Was Country Bear Jamboree brought to Disneyland due to its popularity in Florida and built in record time?

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I’m someone who isn’t the biggest fan of country music, yet I still love the Country Bears. The reason is they mainly put on a funny & playful engaging variety show of sorts. That works with cartoon bears, it’s funny, as real life bears themselves are also goofy, clumsy and get into mischief by nature. Playing up the tropes yet respecting country at the same time w the music being performed in entertaining ways w silly banter & gags between all the characters. It hit just the right balance to be a hit I’d argue.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I’m also not the biggest fan of deep southern american country culture typically, but I still find hillbilly characters entertaining/humorous. I’d argue that’s the case for a lot of people infact.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And if we’re looking into the popularity or viability of silly cartoon bears lately.. I mean, Disney just introduced Humphrey from his & Ranger Woodlore’s (and Donald’s) old cartoon shorts as a meet n greet character. So.. I don’t think funny cartoon bears are going out of style, anytime soon.

 

[DL-fan]

The question is, was it Infact a problem? Or was it simply due to lack of proper marketing and signage that it didn’t do as well as it could’ve by that point? Still, even with that considered. Pretty sure it got plenty more foot traffic as the original show than it ever did being renamed to a playhouse and only showing the Vacation Hoedown rather than having the option to see both shows. Only would’ve added more variety for the guests to see and would garnered repeat visits.
The Christmas Show was popular seasonally. So it must’ve been popular enough to get a Christmas overlay, similar to Small World. Infact, it’s what started the Christmas overlays to other attractions seasonally. And if those shows did so well, then it would’ve been further reason to do yet another overlay via Vacation Hoedown if they didn’t feel they should’ve just closed it entirely then & there. Weird to do that with an attraction that supposedly wasn’t popular rather than one that was considered to be. (Like say, the Enchanted Tiki Room, in comparison), but yeah.

I can’t speak for the popularity of either the vacation or Christmas versions or CBJ being so popular which is why the new shows happened but from 1981-83, there was a lot of animatronic shows being created. Kitchen Kabaret, Meet the World, The American Adventure, Tiki Room TDL and CBJ TDL. Some OG imagineers helped create and design the Epcot shows and a lot of the Imagineers programming them were the new generation of Imagineers. By This time, many of the OG imagineers had retired or put in their final hurrah creating Epcot but it was a young man’s game now. Could’ve just been the new era of Imagineers ushering in this new concept of reprogramming animatronic shows and CBJ just came into play to try it first. This began in 84 with Country Bear Vacation Hoedown as well as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in December of that same year.

 

[TP2000]

I’m also not the biggest fan of deep southern american country culture typically, but I still find hillbilly characters entertaining/humorous. I’d argue that’s the case for a lot of people infact.

I'm the same way; my musical tastes run to practically everything but Country Western (with a few specific exceptions for songs that crossed over to the mainstream, like Ring of Fire, etc.). Yet I enjoyed the Country Bear shows.

But while I have never been a Country Western music fan, for some unknown reason I never missed an episode of Hee-Haw. I loved it when the fence would hit the girls in the behind, loved that chubby guy with the flat top who would tell dumb jokes, the cartoonish set design with all the hay bales and the big cheesy TV smiles, etc. just made it a favorite for me. But the music was not the reason. Odd how that worked.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I can’t speak for the popularity of either the vacation or Christmas versions or CBJ being so popular which is why the new shows happened but from 1981-83, there was a lot of animatronic shows being created. Kitchen Kabaret, Meet the World, The American Adventure, Tiki Room TDL and CBJ TDL. Some OG imagineers helped create and design the Epcot shows and a lot of the Imagineers programming them were the new generation of Imagineers. By This time, many of the OG imagineers had retired or put in their final hurrah creating Epcot but it was a young man’s game now. Could’ve just been the new era of Imagineers ushering in this new concept of reprogramming animatronic shows and CBJ just came into play to try it first. This began in 84 with Country Bear Vacation Hoedown as well as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in December of that same year.

