An Updated Top 10 Rides at Walt Disney World

When I first wrote about Walt Disney World and it's attractions, it was 2017 and it had been several years since I had last frequented the only place on earth you'll find me with a genuine smile on my face.  I often daydream and envision myself there whenever I feel down as a coping mechanism with things that more often than not go horribly wrong in my lifetime.  Some people have the beach, some have extravagant places like Bali, the Maldives or the Bahamas.  My place was, is and will always be Disney World.  

Since then, however, I'm pleased to say that I've gone back an additional two times and have another lengthy trip planned for 2027 for my mother's 60th birthday and...well, just because we want to go.  We went last year in 2024 and had an absolute blast.  We stayed for ten days at the Pop Century Resort and got to experience new things I hadn't done before, trying new meals, rides and shows as well as going back and revisiting our old friends.  As for my 2019 trip, I'm convinced that trip saved me from spiraling back into my depression after several rough patches over the three years preceding it.  My grandmother and I went and we had a shorter but also quite an intimate experience there.  We both got to meet our favorite characters (Ariel for me and Chewbacca for her) and I continued to relish in things more than I did when I was a kid.  

Which is a good thing, since Disney World has changed since 2011.  It's changed a lot.  Of the 10 Rides I had listed as my favorites back in 2017, half of the list has either been reimagined in some way or completely removed from sight in the never ending attempts by Disney to keep the parks new and vibrant for generations to see.  While many old classics are still around, some have been retrofitted into newer experiences and some newer rides have definitely left a lasting impact on me.  

I don't plan on changing my all time favorite rides, so instead, I figured I'd look through all of the new rides I've been on and rank them from 10 to 1 in terms of which of them were my favorites, based on my last two most recent trips.  And if I'm not mistaken, there will be even more to experience when we go in 2027, as Disney has announced a massive overhaul of many areas of their parks in Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom.  So, without further ado, let's take a look at the new rides I've seen and how I thought of them (there are some rides I didn't even know existed until these more recent trips) 

Firstly, some honorable mentions:

"Na'Vi River Journey" - a Dark Ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom where you see an up close and personal look at the world of Pandora.  It's tame and definitely something to use to escape the heat, but not something I would want to ride multiple times in a single trip, kinda like Peter Pan's Flight.  

"Tom Sawyer's Island" - Believe it or not, my first ever trip to Tom Sawyer's Island was in 2024.  Why hadn't we gone before?  I don't know.  Ask my past self.  Since this area is no longer accessible, I will just say that it was once the perfect place to escape from crowds.  The island was empty but 100% explorable.  My only regret was that they didn't have the food stand open there and we were definitely parched after a day at Magic Kingdom.  It's being changed into a Cars extension to Frontierland and the upcoming Villains Land, so I'm not too sad this one is gone.  

"Journey into YOUR Imagination" - I don't understand the beef people have with this ride.  I get the original was nostalgic and iconic to them, but this ride is cute and always a light line to venture through.  As you'll see in my countdown, Epcot wasn't a park I used to frequent too much as a kid, but I have appreciated it more and more as I've gotten older.  And this ride is another thing to admire.  Figment, the Imaginary Dragon, takes you on a quest to find your imagination with the help of Eric Idle.  And there's a fun play area there too.  Again, what's the beef about?  

"Alien Swirling Saucers" - Nothing too much to say about this one.  Just a fun carnival style ride in the Toy Story area of Disney's Hollywood Studios (you have no idea how hard it is to type that since I default to MGM).

"Frozen Ever After" - I rode this one before.  Back when it was called Maelstrom.  It's fine now, but I definitely liked the historical look back for the Scandinavians.  Still a fun ride, though.  

"Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Coaster" - This one is only an Honorable Mention because we didn't get ot ride it.  We had a Virtual Queue lined up for it at 515, but it got pushed back until we were eating dinner at Biergarten and thus had to pass on it.  Our waitress said we could probably walk onto the line as it got later, but we decided to do a different ride instead.  I've heard nothing but good things about this, though, so here's hoping for 2027.  

