ANNOUNCER 1: Remain seated, please.
(in Spanish) Please remain seated.
(lively music)
(elephants trumpeting)
MAN 1: The love of liberty.
(moans)
(screaming)
NARRATOR: The desert of Southern California.
A harsh, barren expanse of dryness
with nothing more than the moisture of oranges,
-(creaking) -which are actually quite juicy.
But in the 1950s, here in the brutal California sun,
an idea trickled out of the sand.
An idea that quickly turned into a torrent,
which quickly turned into a flowing tropical river.
MAN 2: We'll leave the last outpost of civilization,
push off into the upper reaches of the Amazon.
NARRATOR: And the Jungle Cruise
has been putting these tropical waters for nearly 70 years,
recreating the majesty of elephants, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes,
piranhas, lions, rhinos, apes, exotic plants, boulders, and...
rocks?
(laughs)
-All right. -NARRATOR: Yep, there he is.
Saving the world with Emily Blunt in a movie
inspired by one of the most enduring attractions at Disneyland.
I am not afraid.
NARRATOR: And why would you be?
Disney's Jungle Cruise is revered for its team of skippers
who deliver razor-sharp witticisms...
I'd like to point out some plant life to you.
NARRATOR: ...and highbrow humor...
Feel free to take as many photos as you like.
They all got their trunks on...
NARRATOR: ...or otherwise known as...
Dad jokes.
I love a good pun.
We're in denial.
NARRATOR: But most of all,
the Jungle Cruise is classic, vintage Disneyland at its best.
But before we climb aboard to find out
how on earth a humid tropical ecosystem ended up in Southern California...
MAN 3: Yes, a visit by boat to remote, adventurous regions of the world.
NARRATOR: ...and other Disney Parks around the world...
(fire crackles)
...we need to go back to the dry desert of the early 1950s
where a chap named Walter Elias Disney was gaining a bit of a reputation
as an animal man.
Hi, Minnie!
NARRATOR: Not so much the cute, animated kind.
No. Cute, little bunny.
We're talking about animals with real killer instincts,
ones that don't ever wear either jackets or pants.
That's right, our story begins with Walt's love of animals
in all shapes and sizes.
And this fascination grew when he ran a successful cartoon studio
and was striving for animation perfection.
We knew that to retain the charm of these creatures,
our animated drawings must fully capture the natural movements
and attitudes of living animals.
WALT: So, we've studied motion pictures of wild animals
living in their natural state.
And, in time, we added many reels of wildlife scenes to our Bambi research.
NARRATOR: And in doing this,
Walt not only discovered how to build better Bambis,
he also, like a creature of the wild, wasn't one to waste scraps,
especially scraps of good footage.
One thing has always led to another here and Bambi was no exception.
The wildlife scenes in this research yielded an unexpected dividend.
NARRATOR: That being many forms of potential wildlife documentaries.
It was all about enjoying the grandeur, and appreciating nature and real animals.
NARRATOR: Which is when Walt realized that he could quite easily become...
A live action movie producer. And so, he makes his first True-Life Adventure.
NARRATOR: Using this location footage,
Walt was able to make a documentary featurette.
-Signed, sealed... -(barks)
It's a story about Seal Island.
NARRATOR: ...and delivered.
It becomes eligible for the Academy Award, wins best short documentary,
and that was the start of 13 True-Life Adventures,
8 of which won Academy Awards.
NARRATOR: Yes, it's true.
Walt had more tuxedos than a colony of penguins.
They're always dressed so formally.
And with that, Walt Disney's reputation was sealed,
as not just an Oscar-winning animated filmmaker,
but as a legitimate wildlife documentarian.
(dings)
But Walt was looking to break the seal-ing...
No, that one doesn't work.
...with another True-Life Adventure he'd been working on at home...
Parenthood.
It all started from a daddy with two daughters...
-(bicycle bell dings) -...wondering where he could take them
where he could have a little fun with them too.
There's a very famous story about him going to Griffith Park
and having his Daddy's Day with the daughters.
Walt was sitting on the bench, feeding nuts to the squirrels
and watching his girls ride the carousel.
I felt that there should be something built,
some kind of, uh, an amusement enterprise built
where the parents and the children could have fun together.
NARRATOR: And we all know what this idea turned out to be.
WALT: That's it. Right here.
Disneyland.
NARRATOR: And from the very first sketch of Disneyland,
to almost every single one since,
Walt's incredible vision for the park contained an exotic, jungle-laden river
that twisted and turned across the map.
