New Songs and Acts Coming to Country Bear Jamboree at Walt Disney World Resort in 2024

The Country Bear Jamboree at Magic Kingdom is getting updated. During “A Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” at Destination D23, it was announced that the opening day attraction will be getting new songs and acts in 2024.

During the panel, Walt Disney Imagineer Chris Beatty shared a little bit about the new show. When it debuts, everybody’s favorite country bears will be reinterpreting some favorite Disney songs in different genres of country music. Disney is hoping to create a new experience that will be a homage to the classic musical revues of Nashville. They are even going as far as to work with Nashville musicians to get an authentic country sound. During the panel, a version of The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book was shown on a video.

The new version of the Country Bear Jamboree is promised to have the fun and friendly tone that is currently loved by Disney guests, along with some of the famous classic characters like Trixie, Big Al, and others. The poster for the attraction also shows other characters appearing in the show. The new version of the show will be arriving in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom in 2024 and will be called the Country Bear Musical Jamboree.

History of Country Bear Jamboree

The Country Bear Jamboree is a musical animatronic stage show located at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is one of the oldest attractions in the park. A clone of the show opened at Disneyland in 1972. Another iteration opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. The show features a group of country bears who perform songs and tell jokes.

The Country Bear Jamboree was originally conceived by Walt Disney himself in the early 1960s as an attraction for his planned Mineral King Ski Resort in California. However, the resort was never built, and the show was instead moved to Walt Disney World. The show was designed by Imagineers Marc Davis and Al Bertino. Davis was responsible for the bears’ characters and personalities, while Bertino was responsible for their engineering and animation. The bears were built by the Disney Imagineering team, and the show’s music was composed by Buddy Baker.

The Country Bear Jamboree was a critical and commercial success when it opened. It was praised for its humor, music, and the lifelike animatronics of the bears. The show has been running continuously at Walt Disney World ever since, and it remains one of the park’s most popular attractions. In 1984, the attraction received a Christmas overlay (the first in a Disney theme park) called the Country Bear Christmas Special at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. In 1986, the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland was closed and replaced with a new show called Country Bear Vacation Hoedown. The Vacation Hoedown show featured the same bears, but with new songs and jokes. The new version of the show remained at Disneyland until the attraction closed in 2001 to make way for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. At Walt Disney World Resort’s Magic Kingdom, however, the original version of the show returned in February of 1992. It remained this until 2012 when the show received a refurbishment and a retooling that ended up with a couple of songs cut to create a shorter experience.

In 2002, a movie based on this beloved attraction was released.

Here is a look at The Country Bear Jamboree in its current form:

What do you think of this new update to the Country Bear Jamboree? What songs do you think they should utilize? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

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