worldfamousjunglecrusie.com

John of the Jungle contest

2011-08-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-03-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

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!

55th Anniversary Collectibles

2010-07-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Remember that collectible based on the concept art for the Jungle Cruise I mentioned a couple of weeks ago? Well, we've got a picture now:

She's a beauty, ain't she? And I'm delighted it's named the Amazon Belle, since that was the boat I got to spiel on during my Disney Dream Jobs trip.

But wait - there's more. Also to commemorate Disneyland (and the Jungle Cruise's) 55th anniversary is a miniature Jungle Cruise skipper, wearing one of the earliest of the many costumes those castmembers have worn over the years:

Both piece are by the amazing Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily

Because the full-sized ones are too big for your bath tub

2010-07-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Collector alert! Yesterday, the official Disney Parks Blog featured designers Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily, makers of Disney park-related keepsakes and collectibles.

Buried in the story is this nuggets, of interest to Jungle Cruise fans:

Jody: We’re releasing many exciting 55th Anniversary collectibles throughout this summer, including true replicas of Walt Disney’s personal Main Street vehicle, Harper Goff’s first concept for the Jungle Cruise boats, and the classic Fantasyland Pirate Ship that we all fondly remember.

Here are a couple examples of Goff's Jungle Cruise drawings to give you some idea of what the product should look like:

Kidney and Daily previously created replicas of the original 1955 Jungle Cruise ships, released during Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration. The one I own is undoubtedly one of my favorite Disney collectibles. Here's what those looked like:

Now Kevin and Jody just need to do a replica of the current boats and our fleet will be complete!

My Jungle Cruise fanart

2010-05-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a series of drawings based on my favorite Disney attractions and had to begin, of course, with the world-famous Jungle Cruise! Here it is, a mishmash of favorite scenes, elements of the past, present, California, and Florida:

A larger version also be seen on my personal website or a WAY larger version at My DeviantArt account.

The Celestial Simian

2010-04-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

There's a nice photo of Bob the Monkey God at Disneyland over on the official Disney Parks Blog today.

The real among the fake

2010-04-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's April Fools day, but today we're linking to a story about something real. The OC Register posted a great story this week about the world-famous Jungle Cruise at Disneyland and how very real and authentic its jungle foliage is.

That wasn't the way it was back in 1955 when the Jungle River of Adventureland first opened, but today's Jungle Cruise features plants features such an authentic jungle that, according to the article, it even functions in some ways like one:

While the landscaping crews work in the jungle every day, they try to leave it alone except for pruning the higher trees, and making sure the plants do not interfere with the animatronic animals that guests see.

They even leave most of the fallen leaves on the ground to let the nutrients naturally return to the soil, just like in the jungles of the Amazon or Africa.

“The humidity has even attracted aerial roots from the ficus trees,” Hedges said.

Here's the video from the OC Register too:

It's a pretty interesting story. One of the things you often hear Disney-haters moan about is, "it's all fake." Well, that never bothered me anyway, but it's also nice to see the great lengths the Disney crews go to make the illusion as real as possible.

Gnu commercial

2010-01-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

The latest Disneyland special ticket offer commercial stars the animals of The Jungle Cruise. The offer only applies to South-California residents, but we can all enjoy the commercial:

I'm not sure why the skipper is welcoming the guests mid-way through the attraction, but it's a pretty delightful commercial.

Oh hey, here's a similar (almost identical) version for Floridians:

Weird Al's "Skipper Dan"

2009-07-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in a location where I'm unable to listen to or watch the following video (no, not the jungle), but apparently it's a video for Weird Al's new song... about a Jungle Cruise skipper. So, I have no idea if it's funny or not, complimentary to the ride, gently teasing, or outright insulting. I'll find out a little later today, but you can find out right now:

Skipper Dan

Souvenier shots

2009-04-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Looks like I was correct in my previous post, guessing that the "Adventureland Safari Gun" was a Jungle Cruise-related project. One of the site's loyal readers was the winning bidder, and e-mailed me a shots of a couple of the pictures you can see while looking in through the gun:

This one is clearly a photo take from our favorite attraction!

