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Start Date
12-6-2025 1:30 PM
Description
Auditory tourists, or interactive soundwalkers, come to know the aural cultures of a place through the dynamic interactions of sound and place using site- and time-specific media, stories, soundscapes, and expressive culture sourced from the transmedia franchise the ride or region adapts to the park that play alongside real-time encounters with the physical materiality and soundscapes of the Disney theme park environments. The concept of soundscape and its application has spread widely since Schafer and it continues to be a generative way to understand the complexity of sonic environments, whether that soundscape is a live concert, a scene in a film, an internet meme, a podcast episode, or a themed experience. Theme parks are nested sonic environments, a collection of interconnected yet disparate regions, enclosed and open-air rides, entertainment experiences, enclosures, and mobile and time-based performance events (e.g., fireworks, character experiences), each with their own place-based identity. In this presentation I draw on a range of examples to develop a theory of placemaking and soundscaping practices that compose the acoustic ecology of a specific park. These illustrative examples range from Animal Kingdom’s wildlife enclosures to the Mad Tea Party ride, and from the Silly Symphony Swings to the Magic Kingdom’s audiovisual fireworks displays. I focus on the soundscaping practices of theme park tourism and the ways placemaking strategies are deployed in theme park design, use, and tourism. Soundscaping practices are remix strategies that remediate and rearrange sonic-spatial content for it to be experienced anew while calling back to the source.
Transcript
Recommended Citation
Galloway, Kate A., "Placemaking and Soundscaping Practices in the Nested Acoustic Environments of Disney Theme Parks" (2025). Theme Park Music and Sound. 7.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/tpms/2025/thursday/7
Placemaking and Soundscaping Practices in the Nested Acoustic Environments of Disney Theme Parks
Auditory tourists, or interactive soundwalkers, come to know the aural cultures of a place through the dynamic interactions of sound and place using site- and time-specific media, stories, soundscapes, and expressive culture sourced from the transmedia franchise the ride or region adapts to the park that play alongside real-time encounters with the physical materiality and soundscapes of the Disney theme park environments. The concept of soundscape and its application has spread widely since Schafer and it continues to be a generative way to understand the complexity of sonic environments, whether that soundscape is a live concert, a scene in a film, an internet meme, a podcast episode, or a themed experience. Theme parks are nested sonic environments, a collection of interconnected yet disparate regions, enclosed and open-air rides, entertainment experiences, enclosures, and mobile and time-based performance events (e.g., fireworks, character experiences), each with their own place-based identity. In this presentation I draw on a range of examples to develop a theory of placemaking and soundscaping practices that compose the acoustic ecology of a specific park. These illustrative examples range from Animal Kingdom’s wildlife enclosures to the Mad Tea Party ride, and from the Silly Symphony Swings to the Magic Kingdom’s audiovisual fireworks displays. I focus on the soundscaping practices of theme park tourism and the ways placemaking strategies are deployed in theme park design, use, and tourism. Soundscaping practices are remix strategies that remediate and rearrange sonic-spatial content for it to be experienced anew while calling back to the source.
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