DLRP Today

The 15th Anniversary has been a huge success already, and for us fans truly a year when “any dream can come true.” But not everything has been perfect. The merchandise, for example. Which would you rather buy, “Need Magic?” from the unsuccessful 2003 advertising or “Tous en train” from Disney Characters’ Express? The people who make the CDs think differently…

Whilst Disneyland Resort Paris are desperate for money, Disneyland Resort Paris fans are, generally, desperate for merchandise. It’s a unique situation where the fans are actually suggesting items they’d spend money on and even, in some cases, asking for more stores. We’d like different snowglobes, better pins, more variety. But, most of all, we’d like to be able to take the magical music of Disney home with us…

No.3 - Tous en Train, pas en CD?

It was this desperation which led a young www.dlrpmagic.com to a rather cruel April Fools joke on 1st April 2005. Added to the CD Archive on that morning was this — “Discoveryland En Musique“.

Discoveryland En Musique - The future that never was

The tracklisting featured everything from Le Visionarium to Star Tours — David Tolley’s area loops, Honey I Shrunk The Audience, Space Mountain: Mission 2 and Steve Bramson’s original Space Mountain score. All of it backed up with full artist information and CD credits. Needless to say, some people got very, very excited.

And, when the April Fool was revealed, they weren’t very happy at all…

One major problem with CDs at Disneyland Resort Paris is they’re all created by the entertainment department, and so very few feature attraction soundtracks. You won’t be able to buy the proper soundtracks to Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Pirates of the Caribbean or literally any attraction in Paris. For example, the soundtrack to the Paris-original stunt show Moteurs… Action! was recently released after 5 years… in Walt Disney World. It took the entire production being reproduced thousands of kilometres away across the Atlantic for the music to become available.

The demand for more CDs by fans has been going on for years, yet so far the only success has been a sudden burst of releases and re-releases in 2005 and 2006. With the 15th Anniversary Celebration on the horizon, excitement began to grow again about possible releases. The first, hitting the stores right on cue on 31st March 2007, “Just Like We Dreamed It”.

Just Like We Dreamed It, Just the song and instrumental

The song by Sunny Hilden is generally agreed to be a fantastic addition to the resort’s legacy of original parade songs and themes. But fans of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade will be disappointed — the much-celebrated orchestral music of the parade itself, by Steve Sidwell and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra no less, is nowhere to be seen.

It’s available on a CD, oh yes — but only as an audio press kit. If they’re offering it for free to people who generally aren’t interested, what’s the problem with offering it to those who are desperate to own it, for a nice profit?

Alpha Bet You Are features a brand new, and very clever, soundtrack of Disney songs re-written and recorded by children from the Seine-et-Marne region — perfect for a CD release, surely? “Tous en Train”, the catchy song of Disney Characters’ Express, is also missing and in high demand — two emails to DLRP Magic! in the past week alone have asked where it can be found. For those who didn’t know, it originates from the 2001 Disney’s Party Express at Tokyo Disneyland. You’ve got better chance of finding it in Japan than Disneyland Resort Paris.

As with the 5th Anniversary and 10th Anniversary, this year also brings a brand new celebratory CD which has obviously been given a lot of time and effort. Presented in a smart cardboard and plastic packaging with a removable booklet and shiny cover, it’s a real gem to suddenly appear from Disneyland Resort Paris. And, as the 15th Anniversary always has be bigger than anything before, this is the first ever CD release in Disney’s French resort to feature two CDs.

15 Ans de Magie en Musique (Images courtesy PhotosMagiques.com)

Two CDs! Wow! Just imagine what they could fit on those… Indeed, they’ve crammed a lot of magic into this little package, but is it what we really want to buy? Would you prefer “Quack in time” to “Tous en Train”, “Need Magic” to “Alpha Bet You Are” or a third (third!!!) version of new Winnie the Pooh creation “Just Give a Snap” to just a few minutes of “Candleabration” ?

The CD is a little like the “Greatest Hits” of Vasile Sirli, the talented musical director of Disneyland Resort Paris, which would be great, if it didn’t look like this is all we’re getting. It’s unbelieable that they don’t seem to want to let us buy their popular new creations such as “Alpha Bet You Are” or the “proudlights” theme from Mickey’s “Candleabration” dance.

There’s huge demand and there’s money to be made… Where is the corporate mind of Disney when we actually need it? For the 15th Anniversary, either CD singles for the new entertainments or — even better — a second album featuring music from all the new additions (where possible) would truly make this a year when any dream can come true.

‘Fate is kind’ - Could the Wish ever come true?

Only if they hear the demand! Email dlp.mail.order@disney.com, ask at City Hall — with rumours the 15th Anniversary could be extended for an extra Summer, this gives even more chance they’ll take the plunge with an extra CD release featuring the magical music of this celebration.

Makes no difference who you are…

What do you think? Should this music have been released months ago, or would you rather anything but take “Tous en Train” home with you? Are CD releases at Disneyland Resort Paris a huge missed opportunity, or are you quite happy? You thoughts and comments are valuable — you never know who’s reading.