And this one obviously depicts the attraction in cartoon form. Don't miss the plastic python and hit that other boat!

Thanks to nifty Nick for sending in these pictures. Hope you enjoy shooting hippos at home!

Souvenier shooter

2009-03-24T09:49:00.001-07:00

How times change. Today, Jungle Cruise skippers fire into the air to scare off advancing hippos, but once upon a time, not only did the Skippers shoot hippos, the guests were encouraged to do the same!

Check out this interesting item currently up on eBay, for a Walt Disney's Adventureland Safari Tru-Vue Picture Gun.

From the description:

Here is a really nice vintage souvenir from Walt Disney's Adventureland Safari from the 1950's or 1960's. It is a Sawyer's Tru-Vue Picture Gun. It is similar to a view master, in which you look through a viewer at pictures. However, when you pull the trigger, you advance the pictures. Each picture depicts a scene of a target which you are to pretend you are shooting at. When you pull the trigger to advance the picture, the next picture shows the results of your shot.

Walt Disney's Adventureland Safari certainly sounds like code for "Jungle Cruise" (which judging by the old "Jungle River" posters and old footage I've seen that simply refer to the attraction as "Adventureland," seems not to have had its familiar title at opening.) I asked the seller if the pictures appeared to be real animals or Disneyland artificial. He responded: " Some are photos, but most are cartoons. There is a Hippo & an Alligator in 2 photo sequences. Those look like attractions at the park. The rest are cartoons featuring 2 pictures sequences of a native, an eagle, a snake, a lion, a cheetha, a warthog, a rhino, a lemur, a leopard, a gorilla, and an elephant."

Jungle Cruise skippers on world-traveling adventure - for real this time!

2009-02-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, the eight finest currently-serving Jungle Cruise skippers will converge on the Tokyo Disneyland resort - two from Disneyland, two from Walt Disney World, two from Hong Kong, and two from the host resort. The California park is proudly promoting its Adventureland embassadors, but it took some digging to find out who would be representing Florida's skips.

Thanks to some helpful fans of the site within Disney World, I can now pass on this article that was originally posted on WDW's interior site:

Beth Schafer and Alex Williams.

Beth Schafer and Alex Williams, Jungle Cruise skippers, were chosen to travel to Tokyo Disney Resort Feb. 26-March 6, as part of Tokyo's "Cast 25 Dreams" program.

The Oriental Land Company, which operates Tokyo Disney Resort, is making 25 dreams come true for their Cast Members as part of the resort's 25th anniversary celebration. One unusual dream request came from an Operations supervisor at Tokyo Disneyland Park who wanted to bring together the top Jungle Cruise skippers from around the world to share best practices.

"I want Jungle Cruise Skippers worldwide to gather at Tokyo Disneyland, and I'd like to experience all the Jungle Cruises that are located around the world," requested Kenichi Ito. "I also want to create an occasion where we can meet and get to know the skippers from around the world."

The visit will include a two-day tour of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, a meet-and-greet with Tokyo skippers, and a chance to reenact their own Jungle Cruise spiel alongside their Jungle Cruise video.

To be selected for this trip, Cast Members at each site with a Jungle Cruise attraction (Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort), auditioned before panel of judges, performing their best Jungle Cruise spiel. Beth and Alex will represent the Walt Disney World Resort.

They say they're excited to meet other skippers from around the world and share best practices.

"I think the coolest thing about getting to do this is really learning how their operation works to see what we can bring back for our Guests," Beth said.

Alex agrees and says he was happily surprised to have the opportunity to meet Cast Members from other parts of the world.

"This is a once in a lifetime experience - all these different cultures and different people brought together by such a unique and amazing attraction like the Jungle Cruise."

Here's the release from Disneyland about its winning skippers:

Mickey Wright and Kevin Lively.