"Tiana's Bayou Adventure" - I remember when this one was based on a movie Disney doesn't like to talk about...now it's, based on a movie Disney also doesn't acknowledge enough.  This one wasn't open yet when we went last year, so hoping it's as memorable as Splash Mountain was, though since that was my favorite ride, I have my doubts.  

"Castaway Creek" - Remember how I said there were things I hadn't done before?  Well, we went to the Water Parks for the first time last year and fell in love with Typhoon Lagoon.  In fact, we loved it so much we only did two rides.  One is their lazy river which serves as a way to traverse the entire park as it winds around the entire water park.  The other...well, we'll get to it eventually...

"Toy Story Mania" - This one came so close to cracking the Top 10.  It's a 3D arcade style shooter where you and your fellow ride partner hit as many targets and score as many points as possible.  I love this one so much, but alas, it just barely missed making the list.  

"Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid" - A Dark Ride themed to one of my favorite movies?!  Hell yeah!  Honestly would have cracked the list if this was the only Ariel based thing in the area, but since the meet and greet is right next to it, sorry not sorry.  

"The Seas with Nemo and Friends" - Like I said, we rarely touched Epcot back in the day.  This one is more for the after show aquarium for me.  The ride itself usually has no wait time and is cute enough with all the references to Finding Nemo.  This is usually a one and done for us each trip, unlike a few other rides in the park which we'll get to...

"Living With the Land" = Okay, I get it.  I didn't do much in Epcot for years.  Look, when I thought of Disney, I thought of the other three parks.  Sue me, lol.  In all honesty, learning about how they cultivate the plants and fish needed to feed the people of Epcot is nothing short of interesting for me.  Plus, the ride's wait times are usually short, so I'm not the only one skipping this gem...

I think that's all of them...now, onto the list itself...

#10: Slinky Dog Dash (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

Roller Coasters tend to be the big draws in Disney World.  The lines are usually super long and waits are usually worth it.  Slinky Dog Dash is no exception, though the wait does tend to grate on you after a while.  The signature ride of Toy Story Land, Slinky Dog Dash is a tame yet fun roller coaster where we ride on Slinky through a track personally made by Andy himself.  The ride is a fun way to stay out of the heat, but usually a difficult ask for people to want to wait over an hour for.  If it's got a relatively short wait, I think this ride is a guaranteed hit for you and your family.  It's in the same Toy Story spirit that the rest of the rides are.  Again, just make sure you packed water and maybe some of those electrolyte packs to add in for those super hot days.  

#9: Millenium Falcon: Smuggler's Run (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

I'm still trying to figure out how Hondo Ohnaka got a hold of the Millenium Falcon (or how he's still alive after all this time), but I digress.  If you've ever wanted to be directly involved in a mission while piloting, gunning or protecting the Millenium Falcon, now is your chance.  The roles are doled out at random and most of the critical people of this ride tend to end up as Engineers cleaning up the eff ups of the other two classes, but I've never personally minded, unless it's a dumb kid piloting it (lol jk).  Having done the piloting job myself, it's not an easy task, but if you all work together well enough, you should be able to complete your mission for Hondo and keep the Millenium Falcon in tact.  If not, well...you'll have to answer to one of the greediest yet funniest characters in the Star Wars Universe.  Definitely a must ride at least once for me.  Hoping to be a gunner, which is the only one I haven't done yet, for my next trip.  

#8: Soarin' Around the World (Epcot)

Yes, I don't go to Epcot enough and it deserves more respect than I give it.  Otherwise, I'd miss out on gems like this.  It's a motion simulator ride that brings you up and gives you the sights, scents and sounds of exploring around the world with Kronk himself Patrick Warburton as your skipper.  You'll see valleys, savannahs, Sydney Harbor, Paris and other sights along the way (ironically many places you could have gone on vacation instead of Disney, as many point out).  When I first heard of this ride's development from the History Channel's Modern Marvels episode on Disney World, I was intrigued but not too excited.  I have since ridden this three times and love it more every time I have ridden it.  This is an absolute treasure of a ride, one I hope doesn't change anytime soon.  The only downside is that if you're wearing loose shoes, there is a small chance you might lose it, so try to keep them on your feet as tightly as possible.  Or wear sneakers, I don't know.  

