We've told you about the big changes coming to Disneyland's Rivers of America. But it looks like Disney is about to make some changes to one of its other iconic river attractions, too.
Matthew Gottula reported on Twitter this weekend that Disneyland's Jungle Cruise will be going down for a long refurbishment that will see major changes to the loading process.
When the Jungle Cruise returns it will have doors fitted onto the boats, and they will auto-dock. #SafeD
— Matthew Gottula (@DLthings) October 31, 2015
The change would take the docking process out of the hands of the Jungle skippers, who have had to line up the boats on the dock ever since the attraction opened with the park in 1955. Elsewhere in the park, engine-driven boats such as Storybook Land Canal Boats and the Tom Sawyer Island rafts traditionally have used manual docking, while pump-driven boats such as those on Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World have "docked" on load belts.
With all of the Rivers of America attractions, plus the Disneyland Railroad, down for 2016 due to Star Wars Land construction, a lengthy refurbishment for the Jungle Cruise would further reduce the number of popular attractions available on the park's west side next year, when Disneyland will face competition from Universal's new Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Knott's Berry Farm's refurbished Ghost Town.
Disneyland will counter with attractions on the other side of the park, with the Star Wars-themed "Season of the Force" starting later this month. That will bring a new Star Wars overlay for the Space Mountain roller coaster as well as the Star Wars Launch Bay exhibit in the old Innoventions building. In addition, a new Marvel-themed Super Hero HQ will open in that building later this month, as well.
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My husband and I have decided to stay away from any of the parks in the US until this mess is done. Why would we want to pay the increased ticket costs for 1/2 a park? At DL when Indy goes down, what is left? They still have to do scheduled maintenance on the rest of the park taking more attractions off line...time to finally use our DVC for something other than Disney!
Apparently, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have been kicked to the curb in favor of Dwayne Johnson for the Jungle Cruise movie, likely turning it into an action flick. Maybe this will be successful enough to warrant some other upgrades for the ride.
And that makes 7 closed attractions for most of 2016. By my math, that's about 15% of the park. I'm not going to say that the park isn't worth visiting, as most of the closed attractions are third tier rides, but I do wonder if the park will still have a price increase with so many closed attractions. If they do, I wouldn't be surprised if Disneyland takes an attendance hit despite Season of the Force.
For those planning trips to Disneyland in 2016, I would still encourage you to visit, but perhaps cut your Disneyland Resort time by a day and use it to visit another Southern California park you likely wouldn't visit otherwise. Six Flags Magic Mountain is well worth a visit for thrill-seekers and every theme park enthusiast needs to visit Knott's Berry Farm at least once.
Does anyone know if there's a possibility they'd be doing the same to Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom?
They Could updat their jokes as well haha
It does make sense they would work on Jungle Cruise while the railroad is closed, but the west side of the park is going to be sad in 2016.
Total wishful thinking here, but with the new temporary Cast Member bridge near New Orleans RR station and the Jungle Cruise closure, fingers crossed things are going to get moved around backstage so they can finally widen the bottle neck that is Adventureland alley.
Sounds like the boats might be automated. This frees the skipper to do the narration, but I wonder if they should go full automatic. The jungle cruise is a rather boring show for awhile. I often skip it because it just isn't fun anymore. They need some scary elements like a direct confrontation with a shark, crocodile, rhino, or lion.
Anon: I agree. Great nostalgia but extremely boring. It would be great if they would add some of the type of projection work that makes the dark scene in 7 Dwarfs Coaster so good or the Tinkerbell effects in the new WDW Peter Pan queue (which is actually better than the ride itself). Does Disneyland have the temple scene like WDW? If so, that would be a perfect spot for some projection effects.
Would love to see the Tokyo updates added! A new nighttime Jungle Cruise would be awesome!!!
I don’t know all the technical ins and outs here, but 10 months seems like a long time to fit in docking units and doors on the boats.
It seems like Disneyland wants to thin the AP crowds but still raise the prices in time for Star Wars Land. Robert, can you answer this question? A lot of post-ers say that Disney should take away the SoCal Select Pass to thin the crowds.
But Disney keeps it, and the price doesn't seem to go up as much as the higher passes. It seems that the SoCal Select pass still serves a purpose for Disney, I'm hoping that they keep it for people who can visit during the week days, like me. Do you think they will ever take it away or raise the price so high?
RIP to all the attractions cast members that will be on full-time parade duty while this is closed.
I've never been particuarly fond of the skipper narrative - but, I've never been bored on the Jungle Cruise, and my word to Disney is, just because you can, it doesn't mean that you should.
Adding star wars to the park is insult enough...but all these closings, ridiculous price hikes, and changing iconic park attractions is enough to keep me away for a good while. Sadly, I believe this is exactly what they want.
I would be happy if they closed it or made it a $50 per person booze cruise then the jokes and special effects would look fine. It's called the Epcot effect; people like old boring rides when drunk.
Excuse me, but Disney does not RAISE prices, it ADJUSTS them.
When in Janaury? 10th? 30? Have tripped planned, and this is important info.
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It would be nice if they upgraded the AAs, too.