The musical animatronic show just came back from a refurbishment, but Disney did more than just clean the bears' fur and change the lights. They've cut nearly a third of the show, from reader reports, including the entire "Devilish Mary" song, as well as much of the banter between the characters during the show.
Here's a video of the original show, as seen last year:
And here's a video that Walt Disney Imagineering released toady, talking about the changes. Well, most of them.
I guess they left out the part about leaving out part of the show? How meta. Still, the Country Bear show wasn't exactly thrilling audiences. Theme Park Insider readers have rated it a 6 - far below the average for attractions in the Magic Kingdom. Clearly, Disney had room for improvement. But will cuts and freshen backgrounds be enough to restore this show's popularity? Or should Disney have gone all the way and created an all-new Country Bear show?
Disney's done that before, with the Vacation Hoedown show that replaced the original Country Bear Jamboree in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (That's the show I watched several hundred times as a cast member at Walt Disney World during that time.) If you want to see that show, or the full-length original, or the Christmas version for that matter, you'll have to visit Tokyo Disneyland, which plays all three shows during the year.
Have you seen the new version of the Country Bears yet? If so, what do you think?
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In my handful of visits to MK, I never wanted to see the show..it held no appeal for me whatsoever. I remember, on my first visit in the mid-1970's, my Mom went to see it by herself, while my Dad took me and my sister and brother on Haunted Mansion.
While I definitely have a penchant for nostalgia,I think this may have been a wise move. Like a previous poster wrote, other attractions have gone under the knife in similar ways and come out that much better. I think that this is in fact a clear example of Disney's work ethic:
"Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved." - Walt Disney
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