NO JINGLE CRUISE

[SSG]

David Koenig: Disneyland Torpedoes the Jingle Cruise
By
David Koenig
-
September 28, 2017

At the Disneyland Resort, there’s no time to visit quite like the holidays, with gorgeous decorations, lights, familiar favorites like the It’s a Small World holiday makeover, and new features, like Disney California Adventure’s new take on the popular Festive Foods Marketplaces, presenting a side-by-side mix of holiday comfort dishes that bridge many diverse cultures and family traditions.

But there will be one popular element missing this year: the Jingle Cruise holiday overlay of the Jungle Cruise.

Disney brass made the decision to forego the Jungle Cruise makeover in late August, but I was hesitant to share the news at that time, because for more than a week after that, Disneyland.com was still promoting that the overlay would be among the Christmas-oriented offerings coming to the park in November (formerly at disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/disneyland/jingle-cruise).

It took nearly two weeks, until about September 6, for the site to be updated with the revised holiday offerings—minus the Jingle.

Disneyland’s Erin Glover confirmed the Jingle Cruise would be a no show in 2017, but declined comment on why, as well as if it might return in 2018.

Skippers are hearing a couple different stories on why the promotion was mothballed. One heard that, due to the park’s already strapped-capacity, “they wanted to avoid the downtime before and after setting it up.” Another skipper was told “the whole thing is going to be retooled for next year.”

The overlay premiered to so-so reviews in 2013, but was steadily improved each year since.

http://micechat.com/171831-david-koenig-disneyland-torpedoes-jingle-cruise/

 

[Californian Elitist]

Hope it's true! The overlay sucks.

 

[SSG]

Hope it's true! The overlay sucks.

It wasn't great, by any means, but to be fair I think it got a bit better each year. But I won't shed any tears if it's gone.

 

[Schneewittchen]

Wow. I'm kind of sad. That was my favorite overlay when we visited DL last November. Perhaps I find floating fruitcakes funnier than most.

 

[britain]

I’m ok with this. I’m trying to figure out why I don’t care for Jingle Cruise. There was always something kind of cheap and tacky about it. I mean, I get that the joke is about decorations getting misused by the animals in humorous ways. But when the joke is about traditional decorations that means all you’re really adding are traditional decorations, AND doing so in a way that looks random/destructive.

In a way I think Walt’s desire to have a clean well-kept Haunted Mansion now applies more here than at the mansion itself. Storytelling wise, our culture can swiftly “get” a dilapidated mansion (or broken neon lights on ToT), but there’s something... what is it... sad about seeing misused holiday decorations being turned into litter along a jungle river.

 

[TP2000]

The weakest holiday overlay of them all. And if you got a mediocre skipper, which happens routinely, the whole thing fell flat and just seemed dumb.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

You beat me to posting this

Honestly, this is just fine with me. Of all the holiday overlays, this one felt the most...forced?
I won't lose any sleep over this.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Hopefully HMH is next.

Wipe them out. All of them.

 

[shortstop]

Next on the agenda: axe (or at least shorten) HMH? Please?

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

I'm on Team NO HMH. I'll take severely shortened as a compromise, but that monstrosity needs to go.

 

[shortstop]

I'm on Team NO HMH. I'll take severely shortened as a compromise, but that monstrosity needs to go.

I rode it for the first time in 2015. Thought it was really cool at first. But after a couple months I was ready for it to be gone already. As kitschy as Jingle Cruise is, at least it keeps the bones of the original ride.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

I rode it for the first time in 2015. Thought it was really cool at first. But after a couple months I was ready for it to be gone already. As kitschy as Jingle Cruise is, at least it keeps the bones of the original ride.

This is true. It doesn't try to make you think its a completely different ride. It just a ride where they air-dropped some Christmas decor and called it a day. Maybe that's why I never really favored it either. It felt half-@ssed

 

[Californian Elitist]

Hopefully HMH is next.

Wipe them out. All of them.

Yeah, I would actually be okay if all of the overlays ceased, including small world Holiday, which I actually really, really like.

 

[shortstop]

Hopefully HMH is next.

Wipe them out. All of them.

Just realized we posted the same thing at the same time! I would say great minds think alike, except I think you're the one who has brought me to this opinion. So really I owe it all to you.

 

[shortstop]

Yeah, I would actually be okay if all of the overlays ceased, including small world Holiday, which I actually really, really like.

In my opinion, DL is too crowded for holiday overlays. All they do is pack the house with locals and APs. I'm willing to sacrifice holiday stuff for less crowded parks.

 

[Californian Elitist]

In my opinion, DL is too crowded for holiday overlays. All they do is pack the house with locals and APs. I'm willing to sacrifice holiday stuff for less crowded parks.

It's not about crowds for me. I'm an AP, so I can come back any time. Even if I were a regular guest, I'd still be contributing to crowds. Everyone's there for the same thing. No point in getting upset over crowds, in my opinion. The parks would still be crowded without the overlays.

For me, it's the duration of everything. The rides have to close to reopen as their respective overlay, and close again to revert to the normal version. That's a lot of time being down. Also I miss the normal versions too much to have the overlays up for so long.

 

[shortstop]

It's not about crowds for me. I'm an AP, so I can come back any time. Even if I were a regular guest, I'd still be contributing to crowds. Everyone's there for the same thing. No point in getting upset over crowds, in my opinion. The parks would still be crowded without the overlays.

For me, it's the duration of everything. The rides have to close to reopen as their respective overlay, and close again to revert to the normal version. That's a lot of time being down. Also I miss the normal versions too much to have the overlays up for so long.

I'm an AP as well, so I know it's hypocritical to complain about the crowds that I am contributing to, but holiday overlays don't change the frequency with which I visit, while I believe they do cause others to visit much more frequently.

As to your second point, I totally agree. Small World Holiday gets a little long in the tooth before it's taken down in mid-January, and it's annoying to have rides down/not be able to ride the original versions for so long. For example, I have little interest in ghost galaxy.

 

[mickEblu]

Hopefully HMH is next.

Wipe them out. All of them.

Except IASW Holiday. That one is pretty well done and works organically with the attraction. Shorten HMH from early November -early January. Ghost Galaxy doesn't bother me as it's only 6 weeks and the basic ride experience is the same. Of all of em, Jingle Cruise was by far the worst.

 

[mickEblu]

I'm an AP as well, so I know it's hypocritical to complain about the crowds that I am contributing to, but holiday overlays don't change the frequency with which I visit, while I believe they do cause others to visit much more frequently.

As to your second point, I totally agree. Small World Holiday gets a little long in the tooth before it's taken down in mid-January, and it's annoying to have rides down/not be able to ride the original versions for so long. For example, I have little interest in ghost galaxy.

I agree on IASW Holiday as it usually last until the end of January. But I think they keep it up because Haunted Mansion is down and they don't want two big people eaters down at the same time.

 

[mickEblu]

Speaking of IASW, is any attraction more in need of an upgrade? Get some Alice in Wonderland type projections in there. Paint those ceiling tiles to different colored skies. Some rooms with blue sky/ cumulus clouds, some nighttime with stars. Also paint those background walls.