Disney Holiday Loops: Frontierland

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Today we’re putting on our finest boots, grabbing our best Stetson hat and taking a stroll down the promenade to the Westward Ho Trading Company to get in a little early holiday shopping.

On our way, we might just hear some of the local fiddle and banjo players, practicing for the upcoming Christmas concert down at the Golden Horseshoe. This is the latest in our Disney Holiday Loops series. This is Frontierland.

Photo of the Frontierland entrance sign, decorated for Christmas
Photo by Loren Javier

If you are not familiar with Disney area loops or their holiday counterparts, you can check out the first entry in the series where we dive into the concept and also take a look at the big band, jazz and swing Christmas tunes of the Buena Vista Steet area in Disney California Adventure.

But today we’re experiencing the story of our country’s past. The color, romance and drama of frontier America as it developed from wilderness trails to roads, riverboats, railroads and civilization. A tribute to the faith, courage, ingenuity and holiday merriment of our hearty pioneers who blazed the trails and made this progress possible.

That description of Frontierland and overly-rosy view of America’s push westward came from Walt Disney himself, on July 17th, 1955; Disneyland’s opening day. Well, except the “holiday merriment” part, I added that.

Frontierland, along with Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street USA made up the five original, opening day areas of Walt’s original park. And while it depicts a western town, frozen in the mid-19th century, Frontierland has seen its share of changes over the last 70 years. Not just to its attractions, restaurants and shops, but to its geography as well.

Map of Frontinerland in 1957
Frontierland 1957: Walt Disney Company

On opening day, Frontierland occupied the most real estate inside the berm. That’s the built-up barrier around Disneyland that separates the magic inside from the city outside…or the orange groves as it was in the 1950s. In those early years, Frontierland was all about kinetic energy and movement.

By the end of the decade, you could not only mosey down the streets of Frontierland, but take a mine train through the rainbow caverns, ride stage coaches, covered wagons and even live pack mules around the Living Desert. During this time, the Rivers of America bustled with keel boats, rafts and canoes, while the Mark Twain riverboat and the Sailing Ship Columbia looped the waters.

Frontierland began to change in the early 1960s. The overly tippy stagecoaches were the first to be retired. Shortly after, the Living Desert area was transformed into Nature’s Wonderland and expanded to include new biomes like Cascade Peak and Beaver Valley. The Rainbow Caverns Mine Train now traveled this entire expanse as the newly christened Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland.

As the ’60s progressed, Frontierland gave up some of its riverfront property, as well as its railroad stop, to the park’s newest land, New Orleans Square. And in the early ’70s the boundaries were again redrawn when the Indian Village area was redeveloped into Bear Country.

Map of Bear Country in 1972
Bear Country 1972: Walt Disney Company

The next major change came at the end of ’70s when Nature’s Wonderland ceded its territory, mine train, pack mules and all, to make room for the Frontierland’s first (and still only) thrill ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The leftover dirt not needed for the attraction, became the Big Thunder Ranch a few years later.

At this point Frontierland went more-or-less unchanged for about 30 years…except for the aforementioned Ranch, which spent most of that time trying to decide if it was open or closed. And there was the couple of years when it was rethemed to host the Hunchback of Notre Dame’s Festival of Fools. But we’re getting sidetracked.

The next and most recent round of changes came about a decade ago when the Big Thunder Ranch area left Frontierland altogether and Tom Sawyer Island, The Rivers of America and the Disneyland Railroad route were all trimmed down or reshaped to make way for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Millenium Falcon in Batuu
Photo by Kevin Williams

Though the footprint of Frontierland has continued to shift and shrink over the decades, the music heard throughout the area has grown and diversified. In addition to what we would call the “main” loop, the one that plays along the promenade and in front of the shops, several other unique loops can be heard throughout the land.

The Big Thunder queue, The Mark Twain Riverboat, The Sailing Ship Columbia, The Stockade area (that’s the fort area when you enter from the Hub), the Pioneer Mercantile, the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, Rancho del Zocalo, the Rivers of America and even the area outside Lafitte’s Tavern on Tom Saywer Island, all have unique musical loops. And that doesn’t include retired attractions like the Mike Fink Keel Boats and the Big Thunder Ranch which also sported their own unique soundtracks.

