DVDizzy Forum

The Magic Kingdom's Country Bear Jamboree has closed for its Fall 2012 refurb. According to the 2013 WDW Unofficial Guide, when it returns "don't be surprised to find a couple of songs missing." "To present a few more shows per day (and make the Frontierland mainstay more politically correct), the Imagineers might ax "Mama, Don't Whup Little Buford" along with other ditties."

Good grief!

I hope they don't cut Trixie's song "Tears Will Be The Chaser For Your Wine" because it extols drinking!

I guess it's getting the Pirates of the Caribbean PC treatment!

Yes, unfortunately there are rumours both at the park and on various fan sites that the show will be trimmed, but they differ on what may be getting cut and why.

Theories range from trying to make the show more PC; to management wanting to squeeze in more shows per day with a shorter runtime; to the idea that the show is being shortened due to the shorter attention spans of younger generations (which I think is silly because the show is already fast paced and most of the songs are less than (or not much more than) a minute.

I've also heard different reports about what songs are candidates for being cut. I've heard Buford, "Pretty Little Devilish Mary", and, perhaps most disturbingly, Big Al's "Blood on the Saddle" song and "All the Guys that Turn Me On Turn Me Down" by Bunny, Bubbles, and Beulah are all possibilities.

Of course, it's hard to tell what rumours are credible and which are not, considering my source for much of this is the fan forums at wdwmagic.com.

But the rumour of Big Al's song possibly getting cut was mentioned by one of that board's most credible "insider" posters, and Screamscape.com reported it as well.

Personally, I think the show is just fine the way it is, and the only changes made should be things that enhance the technical quality of the show (speakers, Audio-Animatronic maintainance, etc) without changing the actual content.

Bringing back the seasonal Christmas show would be a positive change as well!

All The Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down is one of my favorite songs in the whole damn show!

If they cut Big Al's song, what the hell are they gonna have him do in the show????

The NY Times says they removed Fractured Folk Song and Little Devilish Mary as well as all the fat jokes. The show is shortened by about 5 minutes.

The show never felt long enough to begin with *sigh*

I saw the new, edited version of the show a few times before my most recent WDW Annual Pass expired.

I am not happy with the edits as they are completely unnecessary.

On the brighter side, the new AA's looked good and moved well (even if some looked a little different, like Liver Lips' new hairdo). And the audio seemed more clear and maybe a little louder.

And at least the rumored cuts of Big Al and/or Bunny, Bubbles, and Beulah's songs didn't happen.

The completely cut songs were the two that Carolinakid reported, and since Wendell and the Five Bear Rugs perform other songs in the show, at least these characters were not completely eliminated.

If only that were the extent of the cuts...

It seems TDO (Team Disney Orlando) were desperate to make the show short enough to run 4 per hour instead of 3, to run more people through the attraction per hour.

As a result, hardly any of the songs survived intact. In a revue that consisted of short song fragments to begin with, most are even shorter, with a line missing here or there, and/or some of the music.

Also, much of the dialogue and humorous banter between songs has been cut, which is a shame, because this gave the bears (and Melvin, Buff, and Max) much of their personality and was a big source of the shows humour.

The effect of watching the show was for me very similar to watching the classic 50 minute Rankin-Bass Christmas specials edited down to about 42 minutes on ABC Family so the network can squeeze in more commercials per hour. Songs you expect to hear are missing, others shortened, and some dialogue is missing as well.

Another example, (pertaining to the song edits) is when you first hear the "single edit" on the radio of a song you are used to hearing in it's full version from the album mix.

As someone who knew the original show inside and out, the effect of these edits was quite jarring and will take some getting used to. However, I still enjoyed the show for what it was, and I suspect those not as familiar with the content of the original show and not expecting to hear certain songs, lines, and jokes, won't be nearly as likely to notice anything wrong.