Country Bear Musical Jamboree Isn’t Perfect But It Isn’t Terrible

Disney’s new version of the Country Bear Jamboree, the “Country Bear Musical Jamboree,” debuted today for some people ahead of its official opening on July 17. With recent Disney “refreshes,” I expect the worst but hope for the best. But this one isn’t terrible.

I am a Disney purist, so take that as you will, but even I could see that the “Country Bear Jamboree” needed a major refresh, and I didn’t want to see it leave Frontierland or be replaced with “Toy Story.” Since Disney CEO Bob Iger is on a quest to see how much IP he can shove into every park, I was concerned about using newer Disney songs.

The good!

The animatronics look fantastic! They looked pretty dingy and old before the refresh and now they look great.

All our old favorites were back!

Henry, the Five Bear Rugs, Trixie, Bunny, Bubbles, Beulah, Teddi, Wendell, Ernest, Terrence, Romeo, Gomer, and Big All are present and accounted for!

The entire hall has also been refreshed. The waiting area now has new portraits and some fun memorabilia.

Some of the songs work really well in this show.

“You’ve Got a Friend In Me” from Toy Story, “Remember Me” from Coco, “Bear Necessities” from The Jungle Book, “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid, and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins”do seem to work well in the show.

The Not So Good

First off the show seems significantly shorter than it was before. Some may find that as a good thing, but the old show was about 18 minutes and this one is only about 12 minutes.

Some of the songs just seem shoved in there.

While all the songs were recorded by country music singers and have a country music sound, not all work; some just come across as shoving more IP into the attraction. Songs like “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin,” “Try Everything” from “Zootopia” and “Fixer Upper” from “Frozen” don’t fit either.

It’s not the singing performance—they are performed beautifully—but they just feel out of place to me.

But they kept “Come Again,” so that is also a plus.

You can see the entire show here via WDWNT.

Here is the entire song playlist:

• “Country Bear Musical Jamboree”
• “Try Everything” from “Zootopia”
• “Kiss the Girl” from “The Little Mermaid”
• “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin”
• “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”
• “Fixer Upper” from “Frozen”
• “Remember Me” from “Coco”
• “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from “Toy Story”
• “The Bare Necessities” from “The Jungle Book”
• “Come Again”

This one is a mixed bag, but I see more positive than negative aspects. I think it will bring people back to Grizzly Hall. Before the closure announcement, it wasn’t filling up like it used to, and many just went in for a break.

I can see this show being more appealing to kids than the old one. But the purist in me understands why people might be upset over the changes.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!