MK Country Bear Jamboree is getting new songs and acts

[Animaniac93-98]

imo I think right now we're all breathing a sigh of relief it's at least passable enough and the bears bought themselves another decade.

But I do think there's a distinction between them singing the songs and barely drawing attention to the fact that they're from the movies versus having characters outside the attraction's world show up, which is what Under New Management did.

That I understand, and is fair.

I feel Musical Jamboree's main drawback is the restriction to use IP songs, which is likely not the fault on Imagineering, but from someone higher in the totem pole. Because you can tell that despite the IP songs they put a heck of a lot of effort and love into the show, each bear re-done, a gorgeous queue, retaining the CB quirks and spark from the original show, but the issue is the song choice at the end of the day.

You can absolutely see the back and forth pull of wanting to do another Vacation Hoedown type show while appeasing the higher ups. I'm sure they tried hard to strike a balance, but to me the Country Bears singing "kiss the girl" just doesn't work. That's just my own opinion.

Which sucks because Big Al should sing Old Town Road.

There's many songs and guest singers they could have used in the show. I'm not even that big on country music, but the potential was absolutely there and they did bring on genuine talent.

I think they could have won over even cynical old me with a new Jamboree, but that was unlikely with the direction they took. Again, honestly surprised to see it has 8 Disney movie songs. I was expecting 3-4. With the rest being original songs, real country songs, or ones from older shows (like "great outdoors")

 

[celluloid]

We have to realize that a huge part was to change it with cost effectivness. So owning the rights for synergy was a huge part to keep the thing in their minds for falling apart. There was never a huge reach of ambition here.

By next Fourth of July, I expect most of the theater to play pretty empty again.

Frontierland just had so much investment, and by aiming for no one thing, they have a product that is more for no one than what was all there previously.

 

[celluloid]

The show seems to try to cram the songs in too. Instead of section of them. It plays a lot of them. And the results sometimes feel hectic. Particularly the slides in try everything go by way too fast to look like what they are supposed to be, an old slideshow, and sometimes it seems they change before the audience comprehends the sight gag.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

This is kind of a further leap down this path, but I suspect in 2024 when people say they love Disney it means something different to when people said that, say, 30 years ago when the company's resurgence was still new. Nowadays, people may be thinking more about that resurgence and everything that has come since.

Absolutely.

In the 90s, the new stuff was Lion King, Aladdin, Mighty Ducks and the nostalgia push was for Zorro, Herbie, Anette and Old Yeller (both of which got lots of exposure thanks to cable and home video)

Now the new stuff is Encanto, Inside Out and Frozen and the nostalgia push is Lion King, Aladdin and Mighty Ducks (now media distribution makes it harder to spotlight or discover a title organically)

Disney is very much a generational thing, and often clusters titles in its catalog to hit certain demos.

 

[david10225]

I love how Melvin, Buff, and Max are much more animated, even joining in on the chorus of some songs. My recollection is they mostly just swayed and nodded before, but now they keep time to the music. Is it my imagination or are there mouths more articulated?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

To a very considerable extent, Disney defines its own brand. The “”Disney” brand that built the parks combined technological optimism, corporate boosterism, American exceptionalism, safe childhood development, and a lot of other mid-century ideas (some of which wouldn’t fly today). Disney himself, tied inextricably to the brand, was a complex figure who stretched far beyond the trope of “movie mogul” to embody a web of ideas about America and its place in the world.

Modern Disney is run by undifferentiated executives - not theme park folks, not visionaries, not really even movie moguls. They see Disney as a standard movie studio, no different from WB or Columbia, with some extra bits hanging off. So that’s the extremely limited and limiting vision of the brand they project. Instead of multiple pipelines - parks, film, TV, merch, etc - feeding IP into the silo, you get one pipeline, film, having to stock every other outlet. And if that one pipe dries up…

If all “Disney” ever gives park guests is Frozen and Coco and a few other films, the guests learns that’s all Disney is. The park shapes the guests. Walt knew that.

But this, again, comes down to where people are in 2024 versus where they were in 1955 or 1966. I think Walt Disney's great genius was that he was able to fairly instinctually interpret a kind of middle-American sensibility, with its mix of nostalgia and optimism in post-WWII America. What would such an interpretation look like today if you turned it into a theme park shorn of all the thorny edges?

The other point I'd make about the company now lacking a Walt-like guiding star is that it's a publicly-run company and CEOs trying to imagine themselves as the next Walt generally provokes more ire than praise from fans. I'm not going to say how they have been running the parks or the company as a whole is the best they could have done, but I would also say trying to channel Walt in either the pre- or post-Eisner era hasn't generally worked out well. So, again, living in the world of the real rather than the ideal I kind of ask myself what is the best possible scenario.

The franchise mandate was issue during the very successful opening of Expedition Everest. It never had anything to do with market pressure.

That's basically what I meant when I mentioned where the line blurs between purists and general fans. I do think there is some gap between saying all they should do is IP and saying that the inclusion of more IP never had anything to do with market pressure.

