View source for List of Secrets and Easter eggs in Bayou Country & Critter Country

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A compendium of trivia, hidden details and other Easter eggs in ''[[Bayou Country]]'' in Disneyland and ''[[Critter Country (Tokyo Disneyland)|Critter Country]]'' in Tokyo Disneyland.

== Disneyland (Bayou Country) ==
[[File:Sammy Recycling Sign.webp|thumb|237x237px]]

* When Disneyland first opened, the land which now makes up Bayou Country was a part of [[Frontierland (Disneyland Park)|Frontierland]] representing an, "[[Indian Village (Disneyland)|Indian Village]]" which had inappropriate depictions of the Indigenous peoples of North America.  In [[1972]], this section of the park became [[Bear Country]] and in [[1988]], the area was re-themed and renamed to [[Critter Country (Disneyland Park)|Critter Country]].  In 2024, Critter Country was renamed to Bayou Country to tie-in with [[Tiana's Bayou Adventure]].
* The [[New Orleans]] bayou theming of Bayou Country is cohesive to its adjacent land, [[New Orleans Square]].  Tiana's Bayou Adventure is visible near directly next to the [[Haunted Mansion (Disneyland Park)|Haunted Mansion]], which is likewise visible while riding Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
* In 2018, an area called, "Sammy's Recycalatin' Corner" was added near Splash Mountain's exit.  This area was named after [[Sammy]] from the defunct Country Bear Jamboree, and featured art of the character.

=== [[Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes]] ===

* This attraction opened in 1956 under the racist naming and theming of "Indian War Canoes".  It was later changed to have theming to the [[Davy Crockett]] TV mini-series which inspired much of [[Frontierland (Disneyland Park)|Frontierland]].  Bear Country also used to operate the "[[Mike Fink Keel Boats]]" similarly inspired by the Davy Crockett episode "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race".
* Before the park opens, cast-members will engage in a canoe race called "Deadheads".

=== Fowler's Harbor ===

* The names of Fowler's Harbor and Fowler's Inn tribute Navy Admiral, [[Admiral Joe Fowler|Joe Fowler]] who was friends with [[Walt Disney]] and assisted in designing the [[Rivers of America]].
* A sign identifies [[Joseph Barrell]] (1739–1804) as proprietor of the chandlery.<ref>https://duchessofdisneyland.com/disneyland/little-details-critter-country/</ref>  Barrel was a historic merchant who worked on the ''Columbia Rediviva'' sailing ship which inspired the ''[[Sailing Ship Columbia]]''.
* In Pelican Landing, there is a crate for C. Alton Bait & Tackle, referencing ''Christopher Alton's Bait and Tackle'' which has a sign in the harbor.  Another crate is for J. Barrell.<ref>https://wdwnt.com/2021/11/photos-touring-the-new-pelicans-landing-seating-area-at-disneyland-park/</ref>
* Signs in Pelican Harbor provide nautical facts, and Disney history.
* There are two boatswain's pipes on display, identified as coming from the Mark Twain Riverboat and the Sailing Ship Columbia.

==== [[Harbour Galley]] ====

* The proprietor is [[Jonathan Winship]] (1780–1843), a historic sailor and entrepreneur.

=== [[Hungry Bear Restaurant|Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree]] ===

* This restaurant contains elements themed to the defunct ''[[Country Bear Jamboree]]''.
* The washrooms are named after the Country Bears.  This includes:
** [[Gomer]]'s Gentlemen's Lair.
** [[Trixie St. Claire|Trixie]]'s Powder Room.
** The [[Sun Bonnet Trio|Sun Bonnets]]' Family Den.
** Sammy appears on the sign pointing towards the restrooms.
*Added in 2024 is a mural of "Grr-ill Master" [[Ursus H. Bear]], who is the founder of the Country Bear Jamboree, most notably from the Magic Kingdom version of the attraction.
*Added in 2024 is a mural of Tiana's Bayou Adventure on the back of cast-member shirts.
*[[Teddi Barra]]'s swing appears.

