What would the Disneyland Paris Jungle Cruise have been like?

[Jungle Trekkie]

I have read that there were plans for some kind of Jungle Cruise attraction at Euro Disney, but that it was designed as a jeep ride so that it could be indoors. Does anyone know if this was actually the case, and if so, what would the ride have been like?

Would it have the same animatronic animals as the traditional Jungle Cruises, only seen from land instead of from a river?

Any information that people have would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[RandySavage]

I have read that there were plans for some kind of Jungle Cruise attraction at Euro Disney, but that it was designed as a jeep ride so that it could be indoors. Does anyone know if this was actually the case, and if so, what would the ride have been like?

Would it have the same animatronic animals as the traditional Junngle Cruises, only seen from land instead of from a river?

Any information that people have would be appreciated.

Thank you.

I'll tell you about it, and I'll even provide some artwork of it.

BACKGROUND: As with all parks, even prior to EuroDisneyland's opening, there were some pretty ambitious Phase II projects for that were under intense development should the park be a financial homerun and require (and be able to fund) additional attractions through the 1990s. Each land's WDI show producer had a Phase II project(s): Tim Delaney in Discoveryland was working on Discovery Mountain (housing multiple attractions) which later opened as the much less ambitious, but still excellent, Space Mountain: De La Terre a la Lune (the only one of these plans to come to fruition). Tom Morris in Fantasyland was preparing a Beauty & the Beast animatronic show and the suspended Little Mermaid darkride. Jeff Burke in Frontierland had a project called Geyser Mountain. And Chris Tietz was working on a major project for the western half of Adventureland: La Jungle Inexplore - The Unexplored Jungle.

THE ATTRACTION: From what I've seen and read, the major attraction here was to be a Jeep version of the Jungle Cruise housed within and around a giant, jungle-reclaimed temple (indoor-outdoor). The Disneyland RR would pass through the temple. The Jeeps would move at fairly high speeds, escaping hostile headhunters, crossing rickety bridges over croc-infested waters, avoiding giant snakes dangling from tree branches and a passing a troop of comedic monkeys. This attraction was a precursor to - and likely influence on - Anaheim's Indiana Jones Adventure.

Sam McKim painted an epic souvenir poster of EuroDisneyland that had details of every building in the park as well as several "Attraction Futures", including Discovery Mountain, Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, a Discoveryland restaurant, and La Jungle Inexplore:



You can also see, if you look closely, that there is a mine-cart roller coaster intertwined with the Jungle Jeep attraction, similar to the early concepts for Indiana Jones and the Lost Expedition. Had this gone forward, it would have been an extraordinary addition to the park.

EPILOGUE: Unfortunately, things did not turn out as we would have liked. Eurodisney's financial problems were/are many and well-known. All the original Phase II plans were shelved or reduced in scale and much less expensive additions (Temple du Peril, Storybookland Canal Boats, Nautilus walkthrough) came instead. Maybe one day something great will occupy the land that was once reserved this attraction.

My own, fun, site-plan of a fully-built-out Disneyland Paris contains most of these canceled Phase II plans:

[Jungle Trekkie]

Thank you for the great response Randy. This is terrific information and much appreciated.

[Magic Lamp]

That makes me sad, we could've had Jurassic Park in DLP.

[White Bones]

That would have been a pretty neat ride

[MANEATINGWREATH]

I red somewhere a full attraction overview of what "Jungle Expedition" would have been like if fully realized. All I remember was that it was in an indoor/outdoor temple as Randy said, it used the EMV jeeps, and had run-ins with wild animals and whatnot. The jeeps would encounter giraffes, hippos, and some other animals before coming face to face with the "I Wanna Be Like You" sequence from The Jungle Book, a movie in which Imagineers have been trying to make an attraction for for many years, particularly that scene. It would have been interesting to see but I don't know how well the big musical number would go in a realistic jungle expedition. Nonetheless I would enjoy it.

[Hathaway Browne]

I'm going to stick my neck on the line and say I'd rather have this than Indiana Jones Adventure (if it ever made it over to Paris).