The Country Bear Musical Jamboree opens July 17th at Magic Kingdom, and we were able to preview the attraction thanks to a D23 Member event this past weekend. During the event, we were able to watch the full show, as well as hear from Ken Ricci (Manager, Technical Show Quality – Walt Disney Imagineering) and Steven Vagnini (Walt Disney Archives) during a pre-show presentation. In this review, we’ll have photos and a full show video of the new Country Bear Musical Jamboree attraction in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. Let’s dive in!
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree Full Show Video
- What Came Before the Musical Jamboree?
- The IP Mandate
- Why Was the Country Bear Jamboree Changed?
- Lobby Changes
- Grizzly Hall Theater Upgrades
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree Scene-by-Scene
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree (Original Song)
- Try Everything (Trixie with Bunny, Bubbles and Beulah)
- Kiss the Girl (Romeo McGrowl)
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Ernest)
- A Whole New World (Wendell & Teddi Barra)
- Fixer-Upper (Terrence aka Shaker)
- Remember Me (Big Al)
- You’ve Got A Friend In Me (Henry and Sammy)
- Bare Necessities (Full Cast)
- Country Bear Musical Jamboree Review & Closing Thoughts
What Came Before the Musical Jamboree?
The previous show was called the Country Bear Jamboree, and it was an opening day attraction, dating back to the October 1, 1971 grand opening of Magic Kingdom. The show went through changes over the years, but the broad strokes remained the same. The 2024 Musical Jamboree changes that completely.
The attraction was originally designed as a show for the Mineral King ski resort which Disney had planned on building in the 1960s. The idea of having Audio-Animatroic bears presenting a show lived on past the concept of the ski resort, and it was brought to Walt Disney World as one of only three completely unique concepts for the Florida theme park. It would later become the first major attraction to debut at Walt Disney World and then to be copied for the other Disney parks. It was built as a Bear Country (later Critter Country) attraction at Disneyland, opening on March 24, 1972. The Country Bear Jamboree would later open in Tokyo Disneyland on April 15, 1983.
The Country Bear Jamboree attraction set another “first”, becoming the first Disney attraction to receive a seasonal holiday overlay when the Country Bear Christmas Special, complete with new sets, decorations, and costumes, debuting in November 1984.
Another show change came with The Country Bear Vacation Hoedown, in February 1986 at Disneyland and then a few months later at Walt Disney World. The Walt Disney World version of the attraction returned to the “normal” show in 1992, but Disneyland retained the “hoedown” version until it closed permanently in September 2001 to make way for a Winnie the Pooh attraction.
For more on the classic version of the attraction, check out our article below!
The IP Mandate
Of course, the biggest change with the Musical Jamboree is not the theater layout or even the format of the show, but rather the mandate to introduce countrified Disney songs to the show. This is a rather large shift from the show before it, which simply (and effectively) utilized some of the songs of the time when Imagineers were putting together the show in the late 1960s into the 1971 opening.
Taking a page right out of former CEO Bob Chapek’s book of “more Disney”, Imagineers were tasked with writing an all-new Country Bear show that almost exclusively utilizes Disney songs that are all nearly instantly recognizable. The newest IP song in the act is “Remember Me” from 2017’s Coco, and the oldest Disney song is “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from 1964’s Mary Poppins. The songs span multiple Disney generations and should have a little something for everyone. Imagineers even created an all-new original song to open up the show!
Here’s the full song list for the Country Bear Musical Jamboree:
- “Country Bear Musical Jamboree” – a new original song written for the attraction
- “Try Everything” from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Zootopia”
- “Kiss the Girl” from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “The Little Mermaid”
- “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Walt Disney Studios’ “Mary Poppins”
- “A Whole New World” from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Aladdin”
- “Fixer-Upper” from Walt Disney Studios’ “Frozen”
- “Remember Me” from Disney-Pixar’s “Coco”
- “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” from Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story”
- “Bare Necessities” from Walt Disney Animation Studios “The Jungle Book”
- “Come Again” – an original song that debuted with Country Bear Jamboree in 1974
Walt Disney Imagineering turned to popular and upcoming country music talent to provide the vocals for the new setlist. Featured artists include record-breaking 10-time CMA Musician of the Year Mac McAnally who sings “Fixer-Upper” from “Frozen” and “The Bare Necessities” from “The Jungle Book.” Country singer Emily Ann Roberts lends her voice to Trixie with a rendition of “Try Everything” from “Zootopia.” Singer-songwriter Allison Russel and musician Chris Thile, voice Teddi Barra and Wendell, respectively, performing “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin.”