=== [[The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Disneyland Park)|The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]] ===
[[File:Countrybearjam heads.webp|thumb|237x237px]]
* Before Winnie the Pooh was used for theming, a proposed attraction to replace the Country Bear Jamboree was the "[[Critter Country 500]]".  This would have been a dark-ride themed to a soapbox derby with the Country Bears.
* A recreation of Eeyore's house can be found in the queue.
* During the [[Heffalumps and Woozles]] dream sequence, the static heads of [[Melvin, Buff, and Max]] from the former Country Bear Jamboree appear behind the exit.

=== [[Louis' Critter Club]] ===

* There are posters for different musicians from Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
* One poster is for "[[Firefly Five Plus Lou|The Firefly Five plus Lou"]], word-play on the Firefly Five Plus Two which was a real band of Disney animators, referenced in the Princess and the Frog.  Unlike in the film where this was a human band including Louis, the poster shows members of [[Firefly Family|the family of fireflies]].
* The gag of the [[Bear Family|bear family]]'s doors being inside of one-another is lifted from the queue of the Country Bear Jamboree.
* There are various references to the members of the [[Bayou Community Band]] from Tiana's Bayou Adventure throughout the store.
* [[Juju]] can be seen sleeping in his basket by [[Mama Odie]]'s spot.  The frog band [[Ranitas Verdes]] from Tiana's Bayou Adventure appear as figures on a higher shelf.
* A straw hat appears on a shelf, possibly as an allusion to the hats worn by many characters in Splash Mountain.

=== [[Pooh Corner]] ===

* Outside of the entrance to Pooh Corner is the birdhouse of [[Mister Bluebird|Mr. Bluebird]] from ''Song of the South'' (1946).<ref>https://duchessofdisneyland.com/disneyland/mr-bluebirds-house/</ref>
* On the second-floor of this building, there is a sign for ''[[Teddi Barra's Swingin' Arcade]]''.  This was a Country Bear themed service which Pooh Corner replaced.
* Machinery on the upper levels appear to be repurposed props from the Brer Bar which Pooh Corner replaced, where they represented moonshining equipment.
* Inside Pooh Corner, there are paintings of Winnie the Pooh with Gomer and Teddi Barra from the ''Country Bear Jamboree''. [[File:Countrybears2-pooh'scorner.jpg|thumb]]
** The tribute is similar to how the Magic Kingdom's ''[[The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Magic Kingdom)|Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' tributes [[Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Magic Kingdom)|Mr. Toad's Wild Ride]] through portraits of Winnie the Pooh characters with Mole and Mr. Toad.
* Overtop of the entrance is a small home with references to various Winnie the Pooh characters. The sign says, "Mr. Sanders" referencing Winnie the Pooh's home, another sign says, "Trespassers Will" which is Piglet's home, and the mailboxes are for Kanga and Roo.<ref>https://duchessofdisneyland.com/disneyland/mr-sanders-house/</ref>
* Outside of a part of Pooh Corner is a sign for Critter Country, establishing it as having been established in the year 1889. This is an allusion to [[1989]], which is the year that the defunct attraction Splash Mountain opened.

=== [[Ray's Berets]] ===

* Ray's family are implied to live in the mason jars found throughout the shop, which contain miniature furniture and other belongings. Ray himself would have lived in the jar over the mantle, which has a small framed image of the [[Evangeline]] star.
* There is a miniature outhouse on a shelf referencing the outhouse from ''Shrek'' (2001), a satire of Disney animated fairy-tale films made by Disney's primary rivals, Dreamworks.

=== [[Tiana's Bayou Adventure]] ===

* Critter Country's adjacent land of [[New Orleans Square]] is set in [[New Orleans]], the same city as [[Tiana's Bayou Adventure]], and said land has theming to T''he Princess and the Frog''.
* On the Tiana Foods water-tower are various star designs which resemble Tiana's tiara. One of the points is made to look like the Evening Star, Evangeline, and Tiana's late firefly companion, [[Ray]].
* This attraction does not feature three of ''The Princess and the Frog''<nowiki/>'s most iconic songs, "Friends on the Other Side", "When I'm Human" or "Ma Belle Evangeline".

