Jungle Cruise Update

[George Lucas on a Bench]

He got a bar

 

[Practical Pig]

I'll be surprised if Disney doesn't recast Trader Sam as a Pacific Islander woman who is improbably nick-named Sam and who has been improbably transplanted to the African jungle to open a tiki bar that also sells merch ... for some reason ... but who really has a secret mission to educate the burgeoning population of mischievous chimps to live more harmoniously with the Eurasian human population, and all somehow based on S.E.A. Because: convoluted backstory.

 

[Sailor310]

Trader Sam got more than a head. He's making a fortune at that bar!

 

[CaptinEO]

What makes you think the restaurant is named after the character in the Jungle Cruise?

Because the ride jungle cruise at Disneyland has a character called Trader Sam and the Hotel at Disneyland has a bar called Trader Sam's.

 

[Brer Oswald]

What makes you think the restaurant is named after the character in the Jungle Cruise?

Common sense?

 

[Brer Oswald]

Because the depiction was problematic, not the name. Trader Sam's can still be the name of a tropical bar as most of us are familiar with Trader Joe's without ever needing to see what he looks like. There's no reason to change the name of the bar.

...
I’m not going to go down that road. But we’ve seen depictions that weren’t problematic get the shaft because it’s “guilty by association”. So is the name of the bar.

There is no consistency with the rules. Which makes me question the sincerity of the decisions to begin with.

 

[_caleb]

Common sense?

Common backstory.

 

[Mac Tonight]

Common backstory.

If two characters have the same name and the same backstory... oh, I get it! They're twins!

 

[Brer Oswald]

If we can headcanon the fact that the bar sharing a name with the offensive character is completely coincidental, I reserve the right to headcanon the fact that any SotS references in Splash are also coincidental.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Common backstory.

That’s not backstory.

 

[aliceismad]

Saw this out at Target today. Thought you all would have feelings.

Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game

Read reviews and buy Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

www.target.com

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Saw this out at Target today. Thought you all would have feelings.

View attachment 545882

Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game

Read reviews and buy Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

www.target.com

I assume the Natives aren't included, any representation of Trader Sam or the Men on the pole?

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Since I was curious today I looked up the infamous John Lasseter Jungle Cruise children's book released the same time as he "retired" from Disney. Native scene and Trader Sam (though his baby elephant makes an appearance) are both skipped in the book, makes me wonder if this has been in the cards for years.

 

[_caleb]

That’s not backstory.

But it is. In an effort to give the character some depth and connect him to pretty much everything in Adventureland (plus Jack Sparrow over at PotC), there’s an elaborate backstory that has been part of Disneyland‘s Trader Sam for years. In the Jungle Cruise queue, Nigel Greenwater alludes to Sam as being the proprietor of the Tropical Imports shop. The Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel, the Grog Grotto at the Polynesian at WDW are also part of Sam’s supposed business empire.

Here’s a great article about all the Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar that includes a lot of the backstory Brandon Kleyla (the Imagineer in charge of creating it) wanted to include:

“Next, the team of Imagineers asked themselves, “what if Trader Sam knew Indiana Jones, what if he knew Jack Sparrow, or Swiss Family Robinson?” Then, they reached a breakthrough. What if Trader Sam knows live-action from pretty much anywhere in Disney’s “Adventure” history? And so, that was the story they set off to tell.”

“On the walls surrounding the dual locations, there’s a picture of Sam with Jack Sparrow on the wall, a note from Ned Land to Sam, a harpoon from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and even a reference from the Castaway Cowboy.”

BTW, Trader Sam’s backstory is also tied to the Adventurer’s Club at WDW and S.E.A. (which obviously everyone here hates).

Lots of fans don’t know about the (convoluted and entirely unnecessary) backstory. I’m sure most people here might think it’s stupid. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!

 

[Brer Oswald]

But it is. In an effort to give the character some depth and connect him to pretty much everything in Adventureland (plus Jack Sparrow over at PotC), there’s an elaborate backstory that has been part of Disneyland‘s Trader Sam for years. In the Jungle Cruise queue, Nigel Greenwater alludes to Sam as being the proprietor of the Tropical Imports shop. The Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel, the Grog Grotto at the Polynesian at WDW are also part of Sam’s supposed business empire.

