Ferry

I suspect the Jungle Cruise is the only ride in Disneyland inspired by a movie Disney didn’t make. It simulates an early twentieth-century river trip through Asia, South America and Africa aboard a tramp steamer like the one Humphrey Bogart piloted in African Queen. Harper Goff, the imagineer who designed the ride, showed construction workers where to dig his convoluted riverbed by dragging a stick through the sand in a recently demolished orange and walnut grove. He repurposed several of the ripped-out walnut trees by flipping them upside-down, hiding their roots with vines and calling them banyans. Walt had originally intended to display live animals in the Jungle Cruise, but was eventually convinced animatronics would be more cooperative. The “tour guides” are the real stars of the show. Their delivery of lines like: “Go ahead and take pictures; the elephants all have their trunks on,” can make or break the attraction.