==== Queue ====

* Advertisement for [[Tiana's Palace]] appear in the queue.
* Atop the mantle are wooden animals tributing the characters of Splash Mountain, as well a a miniature steamboat with a crowned frog referencing Splash Mountain's [[Br'er Frog]] and [[Zip-A-Dee Lady|Zip-a-Dee]] Lady.
* Throughout the queue are photos, ribbons and newspaper stories in tribute to Tiana's late father, [[James Rogers|James]], as well as references to her mother [[Eudora]].
* James is identified as having belonged to the 369th Regiment. The 369th Regiment was a real-world national guard regiment known for having been one of the first African-American regiments.
* The location of Tiana's Foods replaced a mining company known as the ''[[Southern Dome Salt Company]]''. The company may reference historic salt-mines in Louisiana, infamous for using black slave labor. There are allusions to the mining history throughout the queue.
** The word southern being in the name of this business may be an allusion to the controversial Disney film ''Song of the South'' (1946) which was the source material for Tiana's Bayou Adventure's predecessor attraction, Splash Mountain.

==== Ride ====

* The chalkboard behind Tiana mentions "Daddy's Gumbo", referencing the gumbo of her father James which was made at the beginning of the Princess and the Frog.
* In the garden are various produce arranged to resemble Louis.
* The fireflies pass through a dead tree which resembles that which was atop Splash Mountain.
* [[Apollo the Raccoon]] and [[Rufus the Turtle]] have appearances based on animals who were present at Naveen and Tiana's wedding in ''The Princess and the Frog''.
* The image of Louis' rear sticking out of the log is repurposed from Splash Mountain where Br'er Bear's rear stuck out of the entrance to the Laughin' Place.
* Mama Odie's song "Dig a Little Deeper" does not serve its purpose from the original film. In ''The Princess and the Frog'', the song depicts Mama Odie aiding Tiana and Naveen by discouraging them from their main objectives (what they want) and learning to look for what they as people need to grow. In Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the song is sung while Mama Odie is helping Tiana and guests to directly complete Tiana's main objective without change or lessons, nearly the opposite point of the song from the film.
* Leading up to the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure, it was highly anticipated for the lift-hill to be set to [[Doctor Facilier]]'s song "Friends on the Other Side" from the Princess and the Frog, with various edits being made on the internet based on this idea. While the production value of the Mama Odie audio-animatronic was celebrated, the lack of suspense/anticipation and lack of one of the film's most popular songs lead to fan disappointment.
* [[Fleur du Bayou]] is French for "Flower of the Bayou".
* Naveen's parents, the [[King and Queen of Maldonia]], as well as Charlotte's father [[Eli La Bouff|Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff]] are seen on a screen dancing in the gazebo.

=== Former attractions ===

==== [[Bear Country]] ====
Bear Country was what Critter Country was named to and themed as from 1972 to 1988.
*Bear Country shared its name with the 1953 "True-Life Adventure" Disney nature documentary film, ''Bear Country''. It likewise shared its name with the fictional "Bear Country" of ''[[Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland]]'', an Extinct attraction which was in Disneyland's Frontierland. 
*The slogan on the entrance to Bear Country said "A HONEY OF A PLACE SINCE ’72" referencing how Bear Country the land opened in 1972.<ref>https://yesterland.com/bearcountry.html</ref> 
*The entrance sign for Bear Country in Disneyland identified the park ranger as being [[J. Audubon Woodlore]] from Mickey Mouse universe cartoons.
* Near the entrance to Bear Country there was a cave which belonged to "[[Rufus the Bear|Rufus]]" the bear who could be heard snoring.
* Bear Country replaced an, "Indian Village" which had inappropriate depictions of the Indigenous peoples of North America.  Even after being changed to "Bear Country", the park featured an "Indian Trading Post".

