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

[Distorian]

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.

I genuinely don’t think there’s anything wrong with those, and I say this as a moralistic prude.

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.

Or I just like Davis’s work and think it should be preserved?

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

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.

But yet, as I mentioned previously, there’s plenty just as edgy/off beat jokes & characters featured in the 2 Zootopia movies.. so.. why can’t the Country Bears also be just as edgy? Makes absolutely no sense to me. Such hypocrisy from this company lately, it’s wild.
(And admittedly, just wanna clarify, Teddi Barra was the one inviting Henry to come on up and see her sometime)

 

[PiratesMansion]

I genuinely don’t think there’s anything wrong with those, and I say this as a moralistic prude.

But yet, as I mentioned previously, there’s plenty just as edgy/off beat jokes & characters featured in the 2 Zootopia movies.. so.. why can’t the Country Bears also be just as edgy? Makes absolutely no sense to me. Such hypocrisy from this company lately, it’s wild.
(And admittedly, just wanna clarify, Teddi Barra was the one inviting Henry to come on up and see her sometime)

I'm not saying I have a problem with the OG show, far from it.

But I don't think the notion that they're afraid of perceived backlash or that it's too much for modern Disney is insane when Disney can't even run the full uncensored version of Steamboat Willie in the Main Street Cinema or show Jessica Rabbit as she appears in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the ride based on said movie.

They're actively looking for things that they think might upset people and acting accordingly. Maybe that's changed, but maybe they're just taking an intermission. From my end, it's hard to tell.

 

[Parteecia]

The original was fun. The new shows are boring. I even YouTubed to refresh my memory.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

It would have been, yes. The openings were just so close together, and the shows were identical once you got the audience through the lobby and into their seats.

Late to the discussion and not sure if this was mentioned, but there were some slight differences in the animatronics. The show audio itself was the same, but the animatronics were essentially "2.0" versions of WDW's, with added features like Shaker being able to swing his hips and Teddi having more range of motion for her head. Tokyo would get these versions of the animatronics when they got the show years later.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Okay gang, here we go!

After striking out with an online records search for things like 1969-1971 copies of the Disneyland Line (which are available at the Anaheim Heritage Center, but you have to go there in person and I'm 500 miles away), and then checking the various and very excellent fan blogs out there for any sort of written documentation or circa 1970 interview from a Disney source, I was discouraged, but then thought maybe there's a way to find photographic evidence.

And I pieced together the following from several sources, and it shows the "show building" warehouse built for the Jamboree at Disneyland was constructed in a two-theater setup from the very beginning of construction in early calendar year 1971.

An important reminder: Magic Kingdom Park had its first soft opening day for guests on October 1, 1971. (It was very lightly attended with barely 10,000 people showing up). There were other lightly attended soft opening days over the next few weeks in October, '71. Magic Kingdom Park was officially opened to the public on October 25, 1971. Attendance remained light through mid November, but during the Thanksgiving weekend of 1971 the crowds finally arrived in huge numbers. The place was suddenly packed for Thanksgiving, and they were off and running...

Here is a photo of Disneyland's Bear Country construction taken in the Spring of 1971. The show building warehouse has been built beyond a new berm on the West side of the Disneyland Railroad tracks. There are two flylofts for the two Teddy Beara mechanisms, one over each theater, labeled as flyloft 1 and 2 in this photo. At the far northern end of the building's roof you can also see the roof access stairwell and door that allowed access to the roof, and the individual doors into each flyloft. The access stairwell and rooftop door is labeled A in this photo. As we remember, the entire Jamboree theater facility was accessed via a hillside portal that led down a long sloped hallway to the large lobby with two sets of theater doors. That entrance is noted here as TO LOBBY.

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So that's what it looked like in Anaheim in the Spring of '71, and at least 7 or 8 months before the first real attendance and demand data began coming in for the show out in Florida during Thanksgiving and Christmas '71.

Here is an aerial photo of Bear Country taken during the Bicentennial summer of 1976. You can see the two flylofts, plus the access stairwell, easily in this photo. Apologies for the sizing, but good aerial photography is hard to come by from the 1970's.

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When the show was closed in '01 and reopened as the Pooh ride in '03, they gutted the theaters but kept the basic structure. They even kept the flylofts, and the flyloft from Theater 2 is still used for the mechanism of the moving hot air balloon basket in the Heffalumps and Whoozles scene in the ride today.

