Analysis: Country Bear Jamboree, Disney’s breakout hit of 1971
Country Bear Jamboree is a Walt Disney World original, as old as the resort itself — with a rich history that continues to unfold in its 2024 update.
Jan. 26, 2024 will be the final operating day for Country Bear Jamboree in its current form at Magic Kingdom. The 12-minute revue starring Audio-Animatronics bears will return this summer as the updated Country Bear Musical Jamboree featuring the same bears and same general premise, but a completely new soundtrack of familiar Disney songs.
The arrival of Country Bear Musical Jamboree is the latest chapter in the attraction’s history — a legacy dating back to Walt Disney’s final visit to the Imagineering office. This is the story of Country Bear Jamboree, a Florida original with an international impact.
Walt Called Country Bear Jamboree “A Winner”
Walt Disney didn’t live to see Country Bear Jamboree enchant park guests, but he got a glimpse into the humor the bears would elicit.
In the 1960s, WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) developed plans for a California ski resort called Mineral King. The project never panned out. The intended property later became part of Sequoia National Park, according to 2008’s “Walt Disney’s Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park” by Jeff Kurtti. Around the time of the Mineral King development, Walt was actively involved in selecting land for his “Florida project,” which would ultimately become Walt Disney World.
Mineral King would have focused on recreation rather than Disneyland-style attractions — except for a music revue starring Audio-Animatronics bears to entertain Mineral King diners.
In 2005’s “The Sounds of Disneyland,” author Stacia Martin attributed the project’s in-progress title as being “Bear Band Restaurant Show.” Martin also noted Walt checked in on the attraction’s development during his very last visit to the WED Enterprises offices shortly before his 1966 death.
That day, Imagineer and Disney Legend Marc Davis, known for his ability to capture a character’s personality in a single drawing, was at work designing the bears for the show.
Stopping by Davis’ office, Walt was particularly amused by Marc’s sketch of a bear playing a tuba. In the 1996 book “Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real,” authors Kevin Rafferty and Bruce Gordon detailed Davis’ recollection of the visit. Walt told Davis they “really had a winner here with these musical bears.”
From a Ski Resort to the Sunshine State
Following Walt’s passing, Mineral King didn’t move forward, but Imagineers remained passionate and committed to realizing “the Florida project,” Walt Disney World. As part of the opening-day lineup of the resort’s debut theme park, Magic Kingdom, Davis’ bears would live on in Country Bear Jamboree. The Frontierland show would be one of only two original Florida attractions at the time not recycled from Disneyland (the other being Hall of Presidents).
Many artists collaborated to create Country Bear Jamboree. The aforementioned books reference the following Imagineers as the attraction’s key players:
- Character designer: Marc Davis
- Scriptwriters: Al Bertino and Xavier “X” Atencio
- Sculptor: Blaine Gibson
- Set designer: Dorothea Redmond
- Songwriters: George Bruns and Xavier “X” Atencio
The show’s fictional lore depends on who you ask. Details in the finished attraction honor Ursus J. Bear as the performance troupe’s founder. Author Leslie Iwerks quoted Imagineer and Disney Legend Wathel Rogers in the 2022 book version of “The Imagineering Story: An Official Biography of Walt Disney Imagineering” as saying “the bears had come out of the sequoias and we trained them to be entertainers.”
Pirates, Ghosts, and Bears
The cast of original bears completed a trifecta of sorts in the Imagineering character development hall of fame. Coming off the heels of creating Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion for Disneyland, the Imagineers producing Country Bear Jamboree for Magic Kingdom told a completely new story with fully-realized characters from scratch, not depending on a Disney film as source material.
From a technical standpoint, Country Bear Jamboree presented a different challenge. In 2005’s “The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom,” Imagineer and author Alex Wright explained how the artists rose to the occasion.
“Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion,” Wright said, “the performers in the Jamboree have to spend significant time onstage in front of an audience, and must remain believable for this longer period of time. The bears, while not needing to look realistic, nonetheless must sustain the illusion of being alive, which tests the capabilities of the Audio-Animatronics system.”
Wright also noted that Davis designed the bears’ appearances to reflect whichever song they’d be singing. Now, the inverse is true; as Imagineers overhaul the show for 2024, they’re pairing songs with pre-existing bear figures.
Guest Reactions to Country Bear Jamboree in 1971
On Oct. 1, 1971, Magic Kingdom opened its gates and Country Bear Jamboree performed for its first audiences. Big Al crooned “Blood on the Saddle.” Teddi Barra descended from the ceiling. Predicting slang nearly 50 years ahead of their time, the trio of Bunny, Bubbles, and Buelah sang, “Every time I meet a guy who gets me shook, all I ever get from him’s a dirty look.”