The reason why he created Jungle Cruise
was because he wanted to create an experience for people
who weren't able to travel the globe at that time,
and bring other parts of the world to the people.
-Yes. -He loved this idea
of almost like a travelogue of all these, you know, exotic waterways of the world
that he could take his guests through and show them something really good.
NARRATOR: And keep in mind,
international travel to exotic destinations wasn't so easy back then.
Very few people went to Africa.
Very few people even saw what hippos were like in the water.
NARRATOR: Uh, graceful, obviously?
However, up until 1954,
there was nothing but big talk coming out of Walt Disney's mouth
because, at this point,
all Walt had was a basic premise for an exotic boat ride,
just one year to construct Disneyland, and a very dry location to do it in.
We get an average rainfall of 12 to 14 inches, and that's a desert.
NARRATOR: But the Walt Disney Company was overflowing with talent.
So, Walt turned to one guy who had a particular talent with wetness.
If you look at Harper Goff's designs for Walt,
the Nautilus for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
he was a very prolific designer.
Harper was one of the first Imagineers.
He created the earliest concepts
for what would become known as the Jungle Cruise.
NARRATOR: But Harper didn't draw inspiration
from the depths of the ocean...
I've seen The African Queen and I liked it.
NARRATOR: He saw a lot of potential
in a movie about a crusty skipper with questionable hygiene
putting along the Ulanga River in East Africa
with its inherent sights, dangers, and bathing opportunities along the way.
So, The African Queen was a good place to start.
Emphasis on start because before they could get here,
they had to physically start here or maybe there.
Well, they needed to work it out fast, so Walt assembled his team
and shared the details of his vision for Jungle Cruise.
BILL: Walt, he'd take you on that cruise verbally,
and he'd really get into it.
Then his artist would try to visualize what they heard him say,
and we'd mold this down into where it came out as a drawing on paper.
NARRATOR: And what they ended up with was a sprawling cruise
that not only floated down the rivers of Eastern Africa
but, you know, all the jungles of the world.
We have things from the South Pacific, we have things from Africa,
we have things from many different parts of the world.
NARRATOR: All a world away from Anaheim, but not for long
because when construction began for Disneyland...
The bulldozer shows up, ready to dig the trench for the river.
NARRATOR: To direct the bulldozers poised to carve a jungle river
in the bone-dry dirt,
Harper Goff used the precision of 1950s technology.
Harper Goff picks up a stick
and he traces the entire outline of one bank of the river,
and then when he's completed,
he goes about 10, 15 feet to the other side
and does the other bank of the river,
and has the bulldozer start digging up from there.
NARRATOR: And the legacy of Harper Goff's powerful stick...
Not actual stick.
...can still be seen today.
And, of course, the Jungle Cruise was, you know, obviously a big job,
because we're bringing a jungle into a farmland.
NARRATOR: An overwhelming task, to be sure.
So, for this worldly challenge,
Walt scoured the lengths and breadths of his backyard, actually,
where he found the landscape architect Bill Evans
who had helped Walt landscape a man-sized toy train set for his own house.
Uh, don't worry. It's on a loop. He'll be back.
And now, it was full steam ahead on a much bigger project.
DAVID: Bill Evans, who was our landscape architect, of course,
his job was to fill Disneyland in with as much landscape as possible.
This was kind of an on-the-job training.
BILL: A lot of these things hadn't been done before.
NARRATOR: Spinning their wheels, there was no time to waste.
Jungle Cruise was the first attraction that they really started to break...
-NARRATOR: The seal? -(seal barks)
-...ground for. -Right, sure.
KEVIN: They started with the Jungle Cruise a little bit earlier
to get an extra growing season in for all the trees.
MICHAEL: Great effort was made to make sure
that the area around Adventureland
was planted early and densely so that you'd have this backdrop
for the Adventureland stories that we wanted to tell.
But trees take time. I mean, it's something you can't fake or force.
NARRATOR: But, of course,
they weren't starting completely from scratch.
PAULA: They wanted to save as much of the original trees as they could
because the more that they saved,
the more they didn't have to go out and buy and bring in.
NARRATOR: In a flurry of colorful conservation...
TIM: They had tagged the trees to save green,
and the ones to bulldoze red.
NARRATOR: But, of course...
The bulldoze operator was color-blind.
And he indiscriminately went through and bulldozed everything.
NARRATOR: Well, in his defense, it's all in black and white, so...