This is true.. though, from what I’ve heard, Marc Davis had designed the Crane character for the Meet the World show. Which then begs the question, why he seemingly wasn’t considered to return to help work on the new Country Bear Christmas & Vacation shows after he left. Pretty sure he always was open to returning to help or be a consultant on new WDI projects if he was called or considered. Always wondered if they’d even called him to ask or discussed the possibility of involving him at all. To my knowledge atleast, that’s never been confirmed.
Though I do know replacing the original show with vacation hoedown permanently at Disneyland upset him. Can’t say I blame him. With the bizarre mixed up way they did the new signage and seemingly pretended the show hadn’t changed near the rest of its run, hence the “Playhouse” signage showing the ‘original’ outfit/designs of the characters rather than the Vacation Hoedown. Also, notice how the signage simply titles it as “Country Bear Playhouse” rather than Country Bear Vacation Hoedown outside it by this point. yeah, I don’t know... pretty odd right? Feels like a bait and switch to me.. :
Vacation Hoedown outfit (permanent show at DL from ‘86-01):


Original show outfit (Pre-86 show at Disneyland):

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Disneyland’s initial outside signage during Vacation Hoedown’s debut vs what they changed it to later. There’s that interior sign I talked about also, correctly calling it a Theatre, with the name of the show clearly (though even that’s mixed up, they call it Vacation Jamboree and not Vacation Hoedown) :


Walt Disney World’s signage for the show in comparison.. and while yes, the designs of the characters are sadly still mixed up, it was still atleast very clearly titled “Country Bear Vacation Hoedown” to signify the show itself had been changed unlike Disneyland’s… and as I said before, once it was proven at WDW it wasn’t as popular, they switched their’s back to the original in ‘92. Disneyland, not the case

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Interesting thing though is that very same year, at that year’s Disneyana convention at the Anaheim convention center.. they released.. a Teddi Barra & both a pin & button to commemorate the occasion.. in (wait for it) her ‘original show’ outfit.. not the raincoat she wore in vacation hoedown (or is that vacation jamboree, playhouse, I dunno. ) .. and from my knowledge, it sold well with collectors that year.. seeing as that sold.. did they change the show back at DL too? Nope. :


Outfit in the Vacation Hoedown show playing at Disneyland at that time.. again, not the same:

 

[DL-fan]

This is true.. though, from what I’ve heard, Marc Davis had designed the Crane character for the Meet the World show. Which then begs the question, why he seemingly wasn’t considered to return to help work on the new Country Bear Christmas & Vacation shows after he left. Pretty sure he always was open to returning to help or be a consultant on new WDI projects if he was called or considered. Always wondered if they’d even called him to ask or discussed the possibility of involving him at all. To my knowledge atleast, that’s never been confirmed.
Though I do know replacing the original show with vacation hoedown permanently at Disneyland upset him. Can’t say I blame him. With the bizarre mixed up way they did the new signage and seemingly pretended the show hadn’t changed near the rest of its run, hence the “Playhouse” signage showing the ‘original’ outfit/designs of the characters rather than the Vacation Hoedown. Also, notice how the signage simply titles it as “Country Bear Playhouse” rather than Country Bear Vacation Hoedown outside it by this point. yeah, I don’t know... pretty odd right? Feels like a bait and switch to me.. :
View attachment 910577View attachment 910576Vacation Hoedown outfit (permanent show at DL from ‘86-01):

View attachment 910578
Original show outfit (Pre-86 show at Disneyland):

View attachment 910580

It wasn’t Marc Davis who designed the crane, it was Randy Cartwright. Marc Davis retired in 1978, the decision was his own but I’m sure he felt ousted by the company. Probably because his Western River Expedition idea never took off as well as his redesign of Mine Train thru Nature’s Wonderland and I’m sure Tony Baxter’s Thunder Mountain replacing both of those was the nail in the coffin for him. Much later, Splash Mountain killed America Sings and I’m sure was mad at that and had a bit of animosity towards Tony.

