Jungle Cruise Re-Imagining

Disneyson

Well-Known Member
First off, I love the character design for Alberta. Second, this character has been around since the Skipper Canteen, as has her entire backstory (Love that the mom is named Sneh Falls, hilarious). "Adventureland" as a place has been canonicalized far earlier with the opening of Skipper Canteen, too. Alberta Falls has awards from the "Adventureland Chamber of Commerce" that read Businessman of the Year over and over and over again, with the man crossed out and woman written in, with the final one in 1938 finally reading Businesswoman. I don't see how layering a story onto this is any different than Indiana Jones Adventure or the original Kilimanjaro Safaris, where there are human characters acting as story bookends to an attraction that doesn't really need them to function. I don't think this is wildly inappropriate, I kinda like the parks characters.

If I'm going to be honest, I think that if they mention Alberta in the beginning of the attraction, I wonder if part of the story might include finding her missing Grandfather? A skipper gets onto the radio as your boat leaves and you get a radio message from Alberta says something like "If you could please look out for Skipper Felix, he's been missing for a week and [joke joke joke joke]" "Yeah boss, I'm on it. [Joke joke joke joke joke. Normal spiel.]" "Now, we're approaching beautiful Schweitzer Falls, named after the famous African explorer, Dr. Albert Falls. Albert's my boss' grandpa. He's been awol for a while - [Joke about so many people missing in the jungle, that doesn't bode well for us, joke about throwing annoying guests overboard.]"

I can see how people might be torn about it, but I also think that it would make the attraction a little more bearable for guests that either a. Find the jokes unfunny, or b. Have a terrible skipper that has poor delivery. I just feel like this is a plus overall, I don't see this in any way "ruining" the attraction.

I also imagine that Alberta will take the place of Trader Sam at the end, thanking us in the way that the Warden or Indy thanks (thanked) us at the end of their respective rides. Neither a plus nor a minus for me, I liked the cannibal jokes, but I also think that we're likely to get a really nice Alberta animatronic and I'm very here for nice animatronics. Plus, if they keep the name of the grog grotto it's really a no-lose situation for me. He's not as iconic as the dog with the keys or the hitchhiking ghosts for me.

She's also said to have a Kakapo at her side in the Gnus article, which I think is gonna be hella adorable and will definitely push merch, which is... annoying, but I don't see how different this is from Albert in Mystic Manor or Chandu in Sinbad. Heck, they can have their own little spinoff Disney Junior series for all I care, it doesn't affect the ride's content all that much and it'll probably be more effective as a 'finale'. I did like that "dinner" stall while we wait for the other boat to move joke, though...
 

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MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
And yet...no harm, no foul. No need for thread policing

Are you talking about the Disneyland big thunder?

If so...that’s 100 better the wdw
I believe they're referring to the Interactive Queue that was added to Big Thunder a few years back - with Barnabas T. Bullion and the Miners whose names I'll never know and all that. The conceit of Big Thunder has always been perfectly self-explanitory, which is part of its brilliance. Adding some bells and whistles and characters that we don't need and develop no connection to is the kind of excessive flourish that's more emblematic of poor design rather than great design. Barnabas T. Bullion has much more "backstory" than the Big Thunder Goat, but which one do the guests actually love?

That's part of what's great about the Disneyland Big Thunder finale upgrades - they build off the existing conceit, require no explaination, feel like they could have always been there, and add excitement to a scene that had been aging poorly and needed revision. I look forward to the day they're added to Florida.

In terms of Jungle Cruise, the jury still seems to be out on how this will go - I'm choosing to be cautiously optimistic at this point. I don't feel like the Jungle Cruise concept needed so much revision, just some of the execution - but the potential seems present to expand on the daffy fun that has become the hallmark of the attraction while doing away with its problematic elements. Hopefully the result stays easily understandable and doesn't end up overstuffed with information that fails to add meaning to the experience.
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
I'm kind of getting a Killamonjaro Safaris vibe going here. Like when Wilson comes over the radio about a missing elephant. I like the way this is going, they are not losing the personal touch of individual skippers, just simply adding to the story lines. We can only hope that they don't mention Alberta until after the falls, if they do then I want more info on the great explorer Dr. Switzer. Finally, personally I feel, that the loss of Sam would equal the loss of pirates red head.