#7: Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom) 

I'm neither a big fan of motion simulators or the Avatar Franchise, as many of you know.  I prefer actual rides over the simulations, hence why I have next to no interest in going to Universal to see their simulators, even if some of their actual rides look awesome.  While I cannot say this ride makes me feel that much better about either Avatar or these kinds of attractions in general, I will say that this is easily one of the best motion simulators I've ever been on.  After you're made into your own personal avatar in the pre-show, you are able to command one of the Banshees as your Na'Vi and fly it around Pandora, all while you're strapped into an oddly shaped vehicle that jerks and bounces around as needed.  The sights are what catch me off guard every time I go on this one.  The score is also something worth admiring.  To put it bluntly, this is one of those rides worth the 60+ minute wait it usually is unless you rope drop.  And since DinoLand USA is gone now, I guess we'll be rope dropping this again when we go back.  Because it's that damn good.  

#6: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom)

As I was a fan of the original Snow White themed attraction in Magic Kingdom, once they announced they were updating Fantasyland, I was curious to see what their new Snow White ride would be.  When I heard it was a roller coaster, I was initially skeptical, as I was afraid it would be one of those carnival travel coasters with one drop or something.  I shouldn't have doubted Disney Imagineering, as this is easily one of the most unique Roller Coasters in all of Disney's history.  It serves as both a Dark Ride and a Coaster, as you have multiple scenes of watching the Dwarfs in their mine doing their work as well as a scene at the end of them dancing with Snow White in the cottage.  It's not an intense coaster by any means and it's wait time can often put Slinky's to shame, but it is yet again another stellar ride by Disney Imagineering that gives me hope that they'll make more rides like this and less motion simulators in the future.  This is probably the signature attraction of Fantasyland and usually a high priority for rope dropping the parks, though we still go to Tomorrowland first.  Hee Hee.  

#5: Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (Epcot)

For years, I'd heard nothing but amazing rumors about trackless dark rides being in Tokyo Disneyland that got me to wondering why we hadn't been blessed with one yet in Orlando.  Fortunately, we got three of them and they're all the next three rides we'll be talking about.  We'll start with Remy's ride in the French Pavilion in Epcot.  The reason this is low is because we rode this last after being at Epcot from Rope Drop to Closing.  We were exhausted and waited nearly 75 minutes for this ride after getting spurned by Guardians of the Galaxy.  But our grouchiness was immediately curbed when I got to witness one of the most fun and unique rides in Epcot.  You take on the identity of a rat helping out in Gusteau's kitchen (I'm assuming during the events of the first movie). being chased by Skinner and trying to get food and help out with recipes for Remy and Linguini.  Each ride is different from the last and there's so many different unique ways the ride system tricks you into thinking you'll go one way and then the next.  Another masterpiece from Disney Imagineering.  

#4. Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

The theme song to this ride will never leave your head.  No matter how much you try, and I've been trying for a year...when I first heard they'd be replacing "The Great Movie Ride" with a Mickey and Minnie themed ride with the art style from the 2010s Mickey Mouse Shorts, I was definitely put off.  This ride hadn't opened yet when I was there in 2019, but I got to finally ride this in 2024.  I wasn't a fan of the Mickey Mouse Shorts before 2024, but they've grown on me since I've come to look at them the same way I do The Looney Tunes Show in comparison to old Looney Tunes cartoons.  It's not meant to be the Mickey shorts from my childhood or the old Disney Cartoons.  It's chaotic energy that I absolutely love.  And this ride captures all of that chaos.  You're prepped by watching a cartoon of the "perfect picnic" between Mickey and Minnie, only for the cartoon to tear apart and prompt you to go inside and ride Goofy's train to try and figure out what happens in the cartoon.  You take zigs and zags in multiple directions from encountering Pete, Donald and even joining Daisy's Dance Class, all in an attempt just to finish a single cartoon.  This ride is a masterpiece.  Probably the best thing that could have replaced The Great Movie Ride, save for a Muppets Parody.  

