Disney has announced changes are coming to an opening day attraction at both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the World Famous Jungle Cruise.
In a post on the official Disney Parks Blog, it’s noted that these enhancements are to “enhance” the classic attractions and “elevate” the experience.
“Today, we’re excited to share that we are building on the story of the Jungle Cruise at both Disneyland park at Disneyland Resort and Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort to include new adventures that stay true to the experience we know and love – more humor, wildlife and skipper heart – and also reflect and value the diversity of the world around us.” the park wrote on their official blog.
Disney also included a video featuring Kevin Lively, a writer for Disney Imagineering (and former Jungle Cruise Skipper), to detail some of the changes. Lively has also worked on projects including the Skipper Canteen, Tropical Hideaway, and the holiday-themed Jingle Cruise.
The “new” attraction will feature a re-imagined story that follows a Jungle Cruise skipper as their journey goes awry. For the first time, the Jungle Cruise skipper will not only be a live tour guide, but also an animatronic, animated show figure. More details of the ride’s new storyline can be found below.
“So as we look to clean up a lot of the challenges that we have in the attraction, we want to make sure we go in and add all the humor that Marc Davis gave it, all those years ago. Anything new we add will be in that tone. And for the first time, we are actually linking scenes together,” Chris Beatty, Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Portfolio Executive told D23.
More concept art can be seen below.
In reference to the boat names, the Meikong Maiden was decomissioned at Disneyland in 1997. Kwango Kate is also a former boat name.
More details will be released in the coming weeks, though inclusion and diversity both play a role in the upcoming change, based on these quotes from top Disney Imagineers.
“This is not a re-envisioning of the entire attraction. It’s the Jungle Cruise you know and love, with the skippers still leading the way, and at the same time, we’re addressing the negative depictions of ‘natives.’ So that’s one of the scenes we’re going to go in and change,” Beatty said.
Despite an upcoming “Jungle Cruise” film (starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt) being released in the coming months, these enhancements will not be directly tied to the film.
“I’m sure the film is fantastic and we’re very excited about it, but integrating the film into our classic Jungle Cruise is not part of this effort,” Beatty said, “Does that mean that as Imagineers we won’t put Easter eggs in there? We’ll definitely do that. But we are not adding a major storyline or character from that film.”
A date has not been announced for the changes, but according to Beatty, they hope the enhancements will be made by the end of this year.
What do you think about the Jungle Cruise changes? Let us know in the comments below!
We highly recommend this article from D23 for more information on the upcoming changes!
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