Disney has a new Jungle Cruise look at its theme parks -- this after catching flak for what some said were racist depictions -- and they did away with any and all offending robots.
The honchos at Disney unveiled this week an update to their Jungle Cruise rides at both Disneyland and Disney World ... which were getting re-tweaked over the past year and change after a ton of people demanded they lose the so-called "natives" along the OG path.
New adventures await on the world-famous Jungle Cruise! Go behind the scenes with Disney Imagineers to learn about the new characters, expanded storyline and fun surprises coming to @Disneyland on July 16 and @WaltDisneyWorld this summer: https://t.co/XotMYaCgSV pic.twitter.com/URc9xbXgjg
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) July 9, 2021
The Mouse House posted a BTS video showing the process of what went into reworking the ride -- and the engineers reiterated what Disney said in a statement ... namely, that they wanted to remain faithful to what everyone loves and remembers about Jungle Cruise voyages of the past, while also being inclusive/respectful/accurate over depicting cultures.
In case you're wondering, here are some of the animatronic figures being removed from Disneyland's JUNGLE CRUISE for being racist. pic.twitter.com/XB9r71FVaz
— Hollywood Horror Museum (@horrormuseum) January 25, 2021
What that, apparently, amounted to in the final product -- based on video they posted of the updated Jungle Cruise ride -- is no trace of the indigenous people that used to be seen along the way.
Most of those indigenous people were portrayed as Black -- but they were also made out to look like what some have characterized as "savages" ... something that's been done time and again dating back to the 20th century. Dr. Seuss even used to portray indigenous people in the same fashion ... always drawing them with super dark skin and exaggerated features.
Friendly reminder that this is still part of the Jungle Cruise pic.twitter.com/wRA6r5KM8V
— Michael Libby (@tenaciouslibbs) June 25, 2020
It appears none of those depictions are still around in the new ride -- but there are still Black people featured. Only now, they're seen as part of the exploration squad ... as opposed to being seen as the scary, cannibal-esque bad guys threatening the cruise passengers.
Jungle cruise is racist asf and just perpetuates the idea of how black indigenous people are savages pic.twitter.com/b1dELTtzTL
— K Den (@kathyykakes) June 25, 2020
The call to revamp Jungle Cruise came on the heels of Disney announcing they were also giving their Splash Mountain rides a facelift ... with the OG animatronics also being called racist and perpetuating deep South tropes. They took care of that, and now ... this too.
Up next -- Peter Pan and their Native American robots. Just kidding ... maybe.