Disney stops Jungle Cruise captains from firing blanks at fake hippos

Associated Press, Posted September 4 2001, 9:48 AM EDT

Sun Sentinel

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Disneyland's eight-minute Jungle Cruise no longer has its khaki-wearing tour guide boat captains shooting at mechanical hippos that emerge with wiggling ears and open mouths from the river bottom.

"It's sad to see the tradition go," said former safari-hat-wearing skipper Mike DeForest, who once spent summer college breaks guiding visitors through the ride. "What's next, disarming the Pirates of the Caribbean?"

Well, the pirates are still armed, but a little more politically correct.

On March 7, 1997, the pirate ride was rededicated and reopened without a pirate who brandished a piece of lace in a boast about a sexual conquest.

Gone too is a woman who hid in mortal fear from drunken buccaneers. A swashbuckler still chases a woman, but she now carries a plate of food and drink.

Next door, a woman with a rolling pin chases a pirate who filched a ham.

But there's still a sign that says: "Take a wench for a bride."

The Jungle Cruise doesn't have skippers who reach for hand guns to fire a few blanks at the hippos. They don't even shoot into the air to scare them.

Changes were made this past spring and reported in Monday's Los Angeles Times. Curiously remaining are a gun-wielding gorilla and indigenous people carrying shrunken heads and apparently preparing to attack tourists.

"The fact of the matter is, we have to be responsive to what our guests tell us," said Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez. "At the end of the day, they come here to experience what they want to experience, not stuff they might find out of place or out of date. ... Anecdotes, jokes and actions that were funny or exciting then may not resonate now."

Other changes made to coincide with modern sensibilities include removal of violent video games after the deadly 1999 shooting at a Colorado school.

This year, souvenir muskets and antique-style guns, once a Frontierland staple, were yanked. In January, after a girl had part of a finger pulled off when it caught in a toy rifle on Tom Sawyer Island, the rifles were removed.

Parkgoer John Vallejo, 39, of Anaheim said the changes were ridiculous.

"It does nothing. It's caving in to pressure," he said.

But others liked the changes.

"That's better," said Karla Jervis, 35, of Ohio, who rode the Jungle Cruise for the first time. "I wouldn't have taken the kids on the ride if it had guns. I don't even buy toy guns."

Debbie Leahy, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also applauded Disney's changes.

"I don't think somebody would find it funny," Leahy said. "It's not humorous. It's really a form of animal cruelty.

Jamie O'Boyle, a Philadelphia-based cultural analyst who has studied Disneyland, said the changes are in tune with mainstream thinking.

"As society's views change, the social message changes," O'Boyle said. "New generations grow up with new ideas. This is the way society evolves its norms and Disney has to reflect that."

In six months, only 10 people have lodged formal complaints.

Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001

Answers

This is such a crock of BS. What if these kids have to defend themselves someday? Are they going to do it with lace?

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001