But, one way or another, Bill desperately needed trees.
He would go around the different neighborhoods of Anaheim
and in California,
buying people's trees, buying their exotic plants,
just to bring them in.
NARRATOR: And one of those trees even became a minor celebrity
known as the Dominguez Palm.
The palm tree was given to my grandparents as a wedding gift.
NARRATOR: So, when Walt bought the property for Disneyland,
he knew the tree had sentimental roots.
Walt promised them that we'd take good care of it,
and we brought it from over where it was out in the parking lot
and planted it here.
RON: It was in the Jungle Cruise attraction, and they moved it.
It got moved a second time on expansion and placed in the queue line.
(tranquil music)
RON: I can stand back in Adventureland and see it.
Yeah, it's a big tree.
NARRATOR: Well, that's one down... or up?
But, as for the rest, Bill was desperate so he began scouring
the newly constructed freeway systems of Southern California.
They were planning to run Interstate 5
right past where, you know, the plot that they picked.
NARRATOR: Bill would even stoop to roadkill of sorts.
The freeways, which were penetrating the suburbs
around the Los Angeles area,
uh, made possible the salvage of a lot of trees
that we could not otherwise have found.
BILL: And we literally snatched them from the jaws of the bulldozer.
We got there the day before they were to be demolished.
Box them out, haul them down to Disneyland.
Now, I could tell you tree after tree, you know,
this was Santa Monica Freeway, that was at Pomona Freeway.
NARRATOR: But making one jungle
out of the building scraps of the urban jungle,
well, even that wasn't enough.
Bill would travel all over jungles of the world
to collect seeds to plant this incredible jungle.
NARRATOR: And the most exotic tree of them all,
famous for its rare, sweet fruit and luscious nectar.
Yep, oranges.
Some of the orange trees that were saved ended up in the Jungle Cruise.
And they were planted upside down
because the roots look like some kind of exotic tree,
and they provided some of the shrubbery for the Jungle Cruise.
NARRATOR: Of course, the shrubbery was merely the backdrop
to an exotic animal-filled river yet to be filled.
Here's a guy driving a Rambler station wagon around a ditch
and says, "This is gonna be the Jungle Cruise."
Hey, how's it going?
"And you're gonna have the lions jumping out over here."
(lion roars)
"And if you look over at that pile of dirt,
that's gonna be a bunch of hyenas."
NARRATOR: With a bit of imagination, you might say...
"Wow, that's really cool," you know?
NARRATOR: But as for the actual lions and hyenas,
where would they come from?
The I-5 South, like the trees did? Chances were slim.
Walt did originally wanna have real animals in the Jungle Cruise.
NARRATOR: Well, that's an exciting prospect.
VANESSA: It was quickly discovered that...
(goat bleats)
...that would lead to a not-very-exciting trip for our guests.
NARRATOR: Because, despite what you may have heard,
the lion doesn't always sleep at night.
Animals like to sleep a lot during the day.
KEVIN: How do you get them to stay outside so people can see them?
NARRATOR: It's a question that really only had one solution.
They realized that they needed to make artificial animals,
and that would be the way that you could have hippos in front of you all the time.
NARRATOR: Making enough hippos and artificial animals
to fill a jungle and river?
Well, that had never been done before.
They were inventing this technology from the ground up,
minus the actual ground.
However, Walt did have a bit of a leg up, eight legs in fact.
Our work with three-dimensional characters started
when we needed a giant squid for our feature picture,
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
NARRATOR: Hitting the screens in late 1954,
the movie was a cinematic triumph.
So, once again, out came the tuxedos and Walt won two more Oscars in 1955.
The timing of which worked out pretty well for Walt
and the now-unemployed Oscar-winning special effects crew.
BRUCE: All the special effects folks
that had been doing the mechanical effects for motion pictures
were recruited to create live animals for the Jungle Cruise.
NARRATOR: But cutting-edge technology in 1955
was a little bit different than it is today.
WALT: Many new plastic materials came to our aid
in the creation of the jungle beasts.
LANNY: The first robots in the parks compared to the Animatronics
that we have in the parks now...
are very primitive.
NARRATOR: Well, they were making primates, but still.
Well, they were definitely mechanical,
and you could see the joints of their faces and jaws.
NARRATOR: And here's why.
Animatronics were hydraulic.
A hydraulic means that they had oil in them under high pressure
that moved the joints and that sort of thing.
NARRATOR: And, like many high-pressure situations,
sometimes, it helps to hide behind a bush.