The classic version of the Country Bear Jamboree closed on January 26, 2024.
Is IP Bad?
Oftentimes, when the Disney theme park fan community talks about Intellectual Property (IP), it has a negative connotation to it. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of it from time to time as well. Some of the most iconic attractions in the world feature “original” storytelling such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Expedition Everest, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, it’s a small world, Spaceship Earth, and many more – all original concepts.
That said, there are a number of other attractions that are considered some of Disney’s best that certainly lean into IP. Rides such as Avatar Flight of Passage, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, TRON Lightcycle Run, Slinky Dog Dash, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and more, are all based on IPs that were established outside of the theme parks.
I don’t think that the Country Bear Musical Jamboree is going to be the lightbulb that switches on for the fan community or something that validates that IP isn’t inherently bad. That said, I think that it can really show guests that IP, and even IP overload, can be executed well. If you look at something like Mickey’s PhilharMagic, that is another IP overload attraction that has incredibly high guest satisfaction scores. I went into the Country Bear Musical Jamboree expecting that the IP integration would kill the heart and charm of the attraction, but it was actually pretty well executed. More on that in a bit.
Why Was the Country Bear Jamboree Changed?
It’s not entirely clear why Walt Disney World wanted to change the Country Bear Jamboree, but we do have some insight as to the timing of decisions. We have a couple of different statements from Imagineers that start to paint a picture of the timeline of introducing Disney music into the Country Bear Jamboree.
Many people think that the idea to infuse the Country Bear Jamboree with Disney songs is a relatively new concept. As it turns out, not only has the update been in the works for years, it was pitched quite some time ago. Before we look at the work that has taken place in the 2000s and 2010s, we’re actually going to turn the clock back a few decades to find the first concept of utilizing Disney songs in the Country Bear Jamboree show.
According to archivist Steven Vagnini, the earliest note in Disney’s archives of written communication about the Country Bear Jamboree attraction file was dated November 11, 1968. In that note, music department head Bob Jackman sent over a demo of xylophone snare drum and bass drum for the then-titled Bear Band Show to Neil Gallagher, who was in charge of animation for the show. What was on that demo? The Disney songs Heigh-Ho from Snow White, and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo from Cinderella. That’s right, the first songs for the Country Bear Jamboree were IP-based.
Getting back to the timing of the update that would infuse the show with Disney songs after decades of country western tunes, a social media post from former Imagineer Ethan Reed suggests that the idea for a Disney songbook for the Bears was pitched back in 2004. The idea was shelved before being picked back up before COVID-19 shut down the Walt Disney World theme parks. Reed said that work began again for a Disney setlist for the Country Bears back in 2018 before being put on pause in 2020.
Going back to the recent chat with Imagineer Ken Ricci and archivist Steven Vagnini, we get a little bit more insight as to what was happening before COVID-19 put the project on pause. Ricci is part of Technical Show Quality for Walt Disney Imagineering, which means that part of his job is to refurbish the Audio-Animatronics at Walt Disney World. Ricci said that Disney was planning on refurbishing the Country Bear Jamboree figures in the years before COVID-19, but once work began on the Country Bear Musical Jamboree, that refurbishment was put on pause.
As the new show came into focus, the idea was that the refurbishment planned before COVID-19 would be put on pause, and that a new show would roll out with refurbished figures at some point. Although it was not mentioned in the panel, a new show would likely have debuted sometime around the 50th Anniversary of the attraction in October 2021. COVID-19 changed the timeframe of the rollout, and Disney World announced the Country Bear Musical Jamboree on September 9, 2023. The classic version of the Country Bear Jamboree closed on January 26, 2024, and the attraction reopened 6 months later on July 17th.