Maybe they could put him floating somewhere in the river as you pass by?

il_570xN.1837859903_9agp.jpg
 

Disneyson

Well-Known Member
To the point of the goat and Barnabas -- I don't think the inclusion of him hurts the actual attraction in any way. What the area did was make one of the most interminable outdoor queues at Walt Disney World less horrible to wait in. I can happily use my Fastpass at a different attraction because I just don't mind the queue as much as some others due to the stuff in it. Better to have stuff to look at than switchback.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
First off, I love the character design for Alberta. Second, this character has been around since the Skipper Canteen, as has her entire backstory (Love that the mom is named Sneh Falls, hilarious). "Adventureland" as a place has been canonicalized far earlier with the opening of Skipper Canteen, too. Alberta Falls has awards from the "Adventureland Chamber of Commerce" that read Businessman of the Year over and over and over again, with the man crossed out and woman written in, with the final one in 1938 finally reading Businesswoman. I don't see how layering a story onto this is any different than Indiana Jones Adventure or the original Kilimanjaro Safaris, where there are human characters acting as story bookends to an attraction that doesn't really need them to function. I don't think this is wildly inappropriate, I kinda like the parks characters.

If I'm going to be honest, I think that if they mention Alberta in the beginning of the attraction, I wonder if part of the story might include finding her missing Grandfather? A skipper gets onto the radio as your boat leaves and you get a radio message from Alberta says something like "If you could please look out for Skipper Felix, he's been missing for a week and [joke joke joke joke]" "Yeah boss, I'm on it. [Joke joke joke joke joke. Normal spiel.]" "Now, we're approaching beautiful Schweitzer Falls, named after the famous African explorer, Dr. Albert Falls. Albert's my boss' grandpa. He's been awol for a while - [Joke about so many people missing in the jungle, that doesn't bode well for us, joke about throwing annoying guests overboard.]"

I can see how people might be torn about it, but I also think that it would make the attraction a little more bearable for guests that either a. Find the jokes unfunny, or b. Have a terrible skipper that has poor delivery. I just feel like this is a plus overall, I don't see this in any way "ruining" the attraction.

I also imagine that Alberta will take the place of Trader Sam at the end, thanking us in the way that the Warden or Indy thanks (thanked) us at the end of their respective rides. Neither a plus nor a minus for me, I liked the cannibal jokes, but I also think that we're likely to get a really nice Alberta animatronic and I'm very here for nice animatronics. Plus, if they keep the name of the grog grotto it's really a no-lose situation for me. He's not as iconic as the dog with the keys or the hitchhiking ghosts for me.

She's also said to have a Kakapo at her side in the Gnus article, which I think is gonna be hella adorable and will definitely push merch, which is... annoying, but I don't see how different this is from Albert in Mystic Manor or Chandu in Sinbad. Heck, they can have their own little spinoff Disney Junior series for all I care, it doesn't affect the ride's content all that much and it'll probably be more effective as a 'finale'. I did like that "dinner" stall while we wait for the other boat to move joke, though...

You have much more faith in Disney big budgeting this than many of us. I am not saying it is impossible of course, but when was the last time Disney has gotten a new high quality Animatronic Figure that was not based on a huge blockbuster outside the park IP?(red was Jane from Great Movie Ride and was set to stage a character in upcoming films at the time)
We are more likely going to get radio chatter form Dwayne Johnson Voice Overs if the movie does well.
 
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ohioguy

Well-Known Member
The film release dates have steadily moved from October 11 2019 to July 24 2020 now July 30 2021 I do not see any tie in between ride modernization, refurbishment / update etc. and movie release. The release of the movie may stimulate more interest in the ride though.
IMO, Just like Jack Sparrow in POTC, it'll happen; especially under the new leadership
 

matt9112

Well-Known Member
I noticed that! I wonder if it has to do with the new S.E.A. series they're working on for Disney+. Seems like establishing Disney parks "lands" as "places" alongside real-world places is sort of a meta thing they might use to explain the close proximity of the attractions to one another in the parks.

Rather than how they've historically treated the time/place transport in the parks "now we're in Asia" (Jungle Cruise) or "as we join up with the mighty Mississippi River (RoA), it seems like they're going with "this spot in Anaheim/Orlando/Tokyo/etc. is the site of a world-class adventure."

Interesting...

Marketing....doing it there way makes cents. They can expand and market off of it like a spring board.
 

Homemade Imagineering

Well-Known Member
You have much more faith in Disney big budgeting this than many of us. I am not saying it is impossible of course, but when was the last time Disney has gotten a new high quality Animatronic Figure that was not based on a huge blockbuster outside the park IP?(red was Jane from Great Movie Ride and was set to stage a character in upcoming films at the time)
We are more likely going to get radio chatter form Dwayne Johnson Voice Overs if the movie does well.
I mean, the new animatronic skipper they’ve been referring to, must be at least somewhat impressive, or rather on par with recent AAs they’ve produced, especially if he’s going to be a signature figure with dialogue...
 

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