#3: Star Wars: The Rise of the Resistance (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

The Crown Jewel of the Trackless Dark Rides in Disney World has to be Rise of the Resistance, however.  There is just so much character in this ride, that it evokes both older rides in the park's lore with interactivity as well as some of the best and most interesting visuals in any ride Disney's done.  You are recruited to join the Resistance and combat the First Order, but your first mission ends in colossal failure as you're captured by an army of Stormtroopers.  Before you can be tortured for info, however, you manage to commandeer a ride vehicle that you try to use to escape the Star Destroyer you're held prisoner on, encounter AT-AT Walkers, stormtroopers and even Kylo Ren himself.  You don't have to like the Sequel Trilogy or understand them to ride the ride and have fun, but it does add to the fun.  This is easily one of the most fun and engaging rides in all of the Disney World resort.  My only regret was that I only rode it once on my last trip.  This is definitely a high priority ride for me on our next trip.  

#2: Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool (Typhoon Lagoon)

When it comes to Water Parks, I'm generally a Slide and Lazy River type of guy.  I'm usually not one for the Wave Pool, as it's usually just swimming around with the occasional rush of light waves making swimming slightly more challenging.  The Surf Pool in Typhoon Lagoon completely flips that concept on it's head.  Instead of a few slightly larger waves than usual appearing every few minutes, every 90 seconds there is one massive wave that absolutely rips into anyone brave enough to swim out past four feet depth.  These waves truly make you feel like you're at the beach trying to catch waves and surf.  I spent north of 2 hours in the Wave Pool alone on our last trip, so much so that my mom had time to go to the bathroom and grab a beer for herself two separate times.  With the new deal Disney is announcing regarding going to both water parks on your first day for free if you stay on property, this is easily a deal we shall exploit, just to come here.  I don't even need to see Blizzard Beach at this rate.  Typhoon Lagoon has won me.  Easily the best thing about the park and I've yet to even do some of the more thrilling slides or even the water coaster.  

#1: TRON Lightcycle Run (Magic Kingdom)

Not only is this ride based on a criminally underrated franchise that Disney is finally giving attention to again with a new film in the franchise, but this ride is hands down one of, if not the best roller coaster in all of Walt Disney World.  Though I failed to snag a ride on Guardians in our 10 Day Stay at Disney last year, we did get to ride this gem, twice.  Once on our third day and once on our ninth, thanks to the Virtual Queue, which is no longer needed to ride this treasure of a ride.  You are brought onto the Game Grid and convinced to ride on behalf of users and against the evil programs of the Tron Universe.  You sit yourself on a "lightcycle" and go down a short path before rocketing into the air at a lightning fast take off that filled me with so much adrenaline that I used that to coast through an entire rest of our stay in Magic Kingdom from rope drop to fireworks.   While my Mom took a break midday, I stayed in the park and rode a bunch of rides on my own until she returned for our TRON ride. And we both adored this one.  This is one of her favorites, though she claims she had her eyes shut on the first ride.  This one may actually make it into my favorite all time Disney Rides soon.  Though a short ride in comparison to Space Mountain or Thunder Mountain, this one absolutely deserves at least a peek if you're a fan of thrills, which this ride delivers in spades.  

 

Stumbling and Fumbling: The Decline of Disney Music

 

Ugh...The backbone of Disney's resurgence from corporate laughingstock to media juggernaut can almost directly be attributed to the immense success of Disney Feature Animation beginning in the late 1980s with both Oliver and Company and The Little Mermaid.  While the former film had been in the planning stages for years, the culmination of events that led to the success of the latter came from many fronts, but specifically a return to Disney's classic storytelling methods (largely being updated for modern audiences) and an update to the musical formula that had been at the heart of many of the company's beloved "Classics" from Snow White to The Jungle Book.  Much of that has to be attributed to the work of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who had come to Disney off the backs of their smash off-Broadway hit "Little Shop of Horrors".  Ashman had many projects he wanted to work on at Disney, but it was his interest in The Little Mermaid that would change the trajectory of both modern storytelling and modern filmmaking forever.  