And rhinoceroses could be... the rhinoceri, I guess it is,
could be behind the brush, and the giraffe could...
even though he doesn't have his legs,
he could be eating the tip-tops of the trees.
WALT: Towering above them all, the giraffe.
And it's pretty hard to tell him from our mechanical version.
NARRATOR: Depending on which angle you're seeing him from, of course.
But not every animal could lurk in the shrubs.
The most sophisticated animation that was in there were the hippos.
We knew that the animals couldn't walk.
'Cause we... They were... had to be attached to something.
NARRATOR: So, to work that out, these moviemakers went back to the studio.
WALT: On the tank stage we had built
for the submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
our monorail system went underwater.
NARRATOR: And to keep the whole illusion intact,
the water is actually dyed a lovely shade of murky green
to hide the assortment of mechanics,
because those adorable, authentic ears don't wiggle themselves.
But any shortcomings the wild beasts had in looks
were more than made up for by the way they sounded,
as Walt Disney himself found out.
(trumpets)
Walt Disney had spent so much time with the park, he'd like to sleep there.
JOHN: And the first time he tried it, no one could find the switch
-to turn off all the jungle noises. -(monkey gibbers)
And he complained about that he couldn't sleep.
He had to get up and stay up all night
because it was just as bad as being in a real jungle.
NARRATOR: This map is a reminder
of just how well the Jungle Cruise is hidden,
because here is Walt's apartment, and here's the Jungle Cruise,
right when you walk in the park and directly behind a sleeping Walt.
(elephant trumpets)
NARRATOR: It's also worth noting
that Walt's apartment is above the firehouse, so...
Anyway, Walt would soon rest easy
because opening day at Disneyland was fast approaching.
Just a matter of days away from the formal opening of Disneyland,
we want to bring you up to date on what's been happening
and let you share with us the joys and anxieties of our race against time.
NARRATOR: The jungle had been growing for a year,
so all the plants were coming along.
The river was partially filled, and the boats were going on their tracks.
And, of course, Walt Disney was on the maiden test voyage.
It was like the world's biggest toy for the world's biggest kid.
KEVIN: And the Jungle Cruise was just like a really cool action figure set
you can go play inside.
NARRATOR: Hmm. Nice waterfall.
But, wait a minute, where are all the animals?
They're still installing the electromechanical animals
that are over there.
TODD: And so, he knows that this is down to the wire.
The big concern on July 17th is that it looks good for the TV audience.
NARRATOR: And this TV audience was important
because the whole success of the park
hinged on making a very good first impression.
So, with millions and millions of people watching...
The pressure has got to be unbelievable on him.
NARRATOR: Because, don't forget,
Walt wasn't just building a jungle river in an officially classified desert,
he was also building a castle, flying elephants,
pretend flying pirate ships,
a working steamboat, little cars that drive about,
all in a year.
So, understandably...
Everybody is telling you, "What in the hell are you thinking?"
NARRATOR: This, of course.
And when the drawbridge finally came down on July 17th, 1955,
these broadcasting pioneers with their...
Twenty-nine cameras, dozens of crews.
-NARRATOR: ...and one... -REPORTER 1: Ronnie Reagan.
NARRATOR: ...saved the best for last.
Well, Walt, it seems to me we've been everywhere, haven't we?
Well, I hope so. I don't know.
Say, haven't we missed something?
Seems like it.
A whole land?
Adventureland.
Oh, that's my favorite. Let's go over there.
And we are now at the beginning of a true-life adventure...
NARRATOR: That's right, a true-life adventure.
Maybe the greatest one of all.
RONALD: Now, we're all loaded up, I believe. Thank you, Captain.
You can take her off.
We're ready for a ride down the tropical waterways of the world.
Now, you just can't believe it, folks. The colors are so unbelievable.
The banks are lined with rare trees and exotic foliage
flown here from the far corners of the earth.
NARRATOR: And the banks of the I-5 south. But it worked, big-time!
The live TV broadcast of Disneyland's grand opening on ABC
attracted an audience of about 90 million people.
TIM: It was the largest live TV spectacle up to that point.
That's pretty remarkable,
considering the overall population of the United States was only 170 million.
Those audiences are people just like them, the spectators are them.
PAULA: They're seeing themselves being there.
That's what that opening broadcast does,
is it puts you in the place where you want to be.
(children cheer)
NARRATOR: And that opening day broadcast at Disneyland,
as awkward as it was...
showed that Walt Disney had created something absolutely incredible.
