Disney has announced the reimagining of Hungry Bear Restaurant into a new dining location inspired by Country Bear Jamboree! This post covers full details of the announcement from Disneyland, plus concept art, our extensive commentary about this news and potential implications for Walt Disney World, too.
Let’s start with basic background, which is that Hungry Bear Restaurant closed on July 8 as part of the temporary closure of Critter Country that’s occurring due to the transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. This whole corner of the park is a mess of construction, and there’s also walls around nearby Haunted Mansion and a large swath of New Orleans Square extending to Tiana’s Palace Restaurant.
Everything else in Critter Country closed earlier this spring–Hungry Bear was the lone holdout, until Disneyland announced earlier this summer that it would close for kitchen refurbishments. Prior to that, there was a construction wall around the rest of the land, but you could enter the restaurant or Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Now, we know that it’s more than just a back-of-house kitchen project taking place…
Disneyland Resort has also announced the reimagining of Hungry Bear Restaurant into a restaurant inspired by Country Bear Jamboree. When the restaurant reopens to guests, it will become Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree.
Inspired by the Country Bears and their travels throughout the greatest music halls in the United States, Disneyland Resort will introduce a menu inspired by the Country Bears’ favorite regional barbecue dishes, which guests can enjoy alongside a soundtrack of their greatest hits.
Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree will not be a character dining location, but more details about the full menu, the concept and a reopening date will be announced at a later date!
Turning to commentary, we have a lot of thoughts about this awesome announcement.
The first one is totally tangential to this news. It’s that the D23 Expo Parks Panel must be absolutely stacked if Disney is announcing this now. The Country Bears getting a restaurant may not seem like huge news to you (if you hate things that are awesome), but it keep in mind that the D23 Expo is held in Anaheim, California.
The home crowd of Disneyland fans loves the Country Bears. Even after being evicted by Winnie the Pooh back in September 2001, the Country Bears have a fervent following among diehard Disneylanders. The characters still meet in Grizzly Peak (they drew long lines when they first returned) where there’s also a new Big Al statue (see first photo) and they’re constantly the subject of wishful thinking about a once-rumored reimagining of Grizzly River Run.
Suffice to say, the home crowd would’ve gone absolutely nuts if Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree were announced at the D23 Expo. That means either the lineup is so jam-packed with big news that this is somehow too inconsequential to share at that event or they didn’t know what a gem they have with this news. Perhaps a bit of both?
Segueing into the substance of the Country Bear Jamboree restaurant reimagining news itself, this just makes sense.
As suggested above, the Country Bears have been making a comeback at Disneyland over the last decade or so. Not only that, but Imagineering has obviously been working on Country Bear Musical Jamboree for Walt Disney World, so they’ve been fabricating new props and crafting backstory.
And there are plenty of people internally who are Country Bear fans. Outward appearances may suggest otherwise, but the Country Bears are like the Muppets. There are fierce advocates for both within the company, which is why they keep popping up in new locations. Or in the case of the Country Bears, exist at all outside the Archives.
It also makes sense because Hungry Bear Restaurant previously had no intellectual property tie-in. (Well, unless you counted the existing references to the Country Bears behind the counter and in the restroom signage.)
More to the point, the restaurant didn’t have any connections to Disney movies or characters. It’s no secret that there’s an IP mandate for the parks, with the goal of reimagining generic offerings into things with character connections.
We saw that most recently at Disneyland with French Market being transformed into Tiana’s Palace and Pacific Wharf becoming San Fransokyo Square. Both of those are nice plussings, and I’d assume the same will also be true of Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree.
This mandate for more “IP injections” is lamented by many Disney fans who assume it means taking unique theme park offerings and stripping of their personality for the sake of synergy with Disney+ or whatever. And that would probably be us if Hungry Bear were becoming Lotso Garden Cafe or a hamfisted NatGeo tie-in.
As we’ve pointed out, there’s also theme park IP that’s being used to cross-pollinate other offerings, and that’s precisely what’s happening here. I cannot imagine a single person complaining about Hungry Bear becoming a bona fide Country Bear Jamboree restaurant! It’s going from generic bears that never really garnered a fan-following to ones with a tremendous amount of history at Disneyland who are still adored by fans.
Of course, whether this garners praise or is derided as surface-level fan service all depends upon the execution. Honestly, I don’t expect major changes to Hungry Bear Restaurant–so I’d recommend adjusting your expectations if that’s what you’re hoping to see. It’s probably not going to be some grandiose reimagining that fundamentally alters the venue.
Hungry Bear is a fairly simple restaurant. It’s also a culturally-significant one that’s considered a potential historic landmark. Seriously. In case you missed it during the DisneylandForward meetings, Hungry Bear was one of three such venues in Disneyland–along with the Main Street USA Train Station and Pirates of the Caribbean.
From that, we learned that Hungry Bear Restaurant was identified as eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for “its association with the second phase of renovation and expansion of Disneyland in the 1970s,” and under Criterion C as “a good example of Rustic/Theme Park style architecture.” The State Historic Preservation Officer concurred with the evaluation of the Hungry Bear restaurant, and the building was assigned a status code 2S2.
I don’t think all of that is necessarily prohibitive to the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree being an ambitious project, but even if I hadn’t known of its ‘culturally significant’ status, I would’ve expected this to be a fairly restrained reimagining.
Hungry Bear Restaurant is entirely outdoors. It’s essentially a walk-up window with two massive levels of open air seating.
