While Disney fans have known for a while that the Jungle Cruise was getting an overhaul, a new announcement came in mid March of 2021 that had some fans voicing concern and others just excited to see more of a story being developed for the beloved ride. Although Walt had always intended for Disney Parks to never be finished, many fans out there wish that some classic rides would just stay the same. However, that’s truly not the Disney way, so it should never be totally surprising when even an old favorite gets a facelift.
In the case of the Jungle Cruise, there were certain things that it was known for, like the Skippers’ punny jokes. But, altogether, one thing that was different about the ride from other classics, like Splash Mountain, was that it never had one exact story. We know that we’re on a riverboat, courtesy of a fictitious tour company, but other than that, there wasn’t a beginning, middle, and end to it the way that there’s exposition, climax, and denouement in Splash Mountain. Jungle Cruise could be called more similar to the old version of Pirates of the Caribbean, before the story of Jack Sparrow was added.
Over the years, Disney rides have moved strongly toward the Splash Mountain model and further away from the old Pirates’ model. With Disney aiming for full immersion in their parks, it’s logical to think that a story versus a tour would be more immersive, as you fall in love with more characters and their tales. In the case of Jungle Cruise, the only real character we get is the Skipper, and he’s not a part of the story as much as he is an accessory. Much like how The Great Movie Ride’s tour guides were not really a part of the movies, the Skippers aren’t really a part of the Jungle Cruise’s tale.
Soon, though, we’ll see a different Jungle Cruise, and, while the puns will still be there, so too will characters who will help make the tour company feel more real, with deeper exposition and, hopefully, a stronger narrative. Disney Parks Blog recently introduced Alberta Falls to fans of the ride, who is the granddaughter of Dr. Albert Falls, as the proprietor of the tour company in charge of Jungle Cruise, Jungle Navigation Company Ltd. In the announcement post, there’s an interview with Alberta Falls in The Daily Gnus, which contains some cute tidbits about Alberta. We learn that she’s the owner, manager, bookkeeper, and head mechanic of Jungle Navigation Company, but we also get some deeper backstory that’s never really been apparent on the Jungle Cruise before. Alberta’s grandfather has long been missing, and she has long been looking for him. There’s also some hints about Alberta’s parents, Sneh and Albert Jr., and Alberta’s claim that their love story is one for another day seems to lend itself the idea that “another day” may mean when the ride is officially reopened with its redesign.
But neither Alberta nor Albert are actually new to Disney Parks’ lore.
While West Coasters may not have a Skipper Canteen in their neck of the woods, Magic Kingdom has been home to the restaurant, also located in Adventureland, since 2015. And, since then, Disney has been working on building the lore for Jungle Cruise. To some, the new changes to Jungle Cruise are exactly that — new. But to others, we’re instead seeing characters who have already been created get more time in the spotlight.
Dr. Albert Falls may have been familiar to Jungle Cruise fans before but Skipper Canteen is what built out Alberta’s backstory. The restaurant’s story claims that Alberta, needing to supplement some income for Jungle Navigation Company, turned the headquarters into a canteen. Visitors to the Skipper Canteen may recall seeing a number of Alberta Falls’ awards on display across its three dining rooms. Additionally, a somewhat friendly letter is fixed to the restaurant’s menus, serving as an even better way to introduce the character who, according to the backstory of the Jungle Navigation Company, has been around for a lot longer than some would have believed. We find in this letter that Alberta is a bit blunt, and she’s also got the same punny style that the Skippers (and servers at the restaurant) are known for, which makes sense considering that she was partially raised by them. She started living with her grandfather, grandmother, and the Skippers when she was just 8 years old. Also in the Skipper Canteen is an expressionist painting of the adventurer, showing that she’s perhaps a bit zanier than her older counterpart, as Albert also has a painting in the restaurant, but it’s far more realistic and formal.
Not only did the restaurant further introduce Alberta, but a game, Jungle Cruise: Adventure Game, also gave more personality to the character, as she leads the game as the owner of the Jungle Navigation Company looking for someone to take over for a bit while she heads on sabbatical.
The decision to introduce Alberta as a more established character on the Jungle Cruise itself has been a long time coming, and, beyond Alberta, also gives the ride a more thorough backstory ingrained in the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, to which Dr. Albert Falls belonged.
