Submarine Voyage and Country Bear Vacation Hoedown

[CLASSIC HM]

By the way, if anyone notices, September 8th, 2008 will be the 10th anniversary of the orginal sub attractions' demise. September 9th will be the 7th anniversary of the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown/Christmas Special's demise. Disneyland isn't the same without those two attractions.

[elizabethsparrow]

My mom still misses the Country Bears to this day. It was one of her favorites and I remember we started breaking out into one of their songs at the Grizzly Bear River Run one time. It was pretty amusing.

[DLrules]

Its a shame they got rid of Country Bears...

[MANEATINGWREATH]

The Country Bears must return! But I don't miss the old subs, I am perfectly fine with the new ones, they did a really good job.

[Sesshomaru-sama]

Even though I like Finding Nemo: Submarine Voyage, I still miss the original Submarine Voyage. In my opinion, it was one of Walt Disney's finest rides.

I also miss The Country Bears. Unfortunately, I never seen the Christmas version. I heard that they're coming back to the resort, but in Disney's California Adventure. I guess that could be true, considering that I saw a some-sort of construction going on that I saw from the lift hill in the Grizzly River Run ride.

Sincerely, a brother of a half-demon,
Sesshomaru-sama

[HiddenMickey]

I agree, these are great additions to the park, but thankfully the subs are back in some form.

What is this word of the Bears coming back to DCA? Btw, is it just me or is Pooh just decreasing more and more in ridership lately?

[MANEATINGWREATH]

The bears are apparently coming to DCA with the expansion of the park, every time somebody asks a cast member they tell them they will see the bears again, real soon. Pooh has released an even worse decline in ridership HiddenMickey, I went to Disneyland last Monday (Labor Day) and hung out near Pooh Corner at one point in the day and the wait time for Pooh was one minute, no kidding. It's kind of sad when you think about it because a cheap carnival quality ride was built in place of a wonderful show. It's also ironic, because Disney dropped the bears at DL because of a decline in guests, and now its predescor has even worse crowds.

[Sesshomaru-sama]

That's funny to me. That should teach them the lesson of replacing great attractions for cheap clones (cheap as in not as good as the original, not the lazyness of making an attraction).

Sincerely, a brother of a half-demon,
Sesshomaru-sama

[HiddenMickey]

I agree... Now if only POTC will get the same results, maybe it'll go back to the way it was (but that's another story.)

Exciting about the CBJ rumor at DCA though.. I wonder if it'll be the regular or Vacation Hoedown version (hoping for the latter!).

[CLASSIC HM]

Today was officially the ten year anniversary of the "Submarine Voyage" closing. I watched a video of it in its memory.

[Wedbliss]

Why does the rumor regarding the return of the CBJ to DCA seem too good to be true? I want to believe it but something holds me back....

[Disneydanny]

I'm probably going to be Bawling all day tomorrow (silently while at work) it isn't fair that we lost a good attraction like the Bears for that CHEAP version of Winnie the Pooh. Had we got the version Tokyo got it might have been an easier pill to swallow

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Well todays the anniversary of the Country Bears' ultimate demise. If only I could travel back seven years in the past to visit a young MANEATINGWREATH as he and his family made one final trip to see the Country Bear Playhouse before Pooh's "blustery" arrival. Who wants a ride loaded with pooh anyways? Say I am striked with inspiration! I think I will build a time machine and travel back to that fateful day seven years ago! Heck I can travel back to the opening of Disneyland! The opening of all the big attractions, why I can go to the future and visit the Disneyland and DCA of tomorrow! The possibillities are endless! Bwa ha ha ha ha!

[Disneydanny]

I was by the Pooh ride dduuring one of my trips one time when it broke down and I thought "they closed the Bears for THIS??"

[IndyFantasmic]

Hmm... it's interesting, 'cause I'm a little sadder about the Sub replacement than the Country Bear Jamboree. But that's probably due to my lack of memories with the Country Bears. I know I saw them once, but apparently I was too young for it to stick.

And anyway, I think the Winnie the Pooh ride is outstanding. It might've been better placed in Fantasyland with its dark ride brothers and sisters, but I think it's actually one of the best dark rides in the park next to Peter Pan's Flight. It lives up to the film(s) it's based on, and you can actually understand what's going on in each scene (meaning dialogue bits from scene to scene don't mesh into a confusing bit of chaos). But Pooh's an easy franchise for everyone to bash, so (sadly) I don't expect that to stop anytime soon.

But I think the revival of the subs was a bit botched. I used to love the subs before... but their new version is somewhat... mish-meshed to me. It's weird to see part of the original ride at the beginning and end, with Nemo's story kind of haphazardly jammed in the middle and lacking any particularly outstanding special effects other than lots and lots of projections.

Of course, I'll join you all in mourning the loss of both original rides. But at the same time I'm celebrating the new arrivals with varying degrees of enjoyment.