Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the history of Disneyland’s Critter Country, a remote corner of the park that Disney repeatedly struggled to make guests visit. They trace the area from its Frontierland origins and Disneyland’s oversized bet on the Country Bear Jamboree through a series of unrealized concepts involving Mark Twain, moonshining bears, interactive shooting, and seasonal overlays. Jim also explains how Tony Baxter combined a proposed flume ride with characters and figures from Song of the South to create Splash Mountain. Recorded live at Disneyland, the episode reveals how Country Bears, Winnie the Pooh, and decades of abandoned plans shaped one of Disneyland’s most unusual lands.
Original Air Date: December 17, 2012
Original Title: Disneyland's Critter Country, Mark Twain, The Moonshine Express and Vampire Country Bears
• Why Critter Country remains one of Disneyland’s most isolated lands, requiring guests to enter and leave through New Orleans Square.
• The ambitious proposal to create a complete walking loop around the Rivers of America through the Lost Continent and Big City U.S.A.
• How the area began as part of Frontierland and originally housed Disneyland’s live Native American village and dance performances.
• Why Disney believed the Country Bear Jamboree would become such a major hit that Disneyland needed two theaters instead of one.
• The Pacific Northwest architecture, oversized restaurant, and large restroom facilities built to accommodate the crowds Disney expected.
• Why the Country Bear Jamboree initially attracted guests but failed to generate the repeat visits Disney had anticipated.
• The proposal to replace one Country Bear theater with an Audio-Animatronic version of Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight.
• How the Mark Twain attraction would have used the Country Bear theater’s rotating stages to present scenes from Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and other stories.
• The proposed Dixieland transformation that would have moved the Tom Sawyer Island rafts, converted the Hungry Bear Restaurant into Aunt Polly’s, and extended New Orleans storytelling deeper into the park.
• Disneyland executive Dick Nunis’ determination to add a major log flume attraction after seeing the success of the flume ride at Knott’s Berry Farm.
• The Moonshine Express concept, which would have sent newly deputized guests into the woods to stop bears operating illegal stills.
• How guests would have used mounted guns to shoot moonshine barrels, equipment, and Audio-Animatronic bears that fired back.
• Why Disney continued betting on the Country Bears despite evidence that the characters were not drawing enough guests into the land.
• The proposed seasonal versions of Country Bear Jamboree, including Valentine’s Day and Halloween productions.
• The unbuilt Halloween show featuring Henry as a vampire and Big Al transformed into a Frankenstein-style monster.
• How work on EPCOT Center delayed or displaced many of Disneyland’s proposed Critter Country improvements.
• Tony Baxter’s realization that Disney could combine a log flume, America Sings figures, and characters from Song of the South.
• Why unused Audio-Animatronic figures from America Sings became essential to making Splash Mountain financially practical.
• Michael Eisner’s request that Disney prove Song of the South would not generate controversy before approving the attraction.
• The limited 1986 theatrical rerelease of Song of the South that Disney used to gauge public reaction.
• Why Uncle Remus was excluded from Splash Mountain and Br’er Frog assumed part of the attraction’s storytelling role.
• How Frank Wells worked directly with Imagineers to reduce Splash Mountain’s proposed budget without abandoning the attraction.
• The unconventional decision to reduce the scale of Splash Mountain’s construction drawings and the problems it caused during installation.
• Why mismatched figures, scenery, and structural elements contributed to Splash Mountain’s delayed opening.
• The maintenance worker who reportedly broke his leg while secretly testing the attraction’s original final drop.
• How Disney altered the flume and splashdown after early testing revealed that the drop was too severe.
• Michael Eisner’s first official ride aboard Splash Mountain while wearing a makeshift poncho made from a plastic trash-can liner.
• How Splash Mountain finally brought large crowds into Critter Country but failed to revive the neighboring Country Bear Jamboree.
• Why guests would ride Splash Mountain without walking across the path to see the Country Bears.
• The irony of Disney closing the Country Bear attraction while its film division was developing The Country Bears movie.
• How Disney replaced the two Country Bear theaters with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
• Why Imagineers originally believed a Winnie the Pooh attraction belonged in Fantasyland rather than Critter Country.
• The early Mickey’s Toontown concept that would have divided the land between Mickey’s neighborhood and Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood.
• How character greetings and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh finally gave families a reason to explore the rear of Critter Country.
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