Another why for the project was the idea of keeping the bears around, but ensuring that the show would appeal to younger generations as well as continue to resonate with older Disney fans. In short, Imagineers wanted to ensure that the lovable bears would stick around for decades to come, and the best way to do that was to introduce Disney songs to the attraction.
Lobby Changes
Ok, with a little bit of background out of the way, let’s step inside the Grizzly Hall lobby and take a look at all of the changes that were made. First, here’s a look back at the lobby before the closure. As you can see in our photo below, the lobby was pretty bear, and only contained some portraits of the cast of bruins.
Here’s a look at the updated lobby, complete with all-new display cases similar to what you might find at Tokyo Disneyland. The displays represent different eras in the bear band careers. We’ll take a closer look at each and every prop in a minute, but here are a couple overview photos.
As you can see, the floor has stayed the same, along with the general layout. Some of the notable changes beyond the prop display cases include updated frames for the bear portraits, as well as some new artwork!
Making of the Country Bear Musical Jamboree
The Country Bears have long been known to record their shows, immortalizing the performances on albums that have gone walnut many times over. Henry is not only the show’s Master of Ceremonies, but he’s also been instrumental in defining the look and sound of the current show. Here is a collection of items from the Bears’ recording studio, including a rare look at the lyric writing and song set list development for the new show.
As we make our way around the lobby, the cases will have themes to them that represent the different eras in the bear band’s career. We’ll start with the “making of” case, which shows props from the “creation” of the Musical Jamboree.
The Early Years
Long before there was a Country Bear Musical Jamboree, there was a bear with a dream. After an inspirational season of hibernation, Ursus H. Bear established Grizzly Hall in 1898 to create a permanent cultural showplace dedicated to America’s musical heritage. The show remains a family tradition to this day, with Ursus’s grandson Henry currently serving as Master of Ceremonies.
What Tour? The “World” Tour
As the Country Bear Jamboree exploded in popularity, fans flocked to Grizzly Hall from across the globe. But any time there was a “paws” to the mainstage show, the Bear Band would pack up and make tracks, across the wilderness, performing at venues across the hiber-nation. Here is a collection drawn from the Bears’ time on tour, including amateur photos taken on the road by Wendell himself.
Awards & Memorabilia
Over a century after Ursus H. Bear founded Grizzly Hall the Country Bears continue to thrive. In addition to renewed success, the Bear Band has enjoyed critical acclaim, a growing fandom, and a variety of new opportunities both on-stage and off.
Portraits of the Bears
Before we head inside for the show, here’s a look at all of the returning and new portraits!
Grizzly Hall Theater Upgrades
Ok, with the lobby tour complete, it’s time to head into Grizzly Hall for the main attraction! The hall itself remains largely the same, but there were some updates (beyond the refreshed carpet and seating) that allow for a much better experience.
Guests still walk down the sloped hallway to choose a row to sit in. The first two rows of the theater are still reserved for guests with mobility needs.
When we first walked in, we noticed just how vibrant the stage lighting was. Just about every surface has been repainted too. As you can see, the bench seating remains and has been refreshed. The central backdrop has been changed from a sort of advertisement collage to a simple logo for the Grizzly Hall location.
According to Country Bear lore, Grizzly Hall originally only opened with a single center stage, but it was always founder Ursus H. Bear’s dream to expand to more stages and even to add a ceiling swing.
According to Imagineers, the proscenium arches have been refreshed with all-new gold leaf (not paint). Precision lighting accentuates the proscenium arches above each stage. In short, the theater looks pretty great right now, and we hope that it’ll look great for years to come.
Not only does the theater look great, but it sounds great too. Audio upgrades took place during the downtime, and some clever work was done by Imagineering to make the theater look the same but enhance the audio experience.
The curtains are all-new and made from a lighter material to allow the audio to pass through more cleanly. It all adds up to a much better experience when the lights drop and the show begins.
Country Bear Musical Jamboree Scene-by-Scene
In this section of our Country Bear Musical Jamboree review, we’ll go through the entire show, offering a scene-by-scene breakdown of the show, featuring plenty of photos throughout!
