Notes on the Grand Canyon and Primeval World

Music

I was impressed when a friend our family, Barbara, who was riding with us on the Disneyland Railroad in 1973, recognized the classical music used during the Grand Canyon diorama. "Hmm, Grand Canyon Suite!" she declared. "Really?" I responded with true awe. I didn't know much about classical music at the time, and had never paid much attention to the background music on that attraction. Nowadays that bit of trivia is well-known to Disneyland fans.

Not as well known is exactly which part of the Grand Canyon Suite it is from. It's from the third part called "On the Trail." If I'm not mistaken, the beautiful inspiring music at the opening of the diorama was from a later part of this composition, and the whimsical clip-clop part of the composition was played at the point where the sheep were.

A portion of the back cover to my Naxos CD of the American Classics series is shown below. Grof� is obviously associated with Americana, so Disneyland chose well to put his music in the Grand Canyon attraction.

I'm impressed by all of Grof�'s compositions on this album. It's very understandable classical music, structured more like popular music than like a complex symphony or fugue, and it's not so serious and dramatic. Each piece is relatively short for classical compositions, and they're quite visually evocative.

Trivia

• Primeval World was added to the Disneyland Railroad on July 1, 1966.
• The segment of the covered bridge between the Grand Canyon diorama and the Primeval World was located directly above the employee entrance to Disneyland. Passing under the railroad bridge on their way into the park, Disneyland employees could hear part of the connecting spiel ("but it wasn't always that way...") every morning on their way to work.
• The conductor of the Disneyland Railroad has a phone to notify security as soon as he sees anyone jump off the train.
  Jumping off the train is apparently a popular way for adventurous guests to attempt to spend the night in Disneyland. Once, while walking along the employee road behind the Jungle Cruise I heard a guy come crashing through the bushes, down the bank, and onto the road where I was walking. Walking up rapidly behind him on the employee road was a security guard, who had already arrived. Disneyland security is quite efficient!

The photo of the horned sheep in the Grand Canyon diorama is from the out-of-print book Disneyland: Inside Story, Randy Bright, 1987, page 138.
Updated: October 31, 2001