"There's a terrific power to music. You can run any of these pictures and they'd be dragged and boring, but the minute you put music behind them, they have a life and vitality they don't get any other way."

- Walt Disney

The music of The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade will be the greatest memory for many of its fans.  Unashamedly simple and endlessly care-free, the soundtrack transports guests to their own private, perfect Disney land at the very moment of the opening drum beats from "Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm)".  This page is dedicated to the magic of the music, and the power it still has to transport us to our very own "Wonderful World" all these years on...

Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm)

"Hey there, hi there, ho there, It's a Disney kind of day!"

The lyrics that lift your spirit like nothing else - the song that became a part of Disney history.  With lyrics by Jay Smith and music by Vasile Sirli, "Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm)" burst onto the Disneyland Paris parade route on 30th March 1998 and became an instant sensation.  A CD Single release was fast-tracked and sold more than any other park music release before, the song became the theme of not just The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade but of the entire resort, and all things Disney.

Despite being produced in Paris at the resort's own "Le Studio, Marne-la-Vallée", the music and vocals were infact recorded in California, like most Disney parade theme songs regardless of their home resort.  Pieces of the song were recorded at both The Hop in Studio City and Schnee Studios in North Hollywood, with Sue Ann Carwell and Joey Diggs providing the vocals. Both are relatively unknown, with Joey Diggs most famous for the song "Always Coca-Cola" and Sue Ann Carwell author of just one, independent, album.  Sue Ann Carwell, Jackie Simley and Barbara Weathers provided extra backing vocals along with countless other musicians added to the mix (see Credits below), which was achieved at Pacifique Studio in LA.

The song is unique for being one of the only recent theme songs which hasn't received a series of remixes.  Recent themes such as "It's Halloween-Lo-Ween", "Chante, C'est Noël !" and even "All Around The World" have been released in several different versions and styles, yet Dancin' has always remained pure, with only the Instrumental providing an alternative.

The song has made its way to Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida for a character bus mini-parade, and even onto several Disney compilation albums such as the popular "Ultimate Disney".  It will always be remembered, though, for The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade.  The deep bass of the opening beat, the excitement building from the first drum beats, and the sight of Steamboat Willie turning the corner towards you, as the lyrics of "All you have to do is make a wish, And watch your dreams come true" float through the air.

This was the epitome of Disney parade songs, and it's hard to imagine the park or its daytime parade without it.  Dare we say it, though - the song will never disappear.  Its popularity will hopefully lend it to shows, parades and events for years to come. But then, even if the "happy song" comes to an end... it will live forever in the memories of all those who heard it.

After all, "here we've got a funny saying that... the magic never ends".

Credits

A full listing of every credit for the song can be found here.

Preview Clips

Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm)
Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm) [Instrumental]

Lyrics

Full lyrics can be found here.

CDs

Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm) has been released as a CD Single a total of three times.  Each release is essentially the same, with only the cover sleeve and disc art changing to reflect the resort's CD designs of the time.  These CD Singles are still the only place to find the Instrumental version of the song.

The song has also been made available on several of the resort's CD Albums, such as the Les Parades En Musique series (some of which also featre the Instrumental Show Stops - see below).  The song also made its way to an even grander stage with an appearance on several Disney compilation albums, such as "Ultimate Disney".

Instrumental Show Stops

Since one of the key features of The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade was to be its unrivalled guest interaction, this required "show stops", where the parade comes to a halt and the characters climb down from their floats to meet the audience.  To accompany this, the parade would follow the lead of Disney Classics Parade by providing each float with its own instrumental score.  Each float played its own soundtrack, to avoid conflict from the park's main speaker system.

Created in 1997 and early 1998 just for the parade, this series of twelve 1 minute 30 second instrumental medleys answered their request.  They were arranged by the co-writer of Dancin' and the resort's Musical Director, Vasile Sirli, with additional arrangements by Dave Volpi (Mickey's Nutcracker Parade, Disney's ImagiNations Parade), before being recorded in Hungary by the Budapest Pop Orchestra.

Drawing memorable tunes from each film and tying them together in fast-paced, energetic musical pieces, these show stops set a new benchmark for Disney parade music and the possibilities that could arise from experimenting with different soundtrack set-ups.  The style was duplicated again to create show stops for Disney's ImagiNations Parade, and led to way to the highly layered and multi-level soundtracks of current parades such as Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams (California) and Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade (Paris).

The show stops failed to return with the parade in 2001 after its year-long hiatus, but in May 2003 the renamed Princess Parade brought its own show stops for a limited time, re-using some of the music here.  The instrumentals were available on the second Les Parades En Musique CD until late 2005, and three of them (Princesses, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) can still be found on the Les Princesses En Musique CD.

Credits

Produced by Vasile Sirli with arrangements by Vasile Sirli and Dove Volpi.  Performed by the Budapest Pop Orchestra, conducted by Istvan Szita.

Preview Clips

No longer available to buy, hear rare music from the original parade...

Steamboat Willie
Princesses
Pinocchio
Dumbo
The Jungle Book
Peter Pan
Mary Poppins
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Hercules

CDs

These Instrumental Show Stops were released in full on the first two "Les Parades En Musique" CDs.  With the release of the latest 2005 version, however, they were removed and are no longer available to purchase.

10 Years of Magic

For the 10th Anniversary of Disneyland Park in 2002, The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade took on a special "10th Anniversary Edition" that included not only a new Birthday Cake float but a brand new parade stop and anniversary theme song.  Written especially for the occasion by Peter Lurye (Animagique, Teacher's Pet), the song is a celebration of the 10 years but, most of all, a thank you to guests - the famous last line of the chorus being "Merci from Disneyland Paris".

Unusually, the song was played in its entirety for the parade stops, with the cast of the parade pulling children from the crowd to dance with them.  Unfortunately, the props previously used during show stops in the parade were no longer available, and so the stops were fairly unimpressive to watch.  As one of the few events to mark the 10th Anniversary and a welcome change to the classic parade, however, 10 Years of Magic was a fun addition that mixed well with the existing "Dancin'".

The song could also be heard in Minnie's Birthday Surprise show at Videopolis.

Credits

Written by Peter Lurye.

Preview Clips

The song is now very hard-to-find, but a rare preview clip is right here...

(Coming Shortly)

10 Years of Magic (10th Anniversary Song)

Lyrics

Full lyrics can be found here.

CDs

The 10th Anniversary Song was only ever released as part of the 10th Anniversary Album, a very fast-selling product which today is incredibly hard to find.

The Princess Parade Show Stops

The "Princess Weeks" event of May 2003 brought with it the renaming of The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade to "The Princess Parade", and for several weeks after the initial launch the "new" parade once again featured show stops.  Since the original parade line-up featured three Princesses on a single float, new instrumental medleys had to be introduced to cover the three separate floats now used.

The show stop Ouverture Fanfare was drawn from the Disney Classics Parade, as were the "new" Instrumental scores of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.  For Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, this meant being reunited for just a few short weeks with the instrumental scores which originally accompanied them at their debut way back in 1992.  Even The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast took their medleys from the original 1992 parade, whilst Aladdin (not a part of Disney Classics Parade at its launch) re-used its later Wonderful World medley.

The show stops were lost after around one month, but the original CD release and its more inclusive follow-up feature all of the Princess-themed show stops from the parade.

Preview Clips

Ouverture Fanfare
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White
Cinderella
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast

CDs

The instrumental scores were released on CD in June 2003, followed by a compilation of Princess-themed show stops in late 2005.  The instrumentals drawn from Disney Classics Parade can also be found on the 2005 Les Parades En Musique.