The following day, the Orlando Sentinel published several reporters’ first impressions from Walt Disney World’s inaugural operating day. One journalist noted Country Bear Jamboree was “a big hit” with “Big Al stealing the show.” Another reporter hailed the show’s soundtrack as “the finest country music ever played by bears” and “true Disney.”
Six weeks later, the Sentinel doubled down on its praise for the bears. A story dated Nov. 21, 1971 featured the headline “The ‘Bear’ Truth: Country Bear Jamboree Is Whoopin’, Hollerin’ Fun.” The article posited that “even Goldilocks — cold porridge notwithstanding — would love the bears.”
The Orlando Sentinel re-published these articles and others in “Disney World at 50: The Stories of How Walt’s Kingdom Became Magical in Orlando,” a 2021 compilation of Sentinel back issues.
The adoration continued in reflection by later generations. In the 2021 book “A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of the Most Magical Place on Earth,” authors Kevin M. Kern, Tim O’Day, and Steven Vagnini deemed “there is no greater repository of early Walt Disney World nostalgia than Country Bear Jamboree.”
King of the Wild Frontier
In somewhat of a throwback, perhaps before that term was coined, 1971’s Country Bear Jamboree featured “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” among its songbook. Henry sang the ditty, accompanied by Sammy the raccoon. Young adults in the audience at the time would have had fond memories of the Crockett craze that swept America in the mid-1950s.
The Davy Crockett serials that aired during Walt Disney’s weekly television program had been the “Frozen” of their time. Therefore, by 1971, many guests in the Country Bear Jamboree audience likely knew the character’s theme song by heart, and probably enthusiastically sang along with Henry.
Grizzly Hall at Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom’s Country Bear Jamboree resides in a building called Grizzly Hall. Located in Frontierland, the exterior bears (sorry) 1898 as its street address. Noted by Wright, the numbers displayed on Frontierland buildings not only indicate their address, but reflect the year in which their architecture was prominent. Accordingly, a space like Grizzly Hall may have been the norm for music halls at the turn of the 20th century (sans bears).
Grizzly Hall maintained a longstanding policy that differed from fellow Disney attractions. Like most indoor experiences at Walt Disney World, Country Bear Jamboree prohibited flash photography — that is, until the very end. In introducing each show, a Cast Member told guests they could take all the flash pictures their heart desired when all five curtains opened during the show’s finale.
Bear Country, An Entire Country Bears Land
Less than a year after debuting in Florida, a duplicate of Country Bear Jamboree opened in March 1972 at Disneyland in California — or rather, two duplicates. The west-coast theater contained two auditoriums, doubling the attraction’s capacity in light of the bears’ popularity.
Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland had been built with Country Bear Jamboree in mind from its inception. Disneyland’s Frontierland, however, was over a decade old as Imagineers made plans for the bears’ arrival in California. Rather than expand Frontierland, Disney created a new land altogether, Bear Country, connected to New Orleans Square, to accommodate Country Bear Jamboree.
In 2008’s “The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland,” Wright contrasted the atmospheres of the Jamboree’s differing homes. Compared to Frontierland, Wright wrote, Bear Country was “a fantasy-based extension of the themes of the American frontier” with “larger, more cartoony graphics and a brighter color palette.”
Opening with Bear Country in 1972 was Golden Bear Lodge, a quick-service restaurant, today known as Hungry Bear Restaurant. Bear Country became Critter Country upon the 1988 opening of Splash Mountain (soon to be Tiana’s Bayou Adventure).
In 2001, the Country Bears performed for the last time in Anaheim. Their show closed to make room for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which opened in 2003. Like Country Bear Jamboree, Pooh’s ride had first debuted in Florida several years prior.
As a tribute to its predecessor, Disneyland’s Pooh attraction retained Max, Melvin, and Buff, the animated taxidermy on the wall from Country Bear Jamboree. You’ll spot them if you turn around during the scene in which Pooh happily eats his honey.
In Tokyo, Country Bears Remain Vintage
Country Bear Jamboree was an opening-day attraction at Tokyo Disneyland on Apr. 15, 1983. The show debuted in Westernland, that park’s equivalent of Frontierland. The attraction is still open there today, meaning that upon Magic Kingdom’s 2024 overhaul, Tokyo Disneyland will be the only park in the world that hosts the original version of Country Bear Jamboree.
Three Words: Country. Bear. Christmas.
Both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland introduced Country Bear Christmas Special as a completely new iteration of the bears’ usual program during 1984’s holiday season.
Country Bear Christmas Special was a fever dream. One bear impersonated Elvis and played a guitar shaped like a Christmas tree. Big Al appeared as Baby New Year, wearing nothing but a diaper and a party hat. Meanwhile, Teddi Barra, still swinging from the ceiling, had recently suffered a skiing accident. “Henry,” she beckoned from above, “wanna come up and sign my cast?”
After 1984, Florida continued switching the show over for the holidays through 2005, according to the Orlando Sentinel. California followed suit until the venue’s permanent closure, performing the holiday version through 2000, if YouTube timestamps are to be believed.
