Disneyland restaurant to become Country Bears-themed
Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree, themed to the Country Bears, will replace Hungry Bear Restaurant at Disneyland.
Reimagined Disneyland restaurant will celebrate park history
The Country Bears are returning to Disneyland, kinda sorta. Hungry Bear Restaurant, a quick-service dining location within Critter Country at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Calif., will become Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree, themed to the classic Disney attraction Country Bear Jamboree.
Inspired by the Country Bears and their travels throughout the greatest music halls in the United States, Disneyland Resort will introduce a menu inspired by the Country Bears’ favorite regional barbecue dishes, which guests can enjoy alongside a soundtrack of their greatest hits.
Disneyland Resort
Disney has not announced an opening date, and did not mention if the “greatest hits” background music will be archival recordings or newly recorded tracks. Hungry Bear Restaurant’s former menu included standards such as cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, chicken salad, and funnel cakes.
There are not expected to be Audio-Animatronics involved, and Disney stated Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree will not be character dining.
Though the Country Bear Jamboree attraction still exists in various forms in Florida and Tokyo, the show has long been defunct at Disneyland, where it was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh over two decades ago.
The news of Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree comes just days after Country Bear Musical Jamboree opened at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. As a new version of the bears’ show, the refreshed attraction features the familiar characters now singing Disney tunes both classic (“The Bare Necessities” from “The Jungle Book”) and modern (“Remember Me” from “Coco”).
Restaurant part of ongoing changes to Critter Country
Hungry Bear Restaurant is currently closed as part of the ongoing work to Critter Country as Disney prepares Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for its grand opening later this year. The log flume, which replaces Splash Mountain, opened in Florida this summer, but has yet to open on the west coast. Disney has not announced an opening date for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland other than “2024.”
Other changes to the surrounding Critter Country area will include The Briar Patch gift shop becoming Ray’s Berets, as well as one half of the Pooh’s Corner store becoming Louis’ Critter Club, both named after characters from “The Princess and the Frog.”
Due to their locations within Critter Country, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes are incidentally also closed for the time being, though Disney has not announced changes being made to either of those attractions.
The Country Bears’ Disneyland homecoming
Despite being a restaurant in Disneyland rather than a full-fledged attraction, Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree marks something of a homecoming for the Country Bears to the original Disney theme park. Though their show debuted in Florida first (in 1971), it opened in California the following year as the centerpiece of a new land called Bear Country. In anticipation of the 1989 opening of Splash Mountain, Bear Country became Critter Country in 1988. The Country Bears vacated Critter Country in 2001 as Pooh and friends moved in.
Unique among Country Bear Jamboree attractions worldwide, Disneyland hosted the summer-themed variation of the show, “Country Bear Vacation Hoedown,” as a permanent residency. Upon the attraction’s west-coast closure, Vacation Hoedown had performed for a longer stretch of time at Disneyland than the original version of the show.
At the time of Bear Country’s opening, the restaurant now known as Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree was called Golden Bear Lodge.
To celebrate the Country Bears’ Disneyland restaurant, discover more about the Country Bears’ multifaceted history in our previous story.
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