Private Jungle Cruise

Private Jungle Cruise
Performers	Jungle Navigation Company Alberta Falls Felix Pechman XIII Dr. Leonard Moss Rosa Soto Dominguez Dr. Kon Chunosuke Siobhan Murphy Black rhino
Date	C. December of 1938
Location	Kwango Kate Rivers of Adventure Amazon River Base Lost Delta boathouse African veldt

The Private Jungle Cruise also known as the V.I.P. Jungle Cruise or Lost Jungle Cruise is a fictional event from the Jungle Cruise attraction.

History

Background

Beginning

The Private Jungle Cruise was a V.I.P. riverboat tour arranged in 1938 by Alberta Falls, the president of the colonial Jungle Navigation Company. These tours travelled along the Rivers of Adventure, a mystical series of waterways connecting jungles across the globe into the Wilds of Adventureland. The tour was stated as being arranged for her close friend, painter Rosa Soto Dominguez who wished to paint the jungles when returning from an art-show in Paris, France. Another member of the cruise was Dr. Leonard Moss, an esteemed botanist from Nova Scotia, Canada who was studying large carnivorous plants in the jungle.

A later addition to the tour was Dr. Kon Chunosuke, a Japanese entomologist whom Alberta found along the rivers, studying the, "Ant Lion" species, myrmecoleon. Alberta recognized Chunosuke's sack had the emblem of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, a colonial and aristocratic European secret-society which her British colonist grandfather, Dr. Albert Falls, was a member of. Due to this, Alberta encouraged him to join the V.I.P. Jungle Cruise which she was still arranging. Alberta later invited her cousin Siobhan "Puffin" Murphy on a Christmas card and received indication that she might join the tour, though it was not clear if she was certain at said time.

Prior to the expedition's final arrangements, Alberta was interviewed by The Daily Gnus, a newspaper in Adventureland which was running a story on her. Alberta brought up the private Jungle Cruise tour in her interview with the paper which read as an advertisement for the Jungle Navigation Company's services. While Alberta implied in the interview that she'd be part of the tour, she was ultimately absent from the expedition. Siobhan ultimately decided on joining the expedition which seemingly departed from the Jungle Navigation Company's base in the Amazon rainforest. Dr. Kon Chunosuke brought along a telescope lens given to him by fellow S.E.A. member Aya Kouame-Beauciel to deliver to Alberta Falls for her to then hold onto for the daughter of a family living in the Adventureland Treehouse whom had interest in joining the society.

The tour was held aboard the Kwango Kate under skipper and, "New guy" Felix Pechman XIII, a man from Silver Springs, Florida whom was purportedly plagued with bad luck.

Events

The exact route of the Kwango Kate's river tour is unknown. At some point, it seemingly stopped at the Jungle Navigation Company's original headquarters, a boathouse in the Lost Delta of India. Large amounts of cargo for the passengers were left for pick-up at this boathouse including deliveries for Murphy from the Jungle Air Mail Service, some of Dr. Moss' man-eating plants, and crates for Dr. Chunosuke from the S.E.A. colony of Mystic Point, Papua New Guinea. Dr. Kon Chunosuke also delivered the telescope lens to Alberta Falls, which then found its way to the daughter of the Adventureland Treehouse. Given the map aboard the Kate and geography of the Rivers of Adventure, it is most likely that the tour left the delta by passing the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and entering the Irrawaddy River of Burma.

Eventually, the Kate entered the Nile river in North Africa (presumably in Egypt or Sudan) where they passed the ecologically lush African veldt. As they passed the veldt and entered a dangerous hippo pool, Siobhan became distracted by an oxpecker nesting on a tree along the river banks. Because of this, she interrupted Skipper Felix's piloting, causing their boat to be attacked and wrecked by hippos. The Kwango Kate was abandoned and drifted into a nearby primate refuge where it was commandeered by chimpanzees that ransacked the boat's belongings.

