Country Bear Jamboree closing for lengthy refurbishment in August

J.E.Smith

J.E.Smith

Active Member
Well that joke I made about Gomer being replaced doesn't work, because it seems that bit was cut out from the WDWMagic vid. I just watched another vid and Henry still says "Gimme a little intro there Gomer"....except he's not on stage when he says it.
 
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
I would think that programing a new show, (perhaps without a costume change), would be a no-brainer.

Yes, CBJ is decades old, but obvious folks still love the show, at least based on the hand clapping I've seen in years past. I mean, this show from the 1970's is still entertaining, why in the world couldn't they just program 4 or 5 different shows and have the computer randomly selected which show plays on a given day? Without a costume change, it would just be what show the computer decides to run. Heck, they could even randomly move around the bits of dialogue that were removed from the original show.

I am sick and tired of waiting for new technology to be applied to CBJ so that multiple shows can be shown. Sure they'd have to pay somebody to write and program the bears, and for voice actors, but they could run a combination of shows for decades to come. Look how much mileage they got out of a single show!

I know that people complain about the supposedly high cost of changing out the show to do a Christmas show . . . even though Disney spends months getting Osbourne ready and manning huge warehouses with all of the trees that are moved around the resort. This is more manpower, and yet not quite as visible as a new piece of entertainment which could be advertised to bring guests into the park.

Splash Mountain falling apart, CBJ show shortened and the neat dialogue bits removed, plus a so-so Big Thunder refurb. Obviously, the manager/exec in charge of Frontierland is trying to cut the budget as much as possible to make this area of the park look more profitable.

I hope they fire him/her, or whoever is responsible for this garbage.
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I totally agree with this post!
 
dreamscometrue

dreamscometrue

Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther said:
Alas, perhaps the Country Bears have had their day. It hurt to type that. But honestly, I came to that conclusion when I saw the show last November. What had seemed so amazing when I was a kid seems much reduced now. But at least this new refurb really seems to have improved the AA's movements and appearance. I wish the video of the new abbreviated show had featured the animal heads more. They were always my fave. The video of the old show displays how bad their movement had gotten; the deer barely moves at all! Hopefully the refurb fixed that, since the bears do seem to move much more gracefully. As for the cuts, I do think the show's a little TOO brief. Perhaps a new soundtrack and a new show is what's really needed for CBJ. Maybe TDO will look into that in the future...?
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^^^This. Exactly how I felt after the last trip. I am fine with this refurb and that of the Tiki room. In both cases, I felt the shows could be shortened a bit. I don't thing it's necessary to hang on to exactly what was there for 40 years.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther said:
Then...why WAS it done?
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To increase the capacity of the show. Ops has been on a mission for years to speed up rides to get the maximum number in/out in an hour. It's the reason Mansion is running a good deal faster than it should be, it's the reason you'll never see a Jungle Cruise skipper slow his or her boat down unless it's absolutely necessary, etc.

It's unfortunate, to say the least.
 
dreamscometrue

dreamscometrue

Well-Known Member
skinde said:
...the nostalgia of such a classic seems wiped away...
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I clipped this part of the post because I think, in many cases (not all), the issues people have with some of the attraction changes at WDW are a result of nostalgia. That's not a bad thing, but it is not a reason for TDO to leave things the way they were.

A lot of wdwmagic members who complain about the TT scaffolding, changes to the Tiki Room, the Country Bears refurb, Nemo at The Seas, the BAH (Big A** Hat) at DHS, etc. liked things better the way they were. Remember though that tens of thousands of people are today, or soon will be, making their first ever visit to WDW. They might love The Seas with Nemo, appreciate the shade from the TT canopy, enjoy the Tiki show and Country Bears, etc. perhaps even moreso than had they seen the original.

Disney has to be concerned, not just about we veterans, but be able to interest a new generation of fans to it's parks. Country Bears was practically empty for many performances, and although the hydrolators were the coolest thing ever, you could often walk into the cavernous Living Seas without seeing another soul before the refurb. There must be a balance to try to keep some older attractions, but get new guests to visit them. Man, if some people on here had their way, we'd still have Horizons and WoM. These same people often talk about Universal's new state of the art attractions. You really think Disney could 'compete' with FJ and Transformers with Horizons and WoM? Either WDW stays the same as it was 20-30 years ago, or execs make changes to try to attract a new generation of fans, not just to simply appease we long time fans.
 
C

COProgressFan

Well-Known Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
I know that people complain about the supposedly high cost of changing out the show to do a Christmas show . . . even though Disney spends months getting Osbourne ready and manning huge warehouses with all of the trees that are moved around the resort. This is more manpower, and yet not quite as visible as a new piece of entertainment which could be advertised to bring guests into the park.
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Just to recount what an insider posted a few years ago about the CBJ Christmas Show. The changeover cost was something ridiculously low, like $15,000. But when your goal is to operate your park and resort "lean and mean" (to hell with what it does to the guest experience), apparently every penny counts.

To me the bang for you buck would be pretty good on that kind of tiny investment in terms of guest satisfaction, etc.
 
P

Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
COProgressFan said:
Just to recount what an insider posted a few years ago about the CBJ Christmas Show. The changeover cost was something ridiculously low, like $15,000. But when your goal is to operate your park and resort "lean and mean" (to hell with what it does to the guest experience), apparently every penny counts.

To me the bang for you buck would be pretty good on that kind of tiny investment in terms of guest satisfaction, etc.
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That's in the ballpark of what I think it would cost. Here are the changes that need to be made:

1. With advances in computer power, I'm figuring that all that needs to be done is basically a couple of clicks on a computer. Maybe, if these changes weren't in place, Garner Holt updated the computers controlling the bears.

