New year, new look.
Disney is making a change for the better by updating the Jungle Cruise tour in its bicastal theme parks, removing “negative representations” of indigenous peoples.
A photo of a group of tourists on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.
(Kari Rene Hall / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The entertainment giant announced the news on Monday, explaining that Jungle Cruise is being reinvented both at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and at the still closed Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. The original Jungle Cruise tour opened in Disneyland in 1955, and has long been criticized as racially insensitive for portraying indigenous peoples.
THE BOAT AT DISNEY WORLD’S JUNGLE CRUISE SINKS DURING THE TOUR; FILMED PEOPLE BEING RESCUED BY EMPLOYEES
The original attraction of the Jungle Cruise opened at Disneyland in 1955.
(Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The Orange County Register reports that the Imagineers will update scenes from the water attraction involving the shrunken chief dealer, Trader Sam, and a rhino chasing a group of safari through a tree.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Trader Sam is a “dark-skinned man today dressed in tribal straw clothes” who beckons that he will exchange “two of his heads for one of his own”. Meanwhile, the current rhino scene shows a white traveler on top of a tree trunk, while “native safari guides” cling “in a more dangerous position”.
Moving on, a rendering for the new rhino scene “features only unhappy participants from a previous Jungle Cruise boat ride,” reports the LA Times.
Illustration published by the Disney Parks Blog of a new scene in progress on the Jungle Cruise ride.
(Disney Parks Blog)
Another new scene in progress will feature monkeys on a sinking boat, according to an illustration shared by the Disney Parks Blog.
Illustration published by the Disney Parks Blog of a new scene in progress on the Jungle Cruise ride.
(Disney Parks Blog)
“We are constantly evaluating ways to improve the attractions and experiences in our parks. And when [guests] get off the lure, they know we did our homework because those are the details that matter, “said Chris Beatty, creative portfolio executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, in a new interview with D23, Disney’s official fan club.
“When you look at Jungle Cruise, as it is today, there are only a few scenes that don’t do that and need an update … It’s the Jungle Cruise that you know and love, with the skippers still leading and at the same time , we are addressing the negative representations of ‘natives’. “
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Carmen Smith, Executive, Creative Development and Inclusion Strategist at Walt Disney Imagineering, emphasized similar sentiments, emphasizing the importance of inclusion across the theme park brand today.
“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 Smith in a statement shared by the park’s blog.
When contacted by Fox News, a Disney spokesman declined to comment further.
The “Splash Mountain” attractions at Disney’s theme parks will be renamed “The Princess and the Frog”, a film featuring the company’s first Black princess.
(Bryan R. Smith / AFP via Getty Images)
This summer, the company was praised for redesigning its Splash Mountain tour – an attraction criticized for its connection to the 1946 film “Song of the South” – with a new theme “The Princess and the Frog”, based on the Disney cartoon 2009 film with a black protagonist.
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On Monday, Disney also removed “The Aristocats”, “Dumbo”, “Peter Pan” and “Swiss Family Robinson” from the children’s profiles of the Disney + streaming service, reports WDW News Today. Old films are still available in adult profiles, with a content warning informing the viewer that the program includes “negative representations and / or mistreatment of people or cultures”.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.