Disney: Jungle Cruise updates are coming to Magic Kingdom

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Changes are coming to Magic Kingdom’s Jungle Cruise attraction, Walt Disney World announced Monday.

Changes are coming to Magic Kingdom’s Jungle Cruise attraction, Walt Disney World announced Monday.

The enhancements, scheduled to be made later this year, will include new scenes and an emphasis on diversity in backgrounds and interests, a Disney World spokeswoman said. It will also shift the ride’s story line some, but the wisecracking cast members acting as jungle skippers will remain on board.

“As Imagineers, it’s our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspectives to the world around us,” said Carmen Smith, executive creative development and inclusion strategies for Walt Disney Imagineering. “With Jungle Cruise, we’re bringing to life more of what people love — the humor and wit of our incredible skippers while making needed updates.”

The attraction has been criticized for its portrayals of headhunters and the use of the term “savages.” Calls for change flared last year after Disney said it would change its Splash Mountain, another Magic Kingdom ride, removing the “Song of the South” characters in favor of a theme based on “The Princess and the Frog.”

“As part of this story update, we’ll get to follow a skipper and his passengers as their journey goes awry,” Kevin Lively, an Imagineer and former skipper at Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise, said in a video on the official Disney Parks Blog.

“For the first time ever, the skipper role will not only be that of a live, experienced and witty guide, but also represented by a show figure within the attraction itself,” he said.

Disney renderings released Monday show five explorers — including two women and people of color — escaping the horn of a rhino by climbing an aging tree. The figures are hauling equipment such as a camera, telescopes painting supplies and butterfly nets.

 

 

 

 

In another piece of concept art, several chimps take over a wrecked Jungle Cruise boat.

“The skippers of the Jungle Cruise bring humor to guests of all ages, and we’re exited to be adding to that legacy — along with a new animated skipper figure — by celebrating their adventures and influences,” said Chris Beatty, creative executive, Walt Disney Imagineering.

More details about changes in scenes will be revealed later, the spokeswoman said.

Chimps take over a boat in an upcoming scene from Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom. The Disneyland version of the attraction will also be receiving the enhancements from Walt Disney Imagineering. (Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy photo)

Jungle Cruise is one of the attractions that debuted on Magic Kingdom’s opening day in 1971. The alterations also will be done at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where it appeared on that theme park’s opening day in 1955.

The current rendition at Magic Kingdom purports to guide passengers on tropical rivers of the world. Along the way they encounter gorillas, hippos, elephants, snakes, lions, zebras, hyenas, waterfalls, a shrunken-head salesman and a boatload of punny dad jokes.

In 2013, Disney introduced a seasonal version of the Magic Kingdom attraction dubbed Jingle Cruise. In late 2015, the park opened Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen, a sit-down restaurant that’s a companion to the attraction and serves “world-famous jungle cuisine.”

Production is complete on a “Jungle Cruise” movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. It’s currently slated for release July 30.

Over the years, Disney has made updates to rides, including the addition of the Captain Jack Sparrow animatronics inside Pirates of the Caribbean in 2006, followed by changes to auction scene, which reimagined the Redd character as a pirate 2018.