Legendary Disney Composer George Wilkins Has Passed Away
It is impossible to write the story of Walt Disney World without dedicating pages to George Wilkins.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 14, 1934, Wilkins entered the music industry during the 1950s as a backup vocal arranger for Patti Page. By the 1960s, he was a member of the Doodletown Popers and was composing music for film and television.


Photo: Joshua Harris at E82
In 1979, however, Wilkins joined The Walt Disney Company as a protege of legendary composer Buddy Baker. Initially, Wilkins was tasked with writing arrangements for Listen to the Land and Kitchen Kabaret. He was then thrust into the role of main composer for EPCOT Center after Baker was involved in a serious car accident.
Composing For EPCOT Center
For Walt Disney World’s second park, Wilkins would arrange the various versions of “It’s Fun to Be Free” for World of Motion and the music for Journey Into Imagination.
Wilkins’s magnum opus, however, would come when he was given the opportunity to compose the music for Horizons. The attraction’s soundtrack would become beloved by Disney fans. In the fullness of time, Horizons would be identified as the beating heart of EPCOT Center.


Photo: Disney
After EPCOT opened, Wilkins composed the music for the 1985 update of Space Mountain. His instrumental arrangements can still be heard in the attraction’s queue today. He was then sent back to EPCOT, where he composed the background music for the Living Seas pavilion with Russell Brower.
Other Disney Attraction Work
Throughout the 1990s, Wilkins would compose and arrange music for Roger Rabbbit’s Car Toon Spin, Food Rocks!, It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Test Track, and California Screamin’.
Additionally, he co-wrote the music performed by Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe with Kal David.


Sonny Eclipse
Finally, Wilkins arranged the music for the Hong Kong Disneyland version of It’s a Small World. He retired from The Walt Disney Company in 2008.
Sadly, George Wilkins has passed away at the age of 90. He will be missed.