New year, new look.
Disney is making a change for the better by updating the Jungle Cruise ride on its bicoastal theme parks, by removing “negative portrayals” of indigenous people.
A photo of a tour group on the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland.
(Kari Rene Hall / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The entertainment giant announced the news on Monday, explaining that the Jungle Cruise is being re-introduced at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and at the still-open Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. The original Jungle Cruise ride first opened at Disneyland in 1955. and has long been criticized as racially sensitive to the portrayal of indigenous peoples.
BOAT AT DISNEY WORLD’S JUNGLE CRUISE SINKS DURING RIDE; GASES SAVED BY STAFF
The original Jungle Cruise ride first opened at Disneyland in 1955.
(Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The Orange County Register reports that Imagineers will be updating the scenes of the water attraction featuring shrink-wrap trader Sam, and a rhino chasing a safari group in a tree.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Trader Sam is a “dark-colored man wearing a striped suit today” who indicates that he will ‘exchange two of his heads for one of you’. Meanwhile, the current rhino scene features a white traveler on top of a tree trunk, while holding ‘native safari guides’ in a more dangerous position. ‘
A rendition of the new rhino scene is an exception to unfortunate participants in a previous Jungle Cruise tour, ‘reports the LA Times.
An illustration published by Disney Parks Blog of a new scene in the works during the Jungle Cruise ride.
(Disney Parks Blog)
According to an illustration shared by the Disney Parks Blog, monkeys are displayed on a sinking boat.
An illustration published by Disney Parks Blog of a new scene in the works during the Jungle Cruise ride.
(Disney Parks Blog)
“We are constantly evaluating ways to improve attractions and experiences in our parks. And when [guests] down from the attraction, they know we did our homework because it’s the details that matter, “said Chris Beatty, Walt Disney Imagination Creative Portfolio Executive, in a new interview with D23, the official Disney fan club. .
‘If you look at the Jungle Cruise, as it is today, there are only a few scenes that do not and that needed a refreshment … This is the Jungle Cruise that you know and love, with the skippers who still take the lead. , and at the same time we address the negative portrayals of ‘natives’. “
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Carmen Smith, CEO, creative development and inclusion strategist for Walt Disney Imagineering, emphasized similar sentiments and emphasized the importance of inclusion in the theme park’s brand.
“As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure that experiences we create, and stories we share, reflect the voices and perspectives of the world around us,” Smith said in a statement shared by the park blog.
When Fox News reached out, a Disney spokesman declined to comment further.
The “Splash Mountain” rides at Disney theme parks will be renamed ‘The Princess and the Frog’, a movie featuring the company’s first black princess.
(Bryan R. Smith / AFP via Getty Images)
This summer, the company was praised for redesigning its Splash Mountain ride – an attraction criticized for its 1946 film “Song of the South” – with a new theme “The Princess and the Frog” , based on the animated Disney animation from 2009. film starring a black female.
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On Monday, Disney also removed “The Aristocats”, “Dumbo”, “Peter Pan” and “Swiss Family Robinson” from the profiles of children on the streaming service Disney +, reports WDW News Today. The old films are still available on adult profiles, with a substantive advisory warning informing the viewer that the program contains ‘negative portrayals and / or abuses of people or cultures’.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.