John of the Jungle contest

For years I've wanted a photo of John Lasseter from his years as a Jungle Cruise Skipper (we've got a couple from when he returned as a guest skipper during Disneyland's 50th anniversary over here), but have never had any luck. I feel a little less bad about that now that I've learned that Lasseter himself doesn't have any pictures of himself as a young skipper either!

He'd like one so much, in fact, that if you can bring him one, you'll win a trip to the Disneyland resort to attend the opening of Carsland in 2012. Here's John making the announcement:



So get digging through those old vacation photos from 1977 and 1978, folks. If you find one, be sure to send a copy our way too.

Here's the contest's website, www.johnofthejungle.com

Disney's other flying elephant

Apparently jeadlous of Dumbo, one of the African Bull elephants (or maybe his mother-in-law) of the World Famous Jungle Cruise decided he would like to try his hand at flying too. He needed a little extra help (and we don't mean from a magic feather). Here's the video, via the official Disney Park's Blog:



He'll be back after a few weeks vacation (refurbishment).

Family Circus on the Jungle Cruise: And you thought the skippers jokes were bad

In August of 1978, the Family Circus clan visited Disneyland. On August 5, they rode the world-famous Jungle Cruise. Here they are:



Ha ha. Oh, Family Circus... is there a joke in there? No, that's the whole thing. Uh... OK.

This was just one of a long series (including two installments in which one of the kids note that one of the parents enjoy the bench ride most of all. But those count as two different jokes, because they're two different parents). You can see the whole "hilarious" series posted by KentB3 over on mousebuzz.com.

1961's Queen of the Jungle

Artist and Disney designer Kevin Kidney has an entertaining post over on his blog today featuring fashion photos from 1961 featuring ladies modeling all over Disneyland. You'll have to follow the link to see all of them, but I had to share the Jungle Cruise picture here, featuring a lovely young woman who is not keeping her arms, legs, or ANYTHING inside of the boat (except maybe her pants):

That's right, wave goodbye to all the beautiful people back on the dock.

I hear that the skipper on duty thought it was only fair that if he showed her the backside of water, she should show him her backside too.

Funny to think that in 1961 this was probably the least amount of clothing anyone had ever worn on a Jungle Cruise boat (at least during operating hours). Today it's pretty much the average amount. Maybe a little more.

Jungle Cruise movie clarification

Wow. I'm seeing a LOT of articles about the new Jungle Cruise movie announcement reporting that Tim Allen will be starring as the skipper and Tom Hanks will play a family man on board, which is what I speculated on this blog on Wednesday.

That may turn out to be true, but for now, this is all that's officially been stated by Disney:

"The Walt Disney Studios is excited to be in development with Mandeville Films and writer Roger S.H. Schulman on a feature film based on the Jungle Cruise, one of the most iconic attractions in Disney theme park history. The film will pair up Tim Allen and Tom Hanks in their first live-action project, after their previous collaborations in the Toy Story trilogy.‬”

So.. thanks for reading, everybody! Please note I only said I was speculating! For all we know, the previously-reported storyline has been thrown own post-Dick Cook's firing and the new screenwriter being hired. For now, we don't know what roles Hanks and Allen will be playing.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning this site is where you got the info, no one!

Movie news: the latest buzz (and Woody) on the Jungle Cruise film!

Looks like Disney is trying once again to get a Jungle Cruise movie going, and they already have the stars in mind they'd like to headline the thing: Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

Obviously that's a team already well-known in Disney circles as the lead voices in the blockbuster Toy Story series of Pixar features. I can't help but wonder if Toy Story's original director and former Jungle Cruise skipper John Lasseter is behind the push for the pair of actors.

No word beyond the preference of stars about what this latest attempt to make a Jungle Cruise movie would entail, but those stars, along with the resume of new screenwriter Roger S.H. Schulman certainly suggests there will be plenty of humor in the movie. I'm glad to hear it, given that the ride has been - for most of its life now - a predominantly humorous affair.

Now just for pure speculation - who will these guys be playing? A pair of rival Jungle Cruise skippers? That could be fun, but my early guess has Allen as the skipper and Hanks an uptight passenger, probably with his family in tow. That's just me guessing, though. It'll be fun to learn more if this happens!

Your own Jr. Jungle Cruise boat

Remember the those adorable Jr Jungle Cruise boats you used to be able to remote control in a tiny pool around the Disneyland hotel?

One of them is up on eBay right now. I'm only even telling you because I've decided the opening price is a leeeetle too high for me.

Oh so tempted even so!