The Second Sense: Top 5 Holiday Music Loops

As long as we're thinking about Christmas music...

This isn't the first time I've gone off about the area music loops in the Disneyland Resort and it probably won't be the last. But we're solidly into the Christmas season now, with all its attendant responsibilities, and I need to write and post something simple. Simple...like one of the most basic delights of the holiday season at Disneyland: the temporary replacement of many area music loops with holiday versions.

Background music is a key element in creating themed atmosphere (or atmosphere at all, really), and this is especially true when the theme involves Christmas, because the intergenerationally familiar music is such a big part of the holiday. Disneyland's holiday loops are generally excellent for their purpose, but only about half of them are much good for any other purpose—i.e. general seasonal listening. I'll pull up the New Orleans Square waterfront loop as part of my Disneyland Christmas lineup, but not when I just feel like getting my holiday spirit on. Dixieland jazz isn't a normal part of my music listening habits.

But there are a handful of these loops from both parks, past and present, that I absolutely adore on their own merits, not just because they remind me of Disneyland. Here they are, in reverse order of my preference, so that the best is saved for last!

5. Disneyland Esplanade

Okay, so obviously this one primarily reminds me of Disneyland, what with half the tracks being music from holday overlays and events inside the park. But the other half are familiar Christmas tunes in a variety of musical genres that line up pretty well with themed lands in both parks. It's a nice little holiday sampler platter of music, even if it also includes a non-holiday track (from the Parade of Dreams, which premiered the same year as the loop).

On that note...it could probably stand to be updated, couldn't it? I might do a post about that.

4. Mickey's Christmas Chalet

This is an unusual case in that I'm not sure I ever heard it played in person—it was apparently featured in Mickey's Christmas Chalet, a shop that occupied the eastern retail location at the front of the Castle Courtyard from 1983 to 1987. Said location has since gone through quite a few different identities, including Briar Rose's Cottage, the Villain Shop, the Heraldry Shoppe, and now...a year-round Christmas shop again. But the loop has not been re-installed. It does currently play in Walt Disney World, at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square, which is how I am able to share it with you below.

It's odd that I like it so much considering a) that I never heard it firsthand and b) how poor the audio quality is, but there's an ineffable charm to it, isn't there? The graininess harks back to the era before the advent of digital music, which gives it a nostalgic twist even if it isn't part of my personal memories.

3. Santa's Holiday Visit

If anyone had asked me, I would have given them some constructive criticism regarding the name of the Christmas overlay of Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. But no one asked me, so we're stuck with this straightforward-to-the-point-of-bland moniker.

The music, though, is something pretty special. This is the shortest loop featured in this post, clocking in at just under 17 minutes, but there's something about it that I find really endearing. Maybe it's all the tinkly little melodies that I had never heard before. (And I bet you haven't either.) It makes me wish the Resort had the space to set up something truly worthy of it, like a gingerbread village or something.

2. Festival of Holidays

Once you're done enjoying the loop above, you don't have far to go to get to the next one on the list, played throughout the entire area where the Festival of Holidays food booths are set up. This one is definitely the most offbeat entry in this post, consisting as it does of a mix of Latin, Bollywood, klezmer, and a cappella musical styles in order to underscore that we are not just celebrating Christmas, here in multicultural California (Adventure)—we also acknowledge Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, and Navidad at the tail end of the year! It's especially fun when the cultures start to cross-pollinate and we get Christmas favorites in the Bollywood style or a Latin jazz rendition of “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah.”

It's also a great one to have on tap when you're stuck with someone who doesn't want to hear Christmas music but maybe wouldn't object to world music.

And finally...

1. Main Street, USA

What can I say? This one just does it for me. The mellow mid-century instrumentals interspersed with music box chimes set the perfect tone for a timeless Christmas atmosphere. Something about the intersection of Christmas, Disneyland, and Main Street's period setting creates a very dreamlike feeling in me, and I love being able to recreate that at home. Enjoy!