Yeah, it's been a long time since I frequented this blog, innit?! A lot has changed for me since then. Fortunately, the bowels of everyone's favorite pandemic didn't kill me, so that means I got to live long enough to enjoy the fruits of Hollywood's labor. Isn't it... magical?

Okay, there's a lot I would love to discuss should I elect to remain here for the foreseeable future, but this topic was something I've actually been cooking up for a while.  In fact, I actually was in the process of writing this out as a video for my YouTube Channel in a video essay style before I opted to not completely reshape the way my channel is going.  Besides, I've already got about five or six other projects I'm working on over there, so I figured the place to put this would be here.  

I am far from an expert when it comes to writing music in any shape or form, as you'll see in this post. I am just a guy who's been struggling to be a writer while making YouTube Videos and slowly making it through every day of my slow and monotonous life. One of the things I do take stock of in my writings, however, is the importance of finding an emotional balance for your character, persona or whomever you're writing about or for. Emotionally connecting to your audience is essential, especially in the realms of musical theater, or in the case of this particular segment, motion pictures. While I have had many tutors in my life who've conveyed this message to me, from my original editor Theresa Altebrando to my High School English Teacher Ms. Walsh and other members of the Long Island Writer's Guild who've taught me major aspects of how to write carefully and properly, one could argue that the greatest teacher for me in my emotional writing was, in fact, Disney.

The Walt Disney Company has been through... quite a tumultuous era since the Pandemic, haven't they? Getting into feuds with the Governor of Florida, hemorrhaging money over a failed Star Wars resort and the steep decline in quality from their animation department which began with Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018 and culminated in the disastrous 100th Anniversary event film, Wish. There's a hell of a lot more to talk about when it comes to them, but that would be a post for another day. This post is going to be about something specific that comes from Disney: their music.

I will admit to not being the biggest fan of Encanto, a movie that many see as the last truly magnificent Disney Film to come out.  I respect the film for what it was and can agree that it's at the very least comparable to some of the finest Disney Films out there, but I wouldn't put it in the elite tier personally.  Because of this and my sheer hatred for the Disney Remakes and apathy towards Marvel movies since Endgame, I kinda just steered clear of the movie theater the last few years.  Yes, I've seen a handful of films since then (most notably the Super Mario Bros. Movie and Oppenheimer), but specifically from Disney's output I've more or less tried to avoid it as much as possible.  However, since getting Disney+, I've been able to explore and reevaluate all of the Disney Movies I can possibly fathom, both live action and animated, as well as indulging in TV Shows I might have missed or just had no interest in upon initial release.  This includes most of Disney's recent library, basically every film since Ralph Breaks the Internet.  And aside from my opinion of Frozen II and Encanto being slightly warmer than my initial views of these films, the rest of the films have either since remained very lukewarm or have gotten even worse for me (with the exception of Pixar, who's output has remained mostly consistent apart from Lightyear).  This includes Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange Worlds, Moana 2 and yes, even Wish.  As for the Live Action Remakes, which I reluctantly was forced to watch with my sister and a few cousins recently, they remain as awful as I expected them to be, if not worse than I could have imagined.  

But getting back on point, one of the things I deeply respect about Encanto is its music. And if fans are going to use the music in the film to justify its placing as an elite Disney film, I will concede that point to them happily. But the rest of Disney's output has seemed... off. And this goes beyond the last five years. In reality, at least for me, this problem began with the 2017 Beauty and the Beast remake. For the life of me, I've spent the last few years trying to articulate why these movies rub me the wrong way, specifically from the aspect of music. I've watched videos explaining it, tried to get into music theory and even bought a large book on songwriting from my job to try and justify my anger properly. But it turns out all of that wasn't necessary, as all I had to do was go to the sources themselves and go through the "Making Of" and "Behind the Scenes" specials of all of the studio's most beloved musicals to get to the point I wanted to make. The final nail in the coffin was a 2016 Disney Special about the music of their Broadway Shows I saw while visiting my grandmother for Easter this year. It's something that I think Disney has lost sight of and don't seem too keen to rush back to anytime soon.