2. Costumes on the bears, lights on the Buff, Max, Melvin. Have somebody from wardrobe do this, I can't see it taking more than a day or two. If somebody gave me a costume, I could probably get the old one off the bear and the new one in about 20-30 minutes.

3. Christmas decorations for the theater. Again, since they are putting up so many Christmas decorations, what is a couple more?

I could see them spending a week, depending on them having everything ready to go, if they wanted to do it at a leisurely pace and make sure everything looks perfect. I really don't get what the big deal is as WDW has plenty of staff they could pull from other places to get it done.

A family of five might spend, what? $7,000 for a decent sized vacation during Christmas? Even if they don't come specifically for CBJ's Christmas Show, just having this little extra bit of Christmas Magic would add to the experience and probably bring in a couple extra thousand guests each year.

AND if WDW wanted to advertise, "Return of CBJ's Christmas Show", or even better, "All New CBJ Christmas Show Coming", they would undoubtedly make money.

In fact, I think a CBJ Halloween Show would also bring in thousands more guests, not that many, but that translates into millions of dollars over the years.
 
P

Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
GLaDOS said:
To increase the capacity of the show. Ops has been on a mission for years to speed up rides to get the maximum number in/out in an hour. It's the reason Mansion is running a good deal faster than it should be, it's the reason you'll never see a Jungle Cruise skipper slow his or her boat down unless it's absolutely necessary, etc.

It's unfortunate, to say the least.
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Or in other words, the Magic Kingdom doesn't have the ride capacity to handle the number of guests that visit each year, or at least during the peak times.

Seems to me that the solution would be to build more quality attractions. Mermaid is OK, but SWSA had better storytelling, IMHO. 7SDMT will probably have a great queue, and nice scenery, but it isn't the big E-Ticket folks have been waiting for, yet these two rides will added much needed capacity, as will the dueling Dumbo.

Can't help but think that a Beauty and the Beast dark ride will be coming at some point to the area north of FLE (suitable expansion pad). Theming of BoG is so good that some guests will probably be expecting a ride.
 
J.E.Smith

J.E.Smith

Active Member
I know people keep saying the Christmas show should come back, but remember guys if it comes back now it would probably get cut down too.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Forgive me because it's been a while since I've seen this show, but was there a version (perhaps Christmas) where Liver Lips was dressed like Elvis? If so, how did his hair look in that?
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Pixiedustmaker said:
AND if WDW wanted to advertise, "Return of CBJ's Christmas Show", or even better, "All New CBJ Christmas Show Coming", they would undoubtedly make money.

In fact, I think a CBJ Halloween Show would also bring in thousands more guests, not that many, but that translates into millions of dollars over the years.
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That's incredibly hard to quantify. Would those people be making that trip without the overlay? I'm guessing it had no BEARing.
 
J.E.Smith

J.E.Smith

Active Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Forgive me because it's been a while since I've seen this show, but was there a version (perhaps Christmas) where Liver Lips was dressed like Elvis? If so, how did his hair look in that?
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Like this:

WDW_LiverLips.jpg
 
Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
The Duck said:
Like most here, I agree that the Bears animation seems much better but the cuts weren't necessary.
When they cut "Devilish Mary", they removed a key song that almost always gets the audience clapping their hands and stomping their feet. Were they getting complaints that too many people were actually enjoying themselves?

One bit of dialogue that was cut by the P.C. Gestapo was Buff's fat joke at Trixie's expense (That's not ALL that's big!). I happen to be a certified tub of lard and I always laughed at that joke but I suppose someone probably complained.

In short, I'm disappointed mostly with the dialogue cuts. Cutting out too much of the chit-chat and flim-flam has de-humanized the Bears (Yes, I know that's an oxymoron but you know what I mean). While they used to be a friendly, folksy bunch of bears, they've now become a little bit colder and distant.
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Yeah, i agree with most of the above. Well noted. Yes, i also noticed the cutting of Buff's *big* joke towards Trixie, which i can understand why it may have been taken out....but then they leave the song ' Mama Don't Whup Little Buford ' IN ?
If anything was to be cut, i would have guessed it would have been this song only due to the un-PC ending some people may have a issue with. I guess they are just playing it safe.
 
P

Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
That's incredibly hard to quantify. Would those people be making that trip without the overlay? I'm guessing it had no BEARing.
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Some folks would make a trip to WDW to see a CBJ Chirstmas Show. They might be mostly locals, but thousands more guests I am guessing, if they promoted it.

Even without heavily promoting CBJ's Christmas Show, you'd still have a lot of folks on this forum and others who would look at upkeep of MK more favorably, and might plan a trip sooner.

The big pay-off is that guests see the effort put forth for the Christmas Show and it adds to the holiday warmth and based on the total experience they decide to come back.

Based on the hollistic experience, it is hard to argue that any one thing brings in guests. What if they axed the Christmas Tree to make it half sized, and removed some of the bigger ones like the one at Fort Wilderness. Could you argue that any guests were lost?
 
P

Pixiedustmaker

Well-Known Member
Figments Friend said:
Yeah, i agree with most of the above. Well noted. Yes, i also noticed the cutting of Buff's *big* joke towards Trixie, which i can understand why it may have been taken out....but then they leave the song ' Mama Don't Whup Little Buford ' IN ?
If anything was to be cut, i would have guessed it would have been this song only due to the un-PC ending some people may have a issue with. I guess they are just playing it safe.
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Offending overweight guests is more of a problem these days as more guests are overweight. I don't think folks think too much about the Whup Little Buford song as the words by themselves look violent, but the song is sung in a jovial manner.
 

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