Revamped Jungle Cruise Ride To Reopen At Disneyland On July 16
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) — Jungle Cruise will reopen at Disneyland on July 16 after undergoing a revamp to make the ride more culturally sensitive.
The revamped ride removed negative depictions of native people, and expanded its storyline, injecting humor and a greater role for the skipper.
"We're excited to be building on the story of the Jungle Cruise to include new adventures that stay true to the experience we know and love, while adding more humor, more wildlife, and an interconnected story," Chris Beatty, the Imagineer who led creative development of the changes, said in a statement. "As part of creative development, we've also introduced characters from around the world and took a thoughtful approach to ensure accurate representation of cultures in our story."
The changes are also planned for the ride at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Disneyland regularly closes its rides, to make repairs, renovations and update their story lines. In 2016, the popular "Tower of Terror" ride was closed to become "Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout," which is now part of the Avengers Campus that opened last month. In 2017, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride was closed to remove the bride auction scene.
In 2019, Disneyland announced "The Haunted Mansion" ride would close for two months in 2020 to undergo repairs, but it's unclear if the pandemic impacted that plan.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the changes to "Jungle Cruise" better matches the upcoming film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, but Disney has previously said the changes would be independent of that film. But for those who want to compare and contrast, the film opens on July 30.