The Origins of The World Famous Jungle Cruise
Travel deep into the jungles of Disneyland’s original Adventureland to seek out the origins of everyone’s favorite punny skippers, ambushes, and piranhas.
In April of 1998, the Walt Disney Company created an entire theme park filled with animals from around the world. There was lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Children of all ages could come and explore the safaris of Africa, the rainforests of South America, and even witness these spectacular beasts up close on a real safari vehicle at Kilimanjaro Safaris in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
However, the original theme park safari it was not. That honor is instead bestowed on an attraction that has come to have its own ecosystem both literally and figuratively. Of course, we are talking about Jungle Cruise — a Disneyland opening day attraction that has spurred copy-cats around the world including at Florida’s Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, and even Tokyo Disneyland. In the 60 years since its inception, the jokes and the animatronics haven’t really gotten any better — yet it does go down in history as one of the most…
