Epcot AtMousePhere: The Music of the Entrance

After a brief hiatus, the AtMousePhere series is back and taking a look at Epcot, and specifically Epcot music!

Out of all of the theme parks, fans have especially latched on to the music of Epcot’s entrance. The other three theme parks have music at the entrance that is put together like a patchwork quilt: One piece ends, and the next piece begins. In Epcot, however, the pieces are woven through a main tune that appears in some form between each new piece of music.

The Current Music Loop (2001-present)

The videos that you find on YouTube usually have the original 2001 version of the entrance music.  Go ahead and listen to the first 19 minutes of this, courtesy of DisneyDreaming:

It starts very quietly, with the Spaceship Earth fanfare. That’s what I call it, at least.

In the 2001 version, we get this order of songs:

• Theme from Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (by Bruce Broughton)
• Fanfare
• “One Little Spark” from Journey Into Imagination with Figment (original music by the Sherman Brothers)
• Fanfare
• “Golden Dream” from The American Adventure (original music by Robert Moline)
• Fanfare*
• Theme from The Living Seas (by Patrick Gleason)
• Theme from Ellen’s Energy Adventure (by Bruce Broughton)
• Fanfare

*This section of the fanfare is the one I distinctly remember hearing as my family entered the park when I was a kid, and it stuck with me through all the years. Listen from 11:09-11:29 for that wonderful section of music.

There have been some additions to the music since 2001, though the fanfare still ties it all together. They have added music from Soarin’ (by Jerry Goldsmith) as well as Mission: Space (by Trevor Rabin). You might have thought they would have taken out the music for The Living Seas, but as of October 2014, you can still hear it!

Composers for the sections varied, and most of the pieces just take the original versions from their respective pavilions and insert them seamlessly in the piece. With all my research though, I still couldn’t locate the original arranger of the entire loop and the fanfare.

Many people enjoy this loop of music from start to finish. I know that it makes great study music. But while I was trying to find this loop many years ago, I stumbled upon the original 1982 loop. If you go back up to the video above and start at 19:04, you’ll hear the original.

The Original Music Loop (1982-2001ish)

This is an incredible series of pieces that are also woven together, though there isn’t a huge fanfare in between. Could you imagine walking into EPCOT Center during that first series of runs by the string section? It’s enough to get my heart racing right now!

Here’s the listing. The songs say “music by” because these songs all have lyrics in their pavilion versions, and the lyrics were done by someone else.

• “Energy (You Make the World Go ‘Round)” from The Universe of Energy (original music by Robert Moline)
• “Golden Dream” from The American Adventure (original music by Robert Moline)
• “It’s Fun to Be Free” from The World of Motion…and the best version out there, in my opinion (original music by Norman “Buddy” Baker)
• “Listen to the Land” from The Land (original music by Robert Moline)
• “One Little Spark” from Journey Into Imagination (original music by the Sherman Brothers)
• “Magic Journeys” from Journey Into imagination (original music by the Sherman Brothers)
• “Universe of Energy” from The Universe of Energy (original music by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn)

If you’re up in arms that The Universe of Energy got two songs and Horizons is not represented at all, remember: Horizons didn’t open in 1982! It opened in 1983, after this loop would have already been in place.

As for the composer of this entire loop, that would be George Wilkins, who also had a hand in the Horizons pavilion music. Some sources claim that several others were involved as well in putting everything together.

The last time this original loop was heard in the parks was during Epcot’s 25th anniversary, after the special Illuminations: Reflections of Earth wrapped up. It was also heard (and discussed) in a D23 event for Epcot’s 30th anniversary.

While both of these loops are amazing, they are hard to find the complete loops outside of YouTube – especially the newer version with the additional tracks. Hopefully Disney will release these loops so that everyone can hear these incredible pieces!

Do you have memories of these songs as you entered Epcot or EPCOT Center? Which piece is your favorite? Will they ever produce a special edition album? Comment below!