And, after just one crazy year of work,
an exotic river now flowed through the arid Anaheim landscape,
and Walt could finally get a good night's sleep.
(animals roaring)
NARRATOR: And get ready for day two.
In the coming weeks, Disneyland was the hottest ticket in town.
And word had spread about the exotic Jungle Cruise.
And, like the documentary series it drew inspiration from,
the Jungle Cruise was filled with exotic animals and interesting facts,
as told by non-robotic human skippers
who navigated the waters of the Jungle Cruise,
as well doing their spiel to about 30 excited guests per boat.
Steady, folks. Watch those ripples up ahead.
NARRATOR: Well, for the skippers, they were more on the lookout for the boss,
because Walt would often come aboard and rock the boat.
Walt went on to the Jungle Cruise,
the skipper was kind of nervous, very...
because he had Walt Disney in his boat.
Oh, hi, Walt.
He took the boat at a record pace.
KEVIN: He flew through the jungle, full throttle, for the entire thing.
And he called me over and he said, "Dick, what's the trip time?"
And he knew, in those days, it was seven and a half minutes.
DICK: And he said, "Well, I just got a four-minute trip."
Hope you all enjoyed it.
He said, "How would you feel if you went to the movies
and they cut the center reel out of the picture?"
DICK: He said, "Dick," he said, "we've got to establish a terrific show,
a consistent show, regardless of how long the line is."
And then, from there, the managers put in little alarm clocks into all the boats,
so the skippers had to have their spiel timed to a certain point.
And so, everybody learned and got accustomed to it.
Next time Walt went on the Jungle Cruise,
he had a normal length cruise and he got off and didn't say a word.
Which is a compliment in the world of Walt Disney.
You know, that's how you get his approval.
NARRATOR: Nowadays, the skippers just use landmarks to time their ride.
And the steering is entirely controlled by an underwater track,
which explains the one-handed precision moves, of course.
(chuckles) A little close.
NARRATOR: So, let's stop it here,
because anyone who's been on the Jungle Cruise in the last 30 years
would probably remember things a bit differently.
The Jungle Cruise we know today is not the Jungle Cruise that we opened with.
JEANETTE: Walt actually wanted Jungle Cruise to be more serious.
NARRATOR: Well, of course.
Walt's True-Life Adventures weren't funny at all.
(grunting)
NARRATOR: But they did pop in a few thrills here and there.
MAN 4: Watch out for that big python.
On the right-hand side, watch, we're approaching them now,
those giant alligators.
Now, watch your hands, please. Watch the hand... Oh.
NARRATOR: Considering the abundance of wetness,
the Jungle Cruise was dry and informational...
WALT: This is one animal that has no vocal cords.
NARRATOR: ...educational...
WALT: And now we're on the Mekong River of Cochinchina.
NARRATOR: ...and absolutely humorless.
In this tropical rainforest, every tree has a corsage.
It's a misconception that there was no humor
in the early days of the Jungle Cruise.
We have a copy of the very first script, and there's a joke in there.
WALT: If you keep watching that far bank,
you can say that you had a nodding acquaintance with a giraffe.
(crickets chirping)
(clears throat)
It's not a very good joke, but there's a joke.
NARRATOR: And someone who had to say such not-very-good jokes was Ron Dominguez
who ended up not only having his grandparents' tree planted,
but this local kid got a job too.
You had a basic script and then, you know, sometimes, would throw your own stuff in.
WALT: No one is invited to this family's dinner.
Now, you look back, it was probably pretty darn corny.
(chuckles)
NARRATOR: After five years or so of Disneyland's operation,
rumor has it Walt overheard a mother deciding to skip the Cruise
because she had done it before.
That moment inspired Walt's new philosophy.
As long as there is imagination left in the world,
Disneyland will never be complete.
NARRATOR: So, to confirm his sneaking suspicions,
Walt turned to his chief gag man, the one who in large part was responsible
for why so many of Walt's movies were hilarious and adorable.
And even though he was an animation legend,
Marc Davis spotted one big problem with the Jungle Cruise.
"Well, it's not funny." And he's like, "What?"
He's all, "There's no humor."
NARRATOR: Well, a nodding acquaintance with humor.
But in any case, it was a problem.
According to Marc, he felt that Disneyland needed to be a place...
Where people would come in and look at something and actually laugh out loud.
There wasn't really anything of that nature there.
