Alberta Falls is a character from the Jungle Cruise who first appeared in the Skipper Canteen.
History[]
Biography[]
Background[]
Alberta Falls was born in the year 1911 to English historian Albert Falls, Jr. and Indian painter Sneh Falls. Due to her parents travels, Alberta spent much of her youth travelling the globe. Before she was eight, Alberta was taken to London, Cairo and New York City.
In the summer of 1919, Alberta's parents sent her to live with her grandparents, the colonial adventurers and Jungle Navigation Company owners Dr. Albert Falls and Victoria Marie Falls in the jungle while Albert Jr. was on a lecture-circuit. Alberta fell in-love with the beauty and freedom of jungle and decided she didn't want to leave. As a result, Alberta's parents arranged for the girl to be raised by Dr. Albert and Victoria for the rest of the summer though this turned into her never leaving. Here she would be raised not only by her grandparents, but also by the JNC's skippers.
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Dr. Albert often took Alberta on adventures around the world. One adventure took them to New Zealand where she adopted a pet kakapo that she named Kamaka. Another exploit had the two travel to the Papua New Guinea colony of Mystic Point, land run by Dr. Falls' contemporary Lord Henry Mystic from the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Dr. Falls taught Alberta skillsets such as how to pilot a riverboat. In 1927, a 16-year-old Alberta navigated India's Ganges river within the boat Molopo Marie to the home of her maternal grandparents.
In 1928, Dr. Albert mysteriously disappeared with Alberta later becoming the new president of his international business, the Jungle Navigation Company.[1] However, Alberta had inherited the business in the midst of the Great Depression. To combat the economic downfall, Alberta took the suggestion of a skipper and started, "Jungle Cruises". On the October 1 of 1931 she held the first ever, "Jungle Cruise", a scenic riverboat tour service. The success of the Jungle Cruise brought new business to the several outposts maintained by the Jungle Navigation Company across the globe.
The Jungle Cruise[]
Also in 1931, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Jungle Navigation Company, Alberta assembled a complete map detailing the, "Jungle Rivers of Adventureland". These were rivers mapped by Dr. Albert Falls with annotations which Alberta managed to assemble. At some point, Alberta befriended world-famous painter Rosa Soto Dominguez who created a portrait of Alberta outside of Inspiration Falls which Alberta hung up in her home. By around 1936, Alberta had modified and updated an old map of the Rivers of Adventure which was gifted to her father by Jungle Navigation Company skipper Frank Wolff.[2]
In 1935, the Jungle Navigation Company had their first annual, "Jingle Cruise" to tie into the Christmas season. On either this Jingle Cruise or one between it and 1938, an air-shipment of holiday decorations was dumped into the Rivers of Adventure and resulted in mass pollution throughout Adventureland. While this crime was reported on by journalist Tallahassee Glover, the success of the Jingle Cruise resulting from the pollution caused dumping the rivers with Christmas decor to be an annual tradition. By this point in time, the Jungle Navigation Company had become pseudonymous with corruption, negligence, incompetence, high death tolls and disaster while Alberta profited from the colonial business.
On March 6 of 1936, Adventureland Chamber of Commerce president Nina Chavez named Alberta, "Businesswoman of the Year".[3] In 1938, Alberta turned the Falls family home and JNC headquarters into the, "Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen" dining-service. This successful dining operation would host the likes of eccentric professor the Dreamfinder, aviator Jock Lindsey, "witch-doctor" Colonel Nedley "Shrunken Ned" Lostmore, and one Pamelia Perkins, president of the Adventurers Club.
Lost expedition[]
By 1938, Alberta held offices in the skipper canteen, the boathouse of the Indian Lost Delta, and the river base in the Amazon rainforest. Alberta was also seemingly acquainted with (or potentially a member of) the Adventurers Club, a splinter faction of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers based in Pleasure Island, Florida. Alberta was also friends with ancient JNC affiliate, "Trader Sam" and around 1938 put him in charge of the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Gift Shop along the Amazon river in the Amazon rainforest.
Also in 1938, Alberta arranged for a V.I.P. Jungle Cruise tour lead by her subordinate Felix Pechman XIII aboard his boat, the Kwango Kate. This tour included the likes of Alberta's friend Rosa Soto Dominguez and cousin Siobhan Murphy in-addition to Canadian botanist Dr. Leonard Moss. Alberta also made a later invitation to entomologist Dr. Kon Chunosuke after discovering him to be a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Before the tour's departure, Alberta was interviewed on her past and achievements by a journalist of Adventureland's Daily Gnus newspaper. Dr. Kon Chunosuke delivered a package to Alberta from S.E.A. member Aya Kouame-Beauciel, whom Alberta agreed to hold onto the package for until it was picked up by tae prospective SEA member living in the Adventureland Treehouse.
The VIP expedition was later wrecked and marooned in the African veldt along the Nile river in North Africa.
