- "For a true life adventure ride the JUNGLE RIVER"
- —Original posters
The Jungle Cruise is an attraction located in Adventureland.
History[]
Backstory[]
The Jungle Navigation Company was founded in the year 1911 by British colonist and jungle explorer Dr. Albert Falls. When Falls disappeared in 1928, the company was inherited by his granddaughter Alberta Falls. To prevent financial losses amid the Great Depression, in 1931, Alberta started the, "Jungle Cruise" tourism service to transport guests through the jungle's rivers of adventure, a series of mystic passageways which connect exotic locales across the globe.
However, in-addition to being morally questionable colonists, the Jungle Navigation Company is also highly negligent and incompetent. The ride takes place in the year 1938 after Alberta arranged for a V.I.P. group to take this tour aboard the Kwango Kate. However, their unlucky skipper Felix Pechman XIII wrecked the boat along the African veldt, causing the expedition to be lost. Guests represent patrons of the Jungle Cruise who are set out from the company's base in the Amazon rainforest and happen upon the lost expedition.
Development history[]
The Jungle Cruise was initially inspired by Disney's True-Life Adventures nature documentaries. The Jungle Cruise and, "True-Life Adventureland" (later renamed to Adventureland) were created side-by-side. Walt Disney originally wanted the Jungle Cruise to feature live animals though this was opted out for audio-animatronics.
The original incarnation of the Jungle Cruise was largely designed by imagineer Harper Goff who was greatly inspired by the 1951 romance-adventure film The African Queen. This film film followed the pairing Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayerfighting the German Empire in East-Africa from their titular tramp-steamer, The African Queen. The Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise would open in 1971 with many of these comedic augmentations from opening-day.
Around the 1990s, the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise received an update to look more realistic. This also involved the addition of character Albert Awol on the radio-station AWOL Airwaves, audible throughout the queue.
Around the time of Disney's Animal Kingdom's opening in 1998, the guns the skippers used would be taken out of the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise. In 2000, the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise removed a canopy structure due to safety reasons and overhauled the boats; the boat the Kwango Kate was decommissioned in this update. In March 2001, Disneyland would also have the guns taken out of its Jungle Cruise. The guns returned to both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom versions in late 2004.
2021 refurbishment[]
Due to the broadened cultural awareness of the time, the Jungle Cruise was one of many attractions accused of having racist depictions of characters, locations and situations, in this case, the headhunter tribe, pygmy camp, safari guides and most famously, Trader Sam and his cousin Chief Nah-mee. In 2021, the Jungle Cruise underwent a refurbishment which claimed to be oriented towards inclusivity.
With that, the Umbala village, pygmy camp, Trader Sam's Outpost, buddhist statues and original Lost Safari were all removed in this refurbishment along with the queue loops of Nigel Greenwater and Albert Awol being removed for the new storyline. The attraction reopened with a new storyline and heavy focus on the aforementioned self-referential humour while continuing to include British colonial elements and glamorize them in addition to continuing to negatively stereotype indigenous characters. Said refurbishment also involved heavy amounts of lore-dumped backstories for its newly integrated characters albeit with little-to-none of this backstory being featured on the actual attraction and some of said characters not even appearing anywhere in the attraction.
Summary[]
Amazon Rainforest[]
Amazon River Base[]
This incarnation of the attraction begins in the Amazon rainforest within a floodplain where the Jungle Navigation Company runs a boathouse. Over the radio is the Global Broadcasting Service, presented by Skipper Missy. In the queue are allusions to the missing Kwango Kate and its inhabitants including Skipper Felix Pechman XIII, Dr. Leonard Moss, Dr. Kon Chunosuke, Siobhan "Puffin" Murphy and Rosa Soto Dominguez. Guests pass an old map of the Rivers of Adventure made by boatsman Frank Wolff and augmented by Alberta Falls for skipper usage. There are also references to the negligence and corruption of the company such as a board of missing persons, damaged cargo, and various escaped wild animals and carnivorous plants.
Rivers of Adventure[]
The guests board a boat on docks across from the shack of the elusive O.I. Cyhū and are introduced to their skipper. Beginning their true-life adventure, guests enter the rainforest through a dense fog and find various massive butterflies. The boats first stop is the beautiful Inspiration Falls, so named for how it inspires adventurers to go deeper into the jungle. Following this, the boats use the Rivers of Adventure to go from the Amazon into the Congo basin of Africa.
The boats find the riverside establishment Boats & Baits, rebranded as the quick-service business "Boats & Baits AND Bites!" by its proprietor, Skipper Sully. The establishment is completely empty with nothing happening and little to look at before the boats encounter a massive python. The python eyes down the boats while the skipper makes a get-away.
