Four Parks, Many Sounds Part 1 - Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios

For a  while my eyes were feeling a little strained and things were also appearing a little darker. Almost like seeing static.  A few years ago a doctor prescribed a special contact for my left eye. It seemed I have Corconia , a condition that causes you cornea to slightly bend. The  lens was very expensive and would probably have to be adjusted over a few months before getting it exactly right. Two years later and with my eyes feeling  strained and things seeming slightly darker I was scared my eyesight may be fading. Maybe even leaving altogether. The first thing that crossed my mind was “Do blind people still go to Disney World”?

Then I thought about all the sounds and music of Walt Disney World which add so much to the magic. The music is an important part to many Disney attractions but some of the music will stand on its own without the visuals. With my Disney trip just a few weeks away I was sure to find out.

My next day off I had the eye doctor appointment, this time to see a new Ophthalmologist. The doctor who prescribed the contact just was not working out. Three hours in the waiting room before the doctor seeing me was just not a way to spend another day off. When I made the appointment for this new doctor the receptionist promised me I would not be there for more than an hour.

Arriving at the doctor’s office I checked in, picked out a magazine in the waiting room and began to get confortable. As I was about to sit down the doctor called me in. He dilated my eyes, took a few tests and then asked me to come back to his office. No hour long trip to the waiting room in between. He asked me to have a seat in the examination chair while he went to get something.  As I sat there I thought about how this was it. The doctor was going to come in and inform me my eyes were going to become worse and worse until my vision was gone for good. There goes that idea of beginning a music blog.

When the doctor returned I braced myself for the negative diagnosis. Thankfully I was wrong. The doctor told me my eyes were in pretty good shape. The right eye was still seeing 20/20 and the left one had remained the same as it was two years ago. There had been no more worsening. The doctor then told me he was surprised my eyesight in that eye was as good as it was. The contact lens for my left eye was not really necessary.The contact is only required if I  want to see perfectly. He also said the straining and static is probably caused by migraines. It is not really his area of expertise so he referred me to another doctor to treat it. He said otherwise my eyes were in good shape.

After this eye scare I focused my sights on Disney and decided I would appreciate every sight and sound that comes with the experience.

In a series of FOUR posts I am going to talk about all the important audio, with an emphasis on the music, of all four Disney World Parks. The order will probably go Disney Hollywood Studios, Epcot Center, Disney’s Animal Kingdom (including our hotel, the Animal Kingdom Lodge) , Epcot and finally The Magic Kingdom.

 The reason this is going to be spread out over FOUR posts is partly to give myself the chance to post about other things.The trip was an awesome week but now we have returned and back at work. We are grown-ups again. Well at least until our Disney Cruise in July.

At Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, or MGM as some still refer to the theme park, there are many different rides and attractions, all themed to various movies or television shows. A few of these attractions are the Star Wars based Star Tours, The Great Movie Ride and Indiana Jones Stunt Show. For the purpose of time and space I am going to concentrate on the three main attractions of the theme park.

 The Rock N Roller Coaster- For the readers who may not visit Disney World or may have not since 1999, the Rock N Roller Coaster is an inside Roller Coaster. Unlike Space Mountain over at the Magic Kingdom, The Rock N Roller Coaster goes upside down. The ride is also the second fastest ride in Walt Disney world, second only to Test Track across the lake at Epcot. When the ride begins, your limo shaped car is shot through a tunnel at 60 MPH. Pretty fast even for a rollercoaster. There are a few loops, a corkscrew and some other fun stuff almost entirely in the dark. The only thing you can really see are street signs marking upcoming interstates and exits. This may not seem too different from any other “Extreme” roller coaster except for one thing: This one has Aerosmith. And it has Aerosmith really loud. Even though I had grew tired of Aerosmith a long time ago there is something fitting about hearing “Sweet Emotion”, “Love in an Elevator” and all those tired old songs blaring full blast as you are tossed through loops and drops in the dark while you car drives at high speeds to get you and Aerosmith to the gig on time. Aerosmith possesses the semi corniness to make them the perfect fit for this ride’s scenario.

When Aerosmith broke up a few years back the first thought to cross my mind was what about the Rock N Roller Coaster? Even though the beginning part of the ride where you see Aerosmith in the studio (and Dana Carvey as the sound man) becomes rather  annoying the more times you go on the ride, it is still part of the overall attraction. Would that part be eliminated? Possibly even redone with a newer Disney act. “The Jonas Brother’s Rock N Rollercoaster”. Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I don’t think the scenario of the ride would have worked if Walt Disney World had featured either U2 or R.E.M., their first two choices ahead of Aerosmith.

Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror – Right across from the Rock N Roller Coaster sits a 300 ft tall structure designed to look like a 1930’s Hollywood Hotel. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is the second major attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The story of the ride is you are staying at the famed Hollywood Tower hotel- a hotel where a family and bell hop disappeared on a night in 1939.When you are about to enter  the hotel elevator, a TV comes on by itself. On the TV is a mock up of the old Twilight Zone television epsiode. The sound of that recognizable Twilight Zone theme music followed by Rod Sterling’s introduction coming from this TV is pretty bad. It is made to simulate the sound quality that appeared on the original show. When you sit inside the elevator the real audio begins. The elevator goes up and makes its first stop. Here you can see the ghost image of the  family and bellhop who disappeared in the elevator all those years ago; there is also a perfectly pitched thunderstorm brewing through the one window. The ghosts wave to you. For fun, most people wave back.

Then the elevator climbs another floor. When your car emerges from the elevator shaft you are greeted with life sized  size images of the starfields, a few strange sights and even stranger sounds. It is here where Disney’s perfect sound really makes the ride scare me.

