Jungle Cruise Closed for Refurbishment at Magic Kingdom (Reopening Early)
We’ve been warning you that Walt Disney World is likely going to accelerate several simultaneous ride refurbishments and reimaginings, and now there’s another lengthy refurbishment to Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom. This share dates & details of the Jungle Cruise closure, plus what else to expect around the same timeframe in Magic Kingdom. (Updated October 4, 2024.)
Let’s start with the pertinent details. Walt Disney World quietly added a closure of Jungle Cruise to the refurbishment calendar that started on August 26, 2024. This project was never formally announced, and its exact scope of work is unknown. At least, officially. Disney did file permits with a contractor that does underwater engineering, and Cast Members stationed outside the attraction have informally indicated that the project entails routine maintenance to the waterway infrastructure. Pretty safe bet that’s what’s happening.
It’s our understanding that no significant show changes have occurred during the Jungle Cruise closure. This is necessary and routine preventative work rather than a reimagining. At most, some of the facades and other scenic elements of the attraction will receive refreshes and new coats of paint, while remaining materially the same. I know that’s not as sexy or exciting as reimaginings, but this type of TLC work is also very necessary to ensure reliability and longevity. It’s been a while since Jungle Cruise received a proper refurbishment, so this work was overdue!
UPDATE: According to a calendar update in the My Disney Experience App and on DisneyWorld.com, Jungle Cruise is now set to reopen on October 16, 2024. This is two days ahead of schedule–the attraction was previously slated to return on October 18, 2024.
The official attraction page still has the following statement: “Beginning August 26, 2024, Jungle Cruise will temporarily close for refurbishment. The attraction is scheduled to reopen for Guests before the winter holidays begin at Walt Disney World.”
Jungle Cruise had been removed from both the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party attraction lists, but Jingle Cruise is still listed as an attraction overlay for the Christmas season. It’s our expectation that Jungle/Jingle Cruise will be open for both MNSSHP and MVMCP starting October 16, 2024 and all parties thereafter–but this is not yet confirmed.
As you might recall, Jungle Cruise was reimagined a few years ago. In case not, the attraction remained open at Magic Kingdom during the reimagining, as Imagineering utilized a “phased approach” to the project. Basically, they removed and installed a bunch of stuff overnight–mostly monkeys.
The way the Jungle Cruise’s scenes are staged makes it more conducive to changes that can be accomplished overnight or in the span of a day or two. This is exactly how the annual Jingle Cruise overlay for Christmas works. It also helped, I guess, that a lot of “changes” to the Jungle Cruise were copious amounts of backstory and lore that were added for no particular purpose. Doesn’t take much doing to “install” backstory.
Regardless, Jungle Cruise did not receive a refurbishment during that reimagining nor has it received a refurbishment in any recent year of its Jingle Cruise holiday overlay. Those are simply superficial changes. The last major refurbishment the ride received was back in 2017. So this project is very much necessary (and overdue), even if absolutely nothing changes from a guest perspective.
For whatever it’s worth, the end result with Jungle Cruise reimagining was a positive one. Those backstory details are peppered around the queue, and there for the discovery of guests. That’s an asset, as it gives guests something to engage in that previously basic and sometimes very long standby line.
You can uncover nuggets of information that illuminate and connect to other adventurous experiences, but are not the least bit necessary to enjoying the attraction. Or not. You can ignore them and don’t lose anything from the ride-through experience. The jokes are still funny (or not) and the animals are still there. Enjoyment doesn’t hinge on the backstory.
As for the ride itself, the big change to Jungle Cruise is that they added a plethora of primates. It might as well be called Jungle Cruise: Monkey Madness. I’m sorry, but if you dislike that, you’re distinctly unpatriotic. Monkeys doing ape antics are awesome, and that’s just a fact. For all of the hand-wringing about changing Jungle Cruise, the end result is basically just that–more monkeys. Other stuff did change for ‘contemporary audiences,’ but the big discernible thing is the monkeys. It was a big win for lovers of simian shenanigans, which should be everyone.