Ashman brought his signature style of "Broadway" into the Disney universe.  Characters who might have been underplayed or subdued to fit into the story were given free reign to essentially be whatever he wanted them to be.  He changed the crusty, old crustacean character who worked with King Triton into a reggae singing, deep voiced little crab named Sebastian, after all.  But the one thing Ashman stressed to everyone he worked with was something he inherited from all of his time working on stage shows: which is the ability to simultaneously sing and act.  You could essentially hire anyone to sing a song, but it took a special breed of talent to be able to sing and act at the same time.  And Ashman was strict and very particular in getting the right voices for his roles.  

Have you ever wondered why the original casts of both The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast largely were filled with people who were predominantly stage actors?  Why Disney didn't hire someone like Madonna or Whitney Houston to play Ariel or Belle?  This reason is specifically why.  Both Madonna and Whitney were fantastic singers in their own right, but would it be worth the financial investment if they also could not act?  Ashman had worked with many of his preferred actors before on several projects, including Jodi Benson and Jonathan Freeman whilst also having a deep respect for the older stage actors such as Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury.  People who have made their careers as both singers and actors with the ability to do both at once.  

My go to examples for how to properly illustrate this point have always been in both of the leading ladies first singing moments in "Part of Your World" for Ariel and "Belle" for Belle. In "Part of Your World", the final moments of the song have Jodi's vocal range reaching its apex as Ariel continues to convey her hearts desires to Flounder and by proxy the audience. When she swims up to the top of her cavern, singing about how she wished she could reach the shores up above, the music builds and builds until it stops. You see Ariel's bright eyes wane and her expression change. She goes from desperate to sad and her voice changes from melodic to almost melancholy. Rather than use the opportunity to show off Jodi's range, which the song had already done a good job of by this point, Jodi reveals the vulnerable side to Ariel we haven't seen yet. She is both close to her dream and as far away as she can be and she gives into her despair before slowly finishing her song. We see Jodi go from jubilant to mournful in just a few lines of song as Ariel's realization sinks in for her.  She's right where she doesn't want to be and is unsure of if her dream will ever come true.  And we as the audience fall in love with her and wish for her desires to come true.  

As for "Belle" on the other hand, an almost entirely different concept comes from Paige O'Hara's performance.  In a small break from choir, Belle takes a moment to sit by a fountain and read her book aloud to a few nearby sheep, explaining to them (and again by proxy, us) why this scene in her book is her favorite.  In O'Hara's delivery, however, something extraordinary happens.  You can actually hear her smiling behind the drawings.  Think about that: O'Hara delivers the lines in the song so well that we can actually hear the smile on her face as she's singing it.  She is enveloping herself into the character of Belle in ways that only a stage actor can.  

Ashman wanted to get to the heart of every character he wrote, even those who may not have a musical number for themselves.  This is why Ashman gets a writing credit in The Little Mermaid and was heavily involved in the writing for both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin before his death in March of 1991.  And while Ashman's death no doubt had a profound impact on the direction of Disney Animation afterwards, that doesn't mean that his writing partner Alan Menken was incapable of realizing the same things as him.  Menken would go on to incorporate his longtime collaborator's teachings into every subsequent project he took on at Disney and has gone on to have quite a lucrative career as a songwriter and composer.  And Ashman alone wasn't the only writer who would work at Disney that realized this notion.  It was also heavily in the writings of other non-Menken driven musicals that Disney would churn out over the decades, including The Lion King and Moana.  Both Lin Manuel Miranda and Elton John have understood this aspect of writing and incorporated it into their songs, which have become as beloved as the ones written by Ashman or Menken, if not more.  