NARRATOR: So, with Walt's humorless hunch confirmed,
Marc Davis made a career pivot
from legendary animator to Jungle Cruise fixer-upper.
In the early '60s, Marc Davis came in and brought in the gags
that are really synonymous with what the attraction has now become.
DAVE: He brought the humor to everything that he did.
He brought the character,
and, frankly, he brought the basis of the storytelling
that we are still using to this day with the hyenas and the apes.
Marc Davis came up with some artwork concepts
to add not only some humor to the attraction,
but to add some realism to the animals
that were featured throughout the Jungle Cruise.
Trying to create some things that people understood,
trying to do something that people related to,
and something that they could possibly react to.
NARRATOR: Metaphorically, at least,
Marc Davis completely drained the river of that dryness
and refilled the river to the brink with dozens of new scenes and animals.
And, thanks to advances in Audio-Animatronics technology,
Marc was able to unleash a torrent of new ideas.
The elephant trunk, before, they had just gone up and down or sideways.
And Marc wanted them to be able to go in a circle.
So, that way, we had to do a whole new prototype
and come up with a whole new plans of how to do that.
NARRATOR: The solution was using a special tube,
which was flexible, durable, and, above all, water-resistant.
Sometimes referred to as a hose.
And these are the challenges that we were, you know,
just daily challenges that we were faced with.
NARRATOR: In a creative stampede,
the elephants were trucked in from Imagineering HQ.
And, luckily, they had plenty of trunk space.
(car horn beeps)
NARRATOR: Marc had designed so many elephants,
he began to worry what Walt might think.
"Well, there's one thing you're probably not gonna like, Walt."
I said, "That is that nobody can go through here
and see all these elephants at one time."
NARRATOR: And, like an elephant, Walt had an idea he'd never forget.
MARC: He said, "God, that's great. So, the next time they come through,
they'll see something they didn't the second time."
NARRATOR: So, the first time, they might see...
-WALT: Little squirt. -NARRATOR: And the second time...
WALT: And big squirt.
(water splashes)
DAVE: Walt used to tell Marc Davis, "It's a cocktail party."
Right? These guys are gonna be talking,
and whether you get the dialogue or not, it's not important.
But you know what? Guests are wanna go on it again and again
to discover more and more as they go on it.
NARRATOR: Marc's talent for adding comedy to serious attractions
was ahead of its time.
However, some of those gags were based on stereotypes
that are now recognized as inappropriate.
Walt Disney asked me to do some ideas for the train to see...
that would kind of advertise, uh...
the jungle river ride.
NARRATOR: Well, being the poster boy of good ideas...
He said, "Oh, god, no.
Hell, that's too good. We've gotta put it inside the ride."
MARC: It's kind of gratifying to go through there with a crowd
and people still laugh after all this length of time.
WALT: The laughing hyenas, at last, have something to laugh at.
(hyenas laughing)
NARRATOR: Well, thanks to Marc Davis, now, everybody did.
My history with Jungle Cruise goes way back when I was just,
you know, a little punk kid who had a big Afro.
And we lived in Florida,
and so we had this opportunity to go to Disney.
And I remember riding the Jungle Cruise,
and it's exciting and it's tantalizing in a way,
and you don't know what's around the corner.
And you're transported into this other world.
NARRATOR: A world where primates are armed,
because the only thing funnier than a gorilla with a gun
is a skipper with a...
Pun.
NARRATOR: And being one of the fathers of modern Imagineering,
it only makes sense that Marc Davis would make a lot of...
Dad jokes that everybody knows and loathes.
Careful, folks. Ginger snaps.
I love a good pun.
She's one tough cookie, let me tell you.
I love getting on Jungle Cruise.
I know it's a crummy joke,
but I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth, okay?
It's what brings in the dough, even though it is stale.
The skippers, they make me laugh.
They are great storytellers.
CARMEN: It's the magic of the Jungle Cruise experience.
All right, we can go ahead and put some people in the boat now.
And in that boat is going to be a witty and charming skipper.
JASON: And they're gonna take you on an amazing journey.
It's gonna take three weeks of your time.
It's gonna be so entertaining, it's gonna feel like ten minutes though.
NARRATOR: Well, as the years went by, it felt like decades, because it was.
And just like the very nature of the animals
that inhabited the original attraction,
the Jungle Cruise had evolved into a different kind of experience.
Jungle Cruise became, now, a very popular attraction
because of the jokes.
