Brer Rabbits and Pooh Bears, oh my! The beans drop into Critter Country - here's the results!

Yee-haw and howdy y'all, and welcome to Critter Country! It's here in this backwoods land that the beans went looking for some of their hillbilly cousins - you know, the legumes that nobody ever seems to want to talk about - for a fun-filled afternoon of banjos, bears, and bluegrass. So fire up that washboard, put on your dirtiest bib overalls, and let the party begin! (By the way, the beans play a mean harmonica. Just ask them sometime.) Critter Country itself was once known as "Bear Country", back in the days when the major occupant was the singing grizzlies over at the Country Bear Jamboree. Then one day the fine kin folk from Song of the South moved into Splash Mountain, and since the land was now splattered with Brer rabbits, frogs, and foxes as well as a chorus of singing chickens recycled from "America Sings", it was only fitting that the Country be renamed to honor all species, and not just the Ursus arctos horribilis. Of course, the bears weren't too thrilled to give up the spotlight, but what can you do? Eventually they all agreed to get along...

...Until this chubby little cubby rolled into town, and the Country Bear Jamboree soon found itself on the "permanent hiatus" list. Yes, Pooh moved in, and Henry, Zeke, Fred, Ted, Big Al, Swingin' Teddy Beara, and all of the inhabitants of Grizzly Hall moved out. Some say that the bears were forced out by their cheerful yellow cousin, but the beans suspect that they couldn't take all of the bouncing from Tigger. All that racket is enough to give anyone a grizzly-sized headache. Anyway, here today stands The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride, where kiddies young and old load up in giant beehives for a ride through Pooh's blustery world. Sadly there's no real honey inside, but at least there's no blood on the saddle, either.

Ah, but there is honey outside, and the beans were the first to spot all of these wonderful "hunny" pots. Does that mean that they get dibs? As all of us Gen X Disney-fiends know and love, in the 1968 classic short, Pooh tries to disguise himself as a little black rain cloud in order to steal the bee's honey from the honey tree. It didn't work out that well for the silly old bear, but as you can see the frijoles (who didn't have to roll in mud to achieve their lovely color) had better luck pilfering the sweet stuff from the bees. All they had to do was put on their best Sunday label, smile wide, and then tell the bees that some kid had dropped an ice cream bar over in Fantasyland. Well, faster than you can say "ha ha suckers," the beans had all that unguarded honey to themselves. Who says that treachery isn't an important life skill?

Of course, leave it to the beans to find themselves in a rather sticky situation, what with all of these honey pots laying around. The beans know that they go great with a little honey, and anything that they can do to make themselves that much more sweet is always welcomed. Just as long as they don't get stuck in Rabbit's doorway afterwards, they'll be okay. I mean, wolfing down 5 gallons of nature's finest honey is fun and all, but they'd rather not become art deco for a fidgety hare, if it's all the same to you.

Finally, the beans did stop by Chickapin Hill, home to Splash Mountain. It's here that you pile into a hollowed out log, plunge down a waterfall, and then get to enjoy walking around with soggy pants for the next two hours. Hey - at least there's no denying where you've been - the wet seat is a dead giveaway. Splash Mountain is one of the beans favorite rides - they've been on it at least a dozen times, and they'll proudly tell you that it's their goal one day to be declared officially "Brer" too. I mean, if they're going to let you meet Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit, then why can't you add a visit to "Brer Frijole" as well? I guess we'll have to keep working on that one, but for now the beans had a great time in Critter Country, and hope all of y'all will drop in for a spell real soon. And be sure to tell your Mama and all dem that the beans said hey!