The Country Bear Christmas Special is a holiday version of the Country Bear Jamboree attraction at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort. The show premiered at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland during the 1984 holiday season due to overwhelming popularity of the original shows' success. The show also premiered at Tokyo Disneyland as Jingle Bell Jamboree in 1988.
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The Country Bear Christmas Special was the first time an attraction at any Disney theme park became interchangeable during the year.
At the Disneyland Resort, the Christmas special stopped in 2000 as the Country Bear Playhouse closed on September 9, 2001. At Disney World, the Christmas special stopped in 2005 for reasons that include copyright issues with some of the songs performed in the show such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song). It's been rumored that it might return in the future.
Characters
Because the show was a Christmas special, the characters in the show were put into holiday outfits for their various acts.
Bears
Henry-The "ringmaster" of the show, Henry is a welcoming and friendly brown bear. He wears a grey top hat with a red trim and a light green scarf. In some parts of the show, he plays a yellow guitar. He is voiced by Pete Renaday.
Liver-Lips McGrowl-Liver Lips is perhaps the funniest-looking bear. He's a brown bear who gets his name from his very large lips. He becomes an Elvis impersonator in this show, wearing an Elvis-style Santa suit with gold chains around his neck and wears a fancy ring. In this show, he plays a Christmas tree-shaped electric guitar and is voiced by Imagineer Dave Durham.
Wendell-Wendell is a brown bear with a massive overbite and buck teeth. He carries a squirrel gun, which he accidentally fires a couple of times throughout the show. He wears a hunter's hat and jacket. In this show, he is voiced by Dave Durham.
Teddi Berra-Teddi Berra is a unique bear because she never appears onstage. Instead, she descends from a hole in the ceiling on her swing. She is a brown bear who holds a pair of skis, has a cast on her leg and is dressed in ski gear. She is voiced by Genia Fuller.
Ernest-Ernest is a brown bear who plays the fiddle. He wears a beanie cap and sweater with a trim in the middle with reindeers. There's also a sled next to him. He's voiced by Mike Weston.
Terrence-A tall bear who plays a guitar. In this show, he wears a scarf and earmuffs and has white fur to resemble a polar bear. He is also joined by a penguin encased in ice. His singing voice is provided by Harry Middlebrooks.
Trixie-Trixie is a very large brown bear who wears a blue bow on her head, a blue tutu around her waist, a pair of skates hanging from her neck and holds a pair of mittens in one hand and a mistletoe in another. She is voiced by Suzanne Sherwin.
Big Al-Big Al is the fattest bear. He is grey with a light grey belly and plays the guitar. In this show, he's dressed as baby New Year (sash and diapers(diapers only used in the U.S.version) and wears an icepack and a party hat on his head. A banner hangs above him. His voice is provided by Peter Klimes.
The Sun Bonnet Trio
Gomer-Gomer never sings, but instead plays his piano, which has a small Christmas tree on top of it and Christmas decorations. He is considered Henry's right-hand bear. He is tall and brown and wears a heavy winter coat and sunglasses.
The Five Bear Rugs
Baby Oscar-Oscar appears with The Five Bear Rugs, but plays no instrument. He is a brown bear and always has his teddy bear to keep him company. Oscar wears white earmuffs and red boots and holds a candy cane. His teddy bear has a tag with his name on it.
Rufus-Rufus is not a performer, but instead runs the projections and lights. He is never seen, but can be heard from time to time running backstage, constantly out of breath.
Other animals
Buff-Buff is considered the leader of the animal heads and is also the largest. He is the head portion of an American bison, wears a red Santa Claus hat and is voiced by Disney legend Thurl Ravenscroft.
Max-Max is the head portion of a whitetail buck. In this show, he has a small red light bulb sitting on his snout, making him look a bit like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He's voiced by Mike West.
Melvin- Melvin, a bull moose head of the animal head trio. He often makes good-natured jokes and, in this show, he has lots of Christmas lights hanging on his antlers. He's voiced by Frank Welker.
Sammy-Sammy is Henry's raccoon pal, who cuddles around Henry's top hat. He acts like a coonskin cap for Henry. He wears a piece of a Christmas leaf next to his right ear. He's voiced by Bob Gardner.
Show
The show includes many different traditional Christmas carols, more modern songs, and original Christmas "bear-ols" all sung by the bears in a country twang.
The show begins as always with Buff, Max, and Melvin. As the three argue over who gets to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", Henry appears onstage and begins the show!
Songs
American version:
Japanese version:
Trivia
Until 1988, the show ended with the following dialogue from Buff, Max, and Melvin:
MELVIN: Well, I think we did just fine!
MAX: You would!
BUFF: If you two don't straighten up, I'm gonna pull the plug on both of you! Now say goodbye!
MAX & MELVIN: So long, everybody!
BUFF: Happy holidays!
For unknown reasons, this bit of dialogue was cut from the show.
Even though Big Al sings a parody of Auld Lang Syne in Tokyo's version of the show, it has never been heard on New Year's Eve in Tokyo as they always revert to the original show in both theaters the Saturday before New Year's.