Disneyland’s reimagined Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree is finally open so you know we had to head over and grab a bite or several!

Disneyland is turning its Critter Country land into Bayou Country, which will conclude with the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in November. A major piece of Bayou Country will be the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree — formerly known as the Hungry Bear Restaurant. After several months of refurbishment and retheming, we headed over to the NOW-OPEN Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree to try its new menu and check out the changes!

History

The Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree originally opened at Disneyland in 1972 as the Golden Bear Lodge before becoming the Hungry Bear Restaurant in 1977, the name it had until July 2024 when it closed for its reimaging into the Hungry Bear Jamboree.

The new theming is based around the defunct Country Bear Jamboree attraction at Disneyland, as well as the newly reimaged Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Magic Kingdom.

The restaurant had a soft opening on October 24th, 2024, but its official opening happened on October 25th, 2024.

Atmosphere

The reimaging of the Hungry Bear wasn’t necessarily its layout — which has remained largely the same with its outdoor seating, ample table options, and woodsy vibes.

The big change here — aside from the menu — is the theming. You’ll find plenty of references to the lovable Country Bears all over the restaurant, including on the walls!

The official “Grr-ill Master” Ursus H. Bear also makes an appearance!

Additionally, you’ll hear some popular tunes of the Country Bears while you dine, further enhancing the atmosphere.

Menu

Perhaps the biggest change coming to the restaurant is the menu!

The menu has been revamped to be all about barbecue. You’ll find plenty of pulled pork, burgers, baked beans, coleslaw, and beef brisket, as well as theme park classics like chicken tenders.

Also featuring specialty non-alcoholic beverages and fun desserts, it’s hard to look at this menu and not think it’s an upgrade over the previously generic, yet reliable Hungry Bear Restaurant menu.

Eats

With plenty of new items to choose from, we opted to try the Smoked BBQ Combo Platter, Beer-battered Fries, Funnel Cake Fries, and Banana Pudding.

First up we tried the Smoked BBQ Combo Platter for $21.49! This meal comes with a little taste of everything. With it, you get a selection of house-smoked meats, with baked beans, coleslaw, white bread, and pickled vegetables. You also get a choice of two of pork spareribs, pulled pork, sausage link, or beef brisket. For our tasting we went with pulled pork and a sausage link. It’s a LOT of food.

Let’s talk about the BBQ sauces first. The Golden BBQ Sauce has a mustard hickory taste to it and goes great with the sausage. The Hot Smokey BBQ sauce is HOT and smokey (the name says it all) and also goes great with the sausage. The Classic is delicious, smokey, and sweet — it goes best with the pulled pork.

The pulled pork is SO good. It was juicy and flavorful and seasoned well. As we said, we loved it with the classic sauce. Our reporter used the bread and made a little sandwich. Fact: white bread is often served with barbecue in the South — the tradition goes back to the early days of barbecue when mass-produced bread was cheap and readily available. That’s just a little bit of authenticity that we appreciate.

The sausage had a nice crunch with a smokey peppery taste. It was also super moist and because it came pre-sliced, it was easy to eat!

The baked beans had a sweet and classic barbecue flavor with just the right amount of kick. They don’t photograph well, but they are TASTY!

The coleslaw almost steals the show of this combo. If you love pickled slaw, this is for you! It’s got excellent crunch, the right amount of tartness, and a hint of sweetness.

You also get a side of pickles, and excuse us, THEY WERE sweet, but they were also SPICY. We love a good spicy pickle. Pickled onions are also served on the side and offer a nice sour and spicy kick.

Next, we went with the Beer-battered Fries for $4.79! These are the PERFECT steak fries. They’re crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. You don’t get a beer-battered kind of taste, but they are delicious. We ended up adding a little more salt because we can’t ever be salty enough.

Craving some dessert fries? Check out the Funnel Cake Fries! The fries cost $6.49 and are dusted with powdered sugar. You can’t go wrong with these. They’re shareable, although we think we’re keeping them for ourselves. They’re served piping hot and are delicious. Think mini bites of funnel cake. SO good.

We paired them with the optional Banana Caramel Dipping Sauce for $1.49. It’s Banana Custard with caramel sauce. Pro tip: mix it up really good to get the banana taste. We though the custard made the texture a clumpy, but it does help if you mix it. It’s interesting paired with the Funnel Cake fries, but you need to love banana to appreciate it.

The change from the old Hungry Bear menu is night and day, but how did we feel about our experience overall?

Overall

We have to say that we were surprised by the barbecue we had here — it’s a nice homage to Southern barbecue (right down to the white bread) and we like the ability to add additional sauces to our meals, too. The Country Bear vibe is also a big hit for us and it’s nice to see the Country Bears represented in Disneyland again.

Nosh or Not?

Stroll on down the Rivers of America to the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree if…

• You like Southern-style barbecue. The barbecue here is focused on a Southern style, so if that’s something you like, you will appreciate these flavors.
• You’re on a budget. The prices here are pretty reasonable, even considering it’s a Disney restaurant.
• You want funnel cake flavors in an easier to eat form. Funnel cake fries are legitimately the best way to eat funnel cake!

Grab grub elsewhere if…

• You don’t like barbecue. Not everyone loves barbecue — if that’s you, you’ll want to skip it.
• You want a fancier sitdown meal. This is a quick-service location, so if you’re’ wanting a fancier table service meal, this isn’t for you.
• You’re in Disney California Adventure. Although the food here is good, we don’t think it’s worth traipsing all over Disneyland Resort to get to.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on the latest Disneyland news, tips, and reviews, so stay tuned right here at the Disney Food Blog!

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Heading over to the newly reimagined Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree soon? Let us know in the comments!

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