Camp counselors only

Not many guests visit Camp Minnie-Mickey these days. The small, out of the way, land in Disney’s Animal Kingdom currently offers a few character interactions, some nice photo opportunities, and one stage show. There are no other attractions in the area, which begs the question as to why most guests would visit this area? The answer is simple if you let your ears do the walking.Set to look like the lake and mountain area of upstate New York, Camp Minnie-Mickey constructs an environment reminiscent of vacation resorts and summer camps where children and families would flock to each summer. While the days would be filled with crafts, sports, and activities, the nights of a camp are always filled with campfires and sing-a-longs. The key item to these evening group gatherings is, without a doubt, the acoustic guitar. While Camp Minnie-Mickey rarely has any activities after the sun has set, it does capture the camp musical heritage in its background music loop, which is comprised entirely of classic Disney melodies strummed on the acoustic guitar.

The full loop includes: Feed the Birds, Give a Little Whistle, Heffalumps and Woozles, I Just Can't Wait to be King, I Wanna Be Like You, Little Black Rain Cloud, Mickey Mouse March, Minnie's Yoo Hoo, Never Smile at a Crocodile, Pink Elephants on Parade, Bare Necessities, The Reluctant Dragon, The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers, Trust In Me, Ugly Bug Ball, When I See an Elephant Fly, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, and Winnie the Pooh.

For that little bit of Disney magic at home, especially for those who cannot find a copy of the full Camp Minnie-Mickey loop, a new album has just been made available that will make you feel like you are back in Disney’s Adirondacks. Solid Air Records’ latest release is Poppin’ Sherman: A Tuneful of Sherman features fifteen classic tunes from the Sherman Brothers cast catalogue. While the song selection is different, with only some minor overlapping, the soul of music reflects the same spirit found in Camp Minnie-Mickey’s background music loop.

Poppin’ Guitars, as well as the Camp Minnie-Mickey loop, have been a wonderful way to wind down at the end of the day and create a great backdrop with which to write articles for the Gazette, and I am sure they will both hold this status for many years to come.

Poppin’ Guitars: A Tuneful of Sherman is available on iTunes.