Jungle Cruise questions

Furiated

Furiated

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After getting to ride Jungle Cruise a lot on a couple recent trips, I've noticed that a good skipper can make a world of difference on the ride. I also noticed for the first time (for me anyways) that there were a lot more terrible skippers on the attraction.

I love the bad jokes and puns that we've all heard 100 times before, and in my opinion, the right delivery is key. I had one skipper on my trip in May that was great, he really nailed it and there were other younger skippers on the boat, who I assumed were training, and I thought that they were definitely learning from someone that embodied the spirit of the ride. Then on a more recent trip, I had multiple bad (in my opinion) skippers, usually younger kids, that didn't stay on script, didn't have the dry delivery that works so well, seemed to be ad-libbing quite a bit of unfunny material. One younger kid was the absolute worst, he was talking way too fast and yelling into the mic, not that the volume on it was up too loud, he was just yelling into it for some reason.

So my questions to everyone are:

-Is there an actual script that skippers are supposed to stick to, or are they allowed/encouraged to ad-lib on the ride?

-What do people here prefer in their Jungle Cruise skipper? The standard dry delivery of the familiar bits we all know, or new stuff they haven't heard before?
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
Having been on that ride so many times, I prefer getting a skipper who's going to take some liberties with the material. Sometimes it doesn't work, but at least it's different than hearing the same old "back side of water" jokes over and over again. Some of my best trips were with skippers who deviated from the script quite a lot. My favorite, Skipper Scott (a very young Skipper), is excellent at this.

MY absolute favorite, however, was my Jungle Cruise "After Hours" tour that took place on a near empty boat at the end of an EMH evening (so it was almost 3 AM).
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
Nick_A said:
Having been on that ride so many times, I prefer getting a skipper who's going to take some liberties with the material. Sometimes it doesn't work, but at least it's different than hearing the same old "back side of water" jokes over and over again. Some of my best trips were with skippers who deviated from the script quite a lot. My favorite, Skipper Scott (a very young Skipper), is excellent at this.

MY absolute favorite, however, was my Jungle Cruise "After Hours" tour that took place on a near empty boat at the end of an EMH evening (so it was almost 3 AM).
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The after hours/adult cruise is the best!!! I've only done it once, but it was incredible and it was only me and my girlfriend and one other couple in the boat. The skipper obviously noticed we had no kids on board and started telling some great jokes.
 
Pioneer Hall

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
Nick_A said:
Having been on that ride so many times, I prefer getting a skipper who's going to take some liberties with the material. Sometimes it doesn't work, but at least it's different than hearing the same old "back side of water" jokes over and over again. Some of my best trips were with skippers who deviated from the script quite a lot. My favorite, Skipper Scott (a very young Skipper), is excellent at this.

MY absolute favorite, however, was my Jungle Cruise "After Hours" tour that took place on a near empty boat at the end of an EMH evening (so it was almost 3 AM).
Click to expand...

I prefer when you get a skipper who plays with the script a bit, but they have to be extremely careful when they do this as well. Years ago the skippers used to have a lot more freedom with their jokes, then their was a lawsuit where someone was offended by something and that's all it took to go PC. Even if they keep the jokes clean, I am pretty sure that they can be disciplined for deviating from the script.
 
nngrendel

nngrendel

Well-Known Member
I agree that there are skippers who are more entertaining than others. Even if its scripted. Timing is very important for some of the jokes.

The same thing happens to me on TGMR. I do not like when they have a female gangster during the heist bit. Gangsters movies that I have seen never included a female. (This is not to say they don't exist.) Plus a female mobster voice is just all wrong IMHO.
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
nngrendel said:
I agree that there are skippers who are more entertaining than others. Even if its scripted. Timing is very important for some of the jokes.

The same thing happens to me on TGMR. I do not like when they have a female gangster during the heist bit. Gangsters movies that I have seen never included a female. (This is not to say they don't exist.) Plus a female mobster voice is just all wrong IMHO.
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Ya I agree. We had a great gangster last time we were on TGMR. We were sitting in the front row right next to him and he kept saying stuff to us. he was great. I didn't even know they have women play the gangster role.
 
