Are You Missing Having Fun with Disney Park Characters?

by Beth Keating

Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

July 5, 2020

With the Florida, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai Parks reopening with limited character interactions under COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, you might be missing giving Mickey a hug or dancing with Goofy at Chef Mickey’s. (That’s a double whammy….No buffets and no character close-ups right now!) Enchanting interactions with the characters are what make waiting in meet-and-greet lines for an hour worth the wait (or make paying astronomical prices for mediocre buffet food worth the investment of time and money)!

If you need a quick shot of characters doing silly stuff with actual humans, check out this short (six minutes or so) compilation of character exchanges with Gijs Van Winkelhof. We’ve featured Gijs on this site before. He’s the extraordinary, self-taught piano player from the Netherlands who performs at the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Paris. (See our DisneyBizJournal review of his performances here.)

Gijs offers us a peek at his shows at Café Fantasia in Paris, with a half dozen Disney characters who randomly pop in to visit. The Fab Five unexpectedly show up at various times to try to steal the show, and a few even attempt to play the piano with Gijs. There’s a fair amount of dancing going on as well, with characters visiting with guests in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel while Gijs keeps the music going. Among the songs featured are “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Mickey Mouse Club March,” “Part of Your World” (The Little Mermaid), and “A Whole New World” (Aladdin), while Tigger and Goofy, Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Pluto do what they do best. Goofy especially has a good time with “Jingle Bells.” 

Sadly, this is as close as we may get to a character interaction for the time being!  Disney has promised character appearances in the park, but from what we’ve seen in the already-opened parks, these character sightings are being done in creative ways to allow guests to see their favs, while still keeping the “stars” at a protective distance for both families’ and cast members’ safety.

Thanks to Gijs for sharing these guest videos of his piano performances with his Disney buddies. Hopefully, it will tide you over while you wait for your own chance to interact with the Disney crew.

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

Celebrate Epcot with New Release by Gijs Music

by Beth Keating

Review 

DisneyBizJournal.com

May 2, 2020

Gijs Van Winkelhof, pianist at the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Paris, has added a new Disney World medley to his YouTube channel.  The amazing composer from the Netherlands has offered us “EPCOT Piano Medley Part 2.”  It is the sequel to the first Epcot piano video he premiered over two years ago during Epcot’s 35^thanniversary. He felt that there was more to the rich musical history of Epcot that needed to be explored, and has added songs all the way up to the new “Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure” (2020). 

Included in the twenty pieces featured in “EPCOT Piano Medley Part 2” are selections such as "IllumiNations - Reflections of Earth" (1999);  “We’ve Just Begun to Dream” - EPCOT Dedication Ceremony (1982); “Innoventions Plaza” (1994-2020); “In the Big Blue World” -The Seas with Nemo and Friends (2007-); “Farmhouse Theme” - Living with the Land (1993-); “Circle of Life” - The Harvest Theater (1995-2020); “Splashtacular” - Fountain of Nations (1993); “Surprise in the Skies” - World Showcase Lagoon (1991-1992); “El Rio del Tiempo” (1982-2007); and “Celebrate the Future Hand in Hand,” along with some tunes you may not be as familiar with, such as “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” - Magic Eye Theater (1994-2010). 

Alongside the stirring arrangements, Gijs’ spectacular piano skills are accompanied by a photographic journey through Epcot, especially poignant now that some of those spots no longer exist and/or are undergoing dramatic renovations. Historical photos of Epcot and Spaceship Earth’s construction are among the intriguing visual accompaniments. Also of note is the fact that Gijs does not rely on written sheet music while he is performing… he is working completely from memory (and, I’m sure, hours and hours of rehearsal!)

Gijs learned to play the piano at age 3, and by age 10 was composing and producing his own music. You can see more of his work in an earlier story we wrote here at DisneyBizJournal, and view more of his compositions on his YouTube channel. He has an array of Disney parks and movie themed videos there, as well as a variety of other selections such as a medley of Academy Award winning songs, a Star Wars’ medley, a tribute to Notre-Dame de Paris, and Gijs own original compositions.  In fact, his YouTube channel recently passed 2 million views.

In this forced time away from the parks, Gijs selections might just bring a bit of Disney magic, and nostalgia, into your evening.

Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

Relaxing Music for Your Disney Addiction

by Beth Keating

Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

October 20, 2019

Back in May, I fell in love with a piano player who had just released his video of “Happily Ever After,” the amazing fireworks and projections show at Magic Kingdom.  

Gijs Van Winkelhof, a self-taught pianist from the Netherlands, recorded the complete soundtrack to “Happily Ever After,” and, through the magic of greenscreen, uploaded it so that the real  “Happily Ever After” fireworks show plays behind him.  His performance is completely in synch with the actual  show.  

Never having had formal piano lessons and without using any sheet music, this incredible musician and composer performs a number of Disney pieces for his viewers (listeners?).  (He credits The DIS for the very professional video of “Happily Ever After” playing on screen.)  As if his piano-playing skills were not awesome enough, Gijs can’t share his sheet music with fellow musicians because he learned, and plays, the music astonishingly by ear.

This past week, Gijs uploaded the nostalgic and since departed “Wishes” show from the Magic Kingdom. (Technically, the entire show is called  “Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams,” but most fans just despondently mourn it as “Wishes.” 

The footage playing in the background is also from The DIS, and was recorded at “Wishes” final performance in 2017.) Gijs arrangement is stunningly beautiful, and I could listen to it over and over.  

Gijs Music offers other musical performances, including an earlier Star Wars arrangement. I’m now addicted to Gijs Van Winkelhof’s music, and his magic might just hit you the same way.

Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.