Country Bear Jamboree

Country Bear Jamboree is a musical revue performed by a jolly band of backwoods bears in Grizzly Hall theater in Fontierland at Magic Kingdom theme park. Join the talented cast of 18 musically-inclined bears as they perform continuous 17-minute shows featuring country music-style classics-to the delight of fans big and small. The rustic review is infused with a down-home sensibility that includes plenty of great music, broad humor and a few unexpected surprises.

The show starts when the three stuffed animal heads mounted on the walls-named Buff, Max and Melvin-show more life than might be expected. Grizzly Hall's emcee, Henry, introduces us to a colorful variety of gifted bears who each make an appearance, sing a few songs and display their expertise on a variety of musical instruments. Look for the crowd favorite; a towering mammoth with a soulful heart named, appropriately, Big Al.

Country Bear Jamboree is one of the very last attractions that Walt Disney personally helped develop. The show was originally planned for a never-built Disney ski resort in Mineral King, California. When that project did not come to fruition, the bears happily moved out to Florida in 1971 and have been performing daily at Magic Kingdom theme park ever since.

The attraction is a stage show with audio-animatronic figures. Most of the characters are bears who perform Country music. Characters rise up to the stage on platforms, descend from the ceiling, and appear from behind curtains. The audience includes audio-animatronic animal heads mounted on the walls who interact with characters on stage.

Country Bear Jamboree is located along the southwest bend of the Rivers of America, next door to Pecos Bill Cafe.

Touring Tips

• This is a great attraction to see when you want to get out of the sun and off your feet for a spell.
• The Country Bear Jamboree is a fun show with lots of laughs that plays to audiences of all ages.
• Although more popular with the older and younger folks, this is a popular attraction and long lines are not uncommon. However don't be disheartened by this; the theatre is large and once the doors open, large groups will go in at one time.
• The line for the Bears will wind its way along the front of Grizzly Hall. Once inside the turnstiles, you're in the preshow area. Your wait time here is approximately 10 minutes until the next show.

Facts

• The show opened October 1, 1971.
• The Country Bears can be found roaming the park in both Frontierland and Main Street, and sometimes cruise on the Liberty Belle Riverboat, too. Be on the lookout for the unadvertised Frontierland Hoedown when the bears come out to dance with the guests.
• Country Bear Jamboree was the first major attraction to actually debut at Walt Disney World in Florida, and subsequently open at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. The original show was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay.
• The Country Bears movie was released by Disney in 2002, based loosely on the characters found in this attraction.
• During the holiday season, a Christmas version is offered.

The Show

The show is basically a continuous string of short country songs sung by the various bears. As each bear sings their song, a curtain opens to reveal them, except in the case of Wendell, Gomer, and the Sun Bonnet Trio (all of whom who rise from the center stage), and Teddi Barra (who descends from the ceiling). The show begins with Max, Buff, and Melvin telling Henry to get on with the show. Henry then asks Gomer to give him a "little intro", and the jamboree begins.

The Songs

1. "Pianjo" (Don Robertson) - Gomer and Henry
2. "Bear Band Serenade" (Lyrics: Xavier Atencio, Music: George Bruns) - The Five Bear Rugs, Gomer, and Henry
3. "Fractured Folk Song" (Kenneth C. Burns & Henry D. Haynes) - Henry and Wendell
4. "My Woman Ain't Pretty (But She Don't Sware None)" (Frankie Starr & Paul E. Miller) - Liver Lips McGrowl
5. "Mama, Don't Whip Little Buford" (Burns & Haynes) - Henry and Wendell
6. "Tears Will Be the Chaser For Your Wine" (Dale Davis & Leroy Goates) - Trixie
7. "Devilish Mary" (Bradley Kincaid) - The Five Bear Rugs
8. "How Long Will My Baby Be Gone" (Buck Owens) - Terrence
9. "All the Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down" (Plot & Powell) - The Sun Bonnet Trio
10. "If Ya Can't Bite, Don't Growl" (Tommy Collins) - Ernest and the Five Bear Rugs
11. "Heart, We Did All We Could" (Ned Miller) - Teddi Barra
12. "Blood on the Saddle" (Everett Cheetham) - Big Al
13. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (Tom Blackburn and George Bruns) - Henry and Sammy
14. "Ole Slew Foot" (Howard Hausey) - Cast (minus Ernest and Trixie, who do not appear onstage, and Big Al, who reprises "Blood on the Saddle")
15. "Come Again" (Tom Adair & George Bruns) - Henry, Sammy, Max, Buff, and Melvin

History

The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt knew he wanted some sort of show to provide entertainment to the guests at the resort, and he knew he wanted the show to feature some sort of bear band. The project was assigned to imagineer Marc Davis. Davis, together with Al Bertino, came up with many bear groups, including bear marching bands, bear mariachi bands, and Dixieland bears. One day Davis was working on drawings of the characters in his office. Walt Disney walked in and saw the drawings and laughed because he loved the characters. On Disney's way out he turned to Marc Davis and said good-bye, which he was known never to say. A few days later he died on December 15, 1966. It was the last time Davis saw Disney.

After his death, plans for the show still carried on. The bears would be featured in the resort's Bear Band Restaurant Show, and it was decided that they would have a country twang. But while plans for the show progressed, plans for the ski resort did not. Instead, the Imagineers working on the project decided to place the show in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in time for its grand opening in 1971. Imagineer X Atencio and musical director George Bruns created songs for the bears to sing.

On October 1, 1971, The Country Bear Jamboree opened its doors in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It received so much good feedback that Imagineers immediately planned to make a replica of the show to be placed in Disneyland. The addition to the show in Disneyland inspired a brand new land appropriately titled Bear Country. Because of the tremendous popularity of the show in Walt Disney World, excess capacity was added to the March 4, 1972, Disneyland incarnation in the form of two identical theaters, each housing a copy of the show in its entirety.

n 1986, the Vacation Hoedown debuted at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. During the holiday season, the bears still performed their Christmas Show in Florida through 2005. Attendance struggled during the Vacation Hoedown's run in Florida, so for the Kingdom's 20th anniversary in 1992, the original show returned to rotate with the Christmas show as it had since 1984.

The attraction closed at Disneyland on September 9, 2001, to make room for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on April 11, 2003. However, it is rumored that the attraction will be rebuilt in Grizzly Peak at Disney California Adventure Park, but there are currently no confirmed plans.

Hidden Mickeys

• There is a hidden Mickey on the top of the platform (where all the bears play-center stage). If you look up, you'll see a flower in the middle, with a squirrel. The squirrel's tail splits and the on top of the flower are two little balls.
• In the Counrty Bear Jamboree once you enter the theater look up! Above the main stage there is a hidden Mickey. There is a big circle and then there are little swirls that make up the ears.