Jungle Cruise - an abandoned ride?

[tj9991]

I was just on Jungle Cruise earlier this week, and as you've said, it was practically walk-on. So far I've circled the jungle five times, and only once was the skipper a little lacking on performance. The rest were fabulous as always, still acting like they are telling the jokes for the first time, rather than the 10,001st time.

I think people overlook Jungle Cruise because they don't buy into the humor. I always give a huge round of applause for... THE BACK SIDE OF WATER YEAH WOOHOO!

Thats just an example of the enthusiasm which you can use to assist the skipper in creating the atmosphere. I also try to laugh outloud when the fellow crew are silent/not in the mood to laugh. That reminds me, I was with a bunch of people who just would not smile or laugh at any of the jokes. It was surreal! Why the heck would you ride Jungle Cruise if you're just going to sit there and look grumpy? Jungle Cruise might be the absolute worst ride for grumpy people.

[Alpoe001]

Being a former Skipper... JC has not been abandoned, out of every attraction in DL it is the most refurbished. Also JC can get a long line... why do you think they have an upstairs to the queue? and believe me its not fun to have to run upstairs and squeeze thru people to open a new section... opening th eband loop is easy but some of the other section take acrobatics to get to them.

[MysticalSkye]

I agree with most everyone else that it's more about the Skip. I've had some really good Skips, and some that aren't so good.
The "animals" are always interesting, but it's when the Skip gets you involved and laughing that it's a good ride. I love riding it, because jokes get upgraded.
For example, I went last April, and then this past weekend, I went again (a couple of times, lol). This past time, there were a few new jokes. It's always fun when you've got new jokes, and different skips who play them of differently.
So I definitely wouldn't say it's abandoned.

[DLcastmbr]

where is techskip anyway

[Alpoe001]

the last time i talked to Techskip, he was busy moving into his new place... or he might be at the park with his kids

[DisneyMouse]

If I had never seen it in Disneyland I'd think it would be some kind of Rainforest Cafe safari or something, not a classic Disney ride.

Sounds to me like it's still doing the job it was meant to. Taking outside of Disneyland, and putting you on a Safari...

[techskip]

I've been posting off and on from work... got the new place networked last week but due to the unpacking I haven't had a chance to really use it much. Even now everyone is having dinner.

Nothing new to really add that hasn't been said before. Buried on here somewhere is a concept thread I posted some time ago to make the Jungle more realistic, WDI has it, not sure if they will ever use it. There is also a thread about a Holiday overlay... cheap, easy, effective... again up to WDI. For anyone looking for some comedy there is also the Jungle Cruise Antics thread... hasn't been updated in a while so if anyone has anything new feel free to toss it in.

As to numbers the optimal goal of Jungle is 1800/hr... which is actually somewhat low. A "good" crew can pull 1900's, sometimes 2000... but that isn't easy because everything literally has to "line up" enough Guests, good Skips, good Loaders and good Unloaders... as I said doesn't happen often. Prior to the Indy refurb the boats were smaller so the max was 11. Now the max boats is 8, plus the training boat, but WDI at one time put 9 on (long comical story). The new boats hold approx 45 a piece, better number is actually in the 30's... again depends on the skill of the loaders and the Skip at the helm. The "trick" is to load as much as possible without making people uncomfortable... meanwhile the Skip in the boat encourages people to move up or lap sit to make some room. Unloaders have it easy... get'em up, get'em out... not exactly rocket science. You can get into a pissing contest of new vs old... to each their own... I've trained enough crews and been a part of enough crews to know when a crew has a chance of hitting a 20... not many can.

Usually Jungle is busy an hour after park opening (Jungle used to actually open an hour late for this reason)... that rush tapers off by about noon... then picks up again around changeover (4pm-5pm) when boats are pulled. It has an upstairs, it has used an upstairs, but if it is upstairs then you probably want to just keep walking because eventually it will die off. No one wants to admit they waited 40min for a ride when the wait time hits 10min a few hours later.

I think the fact that Jungle has survived 50 years is amazing. When they did the 50th survey Jungle was in the top 3 for most wanted job, and in the top 10 for favorite ride. It takes up prime real estate... 50 years old... questionable AA's and bad jokes... yet there it is.

50th refurb did a few things;

• sprinklers added to the rain forest
• Toucans removed from the falls and placed back in the forest
• bamboo added to Indy's exit to cover it up
• Bob moved up on the berm so you can see him from Indy
• Crocs added throughout the shrine
• Cobra taken out of the Boathouse and added with the other Cobras
• Ginger moved to shrine
• Spiders added
• Moon effect added to the Elephant Pool
• Baboons moved to Gorilla Camp
• Explosion
• Gorilla given a box of explosives instead of Ginger
• new S.Falls face
• African Veldt animals moved around
• Skull Canoe repainted
• Attacking native back/forth movement improved
• Piranha scene added
• Ellie added and Sam unmasked

Then there is the unseen things like

• new boat lift
• new S Falls pump
• new Boat Storage including Mechanic shop addition
• New "bubble" filtration system
• step-off's added througout Jungle
• sensors rethemed
• trails cut and lighted throughout Jungle
• new steel rails throughout the Jungle

Considered the largest refurb since 1972. If you have any more questions feel free to PM me.

[yellow_sub]

im gonna say two things right now. 1. if the jungle cruise closed i'd cry and weep at the entrance to the ride and 2. no matter how many times i hear the back side of water joke it's still gonna be funny. lol

[Datameister]

I still don't get the humor in the "backside of water" joke!

[techskip]

I still don't get the humor in the "backside of water" joke!

I always favored "Front side of Rock" to be honest.

[Aladdin]

I still don't get the humor in the "backside of water" joke!

My favorite joke after that is "Don't try that at home, you'll hit you head in the sink."

[dl_appurtenant]

Abandoned? Hardly.

It's world famous!

[MysticalSkye]

As for other jokes heard after "Backside of water", besides "Front side of rock" and "Don't try that at home, you'll hit your head on the faucet", I've also enjoyed a couple others.
"Otherwise known as O 2 H!"
And after Nemo just opened "Take that, Nemo!"

And one time at night the skip turned the light on and off a few times and was like "Dance party!!"

[tj9991]

Do the skippers have much organization in regard to who uses what jokes? As in, to keep the re-rides a bit different?

I've heard the same joke a few times, but usually I hear a few new ones, or slightly changed ones.

If a skipper steals another skipper's joke, is a hit placed on them?

[mickeyandme67]

Well, the "jugle" cruise as you call it may not be special to you in a dazzling year 2008 sort of way, so wait over on the side listening to your Ipod and uplinking Twitter updates to your blog while I ride it. Thanks. Any attraction that has such a history and a 1955 "devised with Walt's input" pedigree deserves a place in Disneyland. BTW why don't you head over to DCA and ride Midway Mania, shoot some virtual targets and have a great "special effectsy" time while I ride again. Thanks.