20th Century Music Shop Grand Opening
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On Sunday, June 20th, Disneyland opened a new shop on Main Street. The grand opening was held at 11:00 a.m. on Main Street for Disneyland guests only, there was no press invited. Over one hundred people stood on Main Street to watch the ceremony.

The ceremony began with Mickey Mouse leading the Disneyland band in a medley of Disney classics. Next Disneyland's Millenium Ambassador Dorrell Mitter introduced Kim Irvine-Alison, Art Director at Walt Disney Imagineering. Ms. Irvine-Alison began by saying "Main Street has been home to many music stores over the years, a Wurlitzer Music Hall which used to sit on the corner here at Town Square and of course our own Wonderland Music store has had several homes on Main Street up until 1973. So we're really excited about having a music store back on Main Street to celebrate the music of Disney". Ms. Irvine-Alison went on to thank the creators of the custom CD system from Digital On-Demand and the merchandising partners who helped create the look of the shop. She closed by saying "Music is such a big part of our experience at Disneyland everyday from the time you walk onto Main Street to hear the Disneyland Band to the different land groups - Alturas in Adventureland, Royal Street Bachelors and of course parade themes and the attractions' soundtracks. Today you can bring these wonderful memories home with you".

The next speaker was Tony Baxter, Senior Vice-President of Walt Disney Imagineering. Mr. Baxter gave a little bit of the history of the custom CD concept. "I can't believe that it was 13 months ago that we opened the first digital on demand installation in Tomorrowland. But it goes back several years before that where we had a dream, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to create your own Disneyland soundtrack of all the favorite songs we all grew up with and are a part of our memories of Disneyland past?'" Mr. Baxter then officially broke the exciting news about a special CD soon to be released. "For a year now we've had some incredible things on that machine but we're just getting started. And the exciting thing is what is coming next and I'm thrilled to preview for you today what's going to happen here next weekend. I think a lot of you probably know about our exciting Haunted Mansion weekend that's coming up. The most exciting thing for that weekend wasn't announced in any of the brochures because a lot of people have been working their tails off to try and make this happen". The cover art for the new CD was then shown and Mr. Baxter thanked everyone involved in the CDs creation. "Bruce Gordon has been the person most responsible for driving this thing home and you probably know Bruce. He was assisted by David Mumford, Randy Webster and Chris Gusman of Imagineering and all of them that helped us make a lot of the books I'm sure you've all enjoyed". In addition Mr. Baxter thanked the people from the audio department and "Disneyland's own Roberta Brubaker who had the most complete version of the Haunted Mansion". Also thanked was Statia Martin "who helped us with probably the largest Disney music collection in the world". He closed by saying "you need to give us feedback on this because we'll have a lot more of these, we hope, in the future. If you really like it let us know what you'd like to have and we'll try to please".

The 20 Century Music Company is located at the southeast end of Main Street across from the Emporium. It  is now the main Disneyland location for obtaining Disney music. In addition to the traditional Disney soundtracks the shop offers many Disney music CDs by other companies such as Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse and Heigh-Ho! Mozart. Also offered are CDs by the various artists and bands that play around Disneyland including Rod Miller, the Side Street Strutters and Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. But the highlights of the store are the create-your-own CD machines  where guests can choose from a collection of dozens of songs and sound clips heard around Disneyland and create their own custom CDs. Custom CDs are $20 for 10 tracks. The selection overlaps with the custom CDs in Tomorrowland, but there are some tracks only available on Main Street and vice-versa.

-- Story by Doobie Moseley
-- Photographs by Doobie Moseley