris, we’ve enjoyed C’est l’Année de Toutes les Fêtes (5th Anniversary), the 10th Anniversary Song and most recently Just Like We Dreamed It.

Of course, Mickey’s Magical Party is no exception! For this brand new year of fun, the resort called upon well-known Disney parks composer Scott Erickson to write the theme song which ultimately became “Mickey’s Magical Party Time!”, a lively, feel-good rock-pop anthem.

Scott knows the universe of Disney well. He has arranged numerous songs for the follow-ups to animated classics, such as Mulan II, Tarzan II, Mulan II and even Bambi II before becoming a frequent composer for Tokyo Disneyland amongst other resorts. But his relationship with Disney is deeper still, thanks to his upbringing of Mickey Mouse Club TV shows and visits to the original Disneyland in California.

How did you get into the realm of Disney theme park music?

It was probably 1997. I was working with a producer named Robbie Buchanan and Vasile Sirli called him to do a song for their parade that was Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm). So, Vasile came to Los Angeles to work with Robbie, and as I was working with Robbie, I came to meet him. I was production assistant, Robbie was the producer.

The first thing I ever wrote for one of the parks was a song called Pumpkin Party for Tokyo Disneyland. That was five years ago.

And in just a few years you’ve just come to work for almost every Disney park in the world!

I’ve done mostly songs and music for parades or for shows. It’s fantastic to work with Disney parks. Everybody is so professional and so talented. They only use the highest level of musicians and the music directors of the parks are so smart and so talented!

How did you come to work on the Mickey’s Magical Party song?

It was kind of a funny story. First of all, Vasile was trying to find a project for us to work on together for a long time and last year, probably in February or March, he called and asked me to send him a bunch of songs possibly for Halloween. It turned out that they didn’t have the budget last year to update the parade and change the Halloween song.

Then, in October, he called and said: “we have this new show” and he explained about Mickey’s Magical Party to me. “We’d love you to write a song”. And there was one of the songs I had sent them that they really liked and that hadn’t been used for anything. “We love this song. If you want to change that into the song for our show, that would be great!”

So, since nobody owned it at that time, I could do anything I wanted with that song and we changed it from a Halloween song into the Party Time song. We added a big band in it, made it bigger and changed some things, and that was how we did it!

How did the creators of Mickey’s Magical Party tell you about the spirit of the party so that you could change your song?

We didn’t change the music very much. We changed some of the lyrics that were specifically about Halloween to be more about parties and being happy and having a great, fun time. For instance, when I compose a song for a show, I like to put the name of the show in my song so that everything is tied together.

How did you write that song?

The writing of this song was different from what I usually do. Usually, I write it at home in my studio. But at that time, I was in Las Vegas producing a Christmas record for Barry Manilow. We were mixing it there. And during the mixing of a record, the producer doesn’t have a lot to do. Usually, he waits for the mixer to do his job.

So, I was there, bored for a week and a half. So I borrowed a keyboard from the stage and I brought a couple of my computers, and I set up a little studio. That’s how, mixing a Christmas record, I composed a song for Halloween!

How did you write the lyrics of the song?

Probably two thirds of the lyrics were left over from the original demo, and then anything that had to do with Halloween was taken out and changed to be more specific to the show. Also, Vasile told me that there were some banners around the park that say “Welcome” in different languages, and he said it would be fun to incorporate that somehow into the song. So, I did.

With Vasile, it was a give-and-take kind of exchange, going back and forth and working together until we all came up with a structure of a song that we were happy with.

It seems that Kat de Blois was very much involved in that process, too.

Very much so. I was introduced to her on this project. She had a lot of input. Vasile was working in Romania at this time, so I started to call Kat to get her input and her specific ideas, because she’s the Creative Director of the show.

Also, she’s American as opposed to Vasile and Christophe Leclercq, the Show Director, so she was able to add some possible lyric ideas or some specific images because she speaks the language a little more fluently. She was very helpful.

Can you tell me about the main arrangement of the song?

It has a kind of a rock feel. We kept that, but made it a little broader. And to add some emotional feel, we added some strings over the chorus and over the second verse. I was doing another project for Disney – I was recording some promotional versions of When You Wish Upon a Star with an orchestra in Prague – and on the same session, I had some extra time so I recorded the strings for this one.

We also added horns. They’re pretty characteristic of theme park music but we wanted to use them in a more “pop” kind of way than in a theme park one. They add a little more excitment and a little more energy. For the bass part, I got in touch with Lee Sklar, who is a famous bass player with a long beard who’s worked a lot with Phil Collins during the 80s, and who’s a good friend of mine.

I called my usual guitar player, Tim Pierce, who plays for all kinds of famous records, and my drummer, Charlie Morgan, who lives in Nashville. So, I sent him the track music and he played drums in Nashville and then sent over the audio through the internet.

