Saturday, June 03, 2006

Jungle River Cruise Exit Area

This is what a visitor would have seen when exiting the World Famous Jungle River Cruise in the early 1960s. The architecture of the load building was a lot more open than now and the second floor observation dock was also a great touch. I like the theming of the barrels and the large fish trap. I am assuming the bright red sign with the number 7 on it means there were 7 boats out on the ride. Even though the current theming is nice, I think the vintage theming is a bit more authentic and with more depth than now. There is a whole theory about theming and immersive environments that allow suspension of disbelief and increases the believability of the unbelievable. The Jungle Cruise at this time was one of the shining examples of this theory.

1 comment:

Major Pepperidge said...

At some point that "Adventureland" sign was changed to "Jungle Cruise"...though I just noticed that the B-1 postcard does show it with the Adventureland sign. The stacks of barrels and other stuff reminds me of the boxes and bales that were on the loading dock for the Mark Twain.