Its design is fairly spartan, even by the standards of rustic theme park architecture. This isn’t a problem–it’s an asset. The highlight of Hungry Bear is its views of the Rivers of America and into the wilderness. It doesn’t have quite the same atmosphere since the walkway to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was added, but it’s still very good–it feels remote by comparison to the core of Disneyland.
If Disneyland ever had the appetite to change that, they would’ve done so for Tiana’s Palace. The more sensible spot for that restaurant would’ve been Hungry Bear, but it also would’ve been a larger undertaking. Since they passed on doing that and opted instead for French Market, I can only assume that it’s going to be a similar story with this reimagining into Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree.
That’s not a bad thing. Allowing the setting to speak for itself but adding the Country Bears via music, signage, and other storytelling touches makes sense. Imagineers could certainly find places for ephemera and display cases that tell the story of “their travels throughout the greatest music halls in the United States.” I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the Big Al statue (and maybe others like it?) make its way over to Hungry Bear BBQ Jamboree.
What I envision is something similar to San Fransokyo Square, which is a plussing to Pacific Wharf that added a ton of detail and texture to (mostly) outdoor and open air spaces. More apt thematically is Smokejumpers Grill, which is indoors but added Easter Eggs and nods to Disney history.
My expectation is that Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree will end up being a cross between those two reimaginings and likely slightly less ambitious than both. Even if it’s a “no dough” refresh, I suspect that eager Imagineers who themselves are Country Bear fans will turn this into a pet project. So even if it’s lacking in budget, it should be overflowing with heart–and that makes up for a lot.
As for the menu, there’s nowhere to go but up! Hungry Bear has one of the least ambitious menus in all of Disneyland, and it could be so much better. Not only that, but barbecue is underrepresented at Disneyland and it’s something Disney does pretty well in counter service settings. Just look at Regal Eagle Smokehouse or Flame Tree BBQ. They’re not the pinnacle of barbecue, but they’re both better than Hungry Bear.
When I first heard that this would be a barbecue restaurant, my mind went two places. First, to the extinct Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. This closed to make way for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, leaving a void in the culinary (and goat) scene at Disneyland. I’m looking forward to enjoying barbecue again at Disneyland and hope there’s an option to order a glorious meat bucket.
But honestly, what I miss most about Big Thunder Ranch BBQ is the cookie skillet. I still think about those–particularly the seasonal ones for Halloween and Christmas. Probably not a realistic request, but I’d love for a nod to that dessert to somehow make the menu at Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree.
Although it’s also not barbecue, I’ve long hoped that Hungry Bear would bring back its classic Fried Green Tomato Sandwich. I also still think about the OG version of that from a decade ago–it was one of the best plant-based items at Disneyland. They’re presumably going to want a plant-based option here, and I’d to see that reprised rather than some weird Impossible concoction.
Even if these two specific dishes don’t come to Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree–and they probably won’t–I’m nevertheless pretty optimistic about the menu change. For one thing, it cannot get any worse. Aside from the occasional worthwhile seasonal funnel cake, Hungry Bear has served a basic and limited menu for years. It’s basically one step above Galactic Grill at this point.
For another, Disneyland has been going all-out with new menus around the parks. I cannot think of a recently-redone menu that’s been worse than what it replaced. Every single one has been a marked improvement. Tiana’s Palace, in particular, is a notable upgrade over French Market. While I don’t expect that caliber from a BBQ joint, a few worthwhile items would be a huge win, especially given the stellar setting. (Now do Flo’s V8 Cafe next, Disneyland!)
Finally, the potential implications for Walt Disney World. As we recently discussed in Restaurant Mystery at Magic Kingdom, it’s been radio silence from Disney about Tiana’s Palace in Magic Kingdom or anywhere else at Walt Disney World since the last D23 Expo. At one point, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that it would happen–and probably replacing Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe since Imagineers were spotted poking around there on multiple occasions.
I won’t rehash all of the discussion from that post, but one thing I did suggest was this: “With all of that said, I do think something will happen with Pecos Bill. The underlying IP is almost certainly viewed as “outdated” in Disney’s eyes, and ripe for replacement. However, I think if a change is made, it’ll be very superficial–probably just the name, signage, and a bit of placemaking. (Sorta similar to San Fransokyo Square at DCA, but not even as ambitious as that.) If this is on the table, I’d humbly suggest “Sammy’s Raccoon Saloon” or “Big Al’s BBQ Barn.” Or even just revive the Mile Long Bar moniker. Give us Country Bear fans a win.”
Ultimately, I think us Country Bear fans could still take a win at Walt Disney World. If Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree is a hit with Disneyland fans, why not do a similar Country Bear restaurant reimagining in Magic Kingdom? Again, assuming Pecos Bill isn’t going to become Tiana’s Palace (and it might!), it still has an outdated IP that Disney probably doesn’t want to continue using. A light placemaking project could breathe new life into the location as a Country Bears restaurant.
Heck, they could even do a crossover, with the Bayou Community Band ‘meeting’ the Bear Band in that spot. I’d be totally on board with that–it’d be a great way to meld the worlds of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure with the rest of Frontierland. Honestly, I’d be happy with just about anything happening with this restaurant. Like Hungry Bear, it has nowhere to go but up. As we covered in The Death of Pecos Bill, it just isn’t very good anymore. I’d even be fine with something more superficial like a name and signage change–so long as it also comes with a menu overhaul that includes more inventive cuisine and–hopefully–a return of the toppings bar!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Disneyland getting a Country Bear Jamboree-themed restaurant? Are you excited for Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree? Think it’ll be a plussing similar in scale and scope to San Fransokyo Square or Smokejumpers? Thoughts on the likelihood of Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree coming to Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
