LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
A paddle was already part of the ride's other sign, long before these latest changes:
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Jungle Cruise Re-Imagining
- Thread starter Rteetz
- Start date
A paddle was already part of the ride's other sign, long before these latest changes:
I believe that is a crude rudder. Not a paddle in a manual sense. Still a sort of paddle, but different and more fitting to steam boat.
Either way, a much better formed piece compared to the new one.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I'm talking about the thing hanging from the rudder, with the word "Exotic" written on it. I'm not alone in my interpretation:
The Jungle Cruise is always at the top of my to-do list when I visit the Magic Kingdom, but I only recently realized that the Jungle Cruise sign appears to be made from an old rudder, as well as a paddle that has seen better days!
Hidden Details of the Magic Kingdom | TouringPlans.com Blog
There are many reasons why the Disney Parks stand apart from other theme parks around the world, but one of the biggest
touringplans.com
As guests wander deeper into the jungles of Adventureland, a ship's mast holds a sign made from a boat rudder and paddle, encouraging guests to wander down a path and away from the land where the boat dock is located at which guests will board their boats for their jungle river expedition.
A River Fantasy from the Jungle Navigation Company
Looking at the nostalgic side of Walt Disney World featuring fond memories and the history BEHIND the Disney parks!
distalgic.blogspot.com
Hanging from a ship’s mast is a sign made of a wooden ship rudder that reads “Jungle Cruise Expedition.” Beneath the rudder hangs a broken oar that describes the expedition as “exotic.”
Attractions in Detail: Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise
Andrew Kiste is a life-long Disney fan and contributer to “Orlando Attractions Magazine”. He is currently residing in Guilford County, N.C. with his wife.
attractionsmagazine.com
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Which is why our Trader Sam was always a silly, non-threatening looking fellow despite what he was holding.
If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd find it hard to believe that in all those years, DL's never changed.
Figments Friend
Well-Known Member
Sharon&Susan
Well-Known Member
Trader Sam's wardrobe at Disneyland changed a ton over the years to tone down the "tribalness". Since the site's not allowing me to post any photos for whatever reason, I'll just say early on he had a full crown of feathers, a bone necklace, and a bone in his nose.
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LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
It’s worth noting that Trader Sam wasn’t added to the attraction until 1957, two years after it opened.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Was he added for more ambiance (i.e. to make the ride more "authentic" with natives)? Or was that at the time the ride had shifted to humorous and he was added just for the sake of the headhunter jokes?
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
The humour came later, in 1962.
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
And more, well... Exotic looking.
The paddles on the new sign evoke short oars more than they do the paddles of a native culture.
Exactly. The pathway signage has a naturally weathered piece of driftwood look, as if salvaged and the new ones look like an intentional cut to an item from Bass Pro Shop.
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
I recommend everyone watch the Jungle Cruise episode of Behind the Attraction on D+. May settle some of the gripes you have with the “origins” and “intentions” of the attraction
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
When I said changed I meant more... um... totally replaced with a copy of ours, I guess.
Clearly, they understood the issue when they did the WDW version, both with Trader Sam and with the pole scene* so I don't really get why they kept that one around and why there wasn't real push-back from the public decades ago for some sort of change over there.
Someone would have still been unhappy, I'm sure, since our Sam is a caricature which could be deemed offensive in its own right,(though wdw and DL have plenty of those representing pirates of European decent, ghots of European decent, little people, native Americans and don't even get me started on many of the anthropomorphized characters in attractions which play into stereotypes) but he feels like someone who could have been worked into the movie as a grifter, the same way the captain appears to be shown and possibly still survived.
I mean, maybe not it's hard to argue that the two are equal.
*I know the people on our pole had undergone changes over the years prior to this change but my memory is a little fuzzy and I don't feel like googling it. I don't know for sure that ours was at no point, ever just a carbon copy of the DL version but I'd imagine if ours was changed so much over time, theirs would have been, too. I remember one character in a fez and at one point, the person getting the "butt" of the joke in that scene may have been a poor choice but I don't recall it being as "problematic" as the DL version.
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Roger_the_pianist
Well-Known Member
I think the new sign is cute. It ties into the concept that hippos attacked a boat. The arguments about the aesthetics of the sign are likely rooted in people being mad that the spears are gone, when they weren't original to the signage anyway, and it's obvious that if the natives with spears were removed from the ride, so would they be removed from the sign.
ImperfectPixie
Well-Known Member
Just to be clear, I like the oars...my criticisms were strictly from a sign-maker's point of view. (They really did make a bunch of rookie sign design mistakes.)
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I watched it yesterday and was really surprised that none of the current changes were referred to.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
There was one sentence in the beginning of the show that mention changes for cultural sensitivity and that was it.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I heard a sentence towards the end to the same effect. It’s almost as if the show were scripted before the changes were planned, which can’t have been the case given how heavily the film features in it.
Incomudro
Well-Known Member
Well put, that's what I'm getting from this - and as I guy who fishes, you nailed it.
I'm not getting an image of a place that is luring people to far off locales, to tour the Amazon, Nile etc.
I'm getting Bass Pro Shops.
The fake bite in the paddle, is just bad.
Prototype82
Well-Known Member
I would hope the mouse's inclusion-keteers would understand why Everest is untouchable and that it features real cooperation with international artists. Heck, WDI could work with and commission Polynesian and African artists if they wanted to replace the "appropriated" pieces in Adventureland with real authentic artworks and props. But that costs $$$$.... It's just sad because we are adventuring into places that are inhabited by people! Something is truly lost in the story here. Rather than taking an opportunity to re-tool or "correct" it, they're stripping the feeling of the space away all together...