In modern times, however, it would appear as if there has been a fundamental change in the way Disney articulates it's music, be it in newer films or the remakes of their classics.  Nowadays, when Disney needs a song written, it's less about the journey of getting to the song and more about wanting this song to be the next "Let it Go" or "You're Welcome".  Instead of finding a song that fits the mold of the story, the focus shifts to this needing to be a song that articulates something they want expressed, even if it has nothing to do with the story.  We went from actors who could sing and act simultaneously, to singers who cannot find the blend between the mediums,  In the 90s and 2000s, when Disney hired an actor to play a role that could not sing, they would often cast someone as a singing voice instead.  While both The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast avoided the need for this, it was a driving force behind many of the actors in other films of the Disney Renaissance.  Characters like Aladdin, Jasmine, Jack Skellington, Simba, Nala, Pocahontas, Esmeralda, Hercules, Mulan and Shang would all get separate actors to sing and act, but only someone with a keen ear would be able to tell that this wasn't the guy or girl singing that also acted.  In the remakes, however, while it's clear the people they cast can sing, they usually struggle to act alongside it.  

My go to example here is comparing the singing performances of Jason Weaver from the original Lion King to JD McCrary's performance in the 2019 remake.  No one argues that McCrary cannot sing, as he clearly has talent and is best suited in a pop or hip hop style.  However, "I Just Can't Wait to be King" is written in the style of being a theatrically produced song.  Simba has to be able to articulate his excitement about one day not taking orders from anyone and being free to make any rules he sees fit.  Weaver's performance gets his feelings across perfectly, whereas McCrary seems like he's just singing any other song he's performed before.  It lacks the enthusiasm and spirit of the original film and only adds gasoline to the fire of why that entire scene flopped so badly in the remake.  If you're not going to hire someone capable of following the singing and acting playbook, then the only way for a song to work is for you to rework the song into the style of the new voice.  Disney tried to do this for Will Smith's interpretations of the songs in the 2019 remake of Aladdin, and while I can respect that, the fact that it wasn't done for the other actors or any other actors in any of the remakes seems as if it were a decision by Smith and not the studio.  This was not done for either Donald Glover or Beyonce in "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", Mena Massoud or Naomi Scott in "A Whole New World" or any other songs for that matter.  

This trend would only be made worse in the 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid.  Again, Halle Bailey can clearly sing and she showed in this movie that she can at least act, but doing both at the same time was next to impossible for her.  Nowhere is this clearer than in "Part of Your World", where at the same exact point where Jodi Benson allowed herself to be emotionally vulnerable, they instead take the time to show off Bailey's singing voice in a "show offy" way.  How am I supposed to get emotionally invested in the character when you don't allow them to be emotional with us?  

Oddly enough, the opposite was the problem with Emma Watson's Belle in the 2017 remake. Emma can clearly act, but she definitely needed at least a singing coach to be there with her as she sang. Because the overuse of autotuning is clear and present in every single line from your leading lady, which is kind of a problem. It's also there in JD McCrary's Simba voice as well, but it's most profound in Watson's performance. I don't hear it much in anyone else's voice in that film, but guys like Josh Gad and Luke Evans were on stage before this, so it makes sense.  

And don't even get me started on the remake of Snow White and it's awful music.  We will get into that when I inevitably tear that film a new one in a review.  But for the time being, we're going to shelve the remakes and put our focus on the newer animated musicals by Disney.  After all, Lin Manuel Miranda is behind the songs for Moana and we all loved the songs in Frozen and Encanto, so surely the newer films have to be good in terms of music, right?  Well, no.  