As you make your way into Grizzly Hall, Max, Melvin, and Buff will be bantering a bit, inviting you to find a seat and enjoy the show. We actually like how much they are utilized, not only in this early welcome, but also throughout the show. They have been upgraded a bit, and the lighting on them brings them into the show much more than they were before.
The show begins with Henry, the master of bear-emonies, asking Gomer for an intro. Gomer, the bear on the piano, lifts out of the stage exactly like the previous version of the show. Henry then launches into his welcome speech.
Howdy, folks! Welcome to the one and only original Country Bear Musical Jamboree featuring a wild and wooly assortment of grizzled old grizzlies singing the little country, a little western, and a whole lotta everything in between. So get those paws tappin’ and those claws clappin’ for five bears who need no introduction, but I’ll give them one anyway. Let’s hear it for the Five Bear Rugs!
According to Country Bear lore, Henry is the grandson of Ursus H. Bear. As we learned in the lobby, Ursus H. Bear is the founder of Grizzly Hall, turning the old Union Hall into a theater for the bear shows. Henry helped develop the current show and co-wrote the opening song with the Five Bear Rugs.
Country Bear Musical Jamboree (Original Song)
As the curtain lifts, an iconic scene of the Five Bear Rugs is revealed, and they’re singing an all-new original song titled Country Bear Musical Jamboree. The song is catchy and has a perfect pace for some clapping along – it might just stick with you for the rest of the day!
Of course, the star of the show is still Oscar, now with a new Big Al plush! This opening number ends with a nod back to the original version of the show with Oscar squeaking the plush. In fact, fans of the original show will find a number of different callbacks in the Musical Jamboree.
Try Everything (Trixie with Bunny, Bubbles and Beulah)
The first Disney IP song is Try Everything from Zootopia. It’s framed as Trixie’s redemption song. Fans of the original will remember that Trixie was feeling down a bit, singing Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine. Trixie is joined by Bunny, Bubbles and Beulah – formerly known as the Sun Bonnets. The trio has traded bonnets for stetsons, and the slideshow behind them has been updated to show how Trixie has tried and failed at things but keeps moving forward.
The slideshow tells the story of Trixie trying a bunch of different activities before ultimately finding her passion for singing. Unfortunately, my camera didn’t grab all of the colors correctly, but here’s the full slideshow.
Kiss the Girl (Romeo McGrowl)
Next up is the newly renamed Romeo McGrowl and a rendition of Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid. Imagineers said that each song was picked for a reason, and Kiss the Girl jumped off the pages when talking about Romeo and his lips.
Updated lighting floods the theater to make it feel like we’re underwater as Romeo sings, and even throws some hearts around the stage during the closing moments of his song.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Ernest)
Once again, fans of the history of the Country Bears are treated to an Easter Egg when Henry introduces Ernest as a bear that used to play with the Mineral Kings. Stepping outside of fictional Country Bear lore for a moment, the entire concept of a bear show was originally developed for a never-realized ski resort in Mineral King valley in California. The idea was that the 30-50 acre resort village would have a variety of lodging, dining, and entertainment. One of the entertainment acts would’ve been a band of musically inclined bears.
Ok, back to the Country Bear Musical Jamboree, and the fiddlin’ firestorm known as Ernest. One of my favorite throughline gags is seeing Ernest’s rehearsal fiddle in the lobby display case and wondering why fireproofing was needed on it, only for it to start smoking as Ernest is 10 seconds into a quickly-paced version of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
In offering some behind-the-scenes insight into the show, Imagineering said that the fiddle recording was made in one take and that it was recorded by a backup after the original fiddler called in sick.
Another Easter Egg for longtime fans can be found following Ernest’s performance when Buff whistles the same tune that he used to when kicking off the former version of the show.
A Whole New World (Wendell & Teddi Barra)
Gomer is back on piano for the next song, which slows things down a bit from the fiddle. As Gomer rises from the left side of the stage, a beautiful crescent moon is seen behind him as the opening notes of A Whole New World from Aladdin start to ring out.
I didn’t realize it until Wendell made his appearance, but one of the things that was a little bit off from the previous version of the show was how polished the singing was during the opening numbers.
