Five Things to Know About Country Bear Musical Jamboree

The Country Bears are an original attraction at Walt Disney World, and Country Bear Musical Jamboree is the latest version of this long-time favorite. If you love corny jokes and country-fied music, you’re in for a real toe-tapping treat.  If you just want to know how to get to the show, tap here to zip straight to the nuts and bolts.

1. Welcome to Grizzly Hall!

Country Bear Musical Jamboree is smack in the middle of Frontierland. At the entrance to Grizzly Hall, you’ll stand in an outdoor queue before entering the building’s front room.

The room is relatively “bare:” there are caricatures of the bears (the “stars” of the show) hanging on the walls, and you’ll also find a few seats. But while you’re waiting, take a closer look at the floor. You’ll see scratch marks – made by bear claws, naturally!

2. Grab a seat, then stomp your feet.

Inside the hall are five stages with red curtains and wood-carved prosceniums. The theatre seating is long benches, much like you would have found in old-timey halls back in the day. Once everyone’s seated, Max, Melvin, and Buff (the three characters hanging on the wall) remind everyone there’s no eating, drinking, or smoking – or flash photography.

Your master of ceremonies is Henry the Bear, and in all there are 24 animatronics who take turns performing. In addition to the opening Country Bear Musical Jamboree theme song, you’ll hear Disney favorites such as “A Whole New World” and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

What you’ll notice is that they’re performed in country genres including bluegrass, Americana, rockabilly, country-pop, and more. And, you might recognize some of the vocals – Disney worked with several Nashville artists who served as musicians, arrangers, producers, and vocalists. In all the show lasts about 15 minutes.

3. A little bear background.

Originally intended to be part of a California ski resort that Walt Disney hoped to build, Country Bear Jamboree was one of the final attractions that Walt personally had a hand in. After his death, plans for the ski resort were abandoned, but the attraction found a home in the Magic Kingdom where it was an opening-day attraction.

It proved to be so popular with guests in Orlando that a duplicate was built for Disneyland and opened in March 1972. (A third version opened in Tokyo Disneyland in April 1983.) Turns out that West Coast guests never embraced the bears with the same degree of affection as East Coasters and in September 2001, the attraction was closed at Disneyland.

There have been several versions of the show since its debut. In 1986, the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown debuted. Its last show was in 1992 when the original show returned. And for the holiday seasons from 1984 to 2006, the Country Bear Christmas Special presented the bears singing holiday faves in festive costumes. The attraction closed in August 2012 to be re-fur-bished (get it?) When it reopened, several songs and some dialogue were deleted, shortening the performance by 4 minutes or so.

The Country Bear Musical Jamboree is the current iteration of this long-running attraction at Disney World, and it retains much of its original charm. The overhaul was announced at D23 in September 2023, and when the attraction reopened on July 17, 2024, it was renamed the Country Bear Musical Jamboree. Revamped to make the show more relevant and appealing to the younger Disney fans, the country and western tunes were replaced with Disney tunes performed in a country and western style.

4. Fun furry facts.

⭐ Country Bear Jamboree holds a place of distinction among Disney attractions. It was the first to debut at Walt Disney World and then duplicated for Disneyland. Most other instances worked the other way around, premiering at Disneyland and then Disney World (like Pirates of the Caribbean.)

⭐ The aforementioned ski resort that Walt wanted to build near the Sequoia National Park was announced on September 19, 1966. Walt passed away on December 15, 1966. Due to environmental protests, it was never completed. But the Bears show lived on and found a home at Disney World!

⭐ There’s a Hidden Mickey, of course. Take a close look at the ornate frame of the bear portrait hanging over the center stage.

⭐ The Country Bear Vacation Hoedown is still part of the show at Tokyo Disneyland.

⭐ The creators of Chuck E. Cheese restaurants took their inspiration from Country Bears for their own animatronic shows.

⭐ Each building in Frontierland has a date; the date at the peak of Grizzly Hall is 1898.

5. The Nuts and Bolts.

The Country Bear Musical Jamboree is in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom, right between Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café and the Frontier Trading Post. If you’re under the balcony that overhangs the entrance while waiting to enter the hall, rain shouldn’t be an issue. But in bad, blustery weather, you can get wet. The attraction itself, being indoors, isn’t affected by the weather.

Seating is on long benches with hard backs, and guests may remain in their wheelchair/ECV. Both Assistive Listening and Handheld Captioning are available. There are no height or age restrictions for the show.

Country Bear Musical Jamboree is not open for Early Theme Park Entry but remains open for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. There’s no Lightning Lane for Country Bears; a standby queue is the only way to enter and enjoy the show. But since the hall capacity is pretty good, you won’t usually wait longer than it takes for the current show to finish.

The Bottom Line.

The revamped Country Bear Musical Jamboree is a mixed bag. The animatronics are great, the staging – including costumes and lighting – is spectacular, and the show moves at a good clip so it should keep even the littles interested. But while the music is great, the song selection is … well … odd. Is it a must-see? Not really, but it does provide a nice respite from the heat of the day while providing a few toe-tapping tunes and smiles.

Have you seen Country Bear Musical Jamboree? What did you like best?