Walt Disney World has revealed that Nation Bear Jamboree has seen its visitor satisfaction (GSAT) rating soar because the reimagined “Musical” model of the stage present debuted final summer time in Magic Kingdom. This shares particulars concerning the greater attraction approval score, together with commentary about GSATs and why this enchancment is stunning, whereas others will not be. Plus, my belated Nation Bear Musical Jamboree evaluation.
Beginning with that final level, it’s usually unsurprising that sure choices which are unpopular with followers are standard with most of the people. The one that stands proud most prominently in my thoughts is Disney Enchantment. From the day it debuted, I made no secret that I used to be not a fan of the Disney Enchantment fireworks. I used to be overtly rooting for the fireworks to flop, with the hope that decrease visitor satisfaction scores that might end result within the return of Fortunately Ever After.
The percentages have been in opposition to that taking place, as there’s a excessive ground for Magic Kingdom fireworks and low need inside Disney to confess defeat. All Magic Kingdom fireworks reveals the identical core qualities, with pyro exploding over Cinderella Fortress to conclude a protracted, memory-filled day at Walt Disney World. The music is pulled from sentimental moments in memorable motion pictures. These fireworks tug on the heartstrings, eliciting sturdy feelings and filling company with happiness on the finish of the night.
Suffice to say, there’s a minimal baseline for any Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular, and even an arguably “unhealthy” one remains to be “good” within the grand scheme of issues. Visitor satisfaction scores for Disney Enchantment mirrored this, and it nonetheless ranked extremely amongst all Magic Kingdom experiences. And but, it was changed as a result of it underperformed for its class. I don’t know if it was the lowest-rated Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular ever, but it surely was beneath Fortunately Ever After, which is #1.
Some followers aren’t going to love listening to this, but it surely’s my understanding that it’s an identical story with Tiana’s Bayou Journey. That reimagined journey has acquired blended opinions from followers, and that’s placing it charitably. This contains our personal prolonged Tiana’s Bayou Journey Experience Assessment: Failure, Flawed or Incredible? Or in the event you’d favor a comparability to its predecessor, there’s We Rode Splash Mountain & Tiana’s Bayou Journey in a Week. Right here’s How Each Win. (Spoiler: Splash Mountain wins extra.)
From what I’ve heard, common company are unbothered by all the faults followers have discovered. Tiana’s Bayou Journey is likely one of the top-rated rides not simply in Magic Kingdom, however in all of Walt Disney World. Whereas I’d love some extra element and specificity about this to grasp how downtime and reliability issue (or don’t), I’m however unsurprised.
An enormous a part of the core enchantment of that log flume journey is and has at all times been its glorious journey profile, with out of doors and indoor scenes, all culminating in that climactic drop on the finish. Lovely animals and Audio Animatronics additionally issue into the combination with each incarnations of the attraction. Disney diehards can quibble over the inventive and storytelling deserves of every, however common company are largely zooming out and looking out on the larger image. They rated Splash Mountain extremely, so that they charge Tiana’s Bayou Journey extremely.
To be clear, I’m not endorsing this–simply reporting it. Typically talking, this thought course of issues me. It’s the kind of sentiment that permits Disney to lower element or justify degrading thematic integrity below the guise of visitor preferences or the excuse that standard guests gained’t discover. Whereas true within the vacuum of a person attraction or two, I do suppose informal company do discover in combination, even when subconsciously.
Or a minimum of, so I’d wish to suppose. However this isn’t actually about Tiana’s Bayou Journey in any respect–it’s about precedent. With regards to that particular journey reimagining, persuasive instances could be made each for and in opposition to it versus its predecessor. However I digress.
Talking of Frontierland reimaginings, Disney shared an replace on Nation Bear Musical Jamboree’s visitor satisfaction rating throughout a latest occasion I attended. The wide-ranging presentation was largely oriented across the “Disney Bubble,” however touched upon a wide range of completely different subjects–together with journey reimaginings.