Thankfully, Wendell changes that as he starts to serenade the crowd and the soon-to-arrive Teddi Berra.
Imagineers said that the reasoning for the song choice here was obvious given Teddi Barra’s elevated position over the crowd – “when I’m way up here, it’s crystal clear…”
Fixer-Upper (Terrence aka Shaker)
Next up is a song from Frozen, but mercifully, it’s not Let It Go. Instead, Imagineering thought what better song for a hot mess like Terrence (aka Shaker) than Fixer-Upper? Shaker leads the song, but is joined by Henry and the talking heads. In fact, there is some wonderful animation programming for Henry here that seems to draw our eyes away from Shaker for most of the song.
Once again, fans of the old version of the show get to enjoy an Easter Egg in the form of the same outro that Shaker had previously, with drums and lighting allowing a bit of a shimmy from the bruin.
Remember Me (Big Al)
Big Al is back and he provides similar comedic relief as the first version of the show. Three twanging chords are reminiscent of the start of his former song Blood on the Saddle, but this is the IP Jamboree, so Big Al is tasked with singing what surely would’ve been a heart-wrenching rendition of Remember Me from Coco…
Unfortunately, Big Al can’t find his footing with the song, overcome by emotions and crying before the curtains are drawn for him to blow his nose on. Too sad, too sad!
You’ve Got A Friend In Me (Henry and Sammy)
When thinking about old friends, there are perhaps none older and truer in the Country Bear Musical Jamboree than Henry and Sammy. Of course, Imagineers had to give them a song about enduring friendship. Once again, the programming of the figures is exquisite, thanks to retiring WDI Principal Show Animator Doug Griffith. It’s the little things that work so well, such as the looks that Sammy and Henry share throughout the number as they sing about friendship.
If you haven’t already, check out our article where we talk about the mechanical upgrades that the Country Bear Audio-Animatronics received. In that article, we talk about what makes Sammy so special!
Bare Necessities (Full Cast)
The closing number is Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book. If you’re going to use the Disney songbook for a closing number for a show sung by bears, I don’t think you can choose anything but Bare Necessities. It works pretty well and gets the crowd singing and clapping a bit before the outro song, 1971’s Come Again, plays as guests leave.
Country Bear Musical Jamboree Review & Closing Thoughts
Ok, time for a moment of honesty. When Disney announced that the Country Bear Jamboree show would be updated to include Disney songs, it felt a bit like if Disney were to try and cram Disney songs into the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue dinner show over at Fort Wilderness. It’s rare to find anything that is “original” to Magic Kingdom anymore, so changing the show felt like the worst option between updating and demolition. I was wrong.
I wouldn’t consider myself to be a purist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can appreciate a bit of nostalgia. There are absolutely things that I used to love that have been removed from the parks (I’ll always miss you, Osborne Lights), and there are corners of the theme parks and resorts that are draped in nostalgia. The Country Bear Jamboree was one of those things that was dripping with nostalgia. How can you not get a little emotional when hearing stories about how Walt Disney let out a hearty “last laugh” during a review of the concepts for the show back in the 1960s before he passed away? That said, there’s no shortage of quotes from Walt Disney about change. The writing has been on the walls for the Country Bear Jamboree for some time, and change was coming.
The only thing that the nostalgic or die-hard fans can hope for when change is on the horizon, is that there is care shown when designing a new version of a show or attraction. To that end, the Musical Jamboree is a success. After seeing the show a half-dozen times, and getting to hear from the creative lead for the project, it is clear that the team really cares about the history of the Country Bears – IP mandate or not.
The new show retains the heart of the original, and we think this reimagining will be met with such positive response from guests that this site won’t be around long enough to see what comes next for the Grizzly Hall venue. In a perfect world, the upgrades made to the venue would allow for some seasonal overlays or short-run shows that can keep the Bears relevant for decades to come.
The original Country Bear Jamboree had a wonderful run at Walt Disney World of more than 50 years! With this update, the next generation of Disney fans will be able to enjoy the bear band show for decades to come. Thanks for bearin’ with us to the bear end.
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!