But you want it now for the Jungle Cruise skippers
and the great delivery that they have more than you do to see
the wildlife that surrounds you.
NARRATOR: But don't worry.
A lot of the same information from the original is still there.
That's Schweitzer Falls.
Schweitzer Falls was named after a very famous man,
a very famous explorer and scientist, Dr. Albert Falls.
-(people laugh) -A very important man around here.
NARRATOR: But, just to be clear, there's no ad-libbing on deck.
FLOR: Oh, no! It looks like a bunch of gorillas
have taken over the safari camp.
Don't make any noises that sound like a banana.
They find it appealing.
FLOR: All right, let's split.
NARRATOR: When it comes to the script, all the skippers are in the same boat.
You'll get a copy of the spiel scripts, and that's kind of like a menu.
NARRATOR: Ooh. Delicious puns.
But instead of appetizers, main course,
it's like, rainforest, elephant pool, hippo pool, trap safari.
NARRATOR: Sleeping zebras.
FLOR: He looks dead... tired. Dead tired.
Lions are enjoying their favorite meal today,
zebra on the rocks.
And you get to kind of pick and choose which ones you like,
so every skipper gets to have the same jokes,
but also, it's a little bit of a different vibe
with how they deliver the jokes
and which ones exactly it is that they pick.
You know, I think that rhinoceros there is trying to his point across.
FLOR: They always manage to get their point across.
My style? I would say I have a pretty, like, high-energy,
sarcastic Jungle Cruise spiel.
Tigers are known to jump over 20 feet.
But not to worry, we're only 15 feet away so they'll jump right over us.
NARRATOR: Something else that might go over your head
is this clever little timing check for the other skippers on the river.
(gunfires)
NARRATOR: Because here, at the hippo pool, is their cue to fire their pistol upwards.
-(gunfire) -NARRATOR: Because, you know,
conservation of mechanical hippos is a real thing after all.
What other job is there here that you get to stand in a boat with 45 other guests
and just say jokes?
FLOR: The second most feared animal of the jungle,
-it's the African bull elephant. -(elephant trumpets)
And if you were wondering
what the number one most feared animal of the jungle is, folks,
take a look right over here, it's his mother-in-law.
NARRATOR: But there's one joke that towers above all the others.
So perfectly crafted, it's become legend.
You've read about it in the papers, you've seen it in the movies,
put your hands together for the one, the only, amazing...
The back side of water!
NARRATOR: So, that's...
The back side of water. See that?
Yeah, don't try that at home.
You'll hit your head on the faucet.
The back side of water, Schweitzer Falls.
DWAYNE: When I first heard it, I remember thinking,
"I think I should get this, but I don't understand it."
It doesn't make any sense.
The back side of water makes no sense whatsoever.
However, it makes all the sense in the world.
NARRATOR: It's a joke that, if you tell it right, never falls flat.
Just make sure you tell it!
If you don't do the "back side of water" joke, guests will tell you
that you forgot to do the "back side of water" joke.
Like, "How dare you?"
NARRATOR: As well as aggravating superfans,
the falls actually serve a practical purpose.
That being the mixing station for the dye that turns the water jungle green.
You know, every jungle has them.
But anyway, from whichever side you see it,
the waterfall marks the moment
where the Jungle Cruise heads toward the dock.
But not without a final wink to the original cruise.
FLOR: Oh, look, it's my good friend, Trader Sam!
Hey, Trader Sam! What's up? How's it going?
The great story behind Trader Sam is, of course,
that started in the Jungle Cruise in 1955.
Trader Sam is kind of like a friend of the skippers.
He kind of hangs out on the river's edge
and he also collects things that he takes back
to his Enchanted Tiki Bar and his Grog Grotto.
NARRATOR: Which is but a stone's throw away.
Now, speaking of rocks...
Oh, sorry, not those ones.
The actual The Rock.
I have had a chance to skipper many Jungle Cruise boats
over the years, in multiple parks.
NARRATOR: Whoa. Hopefully not like this.
And you're probably thinking,
"Wow, I don't remember ever seeing you there, Rock."
NARRATOR: Ha! He's absolutely right.
Of course, you didn't, because it all happened in my mind.
NARRATOR: And it was the imagination
inside that muscular, Mickey Mouse-loving mind
that would eventually propel him to star
in Disney's movie version of the Jungle Cruise.
-Welcome to the adventure of a lifetime. -Oh.
CANDICE: It's really interesting to see that they're in costumes
that are actually inspired by The African Queen.