Throughout that, Jason Kirk, Senior Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, shared his group makes use of a mix of on-the-ground interactions with company and information to make selections. He defined how this drives programming selections, balancing near-term and long-term additions whereas additionally assessing what to refresh. “Now we have to attempt to make the most effective choice for all our company,” Kirk mentioned.
This segued into journey reimaginings, and the announcement that Magic Kingdom shall be overhauling and enhancing its model of Buzz Lightyear’s Area Ranger Spin later this 12 months. “That is us going again and saying, ‘You already know what? This expertise wants some love. It’s the OG,” mentioned Michael Hundgen, Portfolio Govt Inventive Producer. “It is a nice replace to a traditional attraction at Magic Kingdom.”
Hundgen used Nation Bear Musical Jamboree as an illustrative instance. He mentioned that there have been “plenty of opinions about what to do” with the present, hinting on the rumored proposals for the attraction from the Chapek period. “Followers love the bears, we love the bears,” Hundgen added. He defined that Imagineering wished to make the present contemporary and related, whereas additionally displaying like to the Nation Bears.
The presentation revealed that Walt Disney World and Imagineering think about the reimagined stage present a “massive success.” Visitor Satisfaction surveys rank Nation Bear Musical Jamboree because the #6 total attraction in Magic Kingdom. The unique Nation Bear Jamboree was ranked #27.
That is each stunning and unsurprising.
As a lot as I’d wish to consider in any other case, it’s no shock that the unique Nation Bear Jamboree ranked so low. It was a stage present (strike one) from the Seventies (strike two) with none connections to recognizable mental property (strike three). It additionally featured sharp wit and wry humor that almost all company both wouldn’t recognize or may discover offensive (strikes four-plus).
I liked Nation Bear Jamboree, however acknowledge that not everyone seems to be me. No quantity of consciousness or advocacy for the OG Nation Bears goes to persaud individuals of my perspective. Although I don’t like the concept of dumbing issues down for contemporary sensibilities, I’m additionally a realist. I acknowledge it’s important to meet the viewers the place they’re, a minimum of to some extent. It’s a fragile steadiness–and the identical motive why I got here to just accept that Maelstrom, Universe of Power, and even Nice Film Experience have been on borrowed time on the finish of their runs. No sense tilting at windmills.
The stunning half is that Nation Bear Musical Jamboree now ranks #6. It’s nonetheless a stage present, which I might’ve assumed is like the precise reverse of a Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular–one thing with a low ceiling versus a excessive ground. If you happen to advised me Nation Bear Jamboree ranked #27 and requested me to guess the rating of the redone Nation Bear Musical Jamboree, I in all probability would’ve gone with #22, and been shocked if it have been prime 20.
For it to be prime 10 is downright stunning. This places it in the identical league as Tiana’s Bayou Journey, TRON Lightcycle Run, Haunted Mansion, Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice, and Pirates of the Caribbean. (I assume these rankings aren’t counting leisure, as there’s no approach Nation Bear Musical Jamboree is #6 if we’re throwing Fortunately Ever After, Pageant of Fantasy, and many others. into the combination.)
With regards to the spike in visitor satisfaction for a journey reimagining, the one factor that instantly involves thoughts can be Maelstrom to Frozen Ever After. Even that wasn’t fairly as pronounced to the most effective of my data. (The spike for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was, however that’s not a reimagining that reused the identical journey system–it’s completely completely different, and fewer stunning.)
Stunned as I is likely to be, that is constructive from my perspective.
Although I personally wouldn’t rank Nation Bear Musical Jamboree 21 spots above the OG Nation Bear Jamboree (or perhaps a single spot), I’m not lamenting the poor style of my fellow company. This implies a couple of issues, all of that are excellent news. The primary is that the Nation Bears are “secure” for one more couple of many years. I figured this was the case with the reimagining, however feared that if it have been shortly deemed a failure, they could plug the plug sooner.