Here is a Google Earth image from 2025, and I purposely screen shot it from the east to get the 3-D effect of those two Jamboree flylofts and the access stairwell that were designed into the building in 1970 and built in early 1971.

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So for now, without finding written documentation from 1969-71 yet that the Jamboree at Disneyland was always planned for 2 theaters (which it obviously was), I think we can safely say that the notion they somehow rushed a second theater into construction and built it within four months of Thanksgiving weekend '71 in order to open at Disneyland on March 24th, 1972 is an old wives tale.

And with that task done, and after we finally hit 70 degrees today and there's definitely spring creeping into the air in St. George, I'm going to celebrate.

Oh, look at the time! It's almost 7 o'clock and the Friday Cocktail Hour is upon us! Happy Weekend!

I think I will now go carve up some sharp Tillamook cheese, add some smoked almonds to the plate, and then make myself a fresh and bracing Whiskey Sour. I'll put it in a fancy coupe glass, and then gladly do the following:

• Raise a toast to @MK-fan for posing this excellent question!
• Raise a toast to Miss Teddy Beara for being, well, Miss Teddy Beara regardless of which flyloft she was in!
• Raise a toast to increased ride capacity everywhere!

This is incredible! For decades the "it was so popular in Florida we greenlit it right away" story was shared as if it was the truth, when in reality it seems like that story is yet another romanticized tale that Disney loves to tell about their parks. I'm still curious what made them think to do two theaters in the smaller, local park without any knowledge of how popular it'd be.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Always felt they could’ve made this character actually star in the ride. If you were to simply do Marc Davis styled/staged audio-animatronics of this guy, give him a name and include some friends/fellow bear river rafters w him, acting as an expansion of the Country Bear Jamboree characters & universe, I think it’d work wonderfully.
(Maybe he could be the unseen stage hand, Rufus from CBCS & CBVH (Christmas Special & Vacation Hoedown), river rafting is his main hobby/occupation, but his job as a stage hand at the Country Bear Theatre is just a additional job he has. He isn’t the best at it (of course) but it pays the bills. Lol
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There was supposed to be a water-based ride expanding the Country Bears universe, according to Jim Hill. Predating Splash Mountain, it was called "Moonshine Express" and was a log flume/shooter combo ride where guests were recruited by Henry's brother, the sheriff, to catch some "bad bears" making moonshine. Guests would be able to shoot at the bears, and they'd "shoot back", whatever that means. Some imagineers have corroborated this and implied that concept art exists but it's never surfaced, sadly.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

For all the wrongs that Disney unleashed on Disneyland from 1992-2001, they never really made up for them. Mission to Mars, Motor Boat Cruise, Skyway all closed with no replacements. PeopleMover, Rocket Jets and he Country Bears Jamboree all closed and were replaced with inferior replacements. The only time Disney tried to rewrite one of those wrongs when it came to a major attraction was with the Submarine Voyage but many feel the subject matter does not live up to what the attraction should be.

I think Disney should try to rewrite this wrong as well. Why can’t CBJ be brought back and put in a new location? It would be the least problematic and wouldn’t break the bank in terms of a new offering. If they’re gonna keep bringing up CBJ nostalgia around the parks, why not just bring back the classic in a new way like MK.

Honestly, they should put it back in its original location, albeit with one theater. Bayou Country is clearly leaning into Bear Country for its theming (trashcans and cast member costumes have artwork of a bear with the slogan "A Honey of a Place Since '72" on them, which is directly lifted from Bear Country), and with them doubling down on the Country Bear theming in the Hungry Bear, now is a good time to rip off the Pooh band aid. The ride is a dud, it's always a walk on and is commonly referred to as the worst Pooh ride. Gut the ride, put the CBMJ in the "1" theater and give the "2" theater space up to Galaxy's Edge so it has a little extra room for whatever they want to add behind the CBJ/Pooh building. Then, if we're being smart, they should add a randomization feature a la Star Tours to the show, with each bear getting 3 or so songs they can potentially sing either solo or with another bear, so the show is always different, making it better for revisits.

If we NEED Pooh somewhere, put him in Fantasyland. Disneyland might be small but I'm sure they can find room. Gut the Fantasyland Theater after Bluey leaves, fill in the lagoon north from the Matterhorn and shorten Autopia and put a dark ride there. Knowing Disney though, they'd want it to be a modern E Ticket to sell LLs, so something like Pooh's Honey Hunt is more likely. Wonder if you'd be able to fit that in anywhere in the park?