Now let’s turn to the other projects in Magic Kingdom and how these pieces of the puzzle fit together. As covered in Magic Kingdom Ride Refurbishment Rumors Realities, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is the last major project that’s in a holding pattern.
This has not been acknowledged by the company–meaning it’s neither announced nor added to the official calendar–but it is happening. Permits have been filed and it’s an open secret that the roller coaster is closing for roughly one-year. However, it’s our understanding that this has been pushed off until early 2025 due to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure still being unreliable and thus not having enough capacity to truly absorb crowds.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad needs a significant refurbishment involving major work on the ride system and retracking. This long-planned project is viewed as preventative work that’s crucial to extend the useful life of the roller coaster, ensuring the ride’s longevity and operational status for decades to come. But unlike Jungle Cruise, we also expect some big “plussings” to occur to Big Thunder.
As mentioned before, I wouldn’t be surprised if Walt Disney World tries to squeeze as many necessary closures in front of the the BTMRR closure as possible to avoid having other key attractions down during peak dates of the Big Thunder project. I don’t know what other Magic Kingdom attractions might need maintenance, but wouldn’t be surprised to see other refurbishments scheduled in January 2025 before BTMRR goes down later in the winter.
This also explains Walt Disney World’s approach with Lightning Lane Multi Passes. I thought it was kind of weird that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was a top tier selection, but now that kind of makes sense. There’s always going to be one tier 1 ride out of commission for the next year.
Regardless, this makes testing Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Magic Kingdom kind of a lost cause until Jungle Cruise reopens, as ‘results’ right now won’t be representative of 2025 when BTMRR is down. (Not only that, but Party Season throws a monkey wrench into things, anyway, so whatever you see for the remainder of this year won’t apply to 2025, anyway.)
Ultimately, it’s interesting that Peter Pan’s Flight, Jungle Cruise, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will all go down for extended closures (of varying degrees). As we’ve been saying for months now, we’d expect more reimaginings and refurbishments of this nature for a couple of reasons.
The first is that there was a lot of deferred maintenance and proportionately fewer closures in the last few years due to pent-up demand and budget cuts. So several attractions are overdue for refurbishments and will probably get them later this year or in 2025.
Second, the money spigot is about to be turned on for Parks & Resorts, allowing for more projects of this nature to (finally!) happen. Sure, it’s not as exciting as brand-new attractions–and many of you may lament more rides being closed during your vacation–but refurbishments are very much a necessity for maintaining appropriate attraction standards and ensuring that breakdowns don’t continue to happen at a more frequent rate. So here’s hoping we see more on this front!
From my perspective, it was the deferred maintenance that was bad–not the current and upcoming closures. Walt Disney World has extensive downtime and reliability woes in the last couple of years, and this is precisely why. That absolutely needs to be addressed, and this is the way that happens.
I’m somewhat sympathetic to Walt Disney World fan complaints about ride closures. It sucks when it happens on your trip, especially these closures that aren’t added to the schedule until the last minute. If you ask me, the announcement protocol is what needs to change, so people can plan accordingly, not the number of closures. (If anything, there need to be even more simultaneous refurbishments!)
I also know that Walt Disney World fans envy Tokyo Disney Resort and often ask why our parks can’t be like those, or why Disney doesn’t do things like OLC. Well, this is how OLC does things–here’s the current Tokyo Disney Resort refurbishment calendar. Spoiler: there are many, many more attraction closures on that list than at Walt Disney World. American fans cannot have it both ways–we can’t expect maintenance standards of Tokyo Disney Resort…without the closure calendar of Tokyo Disney Resort. That’s how maintenance gets done!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the ride refurbishments/reimaginings of Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and now Jungle Cruise? Hope these classics are updated to ensure their longevity for decades to come? Do any attractions at Walt Disney World strike you as being prime candidates for ride reimaginings? Do you agree or disagree with our choices? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
The pictures and descriptions of the new Cars ride sure look and sound like a reimagined Big Thunder.
