MK Country Bear Jamboree is getting new songs and acts

[EagleScout610]

Didn't seem to be a problem for the last 20 years and you'll find that the same can be said for Carousel of Progress.
Guess they can just have father sing disney songs too.

"Hottest fourth of July in years! Just like this song was the hottest of 2022! WE DON'T TALK ABOUT.."

 

[LittleBuford]

At any rate, it's not my job to make people care about CBJ-it's Disney's.

Disney can’t force people to like an attraction they don’t. All they can do is replace or modify the attraction. I’m glad they’re doing the latter in this instance.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Disney can’t force people to like an attraction they don’t. All they can do is replace or modify the attraction. I’m glad they’re doing the latter in this instance.

See, I'm more of the mind that they actually don't need to do anything to it. They've been considering replacing it since 2004, according to that Imagineer. For the last 18 years, it's been "on the chopping block." How does doing this actually improve Magic Kingdom? Will the Disney songs really make that much of a difference? Will Grizzly Hall suddenly be jammed for every show? I think we all know the answer is no.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Also, they did say “learning new songs”. Do we have confirmation the entire original show is being replaced? Or could it be a mix of new and old?

Heck. Create multiple new songs, and have the system automatically rotate through, each show can be different. Add repeatability.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Also, they did say “learning new songs”. Do we have confirmation the entire original show is being replaced? Or could it be a mix of new and old?

Heck. Create multiple new songs, and have the system automatically rotate through, each show can be different. Add repeatability.

I sincerely hope some original songs stay. Why do they have to do this to their fanbase?

 

[flynnibus]

See, I'm more of the mind that they actually don't need to do anything to it. They've been considering replacing it since 2004, according to that Imagineer. For the last 18 years, it's been "on the chopping block." How does doing this actually improve Magic Kingdom? Will the Disney songs really make that much of a difference? Will Grizzly Hall suddenly be jammed for every show? I think we all know the answer is no.

well, the people who actually have their job on the line to make a similar determination... concluded otherwise.

Do you really think Disney is going to spend millions if they really believe this will not improve anything? If it were purely for the PC factor, they could just close it. Instead, they are investing in their product to try to improve it's utlization.

It's fine to not agree with their choice... but the drama about things doing basically nothing? Come on... the attraction basically runs empty today. It's reality. Accept it.

This is like the people clinging to the Lincoln Show at DL. Eventually you gotta face the reality that the old show, even for nostalgia reasons, is not performing it's role.

 

[Brer Oswald]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

 

[PiratesMansion]

See, I'm more of the mind that they actually don't need to do anything to it. They've been considering replacing it since 2004, according to that Imagineer. For the last 18 years, it's been "on the chopping block." How does doing this actually improve Magic Kingdom? Will the Disney songs really make that much of a difference? Will Grizzly Hall suddenly be jammed for every show? I think we all know the answer is no.

To me it's not assured that changing to more conventional Disney songs will inherently solve the problem. It certainly didn't do wonders for HarmoniUS, as many had seemed to expect. To quote Foxxy of Passport2Dreams, from an article written in 2018 (full thing here):

Disney, for their part, has decided that the problem with Country Bear Jamboree is Country Bear Jamboree, and various efforts have been initiated in the past 15 years to introduce newer country music, or have the bears sing Disney songs, or turn the thing into "American Idol".

But here's the thing, is that you can't make Country Bear Jamboree into the afternoon parade. It's never going to be a massive crowd pleaser, because by its very nature it's very, very weird. Country Bear Jamboree is a cult favorite, except Disney insists on treating it as a box office disappointment. The problem here isn't Country Bear Jamboree, but Disney.

And again, given that there has apparently been a long-term desire to change this show for some time, as seen in this article, by other posters on this site, on Twitter, etc., I don't genuinely believe anyone can say Disney was giving its best-faith effort to convince people that CBJ was something they needed to see in recent memory. You don't work overtime to convince people to see something that you've decided is a problem.

Perhaps I'll be wrong, and Foxxy will be wrong, and people will lap this change up. Certainly, there are many here who are ready to do so, and clearly some people really do just want to be immersed in familiar Disney IP constantly at the expense of the park's history, theming, unique charms, etc. There has been no shortage of people who didn't 'get' Country Bear Jamboree, even when people went to the parks to experience to them as they are rather than to be bombarded by Disney media constantly at a very expensive Legoland knockoff. But to me this is Disney doing the classic thing they've done repeatedly over the last several decades: ignore things that actually need fixing in favor of adding IP where it isn't needed and just diluting the experience further.

 

[Mike S]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

All the most popular ones.

 

[LittleBuford]

How does doing this actually improve Magic Kingdom? Will the Disney songs really make that much of a difference? Will Grizzly Hall suddenly be jammed for every show? I think we all know the answer is no.

I’m pretty confident that the changes will make an appreciable difference to the popularity and attendance of the show. And if they don’t, then Disney will just scrap the whole thing and replace it with something brand new. I’m not sure why any of us, regardless of our personal feelings, would expect them not to change or replace an unpopular attraction.

 

[EagleScout610]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

Zip a Dee Doo Dah as the grand finale

 

[flynnibus]

I think people phrasing this as just replacing the songs are selling it way short. I'd be expecting an entirely new script and premise. Not just cut/swap replacement of the songs.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think people phrasing this as just replacing the songs are selling it way short. I'd be expecting an entirely new script and premise. Not just cut/swap replacement of the songs.

Given that the whole show consists of music, I don't see how "replacing the songs" is any different from "an entirely new script". The premise, however, remains the same: it's still Country Bears singing country music.

 

[flynnibus]

Given that the whole show consists of music, I don't see how "replacing the songs" is any different from "an entirely new script". The premise, however, remains the same: it's still Country Bears singing country music.

The script - the justification the story presents along with how the characters interact, the jokes they tell, the staging, etc.

To dumb the show down to just 'singing a few songs' is disgustingly dumbing everything down.

 

[doctornick]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

In all seriousness, “Bear Necessities” seems like a given

 

[MadderAdder]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

 

[LittleBuford]

The script - the justification the story presents along with how the characters interact, the jokes they tell, the staging, etc.

To dumb the show down to just 'singing a few songs' is disgustingly dumbing everything down.

No-one is dumbing the show down, least of all me. But the show as it currently exists has no story or premise beyond being a musical revue. There is currently no indication that that basic premise is being changed, which is not to say that the songs and script aren't being drastically and perhaps entirely altered.

 

[Brer Oswald]

In all seriousness, “Bear Necessities” seems like a given

They’ve already shown that one.

 

[LittleBuford]

What songs do we think they’ll choose?

I hope they do some really unlikely and funny parodies and/or mashups.

 

[hopemax]

I think people phrasing this as just replacing the songs are selling it way short. I'd be expecting an entirely new script and premise. Not just cut/swap replacement of the songs.

I expect whatever script they come up with will be passed through so many people's hands and so sanitized that it will be at best, vanilla meh, and at worse falls flat cringe.