==== [[Brer Bar]] ====

* The bar was identified as the ''John Colter Building'' made in 1902.  This was named after historic explorer John Colter ( c. 1770–1775 - 1812/1813).
* The name of this dining-service referenced the "Br'er" ("Brother") naming conventions of the African-American folk characters of which ''Song of the South'' was based on.

==== [[Country Bear Jamboree]] ====

* The Country Bears were originally conceived for the unbuilt ''Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort'' in California before Walt Disney's death.  Walt Disney's final encounter with animator Marc Davis involved Walt finding his designs for the Country Bears to be funny.
* Signs outside of the attraction had bear versions of the comedy & tragedy masks.<ref>https://yesterland.com/bearsvacation.html</ref>
* [[Big Al]] was modelled and named after fellow animator [[Al Bertino]].
* [[Henry Bear|Henry]] derives his name from Henry Jaynes (1905-1982), a member of the country-music comedy-duo Homer and Jethro.
* The Sun Bonnet Trio had a song with sexual implications. Singing, "All the guys that turn me on turn me down". This is made odder by how while the characters actual ages are unclear, the language and outfits surrounding them often characterizes them as young girls still in school.

===== Country Bear Vacation Hoedown =====
[[File:Country Bears Woodlore.webp|thumb|237x237px]]

* The technician Rufus the Bear is a character from Disneyland's ''Bear Country''.
* J. Audubon Woodlore from Donald Duck cartoons was visible on a photo in [[Wendell|Wendell']]<nowiki/>s song, intruding on a Country Bear Picnic with his, "Don't feed the bears" sign.

==== [[Crocodile Mercantile]] ====

* The Crocodile hanging from the ceiling had the same figure as Br'er Gator in Splash Mountain.

==== [[Mile Long Bar]] ====

* The bar was identified as the ''John Colter Building'' made in 1902.<ref>https://www.yesterland.com/milelongbar.html</ref>  This was named after historic explorer John Colter ( c.1770–1775 - 1812/1813).

==== [[Snackin' Place]] ====
[[File:Mr Bluebird Snackin Place.webp|thumb]]

* A wooden sculpture of Mister Bluebird from ''Song of the South'' appeared near this food stand.

==== [[Splash Mountain (Disneyland Park)|Splash Mountain]] ====

* Splash Mountain was based on infamously racist hybrid live-action/animated Disney movie ''Song of the South'' (1946). The movie was protested by the black community while in development and while coming out, featured a romanticized depiction of slavery and plantation owning, racist caricatures of black people, heavy use of white-written black jargon, and had repeated used against black children repeated (all while revolving around the coming-of-age of a white, plantation-heir protagonist). The racism of the movie caused it to be removed from shelves and it was never brought over to DVD.
** When Splash Mountain was an active attraction, Disney frequently included characters like [[Br'er Rabbit|Brer Rabbit]] amongst lineups of theme-park characters, presumably to subtly cover-up the attraction's source-material.
* Disneyland's original Splash Mountain repurposed characters from defunct [[Tomorrowland]] attraction ''[[America Sings]]''. This is as Song of the South had characters designed by Marc Davis, who also designed the animals in America Sings, many of whom were 19th century singing anthropomorphic animals. Several of these characters reappeared in the Magic Kingdom version of the attraction.
** America Sings' central characters [[Sam the Eagle]] and [[Ollie the Owl]] notably did ''not'' appear.