He did come back very briefly in the 1980-81 solely to help Ward Kimball with some designs in World of Motion and he did some small character work for Black Cauldron. I think he just came back to see and help old friends but was tired of the ever changing company by the time the new CBJ shows were being designed.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

It wasn’t Marc Davis who designed the crane, it was Randy Cartwright. Marc Davis retired in 1978, the decision was his own but I’m sure he felt ousted by the company. Probably because his Western River Expedition idea never took off as well as his redesign of Mine Train thru Nature’s Wonderland and I’m sure Tony Baxter’s Thunder Mountain replacing both of those was the nail in the coffin for him.

He did come back very briefly in the 1980-81 solely to help Ward Kimball with some designs in World of Motion and he did some small character work for Black Cauldron. I think he just came back to see and help old friends but was tired of the ever changing company by the time the new CBJ shows were being designed.

Ah, thanks for the clarification on the crane. Glad to know who Infact designed the Crane now.

 

[DL-fan]

I have a question for all of you CBJ lovers out there who grew up with the attraction:

If the only way you could get back Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland was to have an exact copy of the current Disney Musical Jamboree in MK, would you take that offer?

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I have a question for all of you CBJ lovers out there who grew up with the attraction:

If the only way you could get back Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland was to have an exact copy of the current Disney Musical Jamboree in MK, would you take that offer?

Absolutely, though, it’s been having maintenance issues lately because of the way they upgraded the AAs. It needs to get fixed. The hybrid idea wasn’t the issue. The issue is they ended up replacing the less used movements w servos and kept hydraulics in the heavily used movements. (As opposed to lesser used movements keeping hydraulic, and heavily used, servo controlled) Which has been causing more hydraulic leaks and show downtimes as a result, from my observations of some of the breakdowns that have occurred. They need to get this reversed/solved however they need to (whether that be reversing the parts replaced, or replacing all the parts w servo controlled parts) so this issue can be prevented/can be operated far more reliably in the future.

But again, even with this considered. Surely they could eventually feature the original show in one of the 2 theaters as an option, yes? Change Liverlips McGrowl’s name to Romeo McGrowl.. no issues. Same can be said for Vacation Hoedown & Christmas Special if they ever decided to do those as seasonal overlays again, if they brought both Musical Jamboree and the original show back. If they honestly can’t bring the original show back at all, I mean.. I get it. But again, I don’t think it’s impossible. If Nibbles Maplestick & the rest of the hillbilly animals & reptiles in the swamp where she’s from can be offbeat and edgy in Zootopia 2, then so can the Country Bears. The humor of the rest of the original show is practically the same. And if you have ‘both’ shows operating at once. Original in one theater, Musical in the other. (Both w clear signage indicating the show/content of each). Where is the issue? It’d simply provide more variety, make every fan happy, and encourage more repeat visits.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And for the Pooh fans, just put a Pooh show in the Fantasyland Theatre, have character meet n greets take place there after each show, and have his merch sold there, where it fits.

 

[TP2000]

Disneyland’s initial outside signage during Vacation Hoedown’s debut vs what they changed it to later. There’s that interior sign I talked about also, correctly calling it a Theatre, with the name of the show clearly (though even that’s mixed up, they call it Vacation Jamboree and not Vacation Hoedown) :
View attachment 910585

Walt Disney World’s signage for the show in comparison.. and while yes, the designs of the characters are sadly still mixed up, it was still atleast very clearly titled “Country Bear Vacation Hoedown” to signify the show itself had been changed unlike Disneyland’s… and as I said before, once it was proven at WDW it wasn’t as popular, they switched their’s back to the original in ‘92. Disneyland, not the case

View attachment 910584

I had no idea the signage and nomenclature was such a mess! Is there not someone at WDI in charge of that sort of stuff?