The second is that this will increase the probability of seasonal overlays sooner or later. I nonetheless suppose Halloween and Christmas Nation Bear Musical Jamborees are unlikely, however this a minimum of strikes the needle a bit. It additionally presents a problem: discovering seasonal Disney IP that matches (as a result of that’ll be the lesson Disney discovered from this).
Lastly, it proves longer and Audio Animatronics-centric sights nonetheless maintain immense enchantment. I’ve been saying this for years–and that it’s a idiot’s errand to chase know-how and tendencies, particularly through screens, as a result of everybody has these of their pockets.
Not solely that, however client know-how refreshes quicker than Disney, so there’s a hazard of every part trying dated a lot sooner. A “blue ocean” technique, of types, in aiming for sights that can’t or will not be replicated wherever else is the optimum method.
Nation Bear Musical Jamboree is proof of idea on this, definitively demonstrating {that a} slower-paced and longer present pushed by Audio Animatronics and with out any thrills or gimmicks generally is a hit with company. Not only a success, however a powerful one.
On a semi-related notice, a number of readers have requested for my evaluation of Nation Bear Musical Jamboree after I uncared for to write down one final summer time. That was on function, as I’ve difficult and conflicting emotions about this reimagining. I’ve joked about writing “Tom’s Completely Biased Nation Bear Musical Jamboree Assessment” to share them.
This looks like pretty much as good of a spot as any for that. I’ll begin with the objectively constructive, which is that Grizzly Corridor appears and sounds nice. The eye put into the shows within the ready space is superb, the type of loving tribute to the bears that has existed for years at Tokyo Disneyland. (Okay, not fairly that good.)
Then there are the bears themselves. In addition they look and sound nice–and I don’t imply the music. The rebuilt Audio Animatronics are fluid and don’t make a ton of noise whereas shifting. The coats look contemporary and incredible. From the attitude of present high quality alone, Nation Bear Musical Jamboree is head and shoulders above the OG Nation Bear Jamboree.
After all, it didn’t have to be that approach–the outdated present may’ve acquired TLC through the years, it simply didn’t. Nothing was stopping Disney from greenlighting a restoration of the attraction, however realistically, hundreds of thousands of {dollars} aren’t spent like that on legacy sights and not using a marketable return. The underside line, although, is that the present appears and sounds higher than it has at any time in my grownup life. Once more, that is Tokyo Disneyland-esque, however on this case, Nation Bear Musical Jamboree outperforms its Japanese counterpart.
Attempting to fundamental my objectivity, I’m extra blended on the present itself. It’s very tough to put aside my private preferences in humor and music, each of which skew strongly in favor of the OG Nation Bear Jamboree. On the similar time, the truncated present misplaced a whole lot of its luster over a decade in the past.
What I can say is that a number of of the Disney songs labored higher than I anticipated, and there’s sufficient humor and rapport among the many bears to convey their allure, character, and historical past. It feels cohesive and well-paced. And once more, all of it feels very lovingly performed by Imagineers who clearly “get” the Nation Bears as they executed an IP mandate.
My largest criticism on the substantive aspect (whereas attempting to be goal) is that there’s an excessive amount of genre-bending and script-flipping. It’s humorous or stunning the primary couple of instances that the foolish bears carry out a love track within the model of nation music, however feels gimmicky after a bit. I do know Disney doesn’t have a ton of nation music in its songbook, however I in all probability would’ve gone with extra music from The Lion King, Automobiles, Fox and the Hound, Tarzan, Residence on the Vary, or (particularly) Coco.
With that mentioned, it’s not as if the track choice is unhealthy by any means. I favored a lot of the music and accompanying gags (“Supercalifragilisticexpialiocious” and “A Entire New World” being my favorites). It simply felt like 1-2 songs too many attempting to be intelligent or shock audiences. (Slicing the Toy Story music is the best reply. Walt Disney World doesn’t want this a lot Toy Story.)
As for the biased a part of the evaluation, we’ve largely been over this earlier than.
