Weekend Update – The Rock in Jungle Cruise Attractions?
We used to do these updates every weekend (hence the name!), focusing on Disney topics too short for blog posts, sharing some interesting (to me) articles I’ve found around the internet, and cool deals. With yesterday’s sorta-announcement about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson helping to reimagine Jungle Cruise, I thought it’d be an interesting day to revive the topic.
In addition to tackling a potential Jungle Cruise reimagining, we’ll share some updates on the blog, things we’ve been working on, and that potential group booking for Wilderness Lodge that we mentioned a while back. For starters, I love the The Rock. He has this natural charisma and inarticulable x-factor that just draws you to him.
The Rock can turn a garbage movie (and, unfortunately, many of his movies falls into this category) into something that’s fun solely by his affable presence. Heck, The Rock even has me looking forward to a movie based on the cheesy television show Baywatch!
So far, the only thing that has been said about a re-imagining of the Jungle Cruise is this Instagram post by The Rock:
That’s quite the caption and indicates some bold plans. In the comments, The Rock further clarified, indicating that the movie would inform the attraction. That sounds a lot like the original marketing for Captain Jack Sparrow being added to Pirates of the Caribbean: “first the attraction inspired the movie…now, the movie inspires the attraction!”
The difference there is that Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was a smash hit before any changes to the attractions were greenlit. Moreover, it took multiple films and worldwide box office success before all versions of the attraction around the world had Jack Sparrow added.
The Rock is a master showman, and part of creating buzz for a film he’s producing and starring in, is posts like this. His fans are now talking about the impact his film will have beyond the box office, and even people who are against the idea (as I am) are talking about the movie. A movie, as he notes, which doesn’t even have a director yet!
This is not to say that whatever The Rock is cooking (sorry) with regard to the Jungle Cruise attraction won’t come to fruition. What it is to say is that the likely scenario is that Walt Disney Imagineering (and other divisions) had a blue sky meeting with The Rock to go over what possible synergy options could be available should the film perform well.
Perhaps the plan isn’t even to add new effects and Audio Animatronics to Jungle Cruise. Maybe the plan is to have The Rock fly around the world, standing in show scenes surprising guests. (Maybe Johnny Depp’s appearance at Disneyland was a test for this!) I mean, The Rock does literally everything else, so why not add “live action theme park attraction entertainment” to the list?!
Disney is pretty cautious and conservative when it comes to incorporating films into the theme parks. This is understandable and, in my opinion, appropriate. After all, who wants a repeat of the Countdown to Extinction/Dinosaur tie-in that was made to coincide with that film’s release? (And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re not alone–which helps makes my point.)
Over the last couple of weeks, you might’ve noticed that a lot of blog posts have been updated. Now that we’re done traveling for a bit, I’ve been trying to focus on refreshing older posts.
I’ve updated about two dozen posts thus far, and have added “last updated on ____” dates to all of them. I fell down the rabbit hole of looking at old posts, and have highlighted about 40 more that need updates. Keep an eye on the first couple pages of the home page, as I bump many/most to there once I update them.
I’ll have even more posts to update once Wishes is retired and Pandora opens. It’s a never-ending battle!
Per your requests on last December’s “Odds & Ends” update, I’ve been writing more trip reports (4 so far this year!) and also making other tweaks based upon your suggestions. Hopefully you’ve noticed!
On that same note, I still have no idea what’s going on with the Wilderness Lodge group booking mentioned there. We’ve already updated you on this once before, indicating that Disney’s Group Getaways department wasn’t offering us anything worthwhile.
It’s not much of an update, but that’s still the case. Although they won’t say as much, I think it’s because occupancy projections are up for Christmas, and they don’t plan on offering any exceptional deals. Maybe once a room-only discount is released, they will be able to do more? I really don’t know, and would strongly suggest you make alternative arrangements if you haven’t already.
Over on TravelCaffeine.com, I’m still plugging away on new non-Disney travel posts, with most of my focus being on posts about California, Japan, France, and Hawaii. These are the locations that have gotten the biggest response from readers, and I think it makes the most sense to focus on these locations since they are where Disney Parks (or a resort, in the case of Hawaii) are also located.
Behind the scenes, I’ve been working on an eBook about visiting California over there, which will be given away early this summer to newsletter subscribers. This eBook, plus updates on this blog, and new posts on both blogs are brought to you by coffee, and my excessive consumption of it. 😉
Cool Finds
The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921-1968 – I’ve shared this a couple of times on Facebook now, and am astonished that the price on this is so low. This is a beautiful, oversized coffee table book produced with incredible quality. It’s a collectible TASCHEN book, almost all of which increase in value when they (inevitably) go out of print. At 69% off, it’s a no-brainer for any Disney library.
4-Port USB 3.0 Hub w/ Power Switches – This is on sale for $9.49 – $4.01 with promotional code 4SDUM43 – That makes it only $5.48 after coupon! This is great for charging devices in Walt Disney World hotel rooms, which are notoriously short on power outlets.
Figment & Dreamfinder “Imaginary Friends” Statue – Along with my Figment Big Fig, this is one of the highlights of my Figment collection (above) and since selling out in 2007, it’s now pretty rare. Happened upon this in my saved searches the other day.
Figment MagicBand – Speaking of Figment, can we all agree that this is the best MagicBand?! Some of the seasonal/limited edition ones are cool, but I love the classic Figment-in-yellow-sweater look.