Mind takin' the tiller, miss?
-Huh? -Come on.
NARRATOR: And it's not just a nodding nod to The African Queen.
Just look at those hats.
So, it's nice to see that tie in to our heritage here at this attraction
with the film that inspired us.
NARRATOR: But mostly, of course,
it was the Jungle Cruise itself that inspired it,
filled with action and comedy...
-I got it. I don't got it. -Try... No...
NARRATOR: The movie really does have a lot in common
with the attraction, and a lot not in common.
-The back side of water! -NARRATOR: Exactly!
You won't be hearing Dwayne Johnson saying...
The back side of water.
NARRATOR: Actually, yeah, it works when he does it.
The eighth wonder of the world.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: A world that's now rich with Jungle Cruises,
beginning when the river burst its American banks
into Tokyo Disneyland in 1983,
where it was the first cruise to run in a clockwise direction.
Then there's Hong Kong,
a humid and semitropical destination in its own right.
And this version is quite different.
Guests get caught up in the middle of an epic battle
between the gods of fire and water,
and being on the back side of that is more of a relief than a laugh.
And even though this worldwide network of rivers
might not be physically connected,
there is a shared history and kinship among the skippers.
They sent me to Tokyo when I was a skipper
to meet with other Jungle Cruise skippers from around the world.
KEVIN: They brought some from Disney World...
They brought some from Hong Kong Disneyland
and we all connected immediately, there was an immediate kinship.
NARRATOR: But the bond these skippers share
isn't just about the gags,
although many say Kevin was the best on the river in his day.
No! Bad elephant! Bad squirt. Let's get out of here before he reloads.
He's reloaded. Everyone, get down! Duck! Duck! Goose.
I have a lot of friends who've gone...
who've left the Jungle Cruise only to go back
because it's like therapy for them.
KEVIN: It's a way for them to forget everything else, go out there,
and just tell jokes and have a good time.
I mean, I would, in a heartbeat, jump into a boat and do a spiel,
and then put on some shorts.
NARRATOR: Hopefully not in that order.
In many ways, the Jungle Cruise is more than just an attraction.
It represents the long-running history of the Disney Parks themselves.
We'll always have a Sleeping Beauty Castle,
and we'll always have Jungle Cruise.
They're mainstays that will always stay intact.
NARRATOR: As an original opening day attraction,
it was carved from the desert and created literally out of thin, dry air
by Harper Goff and his stick, Bill Evans with his salvaged trees,
and with the help of Marc Davis,
it grew into the thick, luscious, beloved attraction that it is today.
MARC: I had a talk with Walt.
I said, "You know, there's two ways I could do this.
An expensive way and an inexpensive way."
And he says, "I think when you do something,
and you do it well enough,
the public's gonna pay you back for it."
NARRATOR: With close to a billion guests visiting just Disneyland alone,
it's fair to say...
The public appreciate and accept what I've done all these years.
That is a great reward.
INTERVIEWER: I'm sure it is.
It seems unlikely, but if you had it to do over again,
would you do any part of it differently?
(laughs)
I don't know. I hope I don't have to do it over again.
JEANETTE: You think about what Walt's original vision was for Jungle Cruise,
Walt wanted guests to have a real adventure
like the adventures they saw on their television
when they were watching True-Life Adventures.
NARRATOR: And this was truly realized
when Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park opened in Florida in 1998.
JEANETTE: I think Walt would have been very proud
because he would have said, "Yes, right! This is exactly it.
Real animals where guests can get on the vehicle
and believe they are in Africa."
WALT: Most everyone has been impressed by
and curious about the realism of Adventureland.
The lifelike animals, the authentic tropical settings.
JEANETTE: That is what Disney, I think, would have been proud of.
And so Jungle Cruise started it,
and we're actually delivering it in full force
with a full, built-out vision at Animal Kingdom today.
NARRATOR: But the Jungle Cruise is much more than just a stepping stone
in the legacy of Disney's immersive experiences.
This truly classic attraction isn't just about the skippers,
or the jokes, or even the animals,
but the incredible creative determination of the original skipper
who, above all the odds, set sail on an adventure
that's not even close to pulling in to the dock.
WALT: We're back to civilization,
and it's been a real pleasure to take this trip with you.
Thank you, everyone. Hope to ride with you again sometime.
NARRATOR: But, for now, it's time for us to disembark.
Have a great day, folks. Take care, and always remember...
Oh, wait, I forgot.
(crickets chirping)
(light music)