Frontierland doesn’t slouch when it comes to the holiday music either. In addition to the holiday version of the main loop heard throughout the land, there are separate, distinct loops inside the Pioneer Mercantile and along the Rivers of America.

And with that, we’ll end our brief history of Frontierland and jump into the music.

Frontierland’s earliest musical loops were comprised of old, country folk songs. They were inexpensive to license, instrumental pieces featuring a lot of banjos, fiddles and saloon pianos. This type of music was used up until the early 90s when the main loop shifted to feature songs from popular western TV shows and movies.

Blazing Saddles movie poster
Blazing Saddles Poster: Warner Bros

The theme songs to Wagon Train, Bonanza, High Noon and The Good and The Bad and The Ugly could all be heard in Frontierland from ‘92 to 2011. As could music from less directly Western properties like City Slickers and Back to the Future III. The theme to Blazing Saddles was even part of the loop during this time.

The current main loop, which has been playing since 2012, is a pivot away from the Hollywood-heavy soundtrack and back to a more classic country sound. It is comprised almost entirely from two album: Memories of the Old West and Legends of the Old West, both by Craig Duncan and the Smoky Mountain Band. The loop includes songs like “Ghost Riders in the Sky”, “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Don’t Fence Me In”.

Frontierland Area Loop

The Holiday version of the main loop cuts a similar path. Nearly two-thirds of the tracks on the loop come from a single album, Christmas Remembered by Banjomania.

Frontierland Holiday Area Loop

That’s a lot of banjos and that’s not a bad thing.

Tim Babb and I talked about this on his recent Merry Mixtapes episode where he had selected Banjomania’s “Sleigh Ride” as one of his favorite Disneyland Christmas songs. Tim noted that there’s something about banjos and Christmas music that just go together so well. And he’s absolutely right, the entire Christmas Remembered album is fantastic.

Christmas Remembered

Artist: Banjomania
Label: Self-released (BM202-CD)
Released: 1990

Banjomania: Christmas Remembered album
Banjomania: Christmas Remembered

Fifteen banjo-filled Christmas tunes and there’s not a bad track in the bunch. It really is the perfect music for Frontierland at Christmastime.

It’s actually pretty incredible if you think about it. Somehow when you take a bunch of holiday banjo tracks recorded in 1990 and pipe them through a 1950s Hollywood recreation of a mid-1800s frontier town, it evokes a sense of nostalgia…or whatever that sensation is that feels similar to nostalgia, but for a place you’ve never visited, in a time you’ve never lived.

Logically, we know none of these recordings belong in a mid-19th century frontier town. But emotionally, hearing the music as you pass by the shops, all dressed up in their holiday decor, it tugs at all the right strings. I guess that’s why they call it Disney magic.

Before we move on, I want to take a minute to talk about the Big Thunder Ranch. Before it was annexed by Batuu, the ranch played host to Santa’s Reindeer Roundup, where guests could meet Santa, make Christmas crafts and see live reindeer. And yes, it had its own holiday loop.

Big Thunder Ranch Sign
Photo by Loren Javier

The Big Thunder Ranch loop has some overlap with the main Frontierland one, but instead of being packed full of Banjomania tracks, it contains a handful of Michael Martin Murphey tunes, all from his Cowboy Christmas album, as well as songs from Riders in the Sky, The Groove Grass Boyz and Oregon’s own The Trail Band.

Big Thunder Ranch: Santa’s Reindeer Roundup Loop

This brings me to my first idea for improving Christmastime in Frontierland. But before we jump into that, I have a quick message for Thomas Mazloum.

