10 Huge Walt Disney World 2019 Predictions
2. Dwayne Johnson Makeover For The Jungle Cruise
Back in April last year it was finally announced that a Jungle Cruise movie staring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in production. Just after the announcement was made, The Rock put the above post on Instagram and sneakily revealed that his team were working with Disney Imagineers "to help re-engineer and redesign the Jungle Cruise ride".
So, will this actually happen? In my opinion, it all depends on how well the movie does.
It's almost certainly true that Disney thinks about just how they can incorporate any movie into their theme parks when they are green lighting a project. So of course with a film like this, which is based off an attraction, they are going to consider just how to bring the movie into the ride.
If the movie bombs (which seems unlikely given The Rock's blockbuster record) then I doubt we'll see any changes. After all, why would they want to remind anyone about a failure?
On the other hand if the movie is a success then I think we can expect some subtle changes to the ride, similar to the inclusion of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. I doubt we'll get a full make over of the ride and that it'll suddenly become a crazy adventure through the Jungle. Perhaps there'll be a mention of the characters from the movie or a change in a joke or two.
As much as I love Jungle Cruise (I'm a sucker for the bad jokes) I'm cautiously ok with the ride getting a spruce. The one thing I'd hope they don't touch is the music loop in the queue, I honestly think it sets the ride up perfectly with the little jokes and music that's time period appropriate. But as much as I love it, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the one thing they did change, it would be easy to get The Rock to record a voice over for the queue area.
After Johnson posted this announcement to Instagram, Disney were quick to quietly say that this "re-design" wasn't happening. As Disney have in the past released details of new plans only to later scrap them (a.k.a the Spain Pavilion that appeared on advertisements but never built) this doesn't change my view.
If this film is a huge hit there will almost certainly be a nod to it in the ride.