Jungle Book Cruise... You Just *Know* They're Thinking About It

Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm calling it. :D `Course, I also bet on a Zootopia Toontown makeover... but, c'mon, this one's just too easy--and could be done without disrupting the overall ride too much. And who wouldn't want to see Baloo and Bagheera AA figures? Rename the temple tiger, add some Mowglis playing hide and seek a la Jack Sparrow on PoC... and we're done! It's better than Jingle Cruise...

On a side note, just saw the movie. Loved it--I actually teared up a few times. It won me over at the start the moment the original 1967 title theme started playing. And it ends the way every kid *wanted* the animated version to end. :)
 
D

Deleted member 107043

Rich T said:
but, c'mon, this one's just too easy--and could be done without disrupting the overall ride too much
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Agreed, but at the risk of being booted off WDWMagic I'd argue that if they did this they should go all the way and disrupt the ride as much as necessary. Doing a cheesy overlay just won't cut it. Jungle Book was that good, and as you all know I was expecting it to suck.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
I'm calling it. :D `Course, I also bet on a Zootopia Toontown makeover... but, c'mon, this one's just too easy--and could be done without disrupting the overall ride too much. And who wouldn't want to see Baloo and Bagheera AA figures? Rename the temple tiger, add some Mowglis playing hide and seek a la Jack Sparrow on PoC... and we're done! It's better than Jingle Cruise...
Click to expand...

Grumpy_Cat_No_02.jpg
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
raven24 said:
If Disney ever turns Jungle Cruise into a Jungle Book-themed ride, all hope will be lost for me.
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No, all hope (for keeping the park's original flavor) will be lost when DL needs a lot of space for a new land and the company CEO decides the jungle takes up too much valuable real estate. I really hope Autopia goes before the Jungle.

In that respect, a mega-hit ongoing Jungle Book franchise could end up being the park jungle's savior. I started this thread half-kidding, but now I'm serious; the jungle might need a popular "sponsor" franchise to keep it alive in the future.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

I rode the JC on my last visit in June and two things stood out to me. First, the AAs are pretty static by modern standards, which is cute and all, but the ride's effects don't meet the expectations that I have for Disney E tickets after experiencing more up to date attractions like RSR and Pirates. So from a show perspective I think some kind of "refresh" is definitely in order. The other thing I noticed is that the riders in our boat seemed less than thrilled with the overall experience when it was over. It's charming for the nostalgia factor, but there's a certain finesse that seems to be missing. I'm not advocating a complete JB conversion (although I'd be fine with that), but there's no question that the ride could use some major tweaking.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dr. Hans Reinhardt said:
I rode the JC on my last visit in June and two things stood out to me. First, the AAs are pretty static by modern standards, which is cute and all, but the ride's effects don't meet the expectations that I have for Disney E tickets after experiencing more up to date attractions like RSR and Pirates. So from a show perspective I think some kind of "refresh" is definitely in order. The other thing I noticed is that the riders in our boat seemed less than thrilled with the overall experience when it was over. It's charming for the nostalgia factor, but there's a certain finesse that seems to be missing. I'm not advocating a complete JB conversion (although I'd be fine with that), but there's no question that the ride could use some major tweaking.
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The one scene that I always see still getting a gasp of wonderment from the riders is the Elephant Bathing Pool. That reveal is magical. And the Hippo Pool is also fun. I'd say everything else is fair game (no pun intended) for reworking.
Best Case Scenario: Lots of great new show scenes with state-of-the-art AAs and effects that can be seen as film moments but also work without any knowledge of the film, while still allowing boat Skipper interaction. Imagine a Kaa the size of the one in the new film, stretching out over the boat! That would be awesome.
Worst Case Scenario: All we get are a guy in a cheesy 60's-sit-com-quality bear suit and a 30 year old guy in a Mowgli wig dancing to the new remix of "Bare Necessities". Right at the end, replacing Trader Sam.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
Worst Case Scenario: All we get are a guy in a cheesy 60's-sit-com-quality bear suit and a 30 year old guy in a Mowgli wig dancing to the new remix of "Bare Necessities". Right at the end, replacing Trader Sam.
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Stop giving them ideas! If they did that, the CM in the wig is going to have things thrown at him.
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
No, all hope (for keeping the park's original flavor) will be lost when DL needs a lot of space for a new land and the company CEO decides the jungle takes up too much valuable real estate.
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This has basically already happened with RoA and parts of Frontierland, so I guess hope has been lost already.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
raven24 said:
This has basically already happened with RoA and parts of Frontierland, so I guess hope has been lost already.
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I'm optimistic about this one. If the far end of the river looks great with the new rockwork and the "heart" of Frontierland--the river traffic along the banks--is still there, I think the area could still have the same effect.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

Rich T said:
Worst Case Scenario: All we get are a guy in a cheesy 60's-sit-com-quality bear suit and a 30 year old guy in a Mowgli wig dancing to the new remix of "Bare Necessities". Right at the end, replacing Trader Sam.
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LOL! To be honest that would be a more entertaining finale than the anticlimactic Trader Sam mannequin (yes I said mannequin).
 
Curious Constance

Curious Constance

Well-Known Member
The Jungle Cruise definitely needs something to spruce it up. I get pretty much nothing from cheesy, bad jokes, so that doesn't do anything for me. And the ride itself, while somewhat enjoyable, just feels very, very stale. I don't know if a Jungle Book remake would do much for me, but something definitely needs done. We usually just skip it altogether, unless it's a busy day, and it has a low wait time.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
The skipper makes all the difference in the world. A really good one that goes off script sometimes can make the ride unique. Unfortunately, you get ones that just says their spiel and drives through as fast as possible.

I should try to sit next to the skipper in the boat and recite their talk as they do theirs. Maybe if I change the words occasionally, they will change their words too.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

The scripted spiel is one of the most problematic elements of the attraction. The whole backside of water thing just isn't funny no matter how many different ways it's delivered.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They should have a monkey with a drumset pop up from the brush and play a rimshot every time the skipper tells a scripted joke. All my favorites are unscripted (as far as I know) jokes I only heard once in the dozens of times I've ridden.

For me, the ride is still magical mainly because of the awe-inspiring jungle itself. One of the imagineers said it's created its own self-enclosed ecosystem over the decades. It's the most overlooked wonder of the ride; the animals may be fake, but all that amazing vegetation (save for a few prop trees) is very real and very beautiful.
 

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