Shir Lee Temple

This is an article on the location from the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise, pre-2021 Disneyland Jungle Cruise, and Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions. For the location which replaced it in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, see Irrawaddy ruins.

Shir Lee Temple also known as the Ancient Cambodian Shrine, Cambodian Shrine or the Lost Temple of Shir Lee is location from the Jungle Cruise.

Description[]

Shir Lee Temple is the nickname given to a flooded Buddhist temple on the Mekong River in Cambodia. The temple is seemingly built in tribute to Jayavarman VII (c. 1122–1218), the post-humous name of Mahaparamasaugata (c. 1122-1218), a historic king of the Khmer Empire of what is modern day Cambodia. The shrine was also located along the mystical, "Rivers of Adventure", connecting exotic waterways across the globe into the Wilds of Adventureland.

Points of interest[]

Exterior[]

Ancient Cambodian Shrine: This was a shrine outside of the table with statues Jayavarman VII alongside those of the gods Hanuman and Genesha.
Entrance: The entrance to the temple was flooded and nearby a statue of Mahaparamasaugata.
Indian Elephant Bathing Pool: This was a secretive and sacred pool behind the temple which was used by Indian elephants. Due to the rivers of adventure, this pool connected to the Ganges River of India and Irrawaddy River of Burma.

Interior[]

The temple was filled with passageways decorated with stone-work, pottery and statues. These parts of the temple became flooded by the 20th century.

Hanuman Shrine Chamber: This was a chamber filled with treasures around an idol of the god Hanuman.
Snake Shrine Chamber: Similar to the Hanuman Shrine, this chamber was filled with treasures around a metal king cobra statue holding a glowing orb.

History[]

Background[]

Origins and rediscovery[]

This temple was made by ancient buddhists in tribute to Cambodian king Jayavarman VII (c. 1122–1218). Many treasures were left within the temple. At some point, the Mekong river flooded resulting in the temple's abandonment. The temple was later reclaimed by nature and densely populated by wild animals such as monkeys, cobras, spiders and tigers.

At some point in time (likely prior to the 1710s/1720s^[1]), the temple was visited by the ancient Trader Sam. Sam accidentally dumped a liquor concoction of his in a pool behind the temple, resulting in said pool becoming a hot-spot for Indian elephants for years to come. On the June 5 of 1888, the temple's ruins were found by explorer Dr. Albert Falls. Falls had a portrait of himself made outside of the temple and had his, "Discovery" made official by the Society of Explorers and Adventurers and senior member Sango Shio.

In 1911, Falls founded the Jungle Navigation Company which often frequented the temple. At some point following 1916, the temple was explored by JNC boatsman Frank Wolff on an expedition to map a new route along the supernatural, "Rivers of Adventure" which conjoined exotic locales across the globe. Frank documented the temple on his map before leaving via the Indian elephant bathing pool and gifting this map to Dr. Albert Falls and the Jungle Navigation Company.

Jungle Cruise[]

In 1931, Falls' granddaughter, JNC president Alberta Falls started the, "Jungle Cruise" tourism service which featured the temple as a destination. The skippers of this company gave the temple the nickname of, "Shir Lee Temple", presumably after child-star Shirley Temple who was popular in the Great Depression. The temple was however highly dangerous due to the hostile wildlife inhabiting it.

In a December between 1935 and 1937, the temple and the temple's region were polluted along with the rest of the Rivers of Adventure by the Jungle Navigation Company. The company had imported a large amount of Christmas decor and paraphernalia which their pilot by accident dumped in the Rivers of Adventure resulting in mass pollution. This crime was reported on by Tallahassee Glover of The Daily Gnus newspaper with other related incidents including a skipper seemingly having been killed by a tiger within the temple. Due to the success of leading Christmas oriented, "Jingle Cruise" tours through the jungle, this act of pollution became an annual standard for the Jungle Navigation Company.