Two Disneyland Resort Jungle Cruise Skippers 'Spiel' Their Way to Tokyo Disney Resort
ANAHEIM, CALIF., February 16, 2009 – Earlier this year, Jungle Cruise skippers all around the world were preparing their funniest material for a chance at representing their respective Disney Parks in Tokyo this month. Since the attraction debuted at Disneyland in 1955, the skipper role has always been one of interaction and fun, telling the story of the Jungle Cruise through silly jokes.

As part of Tokyo Disney Resort’s 25th Anniversary Celebration, a total of eight Jungle Cruise skippers from Disneyland Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney World Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort have been chosen to represent their resorts during a nine-day excursion to Tokyo Disney where they will participate in a unique dream opportunity.

In conjunction with the milestone anniversary, the Oriental Land Company, the Japanese company that owns and operates the resort, made 25 dreams come true for Cast Members. The Jungle Cruise skipper dream is one of the most unique being fulfilled. The request came from Kenichi Ito, a supervisor for Jungle Cruise, who dreamt to have Jungle Cruise skippers worldwide gather at Tokyo Disneyland and create an occasion where they could exchange best practices and, of course, best jokes!

In Anaheim, Jungle Cruise skippers Kevin Lively and Mickey Wright were chosen as representatives of the original attraction.

At the Disneyland Resort, the competition began in January with 60 skippers. On Feb. 6, six finalists took to the jungle delivering their finest skipper antics to a panel of surprise celebrity judges including - Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios John Lasseter and his wife, Nancy, Executive Vice President and Walt Disney Imagineering Ambassador Marty Sklar, Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering Tony Baxter, and Walt Disney Imagineering Senior Director and Concept Writer Kevin Rafferty.

Each finalist had one shot to deliver his or her spiel to the judges. Rain poured down throughout the skippers’ spiels making for a well-themed trip through the rainforest. Although conditions were soggy, the skippers were cool, calm and collected while delivering punch line after punch line.

“All the skippers were terrific, every single one,” said Sklar. “They were all able to use their own unique style during their performances to make the jokes funny every time. We had a tough time deciding the winners.”

The excursion takes place Feb. 27 through Mar. 6, and will include a two-day tour of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Jungle Cruise skipper training on the Tokyo attraction, and the opportunity to present their personal spiel’s to the group.

The OC Register also has this story about the Disneyland skippers including video interviews with the winners.

Congratulations to Skippers Beth, Alex, Kevin, and Mickey and to the skippers from Hong Kong and Tokyo. Enjoy your adventure together!

When gorillas retire

2009-02-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

When people reach retirement age, many of them like to move to a warmer climate. But what about gorillas? According to this article at the Disney and More blog, the original Jungle Cruise gorillas may have opted, instead, to go somewhere much colder instead.

Also they got a dramatic makeover on the way.

Mini Me

2009-01-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting a few of the Mighty Muggs figures and enjoying seeing different people's takes on customizing or repainting them. After a while, I decided to try my hand at one too, so here (made from an Indiana Jones Mugg) is Skipper Brodie in Mighty Mugg form:

Official site updated

2009-01-11T11:54:00.000-08:00

Walt Disney World has updated it's official site, including its page for The Jungle Cruise. Notable updates from the previous version include more recent photos that include the currently-in-use boats rather than the classic striped-canopied originals that were still used in photos on the site up until last week, and a nifty sepia-toned newsreel style video promoting the attraction. Much as I prefer the original boats, it make more sense for the site to match what's currently on the attraction.

I think that the Disneyland version has stayed mostly the same, but I thought it used to rotate through a few photos, rather than just the static image of the sign. My memory might be foggy on that, though.

Merry Christmas from worldfamousjunglecruise.com

2008-12-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

(Click to enlarge)

Merry Christmas from worldfamousjunglecruise.com and thanks for reading the site! We'll be back in 2009 with plenty of new fun and interesting updates. In the meantime, I hope your holidays are more fun than a campsite full of monkeys.

Tiny Jungle Cruise clip on WALL-E DVD

2008-12-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

I was watching the extras on the three-disk edition of Wall-E the other day and was excited to see the entire documentary href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1059955/">The Pixar Story included as an extra. I would've bought a DVD just of that! I feel OK saying that since it's too late now to take it away from me and make me buy a different edition.