 

[Streetway]

I was expecting 3-4. With the rest being original songs, real country songs, or ones from older shows (like "great outdoors")

Tbh if I could bring back one or two songs from the past for this show and replace them, here’s what I’d do. Second Remember me Reprisal > blood on the saddle. And tbh if I was an imagineer and I had permission, I’d bring back two different worlds, as I feel like that’s a classic country bear bit that could still land with most audiences.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Let’s have Big Al sing, “Let It Go.” His constant, droning refrains becomes actual satire!

 

[celluloid]

It wild that they killed the entire charm of Sammy. His existence now is rather pointless. He was a sight gag of a Racoon-skinned cap.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It wild that they killed the entire charm of Sammy. His existence now is rather pointless. He was a sight gag of a Racoon-skinned cap.

But, see, he REMINDS people of a joke. That’s even better then an ACTUAL joke!

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Fascinating that a passion project from Walt himself, promoted by him on TV, would be considered not very "Disney" today

The current generation of visitors clearly have a very different perspective of what "Disney" is

I think the public's perception of what "Disney" is largely reflects entertainment and media as a whole. Disney was once known for innovative, original stories, and groundbreaking technology used to create unique experiences- this also being during an era that pretty much all entertainment companies were constantly making new things to push boundaries, sequels being something rarer than original works. The Tiki Room, Pirates, Small World, Country Bears- all of these, at the time they were made, were original and new projects that still felt like Disney thanks to their charm and whimsy. Same goes for Disney's movie output- even when something was brand new, you could tell when it felt like "Disney"- charming, innovative, fun, etc.

But with Hollywood's shift towards recognizable properties, nostalgia, and avoiding risks, Disney especially has fallen into a repeating cycle of the same characters, songs, stories, etc., so now instead of expecting new things from Disney, people expect more of the same stuff they already know. Disney makes more and more Frozen sequels, and people then ask why Frozen isn't in [X] park. Inside Out 2 makes a billion dollars and people immediately go "how do we fit this into the theme parks?" People who have grown up in the post-Eisner era of Disney have no clue Disney parks could have new experiences exclusive to them being made, not anything you can find on Disney+.

Of course, both camps (wanting Disney to make new original things and wanting Disney to use the stuff we know and love) have existed in both periods of time- when Magic Kingdom opened, people asked where Pirates of the Caribbean were, depriving us of an original attraction; and today you have plenty of people asking Disney to create new experiences for the parks (myself being one of those people). Perhaps someday, if entertainment ever goes back to taking risks and trying new things, we'll see that reflected in the parks. I am sure there's Imagineers who want to create their own things and not just make what Disney wants to synergize. The new CBJ show feels like a middle ground to that- they were told to use Disney songs, so they did it in a way that still feels unique to the Country Bears and their brand of weird, mean-spirited, and goofy humor- as much as they could get away with, at least.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Important to note people are actually defending the Country Bears singing “A Whole New World”.

Wow.

You can’t even be embarrassed for them anymore.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It wild that they killed the entire charm of Sammy. His existence now is rather pointless. He was a sight gag of a Racoon-skinned cap.

Yeah, when I heard he was doing friend like me I was like “oh that’s a fun idea” but then I saw it and I’m like…. Huh?

Can we not resemble Davy Crockett either?

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

I’d also say having a mix of non-Disney attractions helps convert average guests to Disney park fans.

Something current execs at Disney don't seem to realize- Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion didn't become popular (and more importantly to them, profitable) because they were based off a movie people knew. They were unique experiences only found in the parks (before the movie adaptations) and their fandoms grew from that. They're iconic BECAUSE they're original, not in spite of it. Disney is too afraid to take changes and waste precious money on something that could gasp potentially not sell a million princess dresses.

 

[celluloid]

But, see, he REMINDS people of a joke. That’s even better then an ACTUAL joke!

That is a common symptom of Disney.

Disney is now themed to the Disney they were.

Star Tours did this very thing when it opened. The queue and entire gag is prequel jokes about what will happen when it is the Starspeeder 3,000 and using Rex.

But no longer is their access to that thing, so it pleases no one.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It wild that they killed the entire charm of Sammy. His existence now is rather pointless. He was a sight gag of a Racoon-skinned cap.

But, see, he REMINDS people of a joke. That’s even better then an ACTUAL joke!

I said the same thing in my long winded rant a couple pages back

But what's interesting is that for Vacation Jamboree, he became a [tapdancing] skunk. They changed the character and gag to fit the new show. I thought for "You Got a Friend in Me", they'd find a way to rework the hiding in the hat bit so that the song would take on a humorous, literal meaning.

 

[EagleScout610]

So how long are we betting the smoke effects last before never coming back?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

So how long do you have on the smoke effects lasting before never coming back?View attachment 799342

They recently brought back several fog / smoke effects at muppets - so hopefully we have a chance! As long as there aren’t any track switches like on Everest

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Yeah, when I heard he was doing friend like me I was like “oh that’s a fun idea” but then I saw it and I’m like…. Huh?

Can we not resemble Davy Crockett either?

I hate to say it, but is the reference to the Davy Crockett raccoon skin hat craze as recognisable as it once was?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I hate to say it, but is the reference to the Davy Crockett raccoon skin hat craze as recognisable as it once was?

If anything is keeping that reference alive, it's that random kid in the dinner table scene from Back to the Future