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

There was supposed to be a water-based ride expanding the Country Bears universe, according to Jim Hill. Predating Splash Mountain, it was called "Moonshine Express" and was a log flume/shooter combo ride where guests were recruited by Henry's brother, the sheriff, to catch some "bad bears" making moonshine. Guests would be able to shoot at the bears, and they'd "shoot back", whatever that means. Some imagineers have corroborated this and implied that concept art exists but it's never surfaced, sadly.

Brought Moonshine Express up in my post above the one you replied to. Agreed it was a fantastic concept, hence why I thought the Grizzly River Run expansion concept would be a good idea. Really do wish concept art would be seen or shown off at some point. :

All the more reason it never should’ve been done. Terrible replacement for the CBJ and just a poorly made ride overall.
Why they couldn’t have simply put a Pooh show at the Fantasyland Theatre, again, not sure. Merch could’ve been sold near there which would’ve fit the area, and we wouldn’t have had to worry about the Country Bears leaving DL.
And now with the Hungry Bear Barbecue Restaurant and the Big Al statue at DCA, it seems only right/fitting that they return to Disneyland at some point. I’d prefer the original theatre (this time actually called a theatre rather than a playhouse) show return but hey, ya know how at some point, how the plan was to have something called the moonshine express for the log flume. (One section of the land is where you had the nice bears playing music, the other you had bad bears making moonshine. You were supposed to be hired by a sheriff bear to stop a group of bad bears making moonshine, etc. (would’ve been a shoot up ride similar to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters) but it would’ve been tied into the same Country Bear universe & had the same Marc Davis stylizations, etc.). Well, why not say, add some theming to Grizzly River Run by expanding it to there instead of the log flume.. and while you don’t have to follow the same exact story. You could still do something in the Country Bear Jamboree style that’s original that basically acts as an expansion of that universe, etc. w funny/humorous characters & scenes, etc.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Late to the discussion and not sure if this was mentioned, but there were some slight differences in the animatronics. The show audio itself was the same, but the animatronics were essentially "2.0" versions of WDW's, with added features like Shaker being able to swing his hips and Teddi having more range of motion for her head. Tokyo would get these versions of the animatronics when they got the show years later.

If they ever bring it back to DL, they really ought to utilize those 2.0 figures again.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Brought Moonshine Express up in my post above the one you replied to. Agreed it was a fantastic concept, hence why I thought the Grizzly River Run expansion concept would be a good idea. Really do wish concept art would be seen or shown off at some point. :

Oh whoops, totally missed that!

If they ever bring it back to DL, they really ought to utilize those 2.0 figures again.

Especially since the new figures at MK are so prone to breaking down, apparently. The whole "hydraulics for heavy movements and servo for light movements when it should be the opposite" thing people have mentioned. Wonder how much it would cost to fix that at MK, probably the same as the show initially cost minus costuming and fur?

 

[TP2000]

Late to the discussion and not sure if this was mentioned, but there were some slight differences in the animatronics. The show audio itself was the same, but the animatronics were essentially "2.0" versions of WDW's, with added features like Shaker being able to swing his hips and Teddi having more range of motion for her head. Tokyo would get these versions of the animatronics when they got the show years later.

I didn't know that! Fascinating, and fun.

It also would bolster the (now obvious) timeline that they knew they would be building a two-theater setup for Disneyland. As they had to approve the budgeting and construction of two sets of the more advanced animatronics long before the show first saw it's big crowds on Thanksgiving, 1971, just 4 months before it opened at Disneyland.

This is incredible! For decades the "it was so popular in Florida we greenlit it right away" story was shared as if it was the truth, when in reality it seems like that story is yet another romanticized tale that Disney loves to tell about their parks. I'm still curious what made them think to do two theaters in the smaller, local park without any knowledge of how popular it'd be.

It was all about ride capacity back then. And Disneyland's attendance had boomed during the 1960's. Attendance doubled in the early 60's, and then doubled again by the time Haunted Mansion opened in '69. They had a record 86,000 people (someone Google that exact number, please) visit the park in August, 1969, and that type of daily attendance even today would bring the park to it's knees.