Anyway, right near the end of the documentary, there is a very, very brief clip of John Lasseter performing on the Jungle Cruise when he returned to his old job for a day during Disneyland's 50th anniversary (more on Lasseter's Jungle Cruise background here). The clip is so quick that I don't think it's quite worth ripping and putting up on the site, but I'm glad to see the footage exitsts. Oh, how I'd love to get my mitts on it.

Anyway, here are a few screengrabs:

Now it can be told: Skipper Brodie's surprise sequel

2008-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Year of a Million Dreams is finally coming to a close. I know lots of people are happy to see this particular marketing campaign ending, but I'm not one of them. From the imagination-capturing title to the ever-present possibility of winning a prize, I've found the whole idea a pretty fun gimmick. Sure, I never actually won one of the random prizes myself, but I've enjoyed seeing other people win their dream ears or riding the carousel with Mary Poppins.

Of course, it would also be hard to be bitter about not winning one of the random prizes after being named one of the winners of the Disney Dream Jobs, a tie-in competition within the Year of a Million Dreams campaign.

But that wasn't the only time The Year of a Million Dreams granted me a nice surprise. If it weren't for that campaign, there wouldn't have been a group of cast members called The Dream Squad tasked to dispense all those million dreams.

And if there hadn't been a Dream Squad, I might not have found myself - half a year away from the Dream Job event and on the opposite side of the country,surprised with a Dream Job sequel of sorts. It's a story I've been meaning to get around to for a while, but haven't shared with worldfamousjunglecruise.com's readers until now: Skipper Brodie's Christmas Sequel Surprise.

Taste the Adventure!

2008-11-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

Your humble webskipper recently celebrated the anniversary of his birth. How old am I? Let's just say I'm 17 younger than The Jungle Cruise (also there's a non-too-subtle clue in the following piture). I'm not bringing it up so you send me presents, though. I just wanted to share this picture of the amazing Jungle Cruise cake my parents crafted for my family party:

Impossibly, it tasted as good as it looked.

Jungle Cruise movie docked?

2008-11-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, Disney announced a bunch of their upcoming, high-profile movie projects. About the long-in-development Jungle Cruise movie? Not a peep.

But wait! Here's fresh word that Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the writers last specifically mentioned to be working on the JC movie, are now hard at work on... a Robotech movie.

So no one is coming right out and saying The Jungle Cruise movie is no longer happening, but it's starting to look that way. If not, it's almost certainly been put on the back burner.

What's YOUR favorite Jungle Cruise animal?

2008-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Disney has a special YouTube Channel for their theme parks and have just added this video in which they ask several Walt Disney World guests what animal on the Jungle Cruise is their favorite (they also ask everyone to imitate the animals they like... I don't think I've ever heard the hippos make the sound the first kid describes):

It's a little silly, but that's appropriate, right? Nice to see our favorite adventure getting a little attention, and nice to see so many smiling faces fresh off of The Jungle Cruise.

So what about you? What's YOUR favorite animal on the Jungle Cruise (I won't make you imitate it too)?

The final hoopla

2008-09-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Adventurers Club closes its doors to the public tonight. To all involved in the club's creation and the amazing legion of talent who have filled the club with laughter for the last 19 years, may your next adventures bring you as much joy as you've brought us. Thank you and, of course, Kungaloosh!

Sully of the Jungle

2008-09-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Wade Sampson at Mouseplanet.com has posted portions of a conversation he had with Disney Legend Bill "Sully" Sullivan about, among a variety of other topics, his time as a "Jungle Bunny" in the early years of The Jungle Cruise.

An excerpt:

"I spent two and a half years in the jungle. We did about three boat trips an hour, each trip lasting seven minutes. We'd get a quick break unloading and loading guests before we made another trip. There was no formal script so we all wrote a script with all those gags that people love. They brought in a writer to make it more professional but we never followed it because we liked our stuff better."

Follow the link to learn more about polite Trashcans (an inspiration for Push the Talking Trashcan?) and why the first Jungle Cruise skippers are responsible for the Disney Look.

