Disney removes more cultural elements from Jungle Cruise, not much left of ride

Disney has removed even more of the negative cultural depictions from the Jungle Cruise ride. It now feels like there isn’t much left of the ride for the time being.

Jungle Cruise Update

Both Disney World and Disneyland will receive some “gnu” updates to this classic attraction. As part of the update, Guests will be able to follow a skipper and his passengers as their journey goes awry. Don’t worry though – we will still have live skippers! They will just add a show figure within the attraction itself.

Disney confirmed with D23 that elements of the movie adaptation of the attraction will not be part of the changes. The company is also aiming to remove some of the more outdated elements of the ride that are negative cultural depictions.

We are slowly beginning to see changes made to the attraction and also the story line of the new characters. Trader Sam has also been removed from the end of the attraction and has been replaced with a gift shop. Trader Sam is still part of the finale, but his animatronic will no longer wish us well as we prepare to exit the Jungle Cruise.

Work will be complete this summer at both Disney World and Disneyland.

Removal of more animatronics

I just mentioned the removal of Trader Sam, but even more animatronics are being removed from the ride at Magic Kingdom.

There was a scene of tribal dancers in a hut (pictured above) with spears, shields, and more. Riders could witness the “natives”, but now those have been removed from the hut. At this point, the drummers are still right next to where the tribal dancers used to be.

So, what is left?

With Trader Sam and the dancers removed from the attraction, there are not a lot of animatronic humans left – mostly animals. It almost seems silly to keep this ride open while refurbishment work continues. Perhaps by closing the ride, they could have shortened the length of the refurbishment. We will be sure to watch for new additions that may be coming to the ride.

Will you still ride Jungle Cruise while it is under refurbishment? What do you think of all these changes? Let us know by commenting below or on Facebook.