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Jungle Cruise will officially reopen in Disneyland on July 16.
CNN
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Disney has finally redone its Jungle Cruise ride after years of being criticized for the attraction’s controversial depictions of Indigenous people.
In January, the corporation announced it would rethink the classic Jungle Cruise ride, in which a skipper ferried visitors along a waterway while making jokes and funny comments. One of the sights visitors were taken past involved a scene featuring “natives,” depicted as primitive and threatening.
“As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspective of the world around us,” said Carmen Smith, creative development and inclusion strategies executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, in a statement at the time.
On July 16, the ride will open once more in Disneyland in California, while the updated version at Disney World in Florida will be completed later this summer, according to a news release from Disney.
The announcement comes ahead of the July 28 release of a “Jungle Cruise” film adaptation starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.
The new additions include both new scenes and new characters, such as a safari group stuck in a tree, the company said.
Courtesy Collection of Dave DeCaro, davelandweb.com
Welcome to Disneyland: Architectural historian and theme park fan Chris Nichols has written about Disneyland's origin story in new his new book "Walt Disney's Disneyland." Pictured here: The original Disneyland sign on Harbor Boulevard, which greeted guests from 1958 to 1989
Courtesy Collection of Dave DeCaro, davelandweb.com
Expert attraction: Nichols book describes how the park came together thanks to an array of experts. "We had this great confluence of people in the aerospace industry that knew how to build things and people in the movie industry that knew how to tell stories," Nichols tells CNN Travel. Pictured here: The Rainbow Ridge mining town.
Courtesy 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc
Records and archives: The Disney company offered Nichols access to the Disney records and Nichols dived head first into the scrapbooks and photo stories. Pictured here: Monstro the Whale, from Pinocchio, who guarded the entrance to the Storybook Land Canal Boats, 1956.
Courtesy 2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc
Historic perspective: Nichols was also able to chat to original "Imagineer" Bob Gerr. "He was working on [Disneyland] when it was in development now and that's astounding to have a perspective of someone that saw it go from an idea to a reality," says Nichols. Pictured here: Walt Disney describing his park on television in 1954.
Courtesy Disney
Insider look: The book includes behind-the-scenes information on how the park went from sketches to working attractions. Pictured here: the Rocket to the Moon and Astro-Jets attractions existed 14 years before the moon landing.
Courtesy Getty Images/AllanGrant/The LIFE Picture Collection
Incredible insight: Nichols also spoke to to Richard Sherman, the musical genius who, along with his brother Robert B. Sherman, soundtracked "Mary Poppins" and other Disney hits. Pictured here: Sleeping Beauty's Castle an iconic Disney landmark.
Courtesy Jordan Reichek Collection/Van Eaton Galleries
New-found appreciation: Nichols thinks the book will give readers a new-found appreciation for the artistry behind Disneyland. Pictured here: one of the original members of the WED Model Shop, Harriet Burns constructing the scale models for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction.
Courtesy Taschen
Labor of love: Nichols says researching and writing the book was a true labor of love. "I just wanted to go back again and again, it was like Christmas every day going through these collections and I just loved it. I'm hungry for it again, I want to go, I want to keep digging," he says.
Pictured here: Nichols book for Taschen: "Walt Disney's Disneyland."
Disney’s team wanted “bring a sense of inclusivity” to the ride, while also keeping it “classic,” said Chris Beatty, creative portfolio executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, in a video explaining the updates.
“We want to make sure that everyone that rides the Jungle Cruise can see themselves in the characters and in this experience,” he said.
The ride is just one of a few Disney attractions that have been called out for outdated racial depictions in recent years.
One of the most notable issues has been the well-known Splash Mountain ride, which featured characters from “Song of the South,” widely considered the studio’s most racist movie for its stereotypical portrayals of Black people in the antebellum South.
Last June, the company announced plans to revamp that ride, drawing from the 2009 film “The Princess and the Frog,” which featured Disney’s first animated Black princess.