The new Country Bear Musical Jamboree opens this Wednesday, July 17th, and the show is looking as good as it has in years, maybe ever. We were able to preview the attraction this past weekend thanks to a D23 Gold Member preview, and as part of the event, attendees were treated to a special discussion featuring Ken Ricci (Manager, Technical Show Quality – Walt Disney Imagineering) and Steven Vagnini (Walt Disney Archives).
Country Bear Audio-Animatronics
According to Imagineer Ken Ricci, the Audio-Animatronics are still A-100 figures, and they are still operated via hydraulics. That said, the bears have been completely refurbished “from the ground up”, complete with new components (new bushings, cables, actuators, bear-ings, and more). Critically, Ricci noted that the Audio-Animatronics have been updated to include “compliance”.
As described by Ricci, compliance utilizes pressure sensors within the figures to allow for more natural and realistic movement within the A-100 figures. The pressure sensors tell additional parts of the animatronic to move to allow for a more fluid-looking motion. For example, if a bear swings his arm out, his torso might also move to absorb the shock of the arm movement, making the arm movement appear more natural and less robotic.
In other examples, a limb might move past the end point of a range of motion and then swing back to the intended stop point. This not only appears more natural to the viewer but allows for more ambitious programming of the speed of motion for a figure. Compliance was first introduced in 1989 with the Wicked Witch Audio-Animatronic in The Great Movie Ride.
We’ll have a full review of the show later, but it’s worth noting that the changes made to the mechanics of the bears are really impressive. These are still A-100 figures, which means that they aren’t going to rival A-1000 figures like Hondo Ohnaka in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, but they look really, really good. In fact, I would say that they actually move and are programmed better than a lot of the Audio-Animatronics over at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (including some of the A-1000s).
Some of the genius here is thanks to Doug Griffith, Principal Show Animator with Walt Disney Imagineering. According to Ricci, Griffith has worked on a number of attractions, dating back to The American Adventure in EPCOT and multiple updates to Pirates of the Caribbean attractions around the world. Ricci told the audience that the Country Bear Musical Jamboree was Griffith’s final project before retirement, but that Griffith is a phenomenal talent on the animatronics console, and that the nuance that he introduces to figures is unmatched.
Outside of mechanical changes, the bears received all-new costumes, which included a refurbishment of their fur as well. Disney tapped Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily for the costume concepts, which Disney Costuming then spent months on to create the wonderful costumes that you’ll see in the show.
One of the cool touches that Ricci talked about was how Imagineers were able to retain the Marc Davis sculpt and skin for Sammy the raccoon, pictured below. Ricci talked about how they tried to keep the bit of Sammy popping out of Henry’s hat in the show, but that the cowboy hat made things tough. They scrapped the plans when Henry’s cowboy hat started to look “Goofy sized”.
Other changes to the Audio-Animatronics include a new(er) technology for the eyes of Max, Buff, and Melvin. Previously, the eyes of many of the figures were simply stickers for pupils, but that has been updated to allow for a bit of a glint in the eyes.
There were other updates to the theater, including new carpet, new seating, new curtains, new lighting, and more, but we’ll save that for our full review!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
