It’s official, friends — Country Bear Jamboree, now renamed Country Bear Musical Jamboree, has finally reopened in Magic Kingdom!

The original Country Bear Jamboree show was an opening day attraction in Magic Kingdom, and this is its first large refurbishment/revamp since opening. While the new show still features our favorite singing bears, there have been some pretty significant changes to the show. We just got to see it for the first time and have to share our HONEST thoughts with you.

The Characters

As previously mentioned, the majority of the characters in Country Bear Musical Jamboree are staying the same, but Liver Lips McGrowl has been renamed to Romeo McGrowl. The characters in the show have some new looks and costumes, but how much have they changed? Bunny, Bubbles, and Beulah have “turned in their bonnets for Stetsons” and are now singing “Try Everything” with Trixie.

When Disney announced the new show, we were promised some Nashville opry-style music and design, and the new outfits certainly seem to fit the bill. The newly-named Romeo McGrowl is bringing some real rockabilly vibes to the show, and we’re loving his makeover to go with the new name. He’s obviously in his rock star era as he sings “Kiss The Girl.”

Overall, the new costumes liven up the show and fit in with its overall theme. We loved it.

The Story

The original Country Bear Jamboree took place in Grizzly Hall and was a family-friendly show where guests could sing along and watch 18 audio-animatronic bears as they sang and played classic tunes and some original pieces. While there was definitely some comedy in the show, a lot of guests were surprised that some of the jokes were NOT family-friendly, but they flew right over kids’ heads. There were also certainly some aspects of the show that haven’t aged well over the years and will very likely benefit from the transformation.

We think the new show is very cute, but we loved that it still has nods to the original. The Five Bear Rugs that play at the beginning of the show still has the smallest bear holding onto his little teddy bear and still does the squeeze and honk. That had the audience cheering.

The Five Bear Rugs open the show! #mediaevent #CountryBearMusicalJamboree#WaltDisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/locyLVBmjl

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) July 10, 2024

Overall, everyone seemed to love the new show, and we heard a lot of folks talking about how they enjoyed it.

The Music

Of course, one of the most iconic things about Country Bear Jamboree was the music! Disney announced that the new show would have classic Disney songs sung in country, rockabilly, and bluegrass styles. It was neat to see Bubbles, Bunny, and Beulah team up with Trixie for “Try Anything,” and that song was a HUGE hit with the crowd.

Ernest does a solo fiddle of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Teddy Barra and Wendell do a rendition of “A Whole New World,” while we also heard a new country version of “Fixer Upper.” Big Al teases that he will sing “Blood in the Saddle” but launches into “Remember Me.”

Sammy and Rufus stayed together and sang “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” which was very fitting at the end of the show. The finale is all the bears coming out to sing the “Bare Necessities,” which was…well…PERFECT. The exit song is “Come Again” with Rufus, Sammy, Melvin, Buff, and Max.

Overall, the new show is fantastic. We didn’t notice any glitches or delays with the animatronics, so it looks like Disney took some time to update them. We ended up walking out of the show feeling very upbeat (and still singing some of the songs). If you want a feel-good time in Disney World, don’t miss out on the new Country Bear Jamboree.

Just like all Disney World attractions, this may not be for everyone, but we know there are guests out there who will love this new version of the show! Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney World news!

CONFESSION: I AVOIDED Magic Kingdom for Over 6 Hours, and I Felt Super Guilty About It. But It Was the RIGHT CHOICE.

What do you think of the new show? Tell us in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of Maria & Enzo’s Ristorante. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ

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