Frozen LED Light Up Canvas Wall Art – I don’t know what this even is, but I got a deal alert about it and thought it might help out those with kids.
Olaf Pancake Maker – I think this would make a hilarious gag gift for some of our friends, but if you have kids, it might be something they’d actually love. And the price is right…
Around the Disneysphere…
We’ve had a lot of recent posts on TravelCaffeine including an awesome place to learn about dinosaurs, some really cool castles in France, an awesome studio tour near Disneyland, and more!
The Los Angeles Times reports on driverless shuttles Disney might soon deploy.
easyWDW offers a slew of interesting photos from around Epcot’s Flower & Garden Festival.
BlogMickey reports on a rumor that Walt Disney World could have to cancel or modify its fireworks shows during Central Florida’s drought.
Disney Parks Blog shares the first on-ride footage of Na’vi River Journey in Pandora – World of Avatar. (I haven’t watched–be prepared for spoilers if you do!)
Passport to Dreams discusses what makes a design distinctly “Disney” and what is shallow branding.
DVC Resale Market has an interesting look at how pricing impacts how quickly different Disney Vacation Club properties sell.
That’s it for this update! To follow our adventures, find us on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of the possibility that The Rock will help reimagine the Jungle Cruise in Disney Parks around the world? Think it’ll actually happen, or is just a blue sky idea that depends upon the box office success of the film? Thoughts about anything else in this weekend update? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share in the comments below!
Thank you for adding updated dates back in — I think it’s really helpful and loved when you used to have the dates on each post, it helps in planning and knowing when you posted it.
Thank you for adding updated dates back in — I think it’s really helpful and loved when you used to have the dates on each post, it helps in planning and making sure I know the most current info.
I can’ wait to smell what the Rock and Disney have cooking
I really enjoy your detailed trip reports, thank you for taking the time to do them.
He (The Rock) was on Jungle Cruise a couple of weeks ago down at WDW. Seemed early for pushing the movie but I suppose it is a way of gauging interest. And for the record, I think he is a solid actor. I’m actually considering seeing Baywatch and I thought the TV show was pretty dumb.
I probably need to take a short break from reading the blog. In the past week, I’ve purchased two books from Amazon, and it’s all your fault. First, it was Vol I of “They Drew As They Pleased.” Now, it’s the blasted Taschen book. You, sir, are an enabler.
Seriously though, thanks for the tips on the books. These are the fourth and fifth Disney books I’ve purchased, all thanks to your recommendations, and if it weren’t for the heads up notifications you give on great deals, I would either not own said books, or I would have paid a lot more for all of them.
The concern I have with the Jungle Cruise movie is that its writers have exactly ONE credit to their names…the most recent Star Trek movie. I didn’t see it…was it funny? I like the Rock. Like you said, he’s charming. But if he doesn’t have a script that’s funny ALL BY ITSELF, his charisma will not make it funny. He’s not a skilled comedic actor…at all. The movie needs (on top of writers who can write comedy with actual jokes), a second lead who is effortlessly funny and knows how to deliver a gag. Those guys don’t grow on trees nowadays.
Ooh I really liked this update. 🙂 I understand why they’re hard to compile, but it was a nice weekend read (well, I read this Monday morning but…nevermind…)
Thank you for all your hard work putting together the trip reports! They are what I look forward to reading most — especially the WDW one with your folks!
I guess for me I’m going to treat this similarly to Haunted Mansion. While most people have probably forgotten (or try to forget) the Eddie Murphy movie, that easily could have gone the way of Pirates and we could have seen a reimagined version of Haunted Mansion. However, the movie flopped so we definitely did it whether Disney had planned to or not. So I like to think that maybe they’re planning a re-imagining at the same time they’re planning a movie so that if the movie is a huge hit, fans don’t have to wait very long for the ride to have new elements. But I could also see Disney not wanting to waste a bunch of resources and get too far on planning if th movie were to flop. So basically I’m torn. I wouldn’t be opposed to a little new life being breathed into Jungle Cruise, but I’m not sure this is how I envisioned it.
The Rock “reimagining” the Jungle Cruise is not sitting well with me. My initial reaction: What!? Why him? And why is he the one announcing this and not Disney!? He is SO cheesy and “fake” I never watch or take any of his movies seriously and kind of feel he is a step below where I hold Disney. (End of initial reaction, yes, shamefully I immediately judged) However, I know when I judge something and do not like it I’m just running a racket. So I stepped back to look at my feelings and I’m probably A) just jealous that anyone outside of Disney would get to collaborate with them. B) worried that his influence would “cheapen” Disney. I took a look on imdb.com to see if there were ANY movies that he was in I enjoyed and I can’t find any. Sigh, I just have to let it go as this is a REALLY cheesy ride anyway and needs to be reimagined so may as well let SOMEONE take a stab at it and who knows the movie could do really well, the ride could become really fun and it be a huge win for the parks. Ok, end of rant, lol, thanks for your crazy amount of content, you really do inspire me!
And I find the Jungle Cruise to be cheesy and fake, so it seems to be a perfect match!
I am a 50 year old woman & I LOVE the Olaf pancake maker! So awesome. My 13 year old son was horrified by it, and my 53 year old husband thought it was pretty funny. But we already have a Mickey Waffle Maker, and I don’t really even like pancakes much, so it won’t be coming home with us, sadly. Best (gag) gift ever!