Entertainment

Paul Bunyan Lumberjack show

Paul Bunyan, the American tall tale legend, gets his first featured attraction in a Disney park (although he does have a log flume at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America in Minnesota). Disney has twice told the story of Paul Bunyan—in a beloved 1958 17-minute cartoon short as well as the 1995 movie Tall Tale. This show focuses on his portrayal (as well as the portrayal of his loyal blue ox Babe) found in the cartoon short. Also of note, Babe is found in the Garden of the Twelve Friends at Shanghai Disneyland as the Disney character for “Ox” of the traditional Chinese Zodiac.

With the need to construct homes and buildings for the influx of pioneers in the Yukon, lumberjacks not too different than Paul Bunyan (well, maybe they were a little shorter) were in great demand. Being a good lumberjack required many skills, such as climbing trees, sawing, and chopping. These skills are on display in this show. For some added diversity, Paul and Babe are joined by a lumberjack named Jill.

The 20-minute Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show is offered six times a day with an hour between most shows. Guests sit on wooden stands for the duration of the show. The 30-foot pole, the logrolling pool, and the log sawing and chopping stations are all visible to the guests. Babe the Blue Ox is an audio-animatronic who is lying down in a shed (visible to the audience).

CAST

Paul Bunyan

Babe the Blue Ox

Jill the Lumberjack

PARTIAL SCRIPT

PAUL (to AUDIENCE): For a long while, people didn’t know where I had gone. Alaska intrigued me—all the adventure, all the snow, and all the trees just waiting to be cut! So my blue ox, Babe...hey everybody say, “Hello Babe!”

AUDIENCE: Hello Babe! (BABE opens his eyes and wags his tail at the AUDIENCE)

PAUL (to BABE): Hey, I was just telling all these folk about how we made it up here to Alaska. (to AUDIENCE) Anyways, Babe and I made the long hike up here to Golden River. (to BABE) Babe, we have met a lot of interesting people up here, ain’t that right?

(BABE lets out a grunt)

PAUL (to AUDIENCE): I get it. Well, it is mostly those who are trying to strike it rich with gold! But that’s not for me! I’m a lumberjack. We did meet one special lumberjack up here, and her name is Jill. You want to meet her? Everybody say, “Hello Jill!”

AUDIENCE: Hello Jill!

JILL (comes out from backstage): Hello everybody! Let me hear you...is everybody here having a great day?! (waits for AUDIENCE to respond) That's great. Well, we are going to have some fun today as we learn about how we lumberjacks chop-down trees to use the wood in everyday life. Why don't we go ahead get started?

SHOW CONTENT

Choosing good trees—Paul explains to the guests how he finds the best tree lumber. He demonstrates by showing pieces of wood to the guests that “not all trees are created equal.” Although low-quality wood can be used for things like firewood, the higher-quality, firmer wood is what is needed for building houses and creating tables and baseball bats. He explains that it is important to look at the grain of the wood to make sure there are no anomalies like knotholes.

Now onto the lumberjack demonstrations!