If you’re going to inject politics at least be honest. Sure liberals whine but, good Lord, so do MAGA republicans. In fact probably more.
Don’t inject politics into Tom’s excellent reporting of all things Disney. It has no place.
So how much notice will we get for BTMRR going down? I’m picking lightning lanes in a couple weeks and I don’t want to grab and early time slot just to lose it later.
It seems so silly that they can’t commit to a date.
So, now with this update, it seems less likely that Thunder Mountain will close this year?
Everything I’ve heard suggest BTMRR is still going down this off-season (so August or September), but that the Magic Kingdom refurbishment situation is “fluid.”
Still my understanding that more is to come, but those projects might slip into 2025.
I haven’t seen if they filed any permits, but might this also be for prep work for the proposed expansion (rumored to be Moana) of Adventureland south of the Pirates building? The walkway to reach the expansion pad would have to pass between Pirates and the Amazon area/ Inspiration Falls/bait and boat scene of the Jungle Cruise.
I suppose we’ll find out in a few weeks at D23.
Any idea how Jungle Cruise being closed affects Keys to the Kingdom Tour? Do they replace with another ride or just skip this portion of the tour?
I hope they can upgrade the JC boat speakers/microphones while they’re at it! This is my husband’s favorite attraction (yes, really) and the last time we rode, after a 45 minute wait, we couldn’t hear half of the skipper’s jokes because the audio equipment was so terrible. He was so disappointed.
I agree! We have stopped bothering to ride because we can’t understand much of what is being said. Our kid had no idea what was being said and kept asking what was going on. The audio situation in the boats should be remedied, especially considering how long people wait for this.
Hi Tom! It really sucks when major attractions like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad shut down for such a long period. This will be our first trip in nearly 10 years and you should be more than « somewhat sympathetic » because it’s not everyone who can afford to be at Walt Disney World very often… With that said, we really appreciate your work. Thank you!
Refurbishments have to happen sometime, otherwise standards start slipping and Disney isn’t Disney. Every single day, there’s a huge number of one-and-done visitors at Walt Disney World. There’s no possible way to reconcile those things. Attractions will always be down during someone’s first or infrequent trip. So what I mean with the ‘somewhat sympathetic’ line is that yes, it sucks. But it’s also unavoidable–the nature of the beast. On the one hand, we’ve been “lucky” with not many refurbs in the last few years…but unlikely that maintenance standards have slipped. It’s a double-edged sword.
Again, I really think Walt Disney World should do a better job of communicating closures well in advance–we’re talking 6+ months, ideally.
To Tom’s point, we didn’t get to go on Indiana Jones last summer in DL because it was down the only day we were there. Even if there isn’t a planned closure, you may still not be able to ride because maintenance issues of these rides are a serious issue. I’m very sympathetic, Big Thunder is my favourite ride, and I likely won’t be able to ride the next time I’m there. But if it’s not running because the ride is down because it’s being held together with gum and tape I also can’t ride it.
I am sympathetic to you but also ultimately agree with Tom’s point. And this is as someone who has been on the unlucky end of the maintenance schedules.
I have been to Disneyland exactly once, didn’t get to go on Indiana Jones Adventure (the rides pretty much every site mentions as a highlight and that doesn’t exist at Disney World) because of refurbishment. During our only visit to Disneyland Paris, both Big Thunder (which looked awesome) and it’s a small world were down for the entire year.
The good news is I had a fabulous time at both resorts despite the closures; my memories of both and my feeling while there was overwhelmingly positive. For me at least, knowing beforehand gave me time to be bummed ahead of arrival so that when I arrived, I could focus on everything I did get to do.
I hope you and your family enjoy your trip!
Loading people with assistive needs onto Jungle Cruise feels like it makes that ride’s throughput MUCH slower. Extra service is required to position a ramp, wheel the guests onto a special boat, tie them in their assistive device down so they don’t slide around the deck, then later reverse all the steps to unload. Meanwhile, most of the queue is watching and presumably hoping they load/unload the non-themed assistive device as fast as possible. It’s more “public transit bus” in those moments, than it is “jungle cruise”. So anything that helps that ride become faster and/or more reliable seems worthwhile. I wasn’t expecting such a long wait, given the line size, but there happened to be a bunch of families in line with grandmas. Maybe I’m just not enough into tryout-level comedians, but I don’t feel the typical guest’s desire for repeat visits to the JCruise. Once was definitely enough.
Yeah, I think a lot of the Jungle Cruise’s increased “popularity” (air quotes) in the post-reopening period is less about the boost from the reimagining and more the result of decreased efficiency.
What you mention is one thing, but the attraction just isn’t dispatching as many boats as it used to. Someone sent me an ops guide for Jungle Cruise and it was quite illuminating as to just how inefficient the ride has become in actuality versus theoretically.
Can monkey’s even do ape antics? Wouldn’t that make them monkey antics? Although I think there are Chimpanzees in the ride and they are definitely apes. (I know that’s not the gist of the post, but not I’m stuck thinking about how many apes vs. monkeys are on the Jungle cruise…)
Full disclosure: primate phrases are purely for alliterative effect.
May I humbly suggest “monkey machinations” as an alliterative alternative? 🙂
During the Jungle Cruise rehab, I’d love to see WDI devote it’s resources to the one element that has been ignored since 1955- THE SEATS! I’ve always wondered why guests are forced to sit facing each other, along the perimeter, rather than facing forward. We are paying to see the activity along the shore. Why do we hace to sit sideways? Every other boat ride, such as Oirates and small world, has forward-sitting seats. Not only would guests finally see what’s going around them, but the process of loading and purging at the dock would be radically accelerated! Thus, hourly capacity rises and wait times shrink!
As an electrical engineer and Wannabe Imagineer who knows people in my field working on the rides in Orlando, rides like Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain are a torture test for the worst possible conditions to keep electronic controlled mechanical hardware working reliable for millions of visitors a year. And for anyone who tries to make the case that the rides have become less reliable, I would point them at the stories of park operations managers sending out employees to manually move the animals on Jungle Cruise whenever Walt decided to take a ride, not to mention the scads of other ride issues that plagued Disneyland in the supposed golden years.
In Florida, not only do they have to contend with ~20,000 riders a day, but that have to do it 7 days a week in what I consider to be the worst climate on the planet: central Florida, where the humidity in the summer is usually 90+ if not higher while temperatures are 95F and up. Can you imagine how hard it is to convince trained engineers who could be working a nice, cushy 9-5 job in air conditioning to work the night shift tracking down a tricky electrical or mechanical problems and never get to see their families?
Thanks for pointing out the necessity and upside for these planned reburbishments. Keeping these rides looking good and working every day is an incredible feat.
“And for anyone who tries to make the case that the rides have become less reliable, I would point them at the stories of park operations managers sending out employees to manually move the animals on Jungle Cruise whenever Walt decided to take a ride, not to mention the scads of other ride issues that plagued Disneyland in the supposed golden years.”
While I can appreciate the general gist of your sentiment that Disney fans view the past through rose-colored glasses, ride reliability as measured by daily downtime has become measurably worse than it was in 2018 or 2019–not some date back decades ago (for which we wouldn’t even have data anyway).
I’m actually fairly forgiving of a lot of this! A lot of maintenance was deferred for good (or at least justifiable) reason. Disney–both coasts–lost a *lot* of institutional knowledge during the closure thanks to early retirements. That made preventative maintenance and repairs more difficult. A lot of construction projects suffered delays due to staffing shortages, supply chain disruptions–or both! So that probably discouraged Disney from doing more refurbishments, knowing that no matter what the timeline was, it could be delayed.