Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Jungle Cruise Scenes, July 1963

I've seen a lot of pictures of the little thatched hut and its accompanying boat, once was visible from the loading dock (a version of it is still there), but I don't recall ever noticing that the little outrigger was so brightly decorated with colorful artwork. Pretty neat!


As an honorary gorilla, I feel a special fondness for the monkey idol seen here. I choose to believe that he is a benevolent deity - even if he is guarded by that big gnarly spider. Monkey was tired of people trying to steal his ruby belly button.  


7 comments:

K. Martinez said...

There's that giant animal cookie hidden in the foliage. That flat stone elephant statue has moved around quite a bit through the years. Last time I checked it was still in the Jungle Cruise.

Thanks for posting images of my favorite attraction.

Raimundo said...

The Jungle Cruise is especially cool at night, because the jewel in Monkey God's right hand glows pulsingly. And when the spider twitches in its web, little pneumatic hisses are audible from the twitching mechanism.

Major Pepperidge said...

K. Martinez, I didn't even know that the flat stone elephant was still there. There's so much to look at on that ride that I forget to observe some details!

Raimundo, I didn't ride the Jungle Cruise at night the last time, unfortunately. Very cool that the jewel glows and pulses. I thought the spider just sat there, but twitching and moving is even better!

Anonymous said...

Hanuman, the Monkey God is a benevolent deity. He is sort of an adjutant general to the higher gods, and a personal favorite of mine.

I have a hard time staying oriented in the JC, much less figuring out where things move to and fro. Thanks for pointing those items out, I will pay closer attention in future.

JG

Melissa said...

My sister and I took a Primatology course together in college, and we always called the Hanuman Langurs of India “Handyman Langurs,” because they’re known for coming into people’s houses. So, I always picture Hanuman as a very sociable god whenever I see him in the Jungle Cruise.

(We also used to sing, ”Hamadryas, Hamadryas” to the tune of “Rock me, Amadeus.” Sometimes it was great having a sibling as a classmate.)

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, a monkey god is cool, but Ganesha is pretty cool too!

Melissa, "Primatology", now I know why you read GDB!

Melissa said...

Gorillas have same name for genus, species, and common name, so they have the best scientific nomenclature of all: Gorilla Gorilla.