Two years ago, the Disney Corporation decided to add The Jungle Cruise to its lineup of holiday makeovers. For the first time, I experienced this "new" attraction myself. I should have heeded the sign above.
The boats get renamed during this (thankfully) temporary makeover.
Kudos to Skipper Randy, who made lemonade out of the lemons.
According to the Disney publicity machine, here's the storyline: Jingle Cruise is themed as if the Skippers are homesick for the holidays and to add cheer, they decorated the attraction queue and boathouse with homemade decorations, gifts and items from back home. Boats have temporarily been renamed with holiday monikers and the Skippers are armed with seasonal jokes. (Listen carefully in the queue, too – you may hear a holiday-themed radio broadcast playing in the background).
In my opinion (and I know there are plenty who disagree, but this is my blog, not yours), it just looks like someone dumped a bunch of Christmas decorations all over.
One of the running gags is that fruitcake has been strewn throughout. Ha. Ha. Ha.
This poor elephant looks like it is trying to escape the embarrassment of this makeover. I don't blame him/her.
If only this overlay could be washed away.
The Haunted Mansion overlay seems to have thought and integration, whereas this one just seems like it was an afterthought...
as if the Imagineers raided their homes of white elephants and then put them on the attraction. Hey…here's a few Christmas oven mitts from Aunt Mildred. I know we can find a spot for those!
Don't strain yourself…they're just fake candy canes!
Leftover holiday junk from an Imagineer's front yard, perhaps?
Let's turn the African Veldt into a holiday dump!
A holiday star on the rhino's horn?!?
More fruitcake.
Help…I can't stop laughing.
I know you want a closeup of the big gag.
Moving onto a bad holiday sweater gag.
make that a bad holiday cape gag.
Even Trader Sam couldn't avoid the mess.
In all seriousness, I was truly disappointed by this attraction and what comes off as an extreme lack of thought.
More Disneyland Jingle Cruise photos at my main website.
All that's missing is the front yard nativity display featuring the plastic baby Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of this overlay at all.
ReplyDeleteThe schtick of the airplane dumping the load makes sense and allows for the random scattered aspect of the re-dress, but the humor is forced and eventually tiresome.
If they want to do a holiday overlay, that's fine, but this is either way overdone or underdone, not sure which.
JG
At some point I watched a YouTube video of the Jingle Cruise, and it was painful. AND YET... there are lots of people who think it is hilarious. There is some kind of lesson to be learned, but I'm not sure what it is.
ReplyDeleteHeadline: Disneyland Hits Bottom, Digs.
ReplyDeleteThe Mansion overlay is an eternal masterpiece by comparison.
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ReplyDeleteI went on the first Jingle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom a couple of years ago and I don't remember it being so garish. Yuck!
ReplyDeleteI saw the WDW version this year and my wife and I agreed that the regular JC is MUCH better...
ReplyDeleteLike the jingle concept or not, you did shoot some very nice photos Dave. Thanks for sharing. Glad to see what all the hubbub is about.
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Word. This is even worse than I expected. Thanks for giving us all fair warning.
ReplyDeleteI think I just threw up a little...
ReplyDeleteAll that was missing was one of those horrendous blow-up snow globes that people put in their front yard. Gross.