Here’s a great article about all the Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar that includes a lot of the backstory Brandon Kleyla (the Imagineer in charge of creating it) wanted to include:

“Next, the team of Imagineers asked themselves, “what if Trader Sam knew Indiana Jones, what if he knew Jack Sparrow, or Swiss Family Robinson?” Then, they reached a breakthrough. What if Trader Sam knows live-action from pretty much anywhere in Disney’s “Adventure” history? And so, that was the story they set off to tell.”

“On the walls surrounding the dual locations, there’s a picture of Sam with Jack Sparrow on the wall, a note from Ned Land to Sam, a harpoon from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and even a reference from the Castaway Cowboy.”

BTW, Trader Sam’s backstory is also tied to the Adventurer’s Club at WDW and S.E.A. (which obviously everyone here hates).

Lots of fans don’t know about the (convoluted and entirely unnecessary) backstory. I’m sure most people here might think it’s stupid. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!

But you’re implying that there’s a separate Trader Sam that isn’t connected to the ride Trader Sam, when they are pretty clearly one in the same. There’s pictures of him in the bar.

 

[_caleb]

But you’re implying that there’s a separate Trader Sam that isn’t connected to the ride Trader Sam, when they are pretty clearly one in the same. There’s pictures of him in the bar.

No, I wasn’t implying that. I was bringing up the fact that the Bar was named for the character on the ride as part of Disney creating an elaborate backstory for the character.

When I asked “What makes you think the restaurant is named after the character in the Jungle Cruise?” I was asking a rhetorical question with an obvious answer: we know they’re both the same character because of the (heavy-handed) backstory they shoehorned in to the Bar (which, by the way, includes Indiana Jones’s hat and whip, a bunch of stuff from the Tiki Room, Jack Sparrow, etc. etc.).

People here were all, “backstories are dumb!” But then when Trader Sam was removed from the Jungle Cruise they were also like, “I hope they don’t change the name of the Bar!” And I was like, “it’s all backstory, man.”

 

[Californian Elitist]

But it is. In an effort to give the character some depth and connect him to pretty much everything in Adventureland (plus Jack Sparrow over at PotC), there’s an elaborate backstory that has been part of Disneyland‘s Trader Sam for years. In the Jungle Cruise queue, Nigel Greenwater alludes to Sam as being the proprietor of the Tropical Imports shop. The Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel, the Grog Grotto at the Polynesian at WDW are also part of Sam’s supposed business empire.

Here’s a great article about all the Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar that includes a lot of the backstory Brandon Kleyla (the Imagineer in charge of creating it) wanted to include:

“Next, the team of Imagineers asked themselves, “what if Trader Sam knew Indiana Jones, what if he knew Jack Sparrow, or Swiss Family Robinson?” Then, they reached a breakthrough. What if Trader Sam knows live-action from pretty much anywhere in Disney’s “Adventure” history? And so, that was the story they set off to tell.”

“On the walls surrounding the dual locations, there’s a picture of Sam with Jack Sparrow on the wall, a note from Ned Land to Sam, a harpoon from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and even a reference from the Castaway Cowboy.”

BTW, Trader Sam’s backstory is also tied to the Adventurer’s Club at WDW and S.E.A. (which obviously everyone here hates).

Lots of fans don’t know about the (convoluted and entirely unnecessary) backstory. I’m sure most people here might think it’s stupid. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!

This to me doesn't scream backstory still, but okay.

More baloney is what it is actually.

 

[_caleb]

This to me doesn't scream backstory still, but okay.

Did you read either of the articles I linked to? Trader Sam is supposedly a bisexual Back South American headhunting bar owner who was friends with Teddy Roosevelt, Indiana Jones, The Swiss Family Robinson, Captain Jack Sparrow (and his mother), and Walt Disney while also a member of an organization known as the Adventurers Club, which is a splinter-faction of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers which was founded by S.E.A.-member Merriweather Adam Pleasure. He has authored several books under the pen name, ”T.S.”, most of which can be found in the Skipper‘s Canteen.

That’s not a backstory?

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Can't wait to hear the epic backstory behind the tiny kid-sized car near Steakhouse 55 that may or may not be an Autopia car.

 

[_caleb]

This to me doesn't scream backstory still, but okay.

More baloney is what it is actually.

LOL! I never said it was a good backstory!

I’m just surprised more of the Disneylanders over here didn’t seem to even be aware of it. Everyone is free to enjoy the parks however they like (or hate them), I just thought there might be at least one other nerd like me out there who noticed the details on stuff like this.