Development history[]
Creation & changes[]
Alberta Falls was created in 2015 for the dining-service the Skipper Canteen in Walt Disney World's Adventureland. She was part of the Skipper Canteen's backstory which identified joke-character Dr. Albert Falls as founder of the Jungle Navigation Company and Alberta's grandfather. Doctor Falls was created via improv gag in the 20th century, subverting expectations on the original stating of Schweitzer Falls as having been discovered by Dr. Albert Schweitzer. This joke was made part of the Jungle Cruise's script, despite the gag being made moot due to the obscurity of Schweitzer amongst modern audiences. In 2021, Alberta was part of a refurbishment to the Jungle Cruise which was largely oriented towards attempting to remove racist elements from the attraction.
Controversy[]
Alberta Falls has been a considerably controversial character since her integration in 2021 Jungle Cruise promotional-materials. Part of this was due to obligatory misogyny or fans refusing to accept change though another voice in the argument was that Alberta was introduced as a romanticization of the same colonialism the Jungle Cruise was accused of in the first place. Alberta being an Indian woman was further criticized due to it seemingly pushing the actions of the Jungle Navigation Company's colonial activities onto a woman of colour and using her race to superficially justify the colonialism left in the attraction.
Appearances[]
Attractions[]
Adventureland Treehouse[]
Alberta Falls is mentioned in the letter sent to the family daughter by SEA member Aya Kouame-Beauciel.
Jungle Cruise[]
Alberta's office appears within the queue. Additionally are two portraits of Alberta, a silhouette photo of her, and messages from her on a map of the rivers of Adventureland.[4] In Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise, her office in the Amazon River Base is visible while she herself appears on a mural advertising the Jungle Navigation Company. She is also mentioned on the life-raft of the Molopo Marie. The mural promoting the Jungle Navigation Company mentions her as the company's general travel and passenger agent at her #5 Only Road Adventureland address. Skipper Missy will reference Alberta over the Global Broadcasting Service, being referred to as the JNC's, "Fearless Leader".
Skipper Canteen[]
The menu introduction is written by Alberta, her office can be seen in the Mess Hall and art of her is hung in the Falls family parlour.
Paraphernalia[]
Jungle Cruise Adventure Game[]
In this game, Alberta picks one of the four founding families of the JNC to maintain the JNC during her vacation.
Other connections[]
Adventurers Club[]
In her annotations on both maps of the Rivers of Adventure, Alberta uses the expression, "Kungaloosh!" which is the official greeting for the Adventurers Club. Her office in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise contains a parcel from Merriam Pleasure at the Adventurers Club headquarters of Pleasure Island in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Her restaurant the Skipper Canteen also alludes to the Adventurers Club in its menus, having one meal called, "Kungaloosh!" and another called, "Perkins Thai Noodles" named for the favourite dish of club-president, Pamelia Perkins.
Jungle Cruise (film)[]
Alberta's grandfather Dr. Albert Falls was referenced in the Jungle Cruise film as having been a member of the misogynistic Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society and who stole the Arrowhead of Lukarina from the Puka Michuna tribe of the Amazon. The map which Alberta modified for the Amazon River Base was originally made for Dr. Albert Falls by film character Frank Wolff, a charlatan employee of the Jungle Navigation Company under Dr. Falls' time. Alberta's office in the Lost Delta boathouse contains the outfits of both Frank Wolff and Lily Houghton. Her office in the Amazon River Base contains the hat of Frank Wolff, helmet of Lope de Aguirre and framed map to Lágrimas de Cristal.
Trivia[]
- While Alberta's name is made to resemble that of Albert and Albert Jr.'s, it is also a play on the real-life Alberta Falls in Colorado, similarly to her grandmother being named for the Zambezi river's Victoria Falls.
- Alberta's year of birth is the same year of birth as imagineer Harper Goff.
- In her interview with the Daily Gnus newspaper, Alberta used the quote, "It's a Small World". This was a reference to the historic Disneyland attraction of the same name.
- Due to her rank in the Jungle Navigation Company, it is likely that Alberta was involved in the cover-up surrounding the 1932 disappearance of the Ganges Gal in the Lost River Delta, referenced in Jungle River Cruise: Curse of the Emerald Trinity.
- Rosa Soto Dominguez sending Alberta gifts of flower pieces and paintings of her likeness may imply that she and Rosa are in a form of romantic relationship.
- Alberta being referenced as the company's general travel and passenger agent replaced reference to the character of J.T. Sharp.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/03/jungle-cruise-adds-new-characters-mischievous-wildlife-and-skipper-humor-to-classic-attraction/
- ↑ Annotations from Alberta are visible on the map aboard the Mekong Maiden. The Adventure Trading Company referenced the Maiden as going missing around 1935/1936.
- ↑ https://tomorrowsociety.com/skipper-canteen-review/
- ↑ https://www.buzzfeed.com/crystalro/jungle-cruise-disneyland-easter-eggs