Stranding

Skipper Felix and his passengers managed to escape to the banks of the African veldt. Here, their presence angered a native black rhinoceros that charged at them and caused them to seek refuge in a tree. While stuck on this tree, Felix was prodded at by the rhino's horn while Murphy was at the top of the tree, happily observing the oxpecker's nest. Some herbivorous animals took to observing the colonists along with a cackle of spotted hyenas that waited at the bottom. The marooned survivors and the chimp-infested Kwango Kate were enchanted by at-least one Jungle Cruise tour from the Amazon River Base who ignored the discovery due to it being, "Too much paperwork".

The Kwango Kate later sank into the hippo pool, coinciding with the chimps being spotted aboard the Mekong Maiden, a JNC boat from the Lost Delta base which disappeared around the 1936. Throughout this time, the survivors were still stuck atop the tree with the black rhino and hyenas waiting for them below. The survivors were once again encountered by at-least one Jungle Cruise tour, this time from the Lost Delta boathouse whose skipper once again ignored the discoveries due to paperwork.

The group was still stranded in December when the JNC polluted the veldt with Christmas decorations as part of their annual, "Jingle Cruise" festivities. While still run up the tree, the expedition was passed by at-least one, "Jingle Cruise" tour boat. The ultimate fate of the private Jungle Cruise tour remains a mystery.

Aftermath

While the conclusion of the expedition is unknown, it is known that Dr. Kon Chunosuke, Rosa Soto Dominguez, Dr. Leonard Moss and Siobhan Murphy survived and returned to civilization. The fate of Skipper Felix Pechman XIII is far less clear.

Development history

The Private Jungle Cruise was created in a 2021 refurbishment for the Jungle Cruise in the American Disney Parks to replace the Trapped Safari. This was part of an over-arching refurbishment which aimed to remove overt racist figures from the attraction, namely the porters of the trapped safari in Disneyland and Jungle River Cruise. While the removed of racist caricatures was generally well received, the new storyline received mixed-to-lukewarm response due to maintaining racist colonial elements, recycled and self-referential humour, an over-abundance of backstory not featured in the actual attraction nor its narrative, and not having a conclusion to the storyline (while having a final scene with an racist-stereotyped homage to the racist character of Trader Sam who was removed in the refurbishment).

Appearances

Adventureland Treehouse

This jungle cruise is indirectly referenced in a letter to the daughter sent by SEA member Aya Kouame-Beauciel. The letter mentions sending the family's daughter a telescope lens via Dr. Kon Chunosuke's stop at the original JNC headquarters to be held onto by Alberta Falls.

Jungle Cruise

This expedition is at the centre of the Jungle Cruise's narrative in the American Disney Parks.

Disneyland

The silhouettes of the lost tour (sans Pechman & aboard the Mekong Maiden) appears on the ride's poster.

Magic Kingdom

This version of the attraction features the Kwango Kate being ransacked by chimpanzees. Also, in his audio-loop, Albert Awol advises listeners to run up the nearest tree while charged at by a rhinoceros.

Skipper Canteen

In 2023, an illustration of the members of this Jungle Cruise being chased up the tree was added to the menus.

In the library of the canteen is a book titled "Remembering Kwango Kate" by Lingley, possibly connected to the storyline. In the Falls family parlour is the portrait of Alberta Falls outside of Inspiration Falls visible in the queue of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise as having been created by Rosa Soto Dominguez, presumably near the events of the attraction.

Trivia

• In universe, the Private Jungle Cruise has similarities to the Lost Safari, an expedition which was run up a totem by a black rhino in the African veldt and whom were considered to be the most frequently sighted but longest unfound lost expedition in history.
• Several members of the expedition were referenced as having survived past the event in Club 33's Tiki Takeover event.
• One of the parcels surrounding the tour group during the Jingle Cruise was addressed to Nilo Nemolato, a character from the Jungle Cruise film.

Gallery

The sunken Kwango Kate

The Kate, while hijacked by chimps

The expedition in a Minecraft Bedrock Edition DLC