Le Jungle Cruise, 1956
Oh that Jungle Cruise. It's a great attraction - a classic attraction. And it has always been popular with the shutterbugs - which can be frustrating, as all Jungle Cruise photos look more or less the same. And yet, I still enjoy looking at these early pix.
There's my favorite li'l shack; nature provides everything a person could want in this tropical climate. They even bought an extra boat just to store all of their fruit. Notice the outrigger to our right, with an old bed sheet (I've seen that one at Bed, Bath and Balloons) as a sail.
The camera has made this lion look as if it has tusks and/or horns, but don't worry, it's still just a dusty old lion. Just like the ones we see every day. Rawr.
Whole civilizations have emerged here, only to crumble and get swallowed by the jungle over the centuries. Why did the people leave, and where did they go? A giant python dangling from that dead tree branch would really brighten the place up.
And no collection of Jungle Cruise pictures would be complete without the hippos. They are singing a duet in that beautiful way that only hippos can (although they do sound a lot like Jim Nabors).
7 comments:
Major-
I have it on good authority that pair of hippos sing harmony in perfect thirds. (Jim Nabors, eat your heart out-!)
Thanks, Major.
Nice ones Major! And remember...
"It's not the hippos in the water that you have to worry about... It's the ones in the trees!!"
Bill in Denver
1.
They've got a fruit boat and a boot float.
2.
Those aren't tusks; he's just stuck a couple of breadsticks up his mouth to impress his date with a Count von Disneystein impression.
3.
Nah, you know what I think that building could use to brighten it up? Maybe a plant or two.
4.
It'd be the first time Jim Nabors ever sounded "hip" in his life! Hey-o!
Lions, hippos, ancient Cambodian shrines... this river has everything. Was there much fine-tuning involved to get the green so vibrant?
On my first visit to Disneyland in 1963, my parents said that when the hippos rose out of the water, I leaped off of my mother's lap and into another woman's arms for protection and wouldn't let go. I was told that it got a lot of laughs from the guests onboard. I barely remember it.
Jungle Cruise always makes me smile. It is one of the rides that really makes me think about the earliest days at Disneyland. We never miss it!
Nanook, just like Willie the Whale, each hippo can sing in three-part harmony!
Bill in Denver, I worry about hippos in trees every day, because you can never be too careful.
Melissa, who hasn't stuffed breadsticks in their mouth to impress a date? If they're the skinny crunchy kind, I put them up my nose too. Classic. And haven't you heard Jim Nabors' version of "You Are The Sunshine of My Life"? He is one cool cat.
Tom, there was not much fine tuning on my part, though the folks at Disneyland probably worked pretty hard to get it that color!
K. Marftinez, I am going to try that leaping-into-a-woman's-lap thing the next time I ride the Jungle Cruise! If it worked for you, it's gotta work for me too.
Nancy, you are right, and I find myself especially thinking about those very early black and white TV programs that showed the creation of the river and the mechanical critters.
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