DizneyPryncess

DizneyPryncess

Well-Known Member
Some of it's scripted - they definitely always do the back side of water joke, and ginger snaps, and the trading heads. But a few times when the boats have backed up we have had skippers that ad libbed for quite some time. One time it was about 15 minutes of sitting there listening to jokes, it couldn't have all been scripted. He was hilarious.
 
Fable McCloud

Fable McCloud

Well-Known Member
I wasn't able to go on Jungle Cruise the first trip we made ('08) and so when my BF and I went this year in March we were really surprised and amazed at how tongue-in-cheek the ride was.

I like the bad puns and corny dialogue. I have a BA in English and we were celebrating my graduation, so the Skipper kept making puns so I would face palm and tell him he was off to the "Pun-alty Box", he kept with it the whole ride.
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
Scuttle said:
Ya I agree. We had a great gangster last time we were on TGMR. We were sitting in the front row right next to him and he kept saying stuff to us. he was great. I didn't even know they have women play the gangster role.
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I've had female gangsters and bandits before. The female bandit works just fine, especially when they play it like a Ma Barker type. However, I've never seen it work with a female gangster. To begin with, they look ridiculous in the costume.
 
coachwnh

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
for me this is a once a trip ride. i just cant do it multiple times each trip. its the only ride i feel this way about (well maybe universe of energy and imagination too). but i do agree, you skipper makes it a good or bad experience. i think the people on the boat with you (not really those you are with, but other guests) have a lot to do with it to. some guests can be lame with the dry jokes as well. some people just cant have a good time.
 
Furiated

Furiated

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another question, if anyone knows, are there supposed to be significant differences between WDW's script and DL's? Aside from differences due to track layout, like WDW's temple and DL going past Indiana Jones. I was at DL this past weekend and rode Jungle Cruise 4 times and not once did any skipper refer to the "front side of water" as Schweitzer Falls.

I guess that's my main beef with ad-libbing, is that when I pass an spot on the Jungle Cruise that has a bit that goes with it, I expect to hear it referenced. When it's not, it's like going on PotC and having the redhead animatronic missing from the auction scene.

I don't mind creative additions to the script. One really good skipper at DL stopped under the waterfall when we were riding at night, and after doing the "back side of water" bit, he flashed the boat lights on and off creating a strobe effect on the waterfall and announced "Ladies and gentlemen, the original World of Color!" :lol:
 
Communicore

Communicore

Well-Known Member
I think DL and MK are the same but for some reason DL's feels more authentic. There was one time the skipper proceeded to guzzle from his water bottle the whole time when we were approaching the temple, and also another one brought out the gun and instead of firing just said "bang! Bang!" heh heh...
 
Fantasmic

Fantasmic

Well-Known Member
DizneyPryncess said:
Some of it's scripted - they definitely always do the back side of water joke, and ginger snaps, and the trading heads.
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We rode the JC 3 times and only got the ginger snaps joke once, if at all!

We rode on Tuesday with Skipper Adrienne, she was AMAZING. So so funny! A good skipper makes ALL the difference!
 
InLikeFlynn

InLikeFlynn

Active Member
I just remember the first family trip we went on and dd was a couple months shy of 4 years old. The skipper asked a little boy if he wanted to help steer the boat and he shook his head no..then he looked at my ds who was 11 and he shrugged, but dd was all "I will do it!" :sohappy::sohappy:. So he let her drive. Too cute. She couldn't even see over the wheel, and he put his big hat on her...when he yelled "duck!" and they did the gunfire my dd literally hit the ground. It was hilarious.

I have never ridden again and had a skipper ask for a child to help drive the boat, although I've seen a couple photos online of other kids doing it. How rare is this? It was such a special experience for my dd, and he even gave her a little card after.
 

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