In honor of the recent release of Lou Mongello’s Audio Guide to Walt Disney World: Adventureland, I thought it would be fun to discuss what I feel is my favorite attraction in Adventureland.
There are a few attractions in Adventureland that conjur of childhood memories of fun and excitement and I bet for many of you when you hear the word Adventureland you immediately think Pirates of the Caribbean, Dole Whips, or the Tiki Room. Some of you may think JUNGLE CRUISE!
As you may have determined, the Jungle Cruise is my personal favorite. The Jungle Cruise was Walt’s Tribute to his Real Life Adventures shows on TV but was realized in an audio-animatronic world.
What many of you may not know is that it’s my favorite not for the presentation as devised by the Walt Disney Imagineers but due to the “plussing” that was done to it by one of my friends and fellow Disney Geek, Tim Devine.
I was introduced to the “Hi-O Cruise” (aka The Ed McMahan Cruise aka The Heckle Cruise) back at MouseFest 2007.
I’m sure my readers are all aware that one of the facets of the attraction is the really bad jokes that our Skippers 
tell as we cruise through the many rivers of the world.
Well, what always amazed me is the the guests just sit there not making a sound as these jokes are delivered in their usual serious and deadpan manner. It’s almost as if the guests were just tuning them out since they’ve heard the joke a million times.
What Tim Devine introduced me to was a good natured ribbing that we’d give the skippers. At first, we randomly, but in unison give out a big-ole "Hi-O" whenever one of the lame jokes is delivered. As the cruise goes on, they get more frequent.
It never fails, half-way through the cruise, we can get half to all of the boat participating. Sometimes we'll shout out the punchlines (BACKSIDE OF WATER) as a group much as fanatics of the Rocky Horror Picture Show do when at a midnight showing of that Tim Curry cult classic.
Of all the times, I have participated in this "event", the Skippers were into it just as much as we were. In one or two cases, I swear the Skippers decided it was time to bring out their "A" game and increased the lameness factor of the jokes. At this point, we'd sometimes not respond and remain dead silent in the manner in which they are used to their guest behaving. This would often get a response of, "Not bad enough for you" and the jokes get worse and worse.
Now, I know some of you may be yelling at me from your computer screens saying things along the lines of how irreverent we are for doing this.
Trust me, this is all done in good fun. We would never dare heckle a comedian at a comedy club because we know they are trying hard to be GOOD. The Skippers are paid to be bad.
Secondly, the poor Jungle Cruise Skippers are stuck going around a circuit all day long delivering the same spiel over and over again to a bunch of people who just look around and say nothing. It is of our opinion that we are adding a little something to their day. A little spice so-to-speak.
Also, when we get the rare skipper that seems to be annoyed by our actions, we cease. We aren't there to make their day worse, but we want to see them smile.
The best response to date was the skipper who announced, "I see you all are from Ohio....go Buckeyes!"....LOL
Very few attractions give us the opportunity to participate. The Adventurer's Club is walking the Green Mile. Buzz Lightyear and Midway Mania are games. The Country Bears lets us sing along. But, we have found a way to let the cast members know we are listening, enjoying ourselves and hopefully that we care.
So what is your favorite attraction in Adventureland? If you have your own blog, write about it and post a link in the comments to it’s location. If you aren’t a blogger, tell us about it in the comments.
Now I come to the most dangerous part of the journey, wrapping up the post. If you enjoyed this post my name is Grumwurst McGrumps-A-Lot and this is Grumpy's Hollow.
If not, my name is George Taylor and this is Imaginerding.
Here are some pictures I have taken:
Jungle Cruise (Disneyland)
Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney World)
And here are some of Tim Devine's pics
Jungle Cruise Gallery
MagicMeets an exciting new venture that is sure the please the Disney Fans around the world.
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