The Magic of Disney Animation is a defunct walk-through attraction from Disney's Hollywood Studios. The attraction contained story references to the Jungle Cruise and Jungle Cruise mythos.
History[]
Backstory[]
The Magic of Disney Animation was themed around a magical Disney studio located in Hollywood. Cartoon characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse were depicted as operating from the building.
Development history[]
Summary[]
Jungle Cruise connections[]
Jungle Cruise[]
In the Minnie Mouse meet 'n' greet area themed towards Minnie's Hollywood dressing-room, there was a poster for a fictional Jungle Cruise film.[1] This poster depicted Mickey and Minnie Mouse on a Jungle Cruise boat, being attacked by the hippos and piranhas from the ride. Also on the poster was Trader Sam, holding out shrunken heads nearby a crate labelled, "Dr. Albert Falls" and a poster tag-line reading, "Discover our two-for-one deal!", alluding to Sam's deals from the attraction.
The credits for the poster credited producer H. Goff (a tribute to imagineer Harper Goff), set-designer M. Davis (a tribute to animator Marc Davis), and director B. Evans (a tribute to botanist Bill Evans). This poster also mentioned the colonial Jungle Navigation Company as assisting with shooting the film in Burma and Zanzibar (real locations referenced in the attraction) and company skippers Brendan and Lasseter as working on the film (the latter of which is a tribute to disgraced former Disney employee, John Lasseter who worked as a skipper). The Jungle Cruise boats Amazon Belle, Ganges Gal and Congo Queen are also listed as being used in the film's production.
Other connections[]
The African Queen[]
The Jungle Cruise film-poster was based on that of The African Queen (1951), a film which inspired the Jungle Cruise. Mickey appears dressed as Charlie Allnut while Minnie is dressed as Rose Sayer.
Tower of Terror[]
The poster for the film, "The Bride of Frankenollie" is screen-written by one Harrison Hightower IV, a reference to the evil S.E.A. member Harrison Hightower III from Tower of Terror.
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room[]
Another poster in Minnie's dressing-room is, "Mouse Pacific" and shows Minnie Mouse outside of the Enchanted Tiki Room with the Orange Bird flying overhead. The credits identity Michael Burley, Jose Boag, Fritz Ravenscroft, and Pierre Newton as working on the film, referencing Michael, José, Fritz and Pierre from the attraction.[2]
Trivia[]
- Many of Minnie's posters would be moved to Disney's Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong Disneyland. The Jungle Cruise poster did not appear amongst them, possibly due to the inclusion of the racist character, Trader Sam.
- The Jungle Cruise film was mentioned as debuting in the fictional Theatre of the Stars, a reference to the Disney's Hollywood Studios attraction Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.
Gallery[]
