The Primate refuge known in the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise as Chimp Country is a location from the Jungle Cruise.
Description[]
The Primate refuge is a jungle region located in North Africa, along the Nile River and nearby both the African veldt and its adjacent Hippo Pool. The region got its name and descriptor via being home to many chimpanzees. The region would presumably be located in the nation of Sudan or Egypt due to their placement along the Nile river in North Africa.
History[]
Background[]
Around the summer of 1891, the refuge was visited by one Dr. Albert Falls on the eleventh day of his expedition to document the Rivers of Adventure, a supernatural waterway system connecting regions across the world.[1] Doctor Falls documented that the apes within the refuge were hesitant to interact with human-kind. Following his time in the refuge, Falls departed and used the Rivers of Adventure to access the Zambezi river and Schweitzer Falls.
In 1911, Dr. Albert Falls established the colonial Jungle Navigation Company which would regularly pass by the region. At some point following 1916, Jungle Navigation Company boatsman Frank Wolff travelled to, "Chimp Country" during an expedition to map a new route along the Rivers of Adventure. In 1931, Dr. Albert's granddaughter and successor Alberta Falls started the, "Jungle Cruise" tourism service that likewise passed the vicinity on their boats.
Around 1935/1936, a JNC boat called the Mekong Maiden was lost on rapids near their vicinity, causing the chimps to overtake it. In 1938, the chimps also hijacked the Kwango Kate following it getting damaged by the nearby Hippo Pool, marooning its passengers in the African Veldt. These piratical chimpanzees were happened upon by at-least one skipper from the Jungle Navigation Company's Amazon River Base before the Kate sank into the Hippo Pool. Another skipper from the company's boathouse in the Lost Delta of India would happen upon the chimps aboard the Mekong Maiden.
Development history[]
The chimpanzees were added to the Jungle Cruise in a 2021 refurbishment. This was to remove the racist headhunter tribe from the same area of the attraction. The boats which they play with are based on real-life Jungle Cruise boats which were decommissioned by Disney. The gag appears to be copied from Marc Davis' gorilla raiders which the 2021 refurbishment also copied for the controversial Trader Sam's Gift Shop!; with the scene also being more comedy focused than an intense and threatening point in the story. Both the Mekong Maiden and Kwango Kate are boats from the Jungle Cruise attraction which were decommissioned.
Appearances[]
Jungle Cruise[]
The chimpanzees appear in the Africa segment of the attraction. In Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, Nigel Greenwater mentions Reverend Goff of the Jungle Mission leaving for Holland with two chimpanzees and a lion cub.
Trivia[]
- The chimps are nearly identical to the animatronic of, "Cheeta" the chimp from the defunct attraction The Great Movie Ride. It is possible that their figures were recycled in some form. [2]
- In Disneyland, one of the chimps is holding a magnifying-glass in a way to reference the skeletal captain of The Wicked Wench from Pirates of the Caribbean. This as chosen as Disneyland imagineer Kim Irvine did not want to use the gross-out humour gag planned for the Magic Kingdom where the chimpanzees would be shown shoving butterflies into their mouth.
- In Disneyland, the chimps have a map of the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise in their possession. In the Magic Kingdom, they have a map of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise.
- Skippers will sometimes make jokes which passive-aggressively make fun of how the imagineers of the 2021 refurbishment just copied just copied the gorilla camp scene for the chimpanzees.
Gallery[]
