Sunday, January 29, 2023

Jungle. Cruise. 1950s

A lot of Sunday Snoozers involve photos of the Jungle Cruise; let's face it, a lot of  "meh" images have been taken of this legendary attraction. Neither of these is bad, to be honest. Just a bit lackluster.

Right near the loading dock, guests could see a small hut across the river, the inhabitant must have stepped out for a moment. "Who ate the last Zinger??". Ordinarily, it's fun to see the stuff inside the hut, but this photo has gone a bit dark; it also has a antique, golden hue for some reason. Mom's outrigger is still parked, it makes me think what it must be like to live right on a tropical river like that. The river provides everything, including electric eels to power your iPhone.


There's just something about the ruins of lost civilizations. Who were these people? Why did they leave? This small shrine is guarded by three crocodiles, and (at later times), a giant poisonous spider, and a swaying cobra. They've been tasked with protecting the sacred treasure inside the shrine. Hey, I don't need it all. Just a few rubies and emeralds. Is that too much to ask?

11 comments:

JB said...

"including electric eels to power your iPhone." And the piranhas make excellent garbage disposals!
The dinginess actually adds to the overgrown jungly feel.

"Who were these people? Why did they leave?" Well obviously they didn't like all those tour boats going by every few seconds, with everyone gawking at them; and the skippers making all those corny jokes. Again. And. Again.
This village with its temples and such were already there when Walt was pacing off the Park in the orange grove. He just decided to build his Jungle Cruise ride around them... You knew that, right?

Thanks for the antiqued Jungle pics, Major.

JG said...

We have talked before about what a nice pad that little hut would make, even just for weekends. I’m surprised Walt didn’t stay over here instead of the Firehouse.

It does make you wonder though, why all these places were vacant, JB must be right, noisy neighbors and bugs.

Thanks Major, I like these today.

JG

Anonymous said...

A great overnight spot for skippers on the opening shift! Provided you didn't mind the rodents! KS

Anonymous said...

KS- Rodents? You mean like a 5 foot tall mouse?...;)

-DW

Bu said...

I would like it if the JC went super duper uber slow so I could capture every tiny detail. There was always "press" around how the jungle got so "jungly" literally overnight from a landscaping perspective. Perhaps this was just legend. Dealing with my own "jungle" in my yard I can believe it...get's rather over grown quickly during wet summers. The little outriggers are cool, and wonder where these are now...and who "gets in there" to style such things? The divers? Or the creative team in little boats? Always thought the cobra and the giant spider looked super plastic...the simpleness of this photo is much more realistic, and something you might see while venturing out in the jungles...I was in a tree tops lodge in the early 80's. You had to navigate some high "cat walks" to get to the main building...all very high in the air...every 20 feet or so there was a little "hut" to escape any wild animals. There were also signs that said "NO SPEAKING"...as voices would either draw these things closer (meat) or drive them away (fear). Around were the real sounds of the jungle, much like the jungle cruise...the air smelled like a jungle too...wet...gamey...and it was sultry and hot... One of the people I was traveling with decided to say...in this deathly quiet environment...."WOW....IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!!!" Loudly and with gusto...of course...birds went flying and things went scampering like monkeys all around us...complete chaos...and of course it was like some comedy movie with us scampering to the "safe hut" but we were all laughing so hard we were doubled over trying to suppress the loud guffaws coming out of us...needless to say, we were not popular. I will say, that it was one of the funniest moments of my life...the surreal "silence" of a real life jungle...coupled with the loud musings of a JC Skipper "wanna be"....that place WAS amazing, like going back in time...with the colonial influence of a 30's era lodge, in absolutely the most remote of jungles of Kenya. Haven't thought about that in a while. Thanks for the memories Major!

Major Pepperidge said...

JB, you make a good point about piranhas, it’s so fun to toss chicken bones (for instance) into the river and watch that water boil! Better than watching TV. I don’t know, I think I would like people gawking at me, not to mention the occasional sound of gunfire, but maybe that’s just me? It was mighty nice of Walt to let the village stay in place, what a guy!

JG, Walt didn’t want people to see his pajamas with flying saucers on them. Not very dignified. But MAN were they comfy. And those slippers! Soft as a cloud. You make a good point about bugs, I hate ‘em.

KS, wait, wait, WHAT was a great overnight spot? And what exactly do you mean?? The little hut? Did skippers hang out there? I need to know!

DW, I forgot about that rodent. I don’t mind him, but I don’t want him in my hut either!

Bu, I know what you mean about wanting the ride to go slower, and yet… I also think it’s smart to put in so many details that you HAVE to ride it multiple times to see it all (and even then you probably will miss stuff). I know that they planted the jungle almost right away to give it a year to mature as much as possible. Even so, if you look at early photos it looks a bit scraggly. But it grew lush pretty quickly! Interesting about the “no speaking” at the treetops lodge. Spitting is OK though! Somebody once said that they leave the jungle sounds playing all night. Don’t know if that’s true, but it seems like it would be kind of cool/creepy to be in an nearly-empty Disneyland, hearing the bird and monkey sounds. And maybe the trumpeting of the Mother In Law. Was your lodge actually in the jungle? For some reason I think of Africa tours as being more on the grassy veldt. No idea though, I have barely set foot on the continent of Africa.

JB said...

I think I hear crickets... Where is everybody?

Anonymous said...

I’m snoozing in the hut. It’s nice and peaceful.

Sue

Major Pepperidge said...

JB, it's OK, it's a Snoozer Sunday after all!

Sue, watch out for the rodents.

Melissa said...

It's tempting to take a ton of pictures on the JC because there are just so many cool details. Back in the olden days of film, that resulted in a certain percentage of snoozers that we would just delete nowadays. Back then I saved even the snoozers.

I remember one of our photo albums when I was a kid, that had page after page of black and white pictures of water, taken during a flood when my Dad was a teenager. We always laughed and called it, "The Forty Poses of the Flood."

Anonymous said...

Major

It has been said the hut was used from time to time between late night and morning shifts! LOL KS