That’s my favourite part of the production of any song, this one included: doing sessions with all these incredibly talented people that I have the privilege of getting to work with, and watching them do what they do so well. All the musicians and singers and the orchestras – I’m such a fan! So, we had people from everywhere: Prague, Nashville, Paris…

Percussions were part of your background. Does that influence the way you approach rhythm in your songs?

The very first thing, I started playing the piano when I was 5, and then when I was 11, I started to play the drums. I continued to play piano while doing a lot of percussion in orchestras and classical percussion through college. Because of that, I like to change rhythm so that the rhythm is not the same all the way through the song. It changes several different times. It definitely is an outgrowth of my experience as a percussionist and a drummer.

Stylistically, there seems to be a Blues Brothers-meets-High School Musical touch in your song. Do you agree?

Yes! The High School Musical franchise is now part of the company’s creative message. With a little touch of Disney theme park music, too! The Disney theme parks seem to have their own, specific kind of style of production. We’re trying to update it and modernize it but it remains a very identifiable sound.

Can you tell me about the different arrangements of your song presented in the park?

I was surprised to discover Vasile’s orchestral arrangement. I didn’t know he was doing it and it turned out fantastic, just great. I love it!

As for the techno one, it’s a remix done in Cleveland by a guy called Tony Miracle. I sent him all of my tracks and we sent him the mix. He rebuilt it with different things. He did it all and I co-produced it with him. He’d send it to me and I gave him notes and sent it to Vasile and Vasile added some comments. There were two or three small revisions and that was it.

Mostly, it was great! But to make it a little more “Disney”, the very first version he sent didn’t have quite as many “sparkling” sounds or “Disney” kind of effects. It was kind of darker and we had to remind him that it was intended for a Disney park and that we had to add a little bit of sparkle, a little bit of magic. So, he did that and he did a great job.

You seem very much aware of what the Disney magic truly is. How’s that?

My first memory of Disney music is the Electrical Parade at Disneyland when I was ten. It was so great. The lights were so magical and wonderful, but the music was just fantastic. And it was really a thrill for me to actually come to know the composer of that piece, Jean-Jacques Perrey! I’ve been a fan of this guy forever! Also, I love animation. I used to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.

Probably when I was 10 years old, I bought a book, The Illusion of Life, by Disney Legends Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas and had it in my bookshelf for years and used to look at it. It was great! But my first Disney trivia personal connection is that I was born on the day Jungle Book was released: October 17th 1967! In the 60s and 70s, Disney made records for children to learn things. I actually have them hanging in my studio here: one is called Fun With Music – 30 Favorite Disney Songs, another is called Learning to Tell Time, and Acting Out the ABCs.

And when I was in Grade School, the new Mickey Mouse Club was on and was so addicted to it! My fantasy in the world was to be a Mouseketeer. Friday was called Discovery Day and they taped the show at Disneyland, at the Carnation Plaza. So, of course, when we got to go there two years later after watching, I freaked out when I saw the Carnation Plaza where the Mouseketeers did their show every Friday.

And at the same time, they were still airing original Mickey Mouse Club episodes on TV. So, I used to watch that when I was a kid, too. Ironically, Don Grady, who was part of the original Mickey Mouse Club, became a very talented songwriter and musician, and we crossed paths seven or eight years ago and we’ve become very good friends! So, my connection to Disney seems to be pretty long and deep!

And I guess that’s an experience you share with your kids. How is it for them to have their father make Disney music?

It’s thrilling to get to watch my 6 year old daughter and 4 year old son experience these shows in a different way because the songs they hear at home come out to television, theater or Disney parks. Just after she turned four, my daughter sang along with the children’s group on a Disney Princess parade that I wrote for Tokyo. That was thrilling. We got the video from Tokyo and every time that part of the song comes out, she knows that she was part of those girls singing along with those Disney Princesses! What could be better?

Of course, my kids are my test audience! When I write something for one of the shows, I bring them out here and they tell me if they love it or hate it. And believe me, they don’t love everything, especially my daughter! She’s not an easy audience! Here’s a great story: I wrote a Halloween show for Tokyo Disneyland, and in one of the songs, I wrote a section for Princesses dancing around their castle singing La-Dee-Da-Dee-Da… I had the demo playing in my car, and my daughter was not quite convinced.

She said: “I really like it except for one part: Disney Princesses don’t say La-Dee-Da! They just say: La-La-La”. It just turned out that I had lunch with the Creative Director from Tokyo Disneyland a week later. I told him about it and he said: “you know what? I think she’s right!” My daughter is an expert on all things Princesses, that for sure!

• With thanks to Scott Erickson, Vasile Sirli, Aurélie Massin and Magali Arnéodo!