A number of rides throughout the Disney Parks are a part of this growing club, which was introduced to Disney in 2001 over in Tokyo DisneySea. Fortress Explorations is a walkthrough attraction which asks explorers to solve puzzles to become a part of the club. According to Fortress Explorations, the group’s members “are dedicated to the gathering of newfound knowledge.” The nearby Magellan’s restaurant was established as the club’s meeting place, and DisneySea’s Tower of Terror lost its Twilight Zone theme in favor of one introducing Society of Explorers and Adventurers’ member Harrison Hightower III, who disappeared after collecting the cursed Shiriki Utundu statue.
In 2013, the society made its way to Hong Kong Disneyland. While Mystic Manor is often considered the park’s Haunted Mansion counterpart, that’s not really true. Instead, Mystic Manor is focused on Lord Henry Mystic and his monkey Albert. Mystic is introduced as a part of the society, and a painting of its members hangs in the ride’s queue. The Explorer’s Club restaurant also contains a number of artifacts that are supposedly collected by Mystic.
Disney Cruise Line also introduced S.E.A. member Mary Oceaneer, of the Oceaneer Lab fame, the exploration and play zone that many kids take part in on their cruises. The same painting in Mystic Manor hangs in the Oceaneer Lab.
And if you’re thinking that the Skipper Canteen is the first time S.E.A. is firmly established in Walt Disney World, you’d be missing Big Thunder Mountain’s 2013 refurbishment, which retconned the ride’s backstory to introduce mine owner Barnabas T. Bullion and inventor Jason Chandler, both members of the S.E.A. The ride’s story was further explained in the 2015 companion comic by Marvel, which shows that not all members of the S.E.A. do the right thing, just like how Hightower’s ill-gotten collection often makes him labeled a villain instead of a hero. In the comics, we see that Barnabas intends to shelter his daughter, Abigail, from the world, which results in her fighting back by robbing her father’s mine as a masked bandit. While we’ve now been introduced to Albert’s extended family, we’ve already met Barnabas’s family as well. Perhaps we’ll be seeing more of Abigail in the parks just like we’ll be seeing more of Alberta.
Not a part of the parks but still a part of Walt Disney World, Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs reveals that Jock, who appears at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark, was a member of the S.E.A. as well. In a sense, this shows that the S.E.A. has been a part of Disney lore since 1981.
And over in Typhoon Lagoon, there’s Miss Adventure Falls, which continues Mary Oceaneer’s story and gives us an animatronic version of her pet parrot Duncan.
We may soon see these characters further developed outside of the Disney Parks.
So, if all these characters have been around for a while, why then does Alberta Falls’ story in the Jungle Cruise matter so much? Well, the news comes on the heels of an exclusive by The Hollywood Reporter that reveals that a media universe built around the Society of Explorers and Adventurers may be heading our way. According to the outlet’s report, For All Mankind creator Ron Moore is working on a franchise for Disney Plus set in the Magic Kingdom, seemingly more specifically in Adventureland to start.
The first product is The Society of Explorers and Adventurers, which may expand the society further by focusing on characters that already exist in the society’s lore, like Albert and Barnabas. At the moment, Moore is already working on his rumored eight-figure deal with Disney to develop content by focusing on the Disney Plus series Swiss Family Robinson with Crazy Rich Asians‘ Jon M. Chu. The Society of Explorers and Adventurers appears to be the first in the Magic Kingdom Universe, though, a new Disney universe a la the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While the introduction to Alberta’s character on the Jungle Cruise may be getting a lot of attention because she appears to be woman of color, fitting into Disney’s diversity initiatives, what’s being overlooked as that her introduction may actually be serving as a bridge to the new Magic Kingdom Universe. Many might have noticed that her Daily Gnus article started and stopped a number of stories, like the story she started about her parents before saying that it was a story for another day. Could that other day be the unveiling of the new Jungle Cruise? Perhaps. Or it could be a story told for The Society of Explorers and Adventurers. There are a number of stories started for the lore of the society throughout the parks, like the story of Albert’s disappearance or what really became of Mary after she was beached at Miss Adventure Falls. These tales seem perfectly primed for episodes of the upcoming show, and we may soon be hearing more stories courtesy of Alberta’s more prominent inclusion in the Jungle Cruise.
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