Tuesday, February 22, 2011

10 Months Til Christmas, Pt. 1: Country Bear Jamboree!



That’s right readers! Get ready for everyone’s favorite time of shopping stress, as it’s only 10 months away. In honor of this momentous occasion, I will be "celebrating" with holiday-themed posts for the next few days.

Long before Nightmare Before Christmas and the small world Holiday overlays, there was…

The Country Bear Jamboree. These 1984 publicity shots showcased the Holiday Themed special presentation of the CBJ, which was eventually replaced by Pooh. Literally. As you can see in photo #1, only the latest in technology was used! I am sure some of my younger readers will be baffled by that strange looking console and those circular thing-a-ma-jigs labeled "Scotch." No, it's not a type of whiskey.

From the Disney publicity machine:

A brand new addition to the Park’s holiday lineup is the “Country Bear Christmas Special,” which features the “Audio-Anmatronics” stars of the popular “Country Bear Jamboree”attraction in a special holiday show. Marking a first in Disneyland technology, the bears have been re-programmed and specially dressed to create a fun-filled musical salute to the holidays.



The real star of the show, Big Al—in both black-and-white & color:





The much loved Teddi Barra:





I sure do miss the homespun corn-pone humor of the CBJ. It was one of the first attractions I went to see when I was at WDW a year ago.

See more Disneyland Country Bear Jamboree photos at my main website.

8 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

I miss the bears too. I loved the Christmas show. I know Tokyo still changes their show for Xmas each year, but does anyone know if WDW still changes theirs?

I wish they would evict Pooh and put this show back where it belongs at DL.....or put it in the Grizzly River area of DCA (take out that boring Redwood Challenge thing!)

stu29573 said...

WDW doesn't change the show any more. Bummer.

Major Pepperidge said...

Big Al in a diaper - disturbing.

Connie Moreno said...

"Well there he goes, he hardly knows the heart he's breakin'..."

Man, I miss those bears. I could not (still can not) believe that they were replaced by that stupid crapola I won't mention by name. Sad.

Me? Bitter? Ya.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

I agree with everyone, especially Connie - stupid crapola indeed!

I even miss the silly holiday make over - where did the bears go when they closed it? I hope they didn't ship them to Florida for spare parts.

The Blue Parrot said...

Pic #1 - That's Imagineer Davy Crockett Feiten at the controls.

Anonymous said...

HI,
Like your post.
FYI the bear on the swing in not Trixie. Trixie is the VERY large bear Stage left.
The bear on the swing is Teddi Berra!
Love the Bears!

T

Daveland said...

FYI T, it's Teddi Barra, not Berra, but I'll let it slide this time!