Disney just announced that their classic Jungle Cruise attraction will be receiving a massive overhaul at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, including several new scenes.
The Jungle Cruise is one of the most constantly changing Disney attractions of all time, and what it looks like right now is almost unrecognizable from what it looked like when the park first opened. Even the characteristic humor was not present on opening day.
The attraction will get a new storyline about following a doomed skipper voyage that becomes stranded in the jungle, involving both new scenes and reimagined scenes.
One new scene will see the Kwango Kate (a name formerly used for one of the Jungle Cruise boat) partially sinking into the river and being taken over by chimpanzees.
While the live skipper will remain a part of the attraction, skippers will also be appearing in the ride in audio animatronic form for the first time after having been stranded in the jungle when their boat sank.
This new storyline will notably involve redesigning the iconic explores being attacked by a rhino scene in the ride, reimagining all of the characters on the pole.
It is yet to be known if these are the rumored changes coming to the attraction based on the upcoming Jungle Cruise film. It has been speculated that an animatronic of the character played by Dwayne The Rock Johnson could be added to the attraction, and the announcement of animatronic skippers in the ride certainly seems to hint at this possibility.
I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is waiting to see what the success of the Jungle Cruise movie is before deciding if they are making an animatronic of the character or a more generic skipper.
This could also be a great opportunity to tie the ride more directly in with the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, but that has yet to be confirmed as well.
It is great to see this attraction get some love, and hopefully they can address some of the rides more outdated and controversial scenes. Several of the ride's approaches to natives in the jungle have been called out by some Disney fans as racist, and this reimagining could be a way to keep them in the ride but in a more respectful way, or replace some of the more extreme ones.
Both the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland versions of the attraction will be getting these enhancements, with no mention being given to the Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland versions. It should be noted that both of these versions have received updated effects in the past that the US versions have not.
Overall this seems like a positive change, and just the latest in a long list of evolutions of the Jungle Cruise over the years.
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