===== Queue =====

* The quotes on signs were taken from quotes of [[Uncle Remus]] in the Song of the South.<ref>https://www.micechat.com/356772-miceshots-a-photo-farewell-to-splash-mountain/</ref>

===== Ride =====

* [[Br'er Bear]]'s snoring from his cave was a tribute to the removed cave of ''Rufus the Bear'' cave of Bear Country.  When Splash Mountain first opened, the cave was still identified as belonging to Rufus.<ref>https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/07/five-things-you-might-have-missed-in-critter-country-at-disneyland-park/</ref>
* Br'er Frog replaced the role of Uncle Remus from Song of the South.
* [[Br'er Gator]] is a character from the folktales which Song of the South was based on, who did not appear in Song of the South.
* Br'er Rabbit is seen talking with [[Br'er Terrapin]], a character from the folktales which Song of the South was based on, but who did not have a role in the Song of the South; with an audio-animatronic repurposed from America Sings.  He referenced accompanying Br'er Rabbit for his adventures but did not show up anywhere else in the attraction and was exclusive to Disneyland's Splash Mountain.
* The animatronic of Br'er Rabbit on the handcar is repurposed from a rabbit character who appeared in extinct attraction ''America Sings''.
* Brer' Fox capturing Brer' Rabbit in a beehive is a reimagining of the infamously racist, "Tar Baby" scene from Song of the South.
* Burrow's Lament is a song written for the ride.
* While a character from America Sings, [[Mother Possum]] is dressed similarly to an opossum mother from Song of the South.
* The two vultures as the [[Boothill Boys]], undertaker characters from America Sings.
* The sign for ''Fowler's Cellar'' is a tribute to Admiral Joe Fowler who assisted in Disneyland's construction.
* The sign for ''Catfish Bend'' was named after a cancelled animated Disney film planned to have been released in 1981.
* The raccoon character represents [[Br'er Raccoon]], another character from the "Br'er" folk-tales who only had minor cameo appearances in in the Song of the South.  Like many of the characters, his audio-animatronic was repurposed from America Sings.
* [[File:FNC7064432-1024x681.jpg|thumb|237x237px]]There was a sign on the side of the ''[[Zip-A-Dee Lady]]'' which read, " Playbill - Capt. Andy Presents Song of the South in 3 Acts". This referenced the infamous 1946 Disney film ''Song of the South'' of which Splash Mountain was based.
* Of the notable America Sings characters repurposed in the finale scene: the alligator band are the [[Swamp Boys]], the wagon of singing critters is the [[Collegiate Quartet]], the dog on the boat was [[Tex Ranger]], and the pig on the organ was [[Big Daddy]].
* [[Professor Barnaby Owl]]'s appearance may have been inspired by the character Hoot Gibson, planned for the unbuilt [[Western River Expedition]].
* A framed photograph in Disneyland's Splash Mountain and Professor Barnaby Owl's showed [[Mickey Mouse]] in a log going over the falls.<ref>http://findingmickey.squarespace.com/hidden-mickeys-disneyland/critter-country/6587803</ref>

==== [[Ursus H. Bear's Wilderness Outpost]] ====

* This shop was named for [[Ursus H. Bear|the founder]] of Grizzly Hall.

== Tokyo Disneyland (Critter Country) ==

=== [[Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes]] ===

* The Beaver Brothers are the characters who created the dam which burst, turning Chickapin Hill into Splash Mountain.
* This attraction is counterpart to Disneyland's ''Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes''.

=== [[Rackety's Raccoon Saloon]] ===

* The saloon is themed to being run by [[Rackety Raccoon]], the moonshining raccoon who burst the dam which created Splash Mountain.

=== [[Splash Mountain (Tokyo Disneyland)|Splash Mountain]] ===

* Splash Mountain is based on infamously racist hybrid live-action/animated Disney movie ''Song of the South'' (1946). The movie was protested by the black community while in development and while coming out, featured a romanticized depiction of slavery and plantation owning, racist caricatures of black people, heavy use of white-written black jargon, and had repeated used against black children repeated (all while revolving around the coming-of-age of a white, plantation-heir protagonist). The racism of the movie caused it to be removed from shelves and it was never brought over to DVD.
* Br'er Rabbit's fur is grey instead of brown as it was in the film.
* Many of the characters on this attraction are replicas of the characters from America Sings.

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Lists]]
[[Category:Country Bear Jamboree]]
[[Category:Splash Mountain]]
[[Category:Critter Country]]
[[Category:Tiana's Bayou Adventure]]