Tokyo likewise introduced the Christmas show, known there as Jingle Bell Jamboree. Its timeline in that park, though, is difficult to track through credible sources.
Country Bear Vacation Hoedown
How do the Country Bears spend summer vacation? Guests didn’t have to wonder any longer upon the 1986 debut of Country Bear Vacation Hoedown at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.
The summer-centric show was equally unhinged as its Christmas counterpart. Among the proceedings were a bear playing a viola with a fly swatter, a skunk perching atop Henry’s head instead of the usual raccoon, and Delores the octopus, who surely would earn a cult following among the fan community if social media existed in the ’80s. Today, Delores hangs out in the rafters of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission — Breakout! at Disney California Adventure as part of the Collector’s belongings.
Contrary to common reporting, Country Bear Vacation Hoedown was not a seasonal overlay in the American parks. Instead, this third iteration of the bears’ antics was a semi-permanent replacement of the original show altogether, according to Yesterland. Country Bear Vacation Hoedown performed year-round, aside from the holiday season.
At Magic Kingdom, the original 1971 version was reinstated in 1992. Disneyland, though, never reverted back. Country Bear Vacation Hoedown remained Anaheim’s permanent presentation until the attraction’s closure in 2001, ultimately performing on the west coast longer than the original version had. Yesterland again chronicled a timeline.
Tokyo Disneyland also featured Country Bear Vacation Hoedown with some regularity. Like the holiday show, its residency in Japan isn’t thoroughly recorded online.
The Legacy of Country Bear Jamboree
As the editors of “Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World 2006: The Official Guide” provided readers with vacation tips, they pointed out how Country Bear Jamboree “capture[s] the spirit of a genre that has a tendency to celebrate and lampoon itself simultaneously.” That description accurately encapsulates the enduring endearment Country Bear Jamboree has had upon multiple generations of park-goers — within Grizzly Hall and beyond its walls.
Some of the Country Bears appear as walk-around characters. Most of the time they’re found near their attraction at Magic Kingdom, such as when they take part in Frontierland Hoedown, a flash mob in the middle of the street with dancers and fellow Disney pals.
Photos by Blake Taylor
Occasionally the bears have shown up in less-expected places, like a castle stage show in the 1990s. Around that same time, the bears tormented poor Donald Duck at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground during a segment from a “Disney Sing-Along Songs” VHS tape.
Photo by Blake Taylor
In 2002, Disney released “The Country Bears,” a live-action movie, into theaters. We … uh … don’t need to elaborate on that, though.
A County Bear Jamboree sing-along has been part of the itinerary for the unofficial Gay Days event at Walt Disney World. Here’s a clip from the 2012 sing-along:
Imagineers refreshed Country Bear Jamboree at Magic Kingdom in 2011 top to bottom with new curtains, benches, backdrops, and animatronic technology.
“I want our guests to know that we do care about our classic attractions and we really make an effort to keep them up and to bring them new magic,” Imagineer Lauren Murphy said in a Disney YouTube video filmed during the attraction’s 2011 downtime. “There’s a lot of different generations who come to our parks.”
Disney has continued to openly communicate a loyalty to Country Bear Jamboree and acknowledge the fan base the attraction maintains. In 2017, the bears received their own Halloween card in the now-defunct Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game. Who knew Big Al could vanquish Disney villains?
In 2018, the Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail included a nod to Bunny, Bubbles, and Buelah with a poster quoting the trio’s famous “shook” line. Pop culture had finally caught up to the ahead-of-their-time bears.
“Unscrupulous sources,” as the Disney Parks Blog phrased it, spread rumors in 2019 about a permanent closure of both Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree. Disney clapped back, “While ‘toucan’ play at that game, we deal in facts here at the Disney Parks Blog.”
In a separate post, Disney addressed Country Bear Jamboree specifically: “Our Imagineers are always looking at ways to bring more magic to our guests through experiences and stories they know, but contrary to rumors, Country Bear Jamboree is not going into hibernation any time soon.”
Photo by Blake Taylor
2024: “Country Bear Musical Jamboree”
Imagineer Chris Beatty took to the stage at Destination D23 2023 with news about the bears’ future.
“We at Imagineering love the Country Bears as much as you do as fans,” Beatty said, “which is why I’m thrilled to tell you that next year, they’re going to be learning some new songs and performing a whole new act.”
Country Bear Jamboree will officially debut as Country Bear Musical Jamboree in summer 2024.
“We’re envisioning this new take on the classic Jamboree as an homage to the classic musical revues of Nashville,” Beatty continued. “The music is going to be amazing. The show will still have the fun and friendly tone that we all love about the Country Bears.”
See Beatty’s announcement, plus a sneak peek at the new show’s “Bare Necessities” segment, in our video:
