ORLANDO, Florida (AP) – The Jungle Cruise, one of Disney Park’s original rides, is undergoing a 21st century makeover, criticized for portraying the animatronic Indians as savages or talent hunters.
It is the latest update on a tour of an old theme park, criticized years ago as being racist.
The tour will be updated by Disney “imaginators” at Disneyland Park in California and Magic Kingdom Park in Florida with a new story and characters that “reflect and value the diversity of the world around us,” Disney said in a blog on Monday -market.
“Like Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure that the experiences we create and the stories we share reflect the voices and perspectives of the world around us,” said Carmen Smith, Disney executive, on the blog.
The attraction opened at Disneyland in 1955.
Last summer, amid requests to change the Splash Mountain theme park tour for its links to “Song of the South,” the 1946 film that many see as racist, Disney officials said it was redesigning the tour so that it based on “The Princess and the Frog”, a 2009 Disney film featuring an African-American protagonist.
Disney said at the time that the changes had been underway since the previous year, but the announcement came as companies in the United States were renaming decades-old brands and racial accusations amid worldwide protests for racial justice after death in police custody of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Three years ago, Disney eliminated a “Bridal Auction” scene, considered offensive because it portrays women lining up for the auction, from its attraction Pirates of the Caribbean.