Jungle Cruise Re-Imagining

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
It's the same wokeness in their media content for the past decade. The kind that has garnered them awards, billion dollar box offices, and high ratings from critics and audiences. If you're a free-market capitalist or stockholder... it's been a rousing success.

The parks' stories and themes are part of the content that Disney puts out. From now on, it's going to be inclusive. Unlike old, problematic movies that Disney doesn't release any more or slaps a warning label on or remakes, the stories and themes from park attractions are 'live' and actively telling their story day after day, guest by guest.

So, the attractions' contents are being updated to be more inclusive. In the end, most guests won't notice, just like they're eating up the inclusive content now being produced on TV, films, and stage.

oh boy...I don’t think we 100% disagree here...

it’s a world gone mad 🌍
 

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
I have no clue what's going in there, but I feel like the old Pygmy beach would be a great spot to import Disneyland's Pirañas. That said, I doubt those could be installed without a closure. In general, I don't see how there won't at least be a brief, few day closure.
Post a crude Bio Hazard sign at the waters warning "Keep Out" at the edge of the Pygmy beach and narrate that the tribe was wiped out by a highly transmissible disease recently. A cheap temporary fix that fits with the times.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
It's forced wokeness. There's a whole forced wokeness team at Imagineering - they call it the "Inclusive Strategies" team.


Your framing is really unfortunate and inappropriate, but I hope people watch the video itself. Now more than ever, voices like Carmen Smith's deserve to be heard, not disparaged. Many here are asking why such changes are happening; she provides some answers.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I have no clue what's going in there, but I feel like the old Pygmy beach would be a great spot to import Disneyland's Pirañas. That said, I doubt those could be installed without a closure. In general, I don't see how there won't at least be a brief, few day closure.
Wdw rehabs are cheap as a standard now.

you know the deal. Why give them “water” when they will drink the sand?
 

AdventureHasAName

Well-Known Member
Your framing is really unfortunate and inappropriate, but I hope people watch the video itself. Now more than ever, voices like Carmen Smith's deserve to be heard, not disparaged. Many here are asking why such changes are happening; she provides some answers.
No one is preventing her from being heard; I posted the video because I want her to be heard. I want people to know exactly how she (and the others in that division of Imagineering) thinks and why these changes are being made.

As for not being disparaged? Sorry, that's life. You have a right to speak, not a right to be immune from criticism ... even if you work for Disney and are really, really woke.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
No one is preventing her from being heard; I posted the video because I want her to be heard. I want people to know exactly how she (and the others in that division of Imagineering) thinks and why these changes are being made.

As for not being disparaged? Sorry, that's life. You have a right to speak, not a right to be immune from criticism ... even if you work for Disney and are really, really woke.
What exactly did she say that you find so objectionable? Can you quote me the relevant sentences?

ETA: Here's a full transcript, with the part on the Jungle Cruise bolded:

The emphasis on Black History Month gives everyone an opportunity to dig a little deeper and to find out about the journey of African Americans here in the United States, to learn about the achievements, to learn about the struggles, to learn about our stories, because it allows our allies to to see what the journey has been and what we want the journey to be.

My work is really about collaboration and teamwork to create experiences that will make people feel welcome, seen, and heard, and to let them know that their stories are just as important; and so my responsibility is to look at what do we have now and does it resonate with our guests and making them more reflective of the world we live in.

When we looked at Splash Mountain, it gives our company an opportunity to showcase our first African-American princess, and we need to be able to tell stories that are inspiring and enlightening but also that speak to a community that has not been well represented in our parks and resorts.

Plussing and reimagining the experience in Jungle Cruise was to us a unique opportunity to basically tell a story that does not perpetuate any stereotypes and to make sure that it's reflective of our guests in a very positive way. But it also gave us an opportunity to salute the skippers that are critical to the experience that our guests have.

When it comes to people that have inspired me, it really starts with family. My parents laid the foundation for me to realize that you can be anything and that you can do anything, but you have to do your homework, you have to be prepared. Another person that has inspired me is Clarence Jones, and he was with Martin Luther King when he made the speech "I have a dream," and actually he co-wrote the speech. And being able to sit with someone who actually helped to change the world gives me a sense of purpose; it reinforces all of my actions, that I too and then all of us can play a role in making the world a better place.
 
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wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
So what has been removed so far..

1. The skipper on a pole
2. Trader Sam
3. The Pygmy beach

Anything else?
 

Unbanshee

Well-Known Member

nor'easter

Well-Known Member
I have no clue what's going in there, but I feel like the old Pygmy beach would be a great spot to import Disneyland's Pirañas. That said, I doubt those could be installed without a closure. In general, I don't see how there won't at least be a brief, few day closure.
Piranhas would have to be in the South American section....not sure where that beach is.
 

JustInTime

Well-Known Member
Doesn't matter the specific reference; by the logic of the Jungle Cruise redo, the IJA and Indiana Jones IP are offenders. They won't be touched because Disney still believes the IP is relevant and marketable. That remains to be seen.

Could also see an argument that the Carousel of Progress projects a white supremacist view of America. The show purports to depict a "typical" American family over the years; in this case that's white/middle class/heteronormative. Educated guess would say Tiki and Country Bears' days are numbered, too.

Once the boulder starts rolling like in IJA, it's not easily stopped, especially when "revising" or replacing these things is employable work.
Those attractions will all receive changes. I don’t see COP surviving. Hope I’m wrong.
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Try not to hurt yourself making those leaps of logic. I did chuckle about COP projecting a white supremacist view.

At the very least it gets a diversity grade of F in its current state, if we're going to start looking at older attractions that way now.

Having the blessing of the Inclusion Committee may end up being the work around to get funding for things like a CoP update.
 

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
Those attractions will all receive changes. I don’t see COP surviving. Hope I’m wrong.
I think the difference of CoP and JC is that CoP isn’t directly stereotypical toward a certain group of people. There’s no (that I can recall) racist, homophobic, or classist jokes. It’s a liiiittle sexist based on the times, especially in the first couple decades, but that could easily be tweaked with a much needed rewrite anyway.
 

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
At the very least it gets a diversity grade of F in its current state, if we're going to start looking at older attractions that way now.

Having the blessing of the Inclusion Committee may end up being the work around to get funding for things like a CoP update.
If that’s the concern, change the format and put an entirely different family in each room. The problem with that, however, is that a lot of those groups wouldn’t have it so great in the 20th century. I think they’re best leaving it as is and updating the script.
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
If that’s the concern, change the format and put an entirely different family in each room. The problem with that, however, is that a lot of those groups wouldn’t have it so great in the 20th century. I think they’re best leaving it as is and updating the script.

I've suggested this before, and agree it would arguably be even more of a rose-colored depiction of history, but it's a pitch I could see playing well to some within the company now.

Ideally, they would just update the finale/script or go back to the original World's Fair show, but we've already waited over 25 years for them to do something like that unfortunately.
 

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