Disney Magic Kingdom: Jungle Cruise

by Sara Gooden
(Hilton Head Island, SC)

The Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Jungle Cruise is set as a depression era British outpost on the Amazon river, operated by the fictional company, The Jungle Navigation Co., whose advertisement poster is painted on the wall near the exit of the attraction. The skippers at the Disney Magic Kingdom no longer carry revolvers loaded with blanks. These real guns have been replaced with realistic props that skippers wave to spook away animals that get in the way, and to prevent the hippos from attacking the boat.

Near the Hippo Pool, a piece of a downed airplane can be seen along the shoreline. This is the back half of the Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior found at The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Casablanca scene.

Each variety of plant throughout the attraction was carefully selected by a landscape architect to ensure that the foliage would be able to endure Florida's unique climate: hot summers and relatively cool winters. The most difficult aspect of this was making sure these plants had the appropriate look and feel of traditional tropical plants in the equatorial jungle.

As you wind your way through a deceptively long queue that snakes back and forth through the last outpost of the Jungle Cruise offices, be sure to note the architectural details. For example, there's a chalkboard with a list of missing boats and persons. It gives you something to look at and keep your mind off the queue. The cruise takes on a whole different feel when ridden in the evening in the dark also a less crowded time to take the ride. This ride also is a fastpass attraction in case of long queues in the busy season.