Africa[]
Congo Basin[]
Upon entering the Congo, the skipper plans to dock at a riverside base-camp. However, this base camp is found to be abandoned due to a troop of gorillas having raided it. One gorilla fires a gun into the water near the boats, another puts tries on a pith helmet in a mirror, a mother plays with her baby, and another gorilla examines the barrel of a rifle. The boats proceed onto the Nile and pass by Schweitzer Falls, named for Jungle Navigation Company founder Dr. Albert Falls.
African Veldt[]
The boats continue into the Nile where they pass by African bull elephants and find the African Veldt of North Africa. On the veldt are a multitude of animals including gnus, gazelles, giraffe, vulture and zebras looking upon a lion pride feasting upon a zebra carcass. Further along the veldt, the boats find the crew of the Kwango Kate chased up a tree by a black rhinoceros which prods at the rear of Skipper Felix while at the top of the tree, Puffin Murphy gleefully observes a tropical bird.
The skipper chooses to ignore finding the lost expedition due to it being too much paperwork to report. Moving on, they enter a hippo pool with the belongings of the expedition. Some hippos charge at the boat before the skipper wards them off, either by gunshot, persuasion or yelling. Entering the Zambezi River, the lost boat the Kwango Kate is located, sinking and piloted by a crew of chimpanzees. Along the shore, more chimpanzees vandalize the washed-up belongings of the Kate's passengers. After this, the skipper pilots the boat underneath of the 8th wonder of the world, "The Backside of Water" under Schweitzer Falls.
Cambodia[]
After this, the boats enter the Mekong river of Cambodia where a recent earthquake has removed the skipper's water exit. With no other option, the skipper enters the flooded ruins of a Khmer buddhist temple, nicknamed by the skippers, "Shir Lee's Temple". The skipper is mostly silent as the boats pass by a snarling indochinese tiger, giant spiders, cobras, a shrine of a cobra with a glowing orb, and monkeys tampering with ancient treasures. The boats finally exit into a secret Indian elephant bathing pool where the boats pass by elephants such as "Big Bertha" taking a shower and, "Squirt" who nearly drenches the boat.
Return to the Amazon[]
After exiting Asia, the boats make their return to the Amazon rainforest. Here, the boats encounter the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Lost & Found, now transformed into, "Trader Sam's Gift Shop!". In Sam's absence, the shop has become overrun by monkeys who snap photographs of the passing-by guests while Sam's pet elephant Ellie trumpets. The boats proceed to make their return to the Amazon River Base where its guests disembark from the attraction.
Boats[]
- Amazon Annie
- Bomokandi Bertha
- Comes equipped with a wheelchair lift.
- Congo Connie
- Ganges Gertie
- Irrawaddy Irma
- Mongala Millie
- Nile Nellie
- Orinoco Ida
- Rutshuru Ruby
- Sankuru Sadie
- Senegal Sal
- Ucyali Lolly
- Volta Val
- Wamba Wanda
- Comes equipped with a wheelchair lift.
- Zambesi Zelda
Decommissioned boats[]
The Jingle Cruise[]
This is an annual overlay of the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom and which ran until 2017 in Disneyland. It involves Holiday decoration being scattered about the Jungle Cruise following an air-cargo mishap from the JNC.
Trivia[]
- There are various connections between the Jungle Cruise attraction and Jungle Cruise film.
- In the film, connections to the ride include:
- The sacred arrowhead was stolen by an expedition helmed by Dr. Albert Falls who is also identified as a member of the Royal Anthropological and Diverse Adventures Society.
- Frank Wolff's business is the Jungle Navigation Company.
- The Puka Michuna tribe is lead by a woman named Trader Sam who Frank makes up myths about her being a headhunting cannibal. It is unknown if her character is connected to that of Sam or Nah-mee but she does further reference the pair by being traded a top-hat by Lily Houghton.
- In the attraction, connections to the film include:
- In Walt Disney World, the aforementioned map is hung up in the Amazon River Base near Frank's hat.[1]
- A crate in Alberta's office labelled "A. Falls Botanical Expedition" might reference Dr. Albert Falls' failed expedition to find the Tears of the Moon from the film.
- During the Jingle Cruise, one of the crates dropped in the African Veldt was addressed to Nilo Nemolato.
- On a shelf over the door for The Pach's room is a small bookshelf. One of the books is titled "My Interests Happily Lay Elsewhere" by MacGregor Houghton. This alludes to MacGregor's quote implying his homosexual attraction from the film.
- In the film, connections to the ride include: