Jungle Cruise Reimagining Info & Reopening Date
Jungle Cruise at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World and Disneyland will receive a reimagining in 2021 with new characters, a continuous storyline, changes to show scenes, and more. This post will share timeline info & details, concept art, and commentary with our thoughts. (Updated May 27, 2021.)
Per the Disney Parks Blog, these new adventures will stay true to the Jungle Cruise experience fans know and love. The ride reimagining will add more humor, wildlife, and skipper heart, while also reflecting and valuing the diversity of the world around us.
The new creative concept for our river’s journey will be original to Walt Disney Imagineering, just like the attraction itself. Here’s a first look at some of the new things Disney is adding to the iconic Jungle Cruise…
Imagineers are adding more humor, wildlife and skipper heart to the classic attraction, and as part of a much larger effort, this update to Jungle Cruise will welcome new characters from around the world. The new scenes will be interconnected, and be heightened by Jungle Cruise Skippers’ legendary comedic tone.
Last month, Disney released new info about what this will entail. First, the attraction will remain open at Magic Kingdom during the reimagining, as Imagineering utilizes a “phased approach” to the project. This is not a huge surprise, as this is exactly how the annual Jingle Cruise overlay is accomplished each year at Christmas.
Disney has since announced that the Disneyland version of Jungle Cruise will reopen on July 16, 2021. The Magic Kingdom updates are progressing swiftly (with the Trader Sam Gift Shop scene described below now installed) and all changes will be completed this summer.
The way the attraction’s scenes are staged makes it more conducive to changes that can be accomplished overnight or in the span of a day or two. It’s likely many of the new scenes won’t be overly elaborate or substantial departures from what’s currently there, but rather one-for-one exchanges of figures and props. Most of that can be fabricated off-site, with old props removed and new ones installed overnight.
Above is concept art for the replacement scene, where Trader Sam has opportunistically “reimagined” lost & found as a gift shop as a quick and easy way to make some extra cash from tourists.
In this scene, Trader Sam is betting on an established reputation as the best merchant in the jungle, and while he’s out lost and finding some new inventory, the animals are getting the last laugh and “reclaiming” the jungle. Personally, I love this scene. It’s on-brand with the Jungle Cruise humor and self-deprecating, as Disney pokes fun at its commercialism and opportunism with rides exiting into gift shops.
There also appears to be a lot to see in this scene, which is always great for re-rideability as guests will want to revisit the attraction to spot all of the gags. Also, it’s tough to argue with any scene that features five (5) monkeys. Finally, and slightly ironically, the very scene that pokes fun at Disney’s commercialism also extends it via a new on-ride photo. All wins in my book!
I’m guessing some fans might object to Trader Sam no longer being a visible character, but I like it. For one thing, the two versions of Trader Sam looked very different at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. For another, he’s also an invisible presence at the bar bearing his name, so this works as an extension of that. There’s a certain mystique about a character who has an outsized presence, but is never seen. Reasonable minds might disagree with that assessment, though.
Next, Imagineering has released a 1938 issue of The Daily Gnus about Alberta Falls and the World-Famous Jungle Cruise to tease the upcoming project. There are fun tidbits in there that reflect how Imagineering will be expanding the Jungle Cruise’s backstory. This will be centered around Alberta Falls, granddaughter of world-renowned Dr. Albert Falls, as the proprietor of the Jungle Navigation Company Ltd.
The article also introduces a number of new characters, including Victoria Marie Falls, Siobhan “Puffin” Murphy, Dr. Leonard Moss, Rosa Soto Dominguez, and S.E.A. Member Dr. Kon Chunosuke. If you’re interested in more info about these characters, check out the My Disney Experience app, which will give you detailed bios.
Most notably, this establishes a direct connection to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, or S.E.A. That’s a secret society of fictional and real-life explorers that began at Tokyo DisneySea two decades ago and has grown into a shared universe of characters and story points that has spread as far as Typhoon Lagoon.
Notably, a Society of Explorers and Adventurers show was just announced for Disney+ as the first project for the Magic Kingdom Universe. Previously, an S.E.A. connection to Jungle Cruise was implied via other attractions and restaurants, but this will be the organization’s first appearance in Jungle Cruise itself (at least, to my knowledge).
It’s likely there will be plenty of other plot modifications beyond the S.E.A. connection. Here’s how Kevin Lively, Imagineer and former Jungle Cruise skipper described the storyline changes: “As part of this story update, we’ll get to follow a skipper and his passengers as their journey goes awry.
That’s right, 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. In fact, the expedition will be up a tree (literally!) after their sunken boat splits apart and chimps board the wreckage, with monkey business ensuing.”
“But that’s not even half of the hull story. Fans of the Jungle Cruise attraction may recall some boats that used to make their way around the river but haven’t been seen for a while–specifically the Mekong Maiden and Kwango Kate. Ever wonder what happened to them? Well, you might go ape when you find out! Ultimately, the jungle gets the last laugh.”
The reimagined storyline will begin with a trapped safari party that finds itself up a tree after their journey goes awry. Unexpected scenarios along the way will give the jungle and animals the last laugh!
Disney has stated that more details about the enhancements will be revealed soon, and that the Jungle Cruise reimagining is coming later in 2021. Kevin Lively also shared this video:
In an interview with D23, Imagineer Chris Beatty further clarified the nature of the Jungle Cruise update: “I want to make sure people know we are not changing the whole Jungle Cruise. This is not a re-envisioning of the entire attraction. It’s the Jungle Cruise you know and love, with the skippers still leading the way, and at the same time, we’re addressing the negative depictions of ‘natives.’ So that’s one of the scenes we’re going to go in and change.”
“And for the first time, we are actually linking scenes together…So we’re not really re-envisioning that scene, we’re just adding a narrative and storytelling to bring things to life and connect that moment with other happenings along the river.”
Chris Beatty explained that Jungle Cruise would be relying and building upon the hilarious scenes added by future Disney Legend Marc Davis and skippers’ spiels: “We’re keeping a lot of the classic jokes that the fans know and love, like the backside of water. But it will give our skipper some new material to play off of.”
Additionally, the changes won’t be inspired by the upcoming film, said Beatty. “I’m excited about the movie, and having Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt be a part of that film. But these adjustments are really focused on enhancing the existing attraction storyline and addressing some areas that needed refreshing along the way. I’m sure the film is fantastic and we’re very excited about it, but integrating the film into our classic Jungle Cruise is not part of this effort.”
After the backlash and fan petitions in response to last summer’s announcement that that Splash Mountain will be rethemed to the Princess and the Frog at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, the company is undoubtedly aware that any changes to an iconic attraction will be controversial, even ones done carefully and with thematic integrity.
Accordingly, Disney has provided “testimonials” about that changes from Imagineers:
As with Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland, it seems unlikely that Jungle Cruise will change in Japan. In part this is because Oriental Land Company–and not Disney–owns those parks, but also because that incarnation of the attraction changed a few years ago. It now has a different storyline, plus different day and night versions, unique lighting schemes, and projection mapping effects.
Hong Kong Disneyland could change eventually, although the story and show scenes there are also very different.
We don’t have a ton of commentary about the Jungle Cruise story rewrites and scene changes. In fairness, we are also most definitely not Jungle Cruise purists who view it among the pantheon of all-time classics. (Honestly, we prefer the Tokyo Disneyland version–even though we can’t understand it–thanks to superior visuals and effects.)
To the contrary, our view is that Jungle Cruise is way too taste-specific and skipper-dependent. It has a cult following among longtime fans and has achieved iconic status via longevity, but doesn’t have as much mainstream appeal. While that’s obviously not the impetus for these changes, we’re cautiously optimistic about anything that makes the attraction more coherent, consistent, and enjoyable to first-timers.
This appears to be part of Disney’s new focus on inclusion, but the changes also pretty clearly go well beyond that. As we’ve been saying for months now, there are a variety of updates in store for older attractions, many of which are small scale and could be accomplished overnight or with a brief closure.
No matter how much fans protest or petition, this was an inevitability for some of the scenes and script in Jungle Cruise. You might also recall the outrage to the Auction Scene Changes in Pirates of the Caribbean when that was announced a few years ago; the update happened anyway. Expect the same for other attractions in the not-too-distant future.
The bigger surprise to me is not that Jungle Cruise changing, but that there’s an accompanying announcement from Disney. I thought they would’ve learned their lesson on that one–but maybe the hope here is that hardcore fans will see there’s more substance to this overhaul (and it’s not outright replacing a fan-favorite with something different entirely), and will give Disney the benefit of the doubt or take a “wait and see” approach.
My expectation was that Jungle Cruise would close with mentions of “synergy” or enhancements related to this year’s Jungle Cruise featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and the problematic aspects would quietly change along with movie tie-ins being added. It’s pretty clear from the announcement my guess widely missed the mark with the Jungle Cruise changes. As much as I love the Rock, I’m not particularly eager to see him in Audio Animatronics form, so I’m happy that isn’t happening.
Between dodging that bullet and based on what we know thus far about this Jungle Cruise reimagining, I’m perfectly willing to withhold judgment until seeing the finished product. There’s definitely promise to the ideas, and plenty of potential for Jungle Cruise to improve.
The other interesting aspect of this announcement is that Imagineering indicates the changes (presumably for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World) will be added to the attraction in 2021. Given everything else, that means it’ll almost certainly be finished by October 1, 2021. That’s a fast turnaround time, and it also comes during a year when there’s no guarantee that physical distancing or barriers will be removed from boats. As it stands, the guest experience on Jungle Cruise is significantly impeded. (To the point that it’s the one attraction we avoid right now.) I’m surprised Disney would want to debut the changes with all of that still potentially in place.
Moreover, there’s still no timeline set for the Splash Mountain reimagining, and rumors that the finished project could be years away. Jungle Cruise being announced much later but being finished much earlier suggests to me that perhaps the changes aren’t as substantive as implied. Then again, the tone and appearance of Jungle Cruise can be dramatically changed in a limited amount of time–just look what happens each year literally overnight for Christmas with Jingle Cruise! We’ll keep you posted on future developments with Jungle Cruise, and other attraction updates at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Jungle Cruise being reimagined? Excited for new show scenes and some script rewrites? Are you likewise cautiously optimistic, or apprehensive about the changes? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? 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!
Kevin Lively was interviewed on a podcast last week and noted how the Jungle Cruise has, historically, received major updates at least once a decade, until this run, which had been basically the same since the early 2000’s. He laughingly said that there was no way the 1955 version could be shown now. It’s funny how many people lob the “Walt would never stand for this” line when complaining about any kind of change in the parks. I’ve seen and heard dozens of clips of Walt talking about how the parks would be ever changing, ever evolving, as new stories and new technology developed. Please, someone share one clip of Walt saying, “these rides are set in stone, meant to represent a single moment in time in our company’s history…” I get that everyone has those attractions that take them back to childhood memories, but I honestly cannot imagine I’d be such a dedicated Disney World fan if there had been no new rides or updates since the 70’s. I pine for the parks of the early ‘90’s, but I know, deep in my heart, that Soarin’ beats Kitchen Kabaret, and Galaxy’s Edge destroys the Backlot Studio Tour. Part of the fun of being a Disney nut is being able to lament bygone attractions, even as you gleefully battle the evil galactic Emporir Zurg, pausing briefly to ask your best friend, “Remember how eerily life like that tiny, animatronic Japanese woman was in Delta’s Dreamflight?”
@MrNico Look, I believe my husband when he said that it was highly offensive to him and that it represented a racist stereotype. I don’t really think we need to get more into it than that. Also I didn’t say he was from South America, I said that he’s biracial, and that half of his family is from South America.
@Sarah_Best I understand that some people were uncomfortable at different things. You mention your husband being from South America, and I am interested to know what it was about Trader Sam which offended him. The scenes were based on actual folklore or accounts from early explorers and much of what the scenes represent are documented well in National Geographic magazines from the past. There are caricatures of western explorers in the ride which directly make them look like fools, which we laugh at. The thing I figured people would complain about are the ‘restless natives’ with the crude drumming figures much more than poor ole Sam. I’d have been glad to see them represented more accurately and lifelike, not a flat wooden dummy of sorts.
People have mentioned being glad the skippers no longer ‘shoot’ the advancing hippo, although the reality is hippos are extremely dangerous in the real world (in the water, especially), violently killing some number of people each year. I am looking forward to the new sunken boat scene with the monkeys though!
@Christine R I agree it’s been looking sad for a long time, and outdated simply due to lack of maintenance as much as anything. And the plexiglass does not help at all.
I am so glad about this change! My husband is biracial, and half of his family is from South America. He has native ancestry. When we rode the ride together he was offended by Trader Sam and refused to ride it after that. It’s a reflection of my privilege that I didn’t realize how offensive he’d find it the first time we rode, and ever since then I’ve written letters, left comments, etc. to hold Disney to account and to ask them to make these sorts of changes. Now, we can go back to enjoying the corny jokes again!