There are a few new developments, although. The primary is in speaking to extra individuals with data of the decision-making course of that resulted within the Nation Bear Musical Jamboree reimagining. That is one thing I hinted at beforehand, arguing that it in all probability wasn’t OG Nation Bear Jamboree vs. Nation Bear Musical Jamboree, however relatively, Nation Bear Musical Jamboree vs. no bears in any respect.
All the pieces I’ve heard because the announcement means that that is 100% correct. That it took years for Nation Bear Musical Jamboree to get the greenlight, and it nearly by no means occurred. (One of many uncommon instances the place possibly the COVID closure improved outcomes.) That the present was a hard-fought victory for the passionate creatives who love the Nation Bears. That this was the most effective case situation of the outcomes that have been really believable. Fan daydreams a few restored Nation Bear Jamboree are good, however they have been simply that–daydreams–not something realistically thought-about.
This isn’t to say it’s important to agree with the choice at a excessive stage, as a result of clearly, you don’t. However I really feel unhealthy for the Imagineers and others on the venture who have been criticized by followers for “killing” the OG Nation Bear Jamboree. These followers have it precisely backwards–these creatives and leaders went above and past to avoid wasting the Nation Bears from a worse destiny: extinction.
All of that makes reviewing Nation Bear Musical Jamboree tough for me. I feel the present high quality is superior and recognize that the attraction has been modernized; it’ll introduce an entire new era of company to the Nation Bears, which is an efficient factor. With background data, I’m happy with how this saga ended up taking part in out versus the choice. But when I simply evaluation Nation Bear Musical Jamboree on its deserves in opposition to what it changed, I don’t come away considering it’s an enchancment. At the very least, not for me, personally.
Then there’s one more biasing issue. We took our daughter to see Nation Bear Musical Jamboree for the primary time, and he or she completely liked it. Megatron is just about a Nation Bear connoisseur, having now seen the unique present, Nation Bear Trip, Nation Bear Christmas, and Nation Bear Musical Jamboree.
She loves every single model, however Nation Bear Musical Jamboree obtained the most important response out of her. Actually, this isn’t all that exceptional. She doesn’t watch motion pictures but, so it’s not like she acknowledges these Disney songs. If something, she’s heard the music from Trip Hoedown and Jingle Bell Jamboree probably the most, as these comprise actual world music that we’ve listened to at dwelling.
For her, the enchantment is the bears, themselves–she likes to level at them, clap, and chortle. Regardless, Nation Bear Musical Jamboree is one among Megatron’s favourite Disney sights on the earth…which makes it one among my favorites, too.
I had seen CBMJ a number of instances over the prior months, however I used to be additional gained over based mostly on Sarah’s response to it. She went into this new present with a bit, let’s say, cynicism, about it. Her expectations weren’t excessive. Sarah’s favourite variations of the present are the seasonal overlays, and he or she was skeptical the IP injection may preserve and allure and spirit of the decades-old reveals. She walked away pleasantly shocked. She really wished to do it a couple of extra instances, whereas OG Nation Bear Jamboree at Magic Kingdom had fallen to once-per-visit standing.
That was roughly my response to seeing Nation Bear Musical Jamboree for the primary time, and I believe seeing our daughter getting so giddy concerning the bears heightened Sarah’s personal response. It definitely did mine, and underscored that we’d be capable of benefit from the Nation Bears with Megatron for years to return, which nearly was not the result in Magic Kingdom. From that perspective alone, I give very excessive–however very biased–marks to Nation Bear Musical Jamboree. I’d think about our opinions will solely change into extra favorable as Megatron acknowledges extra of the music from the present, and we kind household nostalgia for Nation Bear Musical Jamboree.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider the reimagined Nation Bear Musical Jamboree? Stunned that it’s GSAT jumped from #27 to #6 throughout all of Magic Kingdom? Do you personally favor the OG Nation Bear Jamboree or CBMJ? Do you a minimum of perceive the upside of modernizing the attraction, even in the event you favor the unique? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions—even while you disagree with us—is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!