Disney will update the “Jungle Cruise” ride, which was one of the first rides Disney World opened with in 1955.
The ride’s renovation will remove “negative depictions of native people” at both the Florida and California locations.
“It’s the Jungle Cruise you know and love, with the skippers still leading the way, and at the same time, we’re addressing the negative depictions of ‘natives.’ So that’s one of the scenes we’re going to go in and change,” said Disney’s Imagineer Chris Beatty.
The ride will include a storyline that will play off the characters who have chased up a pole by a rhino in the current iteration of the ride.
In recent years other attractions have been redesigned to, “reflect and value the diversity of the world around us.” The Pirates of the Caribbean ride scene was changed from a red-headed woman being auctioned off to goods being auctioned instead. And the Splash Mountain ride was revamped due to its origin being based on Disney’s controversial movie, “Song Of The South” which was banned for release in the United States.
Is Disney doing the right thing by revamping rides that depict people of color in a negative way or should the images remain as a reminder of how far we’ve come?
Jungle Cruise thumbnail from Getty Images