At some point in the mid-late 1930s, a JNC steamboat called the Zambezi Zelda went missing within the temple. This resulted in the Jungle Navigation Company prohibiting entry to the temple. Skippers were however known to disobey this advice and take tours in the temple anyways. By 1938, an author named Mo Williams wrote a book on the temple called, "The Lost Temple of Shir Lee". Alberta Falls would modify the map made by Frank Wolff for skippers to have the words, "Ancient Temple! Do Not Touch Anything!" over the temple for unknown reasons.

Development history[]

The temple's design is inspired by the Angkor Thom of Angkor Wat in Northern Cambodia.^[2] The ruins originally appeared as an external-element at Disneyland's Jungle Cruise, though with a Chinese shrine structure housing a golden idol of Buddha that was occupied by a family of monkeys that would be removed not long after the original opening. The temple would be redesigned in the 1960s into its current form with Hanuman taking Buddha's place. The Magic Kingdom would have the temple as an interior scene mostly devoid of banter and heavy on atmosphere. In 2021, Disneyland's Cambodian shrine was reimagined into the Irrawaddy ruins. Also in 2021, the Hanuman statue of the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise would be replaced with the statue of a king cobra with a glowing orb.^[3]

Appearances[]

Adventure Trading Company[]

The Adventure Trading Company's Elephant Juju is modelled after the elephant carvings in the shrine. This publishing was made while the temple was still the Cambodian ruins however as the elephant carving continues to appear, it is unknown if the Irrawaddy ruins were retconned into the Adventure Trading Company's backstory. A board for the Jungle Navigation Company mentioned transporting a cargo of, "Rare Juju" from the Cambodian Shrine to the Westward Ho Trading Company. This was an allusion to the shop of the same name in Disneyland's Frontierland which was the base for the Adventure Trading Company's sister-attraction, Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush!.

Jungle Cruise[]

The temple is entered in the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise. Also in the Magic Kingdom, Albert Awol mentions JNC skippers being forbidden from passing through the temple due to the Zambesi Zelda going missing within. The temple appears on a map by Frank Wolff with an annotation by Alberta Falls for skippers which says, "Ancient Temple! Do Not Touch Anything!".

Jungle Cruise: Wildlife Expeditions[]

In this version of the attraction, the skippers magically transform the temple using the enchanted medallions the Tiger of Courage, the Elephant of Wisdom, and the Monkey of Cleverness. The inside of the temple restores itself and lights up while carvings of animals come to life.

Skipper Canteen[]

There is a portrait of Dr. Albert Falls at the temple in the Skipper Canteen. Also, there is a certificate for the shrine's discovery. There is a book in the library titled, "The Lost Temple of Shir Lee" by one Mo Williams.

Other connections[]

Jungle Cruise (film)[]

The temple was once explored by Frank Wolff, a lead character from this film.

In other media[]

Video-games[]

Kinect: Disneyland Adventures[]

The temple appeared in the Jungle Cruise mini-games albeit with Mesoamerican architecture instead of Cambodian and hippos inhabiting its waters.

Printed materials[]

Skipper Survival Guide[]

In this retconned story, the ruins were often erroneously identified as being part of the same complex as the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in India. Indiana Jones was also mentioned as studying ancient carvings in the ruins.

Trivia[]

There is a myth that in the Magic Kingdom is a, "Hidden Figment" depicting Figment from Journey Into Imagination.^[4]
It is unclear if the Elephant Jujus were retconned from originating from the Cambodian ruins to the Irrawaddy ruins.
- Evidence for the retcon might be that the elephant carving only appears in exterior versions of the shrine scene, rather than the interior version at the Magic Kingdom which is still set in the Cambodian shrine.
- Evidence against the retcon might be that a board for the Jungle Navigation Company explicitly mentioned the, "Cambodian shrine" as being their source for a shipment of rare juju being transported to the Westward Ho Trading Company.^[5]
The temple inspired the Tears of the Moon's temple in the Jungle Cruise film.
In the October of 2023, boats caused damage to the walls of the Magic Kingdom's temple causing Disney to put scrim over the structure.^[6]