Tom, I know you just stepped into the role of President of Disneyland Resort. You’ve been entrusted with carrying out the legacy of Walt’s original park and I cannot overstate how big of a job that is. You’re probably incredibly busy taking the reigns from Kenny P and getting up to speed with everything. So, I want to offer you a few quick, easy wins. If you happen to be one of the three people in the world who read this blog, pay close attention. I’m going to give you several ideas for improving Frontierland at Christmastime throughout this post. Feel free to take any or all of these sure-fired ways to up the holiday magic at your resort.

Ok, so here’s the first idea.

The Frontierland holiday loop is fantastic, but it’s on the shorter side of the area loops at only 36 minutes.

If you take the eight extra Big Thunder Ranch tracks and weave them into the main Frontierland Holiday loop, you add another 17 minutes, punching the soundtrack out to a respectable 53 minutes in total. It also gives the loop a bit more variety, with several of the additional songs having more of a cowboys-around-the-campfire aesthetic.

And Tom, if you’re wondering what that might sound like once it’s all stitched together, don’t worry. I went ahead and created my own Frontierland Holiday “Ranch Remix” Loop where I did just that.

For the next Frontierland holiday loop, we’re going to take a look at the video loop that plays inside the Pioneer Mercantile at Christmastime.

Pioneer Mercantile at Christmas
Photo by Loren Javier

In the back of the shop, suspended from the ceiling is a large drum which houses a video projector. During the first half of the year, it plays a loop of musical segments from Disney films and television series, which are projected on a faux stretched hide that acts as a video screen.

The current non-holiday version includes musical clips like, “Un Poco Loco” from Coco, the theme from Zoro and even Kermit performing “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie. That’s right, there’s still a teensy, tiny bit of Muppets in Disneyland and fittingly for Frontierland, it includes a banjo.

There are also two unique Holiday versions of the loop that play during the second half of the year, one for Halloween and one for Christmas.

Pioneer Mercantile Holiday Video Loop

While it has some fun tracks and it’s definitely Christmas-y, it doesn’t feel exactly on-brand for Frontierland.

Now, you can make the argument that it doesn’t really matter. It’s just something to occupy the smallest of guests while their larger companions separate themselves from more of their hard-earned money. But, Disney, I think you’re missing another opportunity here. Tom, here comes your next slam-dunk idea.

Country Bear Christmas Special
Photo by Disney Parks Blog

If I could wave my magic Christmas wand, instead of musical shorts, the Pioneer Mercantile screen would show The Country Bear Christmas Special, in its entirety, all season long. For those unfamiliar, the Christmas Special was the Country Bears holiday overlay, last seen in Disneyland back in 2000, during the final holiday season before the attraction was reimagined into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

While the Country Bears received an all new show last year in Florida where the attraction is still going strong, their Christmas version has also been MIA since the mid-2000s. In fact, if you want to see a Country Bears Christmas show, you’ll have to go all the way to Tokyo Disneyland where the Country Bear Jingle Jamboree was just reinstated last year, after a four-year hiatus.

Not only would this be a cool homage to the attraction, but it would be way more on-point for Frontierland. See, in the later days of the Big Thunder Ranch, Big Al, Liver Lips and the rest of the Country Bears would join musical act Billy Hill and the Hillbillies onstage to sing Christmas songs during the holidays.

Granted, watching the Country Bear Christmas Special on a low-res projector screen isn’t the same as actually experiencing the show in all its animatronic glory. But, I bet you would get a decent amount of people hanging out in the Mercantile just to watch the loop. You could add a couple of benches and use it as a vehicle to push more Country Bear merch inside the west coast park. Tom, I’m hoping that last bit got your attention.

For our final Frontierland holiday loop, we’re visiting The Rivers of America and checking out the Christmas music that plays along the waterfront area that transitions you from Frontierland to New Orleans Square. And though the music is decidedly more at home in New Orleans, The Rivers of America is still considered a Frontierland attraction…so we’re counting it!

Rivers of America
Photo by Jeremy Thompson

The regular Rivers of America loop is comprised of 17 Ragtime and Dixieland Jazz tunes, including five Banjomania tracks of its own, all plucked (pun intended) from their incredibly hard to find, self-titled album.