An interview with an international skipper

2008-07-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

I was contacted recently by a former skipper named Jim Smith who had some stories to share about his experiences as a skipper at both Tokyo Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I'm always interested in how attractions that are nominally the same are usually pretty different in the different parks and, of course, behind-the-scenes stories of Disney parks, so I had a lot of questions for Jim about his unusual perspective as an international skipper.

He was gracious enough to agree to an e-mail interview and the transcription is now up on the site. Hope you enjoy learning about Jim's comparison of the two parks, how he left his mark on the Tokyo spiel, what surprising benefit Tokyo employees don't get, and which Jungle Cruise he enjoyed more.

No gnus

2008-07-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Lots of news came out of last week's San Diego Comic Con about upcoming Disney movie projects: the teaser and other promotions for Pixar's Up, panels and info about Race to Witch Mountain and Bolt, and most surprising of all: footage from the secretly in-production Tron 2 (or TR2N, apparently, which makes me want to pronounce it "Troon" or "Tr-two-in").

But what about info about that long-ago-announced Jungle Cruise movie? Nada. Zip. Zero. For who still worry that a Jungle Cruise movie might wind up more along the lines of the Haunted Mansion film than the Pirates of the Caribbean series, that no news is good news. For those hoping for something great, it's disappointing.

Maybe it's still coming, but it doesn't appear to be on the fast track. In the meantime, let's just pretend that our own fake preview is the real thing.

Jungle Cruise playhouse

2008-07-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

I bet there are lots of little girls out there who dream of a playhouse that looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland or Cinderella's Castle in Walt Disney World. I bet there have even been several handy and accommodating dads out there who have taken some kind of crack and making the miniature version their little princess wanted.

There are a couple young girls out there, however, who got something even cooler: A Jungle Cruise playhouse! Check this out...

I want one too, please. Heck, I'd be thrilled with just the sinage.

For a lot more pictures and details follow this link.

(found via Boing Boing)

New videocy

2008-07-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

We've got two new videos for you today, conveniently located on our video page. First, comedian Tim Babb has a suggestion for who he'd like to see cast as the upcoming (we think) Jungle Cruise movie in Kingdom Comedy.

Meanwhile, Skipper Ian gets so far into his role that he nearly gets into the water.

Adventure's end?

2008-07-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

I first attended The Adventurer's Club in 1998, shortly after the closing of the old-fashioned but much loved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride attraction at the Magic Kingdom. That night, the actor playing adventurer Otis T. Wren paused a moment during one of his routines to grab the back of a boy's chair, swivel it back and forth a few times and then pronounce, "Enjoy it kid, it's as close as you're going to get to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride around here anymore."

This post isn't 100% on topic for this blog, but The Jungle Cruise and The Adventurer's Club certainly share some of the same spirit, and there is that mysterious crate on the Jungle Cruise docks waiting to be shipped to The Adventurer's Club, so indulge me...

There is nothing like The Adventurer's Club anywhere else in Disney World. As far as I know, there's nothing really quite like The Adventurer's Club anywhere else on the planet. For the uninitiated, The Adventurer's Club is a nightclub in Walt Disney World in Florida, the meeting place for a group of globe-trotting explorers, thrillseekers, and trouble-causers. They gather to share stories, compete with one another, and perform for the crowd who has gathered in their club on the occasion of a rare open house (it's been that same rare open house since the club opened in 1989). Open house attendees can interact with the Adventurers, the club's butler and maid, and even some of the building's décor or attend shows in one of three rooms adjacent to the bar area. The club is full of remarkable details, from photos and artifacts to talking masks and puppet characters (my favorite decoration: a dinosaur skull devouring a human skeleton). Disney has earned a great reputation for attention to detail and adding special extras to attractions. The Adventurer's Club outdoes that reputation by a mile.

Also, it's closing at the end of September.

