The new Hungry Bear seating area is officially open at Disneyland. Guests can now eat on the restaurant’s lower level, under the deck and out on a new open-air patio, after months of work on the Bayou Country restaurant.
The new seating area at Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree is officially opened! I was talking to someone who worked on the project and was told there are 84 chairs and 23 tables. There’s also some really cool Easter eggs I’ll post in the next tweet! pic.twitter.com/kB9hxyG91u
— Matt Desmond (@DisneyScoopGuy) October 29, 2026
Our own Matt Desmond was there Thursday morning. Someone who worked on the project told him the new space holds 84 chairs and 23 tables. The space includes both a covered section beneath the restaurant’s upper deck and an open patio just beyond it.
What The New Seating Looks Like
The look is rustic lodge all the way. Wooden tables are paired with twig-style chairs with pink cushions, and the floor is a stone-patterned paving that runs from the covered section out to the patio. Log posts wrapped in rope hold up the deck overhead, and lanterns are mounted on the posts and beams.
Out in the open air, green and tan umbrellas shade the tables, and a tree grows out of a stone-ringed planter in the middle of the patio.
The Easter Eggs, Including Rufus’s House
There’s a new companion restroom with Country Bears theming, Rufus who is the projectionist for the band has a home, the honeycomb is from the original Pooh Corner and there’s a sign to feed the bears
— Matt Desmond (@DisneyScoopGuy) October 29, 2026
The best one is tucked into the rocks. A small red door sits under a boulder, with a mailbox out front that reads “Rufus.” Rufus is the Country Bear Jamboree character who is never seen on stage, only heard, as he works behind the scenes on the show’s scenery and lights. Now he has a house of his own.
A honeycomb hangs from the underside of the deck above the tables, and Matt says it came from the original Pooh Corner. Near the plants, a wooden sign has the word “Don’t” crossed out, so it reads “Feed The Bears.”
There’s also a new companion restroom with Country Bears theming. Its sign reads “Family Den,” and a Five Bear Rugs poster hangs on the wall beside the door.
Matt also spotted a Country Bears-themed sign over the water bottle refill station, showing a bear drinking from an “H2O” jug, and a cute accessibility sign topped with a pair of carved beavers.
They also added a Country Bears themed sign over the water bottle refilling station and idk if this disability access beaver sign is new but it’s super cute!
— Matt Desmond (@DisneyScoopGuy) October 29, 2026
From Construction Walls To Open Tables
We’ve been following this project for weeks. The first sign of the makeover was a set of new lights, followed by lanterns with little bears on them hung over the lower level. The building permit for the work was closed out this week, and on Wednesday the downstairs dining area looked finished but was still waiting on guests. A day later, it’s open, with the same lanterns, paving and umbrellas now ready for lunch crowds.
For anyone planning a visit, the change mostly means more places to sit with a barbecue plate. Disney pitches Hungry Bear on its barbecue and its views of the Rivers of America, and the lower level gives diners a covered spot under the deck plus an open patio.
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