What is up with Country Bears?

[lucygrace603]

This was our first time going to the "show" and was shocked at some of the songs the bears sang. There's one w/the 3 girl bears and they sing how "every guy that turns them on, turns them down" then the bear on the left singing about blood. "Blood on the saddles, great big puddle of blood" What the heck?
Isn't this Disney? and a kids show? These things went over my 5 year olds head, but really what were they thinking?

 

[stargazertechie]

Its one of the oldest attractions in Disney, and it's a classic.

Kids movies haven't always been as PC and proper as they are today. Like you said, it goes right over the kids heads.

 

[sassyredhead]

OP-I kinda agree. I am a pretty go with the flow kinda person, but I sat through the Country Bears once and will never again. It just wasn't for me. I just didn't like the cliched countrification vibe it had going. JMHO!

PS--although it is a classic, I have never heard it labeled a "must do" or listed in someone's top 10, for what it is worth. It happens to be in my bottom 10.

 

[doconeill]

The Country Bear Jamboree is a WDW original (later duplicated at Disneyland and Tokyo) and is pretty much unchanged since opening day, October 1st, 1971.

 

[Vivianne]

Ummm...

My guess is that there's also an objectionable topic on POTC if you
really pay attention to what's going on...

I think most of it goes over kid's heads and I think some of the
favorite current young entertainers are objectionable too.

Anyway, they're classic attractions.. I guess you can skip them if you choose.

 

[goofyernmost]

The Country Bear Jamboree is a WDW original (later duplicated at Disneyland and Tokyo) and is pretty much unchanged since opening day, October 1st, 1971.

Is that true? I always was under the impression that Country Bears was designed and built for a non-Disney park that never opened due to probably financial problems. Then I thought that they moved it to Disneyland and ultimately copied it for WDW. I don't know about Tokyo as I have never been there and have never really read much about it.

 

[doconeill]

Is that true? I always was under the impression that Country Bears was designed and built for a non-Disney park that never opened due to probably financial problems. Then I thought that they moved it to Disneyland and ultimately copied it for WDW. I don't know about Tokyo as I have never been there and have never really read much about it.

IIRC, it was originally designed for the ski resort that Walt was trying to get off the ground (and never did), but he loved the idea so much that after he passed away, Imagineering added it to WDW. It opened around 5 months later in Disneyland. Reportedly they brought it over because it did so well at WDW, but the time frame seems too short.

The DL version closed in 2001, and was rebuilt into their version of the Pooh ride.

As an FYI, the current show is the original. However from 1986 to 1992 there was a different version of the show, the "Country Bear Vacation Hoedown". Also up until 2005 there was a special Christmas Special show during the holidays.

 

[jctwizzer]

Country is totally tongue in cheek...Guess you were also offended when they wanted to shoot little Buford....like someone said, its been around for 40 years and this is the first time I've seen anyone complain. Big Al and blood on the saddle, etc. is a satire of a western movie---I think the original song was done by Tex Ritter...you have to be pretty deficient in the humor area to find any offense in the show.....doodle doodle do, do whop

 

[Millermom0606]

Is that true? I always was under the impression that Country Bears was designed and built for a non-Disney park that never opened due to probably financial problems. Then I thought that they moved it to Disneyland and ultimately copied it for WDW. I don't know about Tokyo as I have never been there and have never really read much about it.

I found this on Wiki...... The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt knew he wanted some sort of show to provide entertainment to the guests at the resort, and he knew he wanted the show to feature some sort of bear band. The project was assigned to imagineer Marc Davis.

link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Bear_Jamboree


There are a lot of 'un PC' remarks made in a lot of things that are from the 'older' Disney..... Heck, have you seen some of the original Mickey cartoons?? LOL

I have a feelin' ole Walt was a little bit more umm shall we say 'dark' than all the unicorns and rainbows LOL

 

[sassyredhead]

Ummm...

My guess is that there's also an objectionable topic on POTC if you
really pay attention to what's going on...

I think most of it goes over kid's heads and I think some of the
favorite current young entertainers are objectionable too.

Anyway, they're classic attractions.. I guess you can skip them if you choose.

Now, for some reason, POTC never bothers me. I guess the wenchin', swigin', and pig wallowin' seems more a fictionalized history whereas the Country Bears is an interpretation of a region of the US. Not sure why one bothers me and the other doesn't, but it does.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

My FIL loves Blood on the Saddle. He kind of looks like the bear that sings the song too!

 

[Vivianne]

Now, for some reason, POTC never bothers me. I guess the wenchin', swigin', and pig wallowin' seems more a fictionalized history whereas the Country Bears is an interpretation of a region of the US. Not sure why one bothers me and the other doesn't, but it does.

Well, I'm talking about bidding for the women.. of course they go for the
attractive red haired and don't want the robust heavy one.

Also, at the Haunted Mansion, the bride who kills her husbands.

So, if a person is going on the basis of sensitivity it's a private matter.
They can choose to skip these attractions if they want.

 

[disneyquestions]

FWIW - I went to see this show many times when I was little, and truthfully, I don't remember anything about it, just that I really enjoyed it. I'll be taking my girls to see it on our next trip, and I hope they will enjoy it as much as I did. That, and Captain EO!!!

 

[doconeill]

POTC actually was PC'd a bit a number of years ago, changing up the scene with the pirates chasing the women to tone down a bit on the "reason" they were being chased, making it look more like the pirates were chasing food instead of the women, etc. in the DL version, and in the WDW version they changed it to have the women chasing the pirates...

 

[Conan the Librarian]

And don't forget that almost all the songs in the show are American Folk Songs. Only one or two are Disney Songs.

Tex Ritter (John's Dad) did the singing for Big Al.

 

[keypooh90]

For a minute, I thought this was an old thread resurrected. Several years ago, a different poster posted a similar concern/question.

CB is a classic attraction and oh so much fun. I love it, and have since I was a little girl.

 

[Giddychilde]

I saw the show when I was 14, I really didn't want to because it was lame. And by time the Bear on the swing started singing I was looking at my friend like "oh my god is this bear drunk and singing about sex??" Needless to say, I was pretty much scarred and never wanted to do it ever again.

...flashforward to now, I still really don't want to see it, but my friend does because she thinks it will be funny (basing all her knowledge on the Country Bears movie) and I know I'll be gritting my teeth throughout the whole thing.

But I think its a perfect torture device tor grumpy tweens who won't listen.

 

[lucygrace603]

I was just posting because this was not really in the Disney theme of fairies and pixie dust and Dumbo and happiness! It's marketed as a little kid show, unlike Haunted Mansion. I didn't realize it was an original show and things weren't so pc then. It was my first time seeing it so I really didn't have the "just skip it if you don't like it" option.

 

[Vivianne]

I was just posting because this was not really in the Disney theme of fairies and pixie dust and Dumbo and happiness! It's marketed as a little kid show, unlike Haunted Mansion. I didn't realize it was an original show and things weren't so pc then. It was my first time seeing it so I really didn't have the "just skip it if you don't like it" option.

Any attraction is at your discretion.

 

[doconeill]

Any ride/attraction is at your discretion.

I understand her point - having never seen it, and not necessarily knowing about it, how would you know?

I don't know if Disney specifically markets it as a children's attraction, though...but if you think back to the cartoons a lot of us watched as kids, it isn't all that much different.