Why? The Adventurer's Club is part of the Pleasure Island district of Downtown Disney, along with The Comedy Warehouse and a handful of more traditional dance clubs. Disney says guest surveys tell them that customers would prefer more dining and shopping options. Speculators think that people still think separate admission is required to even walk across Pleasure Island (as it once was) and that's hurting business from traveling between the two shopping districts on either side of Pleasure Island. Others believe that Disney wants to get away from any adult-oriented businesses and focus solely on the family market. Some suspect that since Disney removed the age restrictions and separate ticket price from Pleasure Island, a thuggish element has settled in, and removing the clubs and booze will make that element go away.

Probably some change really is needed. Probably some issues need to be addressed and some problems solved. It's hard to see how closing The Adventurer's Club really has to be part of that solution. It's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Also, the baby is the most awesome super-baby you've ever met.

Fans of The Adventurer's Club are not taking the announcement of its closure sitting down. Some places where people are fighting the closure:

Save the Adventurer's Club Facebook group

An online petition

Another online petition

a MySpace group

Of course, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride had a devoted and vocal fan base that protested its closing too. The Virtual Magic Kingdom online game had a fan base that went absolutely rabid when Disney announced they were shutting it down earlier this year and it still disappeared on schedule. The announcement has been made, and I suspect all the protesting and complaining probably isn't going to change that. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, though. I've signed the petitions and hope for the best. Every time I'm in Disney World, Jiminey Cricket reminds me (as the fireworks boom) that if you really wish for something, it could happen. OK, Jiminey. Let's see.

The other hope is that if enough of people make it clear that they'll miss the Adventurer's Club, and that perhaps they'll be visiting Disney World less often and/or for shorter amounts of time if they won't be spending a night at the club, that maybe, maybe The Adventurer's Club will resurface someday, somewhere. Several people have suggested reopening the club at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I'll add that The Polynesian resort would also be an apt setting, and a more easily accessible one too. If Disney is set on getting away from catering to the bar scene, it wouldn't be hard to reimagine the Adventurer's Club as a dinner show, similar in format to the eternally-running Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue over at the Fort Wilderness Resort. I'm sure many wouldn't be happy to see the edge taken off the Adventurer's Club, but I'd take less edgy over non-existent.

Come September 28, though, the fun may be over for good as those hearty souls in the Adventurer's Club raise their glasses for a final "Kungaloosh!", the Open House finally ends, and Otis, Hathaway Brown, Samantha Sterling and the rest return to remote locations around the globe, marching along, singing their song, seeking adventure. If so, I'll be sad to see it go, but glad I was around to enjoy it while I could.

Come back, Little Namee

2008-07-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

I was at Disney World recently and knew that the Jungle Cruise had just reopened not long ago after being closed for a refurbishment. I was looking forward to seeing the Florida version of the attraction spruced up and looking fine.

Instead, we enjoyed as our Skipper (earning his ears) deftly covered for the immobile, normally dancing, natives by explaining that this was a rare tribe that sleeps standing up.

The tiger in the temple was missing too, and if you look for him long enough (but not THAT long, really), you'll catch a glimpse of a rare jungle ladder.

Worst of all, though, was that Chief Namee himself was not there. It's bad enough that WDW's Jungle Cruise has that long empty period after the elephants when the skippers generally point out the plant life, but without the Chief, the attraction really plods to an unsatisfying conclusion. The headhunter and cannibal jokes about the chief are some of the best of the ride.

Most likely, this is just a temporary leave of absence, and the Chief will be back conducting his perpetual two-for-one sale soon.

Some theories about where he might be in the meantime:

- Hiding out since he heard Disneyland's Trader Sam put a hit out on him as part of their ongoing East Coast/West Coast rivalry.

- Aggressively attempting to recruit new employees away from their current employers (hmm... I know there's a more concise term for that. What is it again?)

- Suffering from severe brain freeze from all the Dole Whips he ate during the refurb.

- Studying for a degree in psychology just so he can introduce himself as a head-shrinking shrunken head dealer.

- Checking out his favorite clubs on Pleasure Island before they close for good. Sure, he likes The Adventurer's Club, but he's always felt most at home at Mannequins.

Come home soon, Chief. We miss you.