The early years for Disneyland were messy when it came to nomenclature and branding of park features, and out in Florida WDI clearly lost track of how many times they renamed and rebranded the version of the Tiki Room at WDW in their early years out there. But by the 1980's they should have known better, if not correct all their mistakes by the 1990's.

We make fun of the Disneyland Sign Department that keeps putting easily spotted misspellings and errors on their in-park signs. But those are generally temporary signs. This Jamboree mess was permanent and was purposely built at no small expense!

 

[Parteecia]

I have a question for all of you CBJ lovers out there who grew up with the attraction:

If the only way you could get back Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland was to have an exact copy of the current Disney Musical Jamboree in MK, would you take that offer?

No. I want the original.

 

[Distorian]

I have a question for all of you CBJ lovers out there who grew up with the attraction:

If the only way you could get back Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland was to have an exact copy of the current Disney Musical Jamboree in MK, would you take that offer?

Yes. Even though it's obviously an inferior product, just having the show with its animatronics still leaves the door open for a return to the original show or a Christmas variant.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Yes. Even though it's obviously an inferior product, just having the show with its animatronics still leaves the door open for a return to the original show or a Christmas variant.

My line of thinking also, and with 2 theaters. It’s possible to feature both OG & Musical at once, and other rotating limited time variants (like Christmas Special & Vacation Hoedown)

 

[PiratesMansion]

Let's be real though, if Country Bears came back to Disneyland, it would 100% be the new show and maybe the Christmas show eventually. Perhaps Vacation Hoedown years down the line as an occasional nostalgia offering. I don't see a universe where they would bring back the OG, unfortunately.

I personally would want the original show, but the company has convinced itself that the original show was a problem or offensive to modern sensibilities or whatever.

 

[Distorian]

Let's be real though, if Country Bears came back to Disneyland, it would 100% be the new show and maybe the Christmas show eventually. Perhaps Vacation Hoedown years down the line as an occasional nostalgia offering. I don't see a universe where they would bring back the OG, unfortunately.

I personally would want the original show, but the company has convinced itself that the original show was a problem or offensive to modern sensibilities or whatever.

Is this even true? Other than the removal of "Liver Lips" and of the fat jokes, I don't think there's ever been any actual hint that any of the changes have been made for political correctness. I think the changes just happened because Disney wants synergy and doesn't believe the original show's music is appealing to guests.

Another note for wanting its return to Disneyland, regardless of which version, the parks needs more Marc Davis character designs in them. The removal of Splash was a huge loss in this regard. Marc Davis's character designs defined the Disneyland aesthetic.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Is this even true? Other than the removal of "Liver Lips" and of the fat jokes, I don't think there's ever been any actual hint that any of the changes have been made for political correctness. I think the changes just happened because Disney wants synergy and doesn't believe the original show's music is appealing to guests.

Another note for wanting its return to Disneyland, regardless of which version, the parks needs more Marc Davis character designs in them. The removal of Splash was a huge loss in this regard. Marc Davis's character designs defined the Disneyland aesthetic.

You doubt that modern Disney had an issue with things like "Mama dun Whup Little Buford," "All the Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down," or Henry being quite clear that he was going to go up and do more than play Yahtzee with Teddi Barra?

I'm not dismissing the other reasons, mind, but to me it's clear that modern Disney wasn't crazy about the content. It didn't seem to be the guests complaining about what the show contained as far as I could tell.

People say that about Davis' aesthetic as they should, but too often they default to or are primarily talking about the Splash AAs. This cheapens the entire argument because it conveniently ignores that Marc Davis was hardly enthusiastic about how his characters were repurposed for Splash, something that both he and Alice made clear over the years. If people actually want more Davis back in the park, fine, great, I support that. If it's just a thinly-veiled excuse to whine about Splash, I have no problem calling it out as such.