01x01 - Jungle Cruise

[bunniefuu]

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 k*ller 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,

"d*ck, what's the trip time?"

And he knew, in those days,

it was seven and a half minutes.

d*ck: 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?"

d*ck: He said, "d*ck," 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 c*ck 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 g*n

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 p*stol upwards.

-(g*nf*re)

-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)