Whether they did so intentionally or not, Disney seemed to go out of their way to learn the wrong lessons from why the music in their other films were bad and instead doubled down on the "Pop" style of music.  In the hands of someone who works on theater, such as Miranda, it can work.  However, in the hands of people who have never written for a film and with Disney giving them creative control with only a very short and to the point message about what they wanted from it, you get the kinds of songs that appeared in Wish.  A movie that has been panned as one of the worst to ever come out of the company, this film's music felt as if it were written by AI.  There was no rhythm, no flow and nothing that could be seen as a step back into the classic style of writing.  That doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, but when I'm not even sure which parts of the song are a verse or a chorus, that means you kinda flopped when it comes to writing the music.  I don't blame the writers for this, as they were given an impossible task, but I do blame Disney for phoning in what was perhaps their most important film release since a certain red-haired mermaid appeared on screens back in 1989.  And every single song in the film has this same issue, from the lead "I Want" song, to the villain's "song" and so forth.  There's no hook and again, while I know Ariana DeBose can sing, no theatrical style singing, which means we struggle to emotionally connect with Asha and most of the other characters as they sing.  

And don't you worry, I will be ripping this film a new one when it's time to, as the music is far from the worst problem in the movie.  But since this is a post about Disney's musical shortcomings, I feel we have to move onto the next few films in question.  I will give Moana 2 the barest of passes, as the film is clearly a cut together movie based on a Moana Disney+ show that was being written that Disney needed to get into theaters after the disasters of their prior films.  But the one I will not give a pass is the last major Disney "remake" to come out in Mufasa: The Lion King.  

I think that Disney is in dire need to find their next Alan Menken/Howard Ashman type of songwriter that can carry the studio melodically on his back for the next few decades, because they have bounced around various different song writers on numerous projects over the years.  Whether it be the consortium of writers for the Descendants Films, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez of Frozen fame, or Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice of infamy for Wish.  They seem to be trying to recapture that magic they had in the 90s.  And someone at Disney thinks that the person in mind is Lin Manuel Miranda.  After all, he is the biggest thing on Broadway going with his work on Hamilton and he's already had success for Disney, so surely it means he's ready to write Disney songs on par with the classics of old, yes? 

Well, no.  And his efforts in both the Live Action remake of The Little Mermaid and then Mufasa are the golden example as to why he's not and will never be Alan Menken or Howard Ashman.  Now, let's preface this with the fact that neither Ashman nor Menken was involved in the music for The Lion King.  That honor went to Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer, who all worked together to create arguably the most iconic film soundtrack of all time.  And adding someone who is so stylistically different into the legacies of not one but two of Disney's most significant films seems to have rubbed people the wrong way.  His songs that were new for Mermaid were more or less bland and forgettable or just downright obnoxious (Looking at you, "Scuttlebutt").  And the same can be said for all of the songs written for Mufasa, but whereas the former had the classic songs to fall back on, the latter did not have the luxury of being able to just incorporate songs from Elton John and Tim Rice.  And apart from "I Always Wanted a Brother", I don't think I remember even the names of the other songs without googling it.  Eric's song at least gets the benefit of having Eric's lead actor giving his all to the song "Uncharted Waters".  Where is the benefit for "Bye Bye" (which yes, is the name of the song from the villain of Mufasa)? So, no, I don't think that Lin Manuel Miranda is up to the challenge of superseding Menken or Ashman, because his style of writing isn't for the refined Broadway of Menken and Ashman, but for the more modern, pop driven Broadway of now.  Who would want to see an original Broadway show when we can go see "& Juliet" or "Moulin Rouge" instead and listen to pop songs we can hear on the radio?  

Disney has for sure lost their way in many aspects of storytelling, but the sharp decline in music has to be the most disappointing for me.  I'm not inspired by any song Disney has put out in the last decade.  I don't feel compelled to write about a hero based on "Uncharted Waters" and I definitely don't feel inspired by "Speechless", "Spirit", "Scuttlebutt" or "This is the Thanks I Get".  When I'm writing a scene for a villain, I'm not thinking of that travesty of a song.  I'm thinking of "Poor Unfortunate Souls", "Be Prepared" or "Hellfire".  I'm not thinking of "Into the Unknown" or "Family Madrigal" when I write or think about Disney.  If you do, congrats, and I hope you find success in whatever it is you're doing.  But for me, the steep drop in quality is something that might haunt Disney for a long time.  You know, unless people stop going to see these godforsaken remakes.  

Oh well, a man can dream right?