The holiday version is undeniably a New Orleans Jazz loop. And yes, even though we’ve established that The Rivers of America is not part of New Orleans Square, this loop actually started as the Holiday music played inside the Blue Bayou restaurant before making its way out to the waterfront in 2015. Incidentally, as of last year (last year being 2024 for future readers), this loop no longer plays inside the Blue Bayou during Christmastime, making it exclusive to the Rivers of America. Well, at least in the US parks. The same holiday loop is used in Tokyo Disneyland’s Royal Street area, which is the New Orleans inspired area within Tokyo’s Adventureland.

The Rivers of America Holiday Loop contains:

Rivers of America Holiday Area Loop

Five of the fourteen tracks in this loop come from the 1997 album Allen Toussaint and Friends, A New Orleans Christmas which, like Banjomania’s Christmas Remembered, is a fantastic album in its own right.

Allen Toussaint & Friends - A New Orleans Christmas
Allen Toussaint & Friends - A New Orleans Christmas

They, along with the rest of the tracks create a perfect New Orleans Christmas vibe. Especially in the evening, as things are starting to slow down, sitting outside the River Belle Terrance, watching the Mark Twain slowly steam by. Unless it’s Fantasmic time, then it’s complete chaos.

Or at least that’s how I imagine Christmastime in New Orleans. I haven’t been fortunate enough to find my way to Louisiana for Christmas, so Disneyland is my west-coast substitute, which incidentally was the original concept of New Orleans Square. Walt wanted to bring the music and excitement of the French Quarter to a West Coast audience, but I’m getting sidetracked again.

This does bring me to my next idea for improving Frontierland at Christmastime. The Mark Twain.

I mentioned this briefly on the Merry Mixtape episode with Mr. Babb. I think Disney’s missing an opportunity to level up the Christmas magic when it comes to the riverboat. I would love to see the Mark Twain fully decked out for the holidays. Festooned with garlands, wreathes, ornaments and Christmas trees. You could even do unique theming on each of the different decks.

Jambalaya Jazz Band
Photo by Loren Javier

Then, in the evenings, get the Jambalaya Jazz Band off their tiny little raft and onto the Saloon Deck Bandstand to play live Christmas music for the passengers. Yes, this last part is not an original idea and Disneyland has had live jazz bands perform Christmas music on the Mark Twain, but it’s usually reserved for special, ticketed events, like the Merriest Nites parties a few years back. I’m talking live Christmas music every night of the holiday season. It would be next level. And, I bet it would keep the Mark Twain packed long in the evening, which means you absorb some of the crowd from other areas, making them less congested and reducing the ride times a bit.

Or, if a live band is not in the budget, how about just turning off the normal narration and piping in the Rivers of America holiday loop while the Mark Twain makes its 14-minutes trip. What do you say Tom?

And since I’m already long in my list of Christmastime requests, I’m going to end this post with one more.

The Rancho del Zocalo music loop was recently brought back. It’s a collection of instrumental, Spanish guitar pieces, all taken from the album Day’s End: The Soft Sounds of Spanish Guitar. In fact, the loop is just the album played start to finish, with some very minor edits and speed shifts to the tracks.

Rancho del Zocalo at Christmas
Photo by Loren Javier

Much like the banjos we talked about earlier, for me, there is just something about Spanish guitar and Christmas music that go perfectly together. I would love it Tom, if you pulled the trigger on a new holiday loop for the Rancho area, full of instrumental Spanish guitar Christmas tunes.

Before you launch into how costly it will be to get a sound engineer to source and sequence all those tracks, don’t worry, I took care of it for you too buddy. I went ahead a made my own Unofficial Rancho del Zocalo Holiday Loop.

And with that, we’ll end our look at the holiday music of Frontierland. I hope you’re enjoying this series exploring the Christmastime music of Disneyland. We have a couple more loops coming up later year including, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, one of the holiday loops of that East-coast imitation, Walt Disney World.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Posted by Kevin Williams | Sunday, June 8, 2025
Walt Disney World Music Jazz Disneyland Disney Country Music
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