 Every New Years Day I watch the Twilight Zone Marathon. Every episode has the beginning with the strange star field, hourglass etc. When you are in this part of the Tower Of Terror, the “Fifth Dimension” room, you are right there IN the beginning of all those Twilight Zone episodes. It is basically a nightmare I have had many times over the years. But then the whole purpose why this ride is being included in my Music blog happens, the glass breaks. The audio is so real the sound cuts right through you. Then the oh so familiar Twilight Zone theme music comes on (music you should not listen to while grooming a dog. A story for another time) and this time it does not sound like its coming from a 50 year old television set. It is all around you in totally flawless surround sound.

Then the elevator car goes down. Not only does it drop, it is actually pulled down. Then up, then down. Then up, the down. A computer randomly picks three drops for your car to complete. Each time you go up the doors open and the whole park is laid out in front of you. That is until you once again here that perfect sounding Twilight Zone theme. This time the music is welcomed. You know you are back on solid ground.

The third major atraction of Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a new attraction called Toy Story Midway Mania. The only problem with the Toy Story ride is the wait. The standby line is usually past the two hour mark. Even with a Fast Pass your chances are slim your turn to ride will be anytime soon. Two years ago we arrived at the park around 9:10, just a minutes after the park gates were opened. Figuring this maybe the only shot at the ride we made our way straight over to the brand new Toy Story Midway Mania and picked up Fast Passes. When the passes where done printing, the time listed on them was 3:30-4:30. Not wanting to wait around the park all day for the one ride we gave the fast passes to some people who had just tried to get some fast passes themselves. At that point all the passes were already sold out.

We figured the ride was brand new. Next year the hype will be over and the wait not so long. We were wrong. I guess word how great the ride was had gotten out. The standby wait was just short of three hours with Fast Passes for the day long gone. This year we didn’t even try.

Luckily this year we were there for the Christmas Season. This meant Disney’s Hollywood Studios had something going on I had never experienced in my 5 visits to Walt Disney World. Something going on that my wife hasn’t see in her 9 visits. Something which just would not been the same without music.

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights- Unlike I believed before we arrived at Disney Hollywood Studios, the “Osborne Family” does not have anything to do with Ozzy Osboure, his wife Sharon or any of the other characters who appeared on that family’s “reality” show. At first I was disappointed. I had already seen the Joy Division Mickey Mouse shirt so an attraction named after the “Godfather of Heavy Metal” would not have been so shocking. When I read the back story of the Osborne family the attraction was named after I was a great deal more interested.

Without going into too much detail about it, the lights were originally owned by an Arkansas resident name Jennings Osborne. The idea to display Christmas lights began when Jennings’ daughter was 4 years old. Her one wish for Christmas was to decorate the outside of the house. Jennings made his daughter's wish comes true. When the next Christmas came around Osborne decided to add more. The next year even more. Little by little over the years the Osborne’s light grew so much that Jennings decided to purchase the two lots on either side to make room for even more lights.

The town began to tire of endless traffic around their homes- a result of visitors driving by to take in the awesome display. In 1995 the Arkansas State Supreme Court shut it down. Jennings would no longer be allowed to display his lights.

After entertaining the idea of selling all his lights to various different sources, Jennings was ready to give up. Then Disney put in an offer. Every year since, the lights have been on display in Hollywood Studios. First they were decorating the “Residential Street” of the faux Hollywood back lot. When that was destroyed to make room for “Lights, Motor, Action!” Extreme Stunt Show, the lights were relocated to the “City Street” and remain there to this day.

However you may think these lights look just go ahead and scrap that image right now. These lights are incredible! Every little detail is not overlooked. When you turn the corner on to the “City Street” of the Hollywood Back Lot you are greeted with two simulated lines of building on either side of you all encompassed with color changing lights. The movie theater. The department store. Everything is covered from ground to roof with a lit up banner strewn across the street declaring “The Osborne Family’s Spectacle of Dancing Lights”. Continuing down the street there is a 70 Ft Christmas tree consisting of 80,000 color lights. Lights in the shape of tins soldiers line the foot of the tree with Mickey in the middle. If you make a diagonal left halfway down the street there is extremely large canopy consisting of over 30,000 lights. Further down two rotating carrousels with reindeer shaped lights and a humongous illuminated globe  sit high on either side of even more buildings, The globe, as my wife pointed out too me, has a special lighted arrow pointing to Arkansas. A nice salute to the lights originator.

Considering Walt Disney World’s reputatation about their attention to detail and how everything there is larger than life, this grand display may seem expected. But think how every single light, including the large carousels and globe, presented on the “City Street” were once displayed on the property of one family from Arkansas, the only change being a burnt out bulb here and there, 

If the lights were the end of the story it would still be breathtaking but some people may not be too impressed. Everyone has one of those houses up the street who goes overboard on the lights. Although these lights are very awesome someone may look at them as just an even further over exageration of that house up the street illuminating the neighborhood.

It would also mean there is really no reason to include this attraction on my music and sound based blog. But these lights are something more than just a striking display. They do more than just change colors and twinkle. These lights change color to music. These lights dance too music.

Every 10 minutes the lights will go down before Christmas songs by groups ranging from The Trans Siberian Orchestra to Jose Feliciano kick in. All songs very loud with that perfect Disney Sound. The tin soldiers at the foot of the tree dance around the tree to the various pieces of Tachovsky's “Nutcracker Suite”. All the lights turn waves of blue as Elvis belts out the classic “Blue Christmas”. Just like the tired old Aerosmith songs on the Rock N Roller Coaster, new life is breathed into these songs.

The whole experience was so breathtaking to both my wife and I, we made sure to allow time for a return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to experience the “Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights” one more time before the trip home.

Now that we have covered some of the major music and sounds of Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios theme park, in a few days we will take a ride across the lake to the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Most of the time known simply as EPCOT,