I’m a big fan of Tokyo’s tower of terror back story and the link to mystic manor in Hong Kong. The queue at mystic manor shows a gallery of adventurers and I wonder if they are choosing a named adventurer from that wall for Jungle Cruise. That Disney+ is doing a show based on SEA is exciting especially if I get to see Albert the monkey traveling along.
Tom- thank you for your blog. Always enjoy your articles and photos. . I’m a huge Disney fan. As for Jungle Cruise it was long overdue for a refresh and had just been looking sad for a while. I think Walt would love the new story line – especially the gift shop.
Interesting comments as someone who grew up in
Disneyland yes I am that old well almost, and an ex-cast member. I like seeing the rides get new looks it’s exciting to see how the old can be made new. It is like the Carousel of Progress things change over time and Disney should change with the times. It’s not like they are taking the ride away. Now that would be something to get mad about. Great article thanks!
Queue a bunch of white people throwing a tantrum because they don’t want disney to address discomfort by non-white guests with the status quo–they want only want Disney to care about guest discomfort when THEY are ones uncomfortable with change.
Tired of same people bragging about how much money they spend and how much disney stands to lose because such people will stop visiting. Set aside how ridiculously privileged/entitled such arguments are, I also know a family who decided years ago not to go to disney world after they watched a lot of online ride videos, and they specifically mentioned the Jungle Cruise trader Sam scene. Now that family is pleased with how Disney is turning things around and is planning their first trip for 2022.
So maybe disney will lose business from angry white people, but there will be gains too.
Rock on Disney. This is what progress looks like.
How long before we start hearing complaints that they turned Trader Sam from a humorous caricature of actual tribal legends to a whitewashed relic of colonization of native peoples around the world? This surprises me a bit and doesn’t address the discomfort some guests have expressed.
WOW, just WOW. Your opinions don’t matter. Nobody cares what hurts your feelings. If you don’t believe me…ask your boss.
Walt’s cryogenically frozen head must be spinning away at all these stupid, unneeded changes!
I haven’t been back to MK since my honeymoon in 2012, but I remember thinking then it could use a little refresh. Not a re do, but fix up and paint the scenes and animatronics. Perhaps add some new jokes. While I’ve loved this ride since I was a child I will agree that for the average fist timer the jungle cruise will likely be unimpressed. I know I was really disappointed when my husband wasn’t blown away by it lol. He said it was just ok and seemed out dated. Hopefully this refresh will make it more memorable for those first timers! I’ve got a trip coming in May and can’t wait to see what’s been done by then!
Well, they could’ve done a lot better job on the crappy netting at the Treehouse. I understand they have issues with misbehaving guests and possibly birds. Hell, when I worked at 20K we had wire grid between our queue and Storybook Treats to keep the seagulls from dive-bombing people with ice cream. But that was unobtrusive. The plain, modern 4×4 posts and zip ties all over the Treehouse look like garbage. I find that highly offensive.
RIP Trader Sam 🙁
I love your coverage, updates, and your general enthusiasm about positive change. I think even though these rides may not have been a bit cringey for everyone, the fact is, they don’t have to be cringey at all. The Imagineers are incredible and I am looking so forward to seeing their reimagining unfold!
As long as the character backstories are just aids for the Imagineers, I think all of this is fine. But if this ride gets bogged down with narrative and exposition, so help me.
Hi Tom,
You mention other attractions will get an update. What attractions do you think those will be? Also, are there any specific books on the back stories of S.E.A?
Love you blog.
Nice try , My comments was directed at a particular person who clearly is swimming in privilege. As someone whose ancestors were “starved out of Ireland” I understand that historically some white people have been oppressed. However a black or brown person’s experience living in America is in no way equivalent to an Irish persons and trying to claim that is inherently racist. If anything people who were oppressed historically should be empathetic to the current plight of minorities. However too often Irish or Polish or other oppressed groups try to use their history to claim some moral superiority. The oppressed can become the oppressors all too easily. It only took my ancestors 1 generation.
A boat full of Audio-Animatronic primates (monkeys? chimps? something else?) driving a boat? That’s cool.
Make at least a couple state of the art and that will be AWESOME.
Yeah that would be cool. Hopefully much better than the lame ruins of Maelstrom too!