During Walt's speech to his troops on July 17th, 1965 for the Tencennial banquet, he jokingly made specific reference to the skyrocketing attendance and how Dick Nunis was begging for more ride capacity in anything and everything they could build. Thus, by '67, you got stuff like Pirates that got 2,800 riders per hour, Carousel of Progress that got 3,500 riders per hour, the PeopleMover at 3,000+ per hour, and Omnimovers that got over 2,100 per hour at Haunted Mansion and Adventure Thru Inner Space.

Circa 1968, when the financials for Fiscal '70 and '71 would have been in planning, it would have been an easy decision for any Disneyland exec to make to greenlight a double theater that could get 2,000 guests per hour instead of just a single theater getting 1,000 guests per hour.

This was back when real operators and real showmen ran the park, and they knew instinctively that to be good hosts (and make lots of money) you had to have people-eaters in the park vacuuming up every E Ticket the ticket booths could sell. And more. That lesson was lost by the 1990's, when you had mall managers and marketers running the parks who had no idea how to be a good host in a crowded theme park.

They seem to have learned that lesson and things are swinging back to increased ride capacity. But it's tenuous.

 

[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) :
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

OMG. You’re never gonna believe this folks. Was looking at an old (originally released in ‘97, and then again in ‘02. Songs & booklet was the exact same on both releases) Parks sing-along set I had as a kid, and I remembered the Bear Band Serenade song was on it.. but to my absolute shock.. low and behold.. look what it says it’s from and check out the pictures it has in the song booklet (it mainly shows the 5 bear rugs from the original show, but it shows Trixie as she was seen in Vacation Hoedown (the show Disneyland was playing at the time at their “Playhouse” that ‘didn’t’ feature the “Bear Band Serenade” at the beginning, but “The Great Outdoors” instead)… and it says it’s from “Country Bear Playhouse” as opposed to “Country Bear Jamboree” as if to try to gaslight us into believing the original show with the original songs was still playing at Disneyland at the time when it Infact wasn’t.
Btw, A few years later upon re-releasing this on CD only with instrumental versions, they then correctly said it was from the ‘Country Bear Jamboree’ and not a “Playhouse” or Vacation Hoedown. I kid you not. How come they didn’t get that right to begin with? Yeeeah.. Shaady. They knew full well the replacement “Playhouse”/Vacation Hoedown wasn’t as popular and yet they still continued to pretend it was the original show we all loved & remembered and that it hadn’t changed. And while I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. They should’ve just called it the Country Bear Theater at Disneyland also. TDL called it that, heck, DL used their poster for Vacation Hoedown (called Vacation Jamboree) out there, in the theater lobby.. so.. yeah, what in the world? :

 

[TP2000]

OMG. You’re never gonna believe this folks. Was looking at an old (originally released in ‘97, and then again in ‘02. Songs & booklet was the exact same on both releases) Parks sing-along set I had as a kid, and I remembered the Bear Band Serenade song was on it.. but to my absolute shock.. low and behold.. look what it says it’s from and check out the pictures it has in the song booklet (it mainly shows the 5 bear rugs from the original show, but it shows Trixie as she was seen in Vacation Hoedown (the show Disneyland was playing at the time at their “Playhouse” that ‘didn’t’ feature the “Bear Band Serenade” at the beginning, but “The Great Outdoors” instead)… and it says it’s from “Country Bear Playhouse” as opposed to “Country Bear Jamboree” as if to try to gaslight us into believing the original show with the original songs was still playing at Disneyland at the time when it Infact wasn’t.
Btw, A few years later upon re-releasing this on CD only with instrumental versions, they then correctly said it was from the ‘Country Bear Jamboree’ and not a “Playhouse” or Vacation Hoedown. I kid you not. How come they didn’t get that right to begin with? Yeeeah.. Shaady. They knew full well the replacement “Playhouse”/Vacation Hoedown wasn’t as popular and yet they still continued to pretend it was the original show we all loved & remembered and that it hadn’t changed. And while I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. They should’ve just called it the Country Bear Theater at Disneyland also. TDL called it that, heck, DL used their poster for Vacation Hoedown (called Vacation Jamboree) out there, in the theater lobby.. so.. yeah, what in the world? : View attachment 913108
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It's incredible how a song comes back to you, decades later. And you remember the melody, the words, etc.

I saw your post above earlier this afternoon. Tonight I made chicken Alfredo from scratch, and all during the process that included a lot of whisking to prevent the sauce from breaking I was singing (out loud)... "The bear band bears will play now, in the good old key of G, Zeke and Zeb and Ted and Fred and a bear named Tennessee.... "