Taking a Movie for a Ride

By C.J. Hirschfield

It was just announced that megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will star in a new Disney live-action movie based on Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise ride. A script is currently in the works. The attraction, which has operated since the park’s opening in 1955, and which simulates a riverboat cruise down several major rivers of Asia, Africa, and South America, features jungles filled with “dangerous” Audio-Animatronic animals and reptiles, and a skipper who fires his gun to scare off a rogue hippo. (The original plan for the ride was to use real animals, but the animals would have been sleeping during the day.)

Entrance to Disneyland's Jungle Cruise ride.

This isn’t the first time that a Disneyland ride has morphed into a film. Just look at the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which was catapulted to worldwide success by the star power of Johnny Depp. The ride’s story line, such as it is, includes women being chased by drunken crew members, and brides being auctioned – plot points that were part of the original ride but have since been eliminated.

A tableau in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Disney has also transformed park attractions into lesser-known and less popular movies such as The Country Bears, The Haunted Mansion, Mission to Mars, and Tomorrowland.

The marriage of film and rides is lucrative, although these days, it's far more likely that the adaptation will go in the other direction, with successful films turned into rides. At Disneyland, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy ride -- based on the film franchise of the same name -- has replaced to Tower of Terror. Six Flags features Batman, while Universal has gone all Harry Potter on us. At Disneyland Hollywood Studios, Star Wars Land is in the works.

It’s interesting to note that in what’s known as real life, two well-known entertainment stars began their careers playing the role of the skipper on Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise ride: John Lasseter, the chief creative officer of Emeryville’s Pixar Animation Studios; and actor Kevin Costner. A previous attempt to adapt the ride to film, in 2011, was to have starred Oakland’s own Tom Hanks.

So I’ve been thinking.

Walt Disney was inspired by his visit to Fairyland in 1950 to create Disneyland five years later. He hired our first executive director and puppeteer, who worked for him in Anaheim for many years. Our histories are forever linked.

What’s more, Tom Hanks has connections to Fairyland. His classmate and dear friend John Gilkerson, whom he mentioned in his 1993 Academy Award acceptance speech, was a former Fairyland “Personality” and puppeteer.

Here’s my idea, designed to help fund the operations of our nonprofit park: turn our beloved Jolly Trolly ride into a film starring Tom Hanks.

"Toonerville Folks" postage stamp, 1995.

Don’t laugh! We could get Skyline High alumni to contact Tom and urge him to get on board (pun intended).

And once big star Tom’s signed on, studios will be interested.

Our ride, which made its debut in 1955, was based not on a film but on a popular comic strip at the time: “Toonerville Folks.” The Trolly currently takes riders through a crystal-laden tunnel, and past our Old West Junction set. Imagine the possibilities for the script! Tom Hanks has already shown he can rock a cowboy character—I give you Woody from “Toy Story.” Just think of the merchandise sales!

Fairyland's Jolly Trolly circa 1955. It's still making the rounds.

What do you think?

Yes, movies to rides; rides to movies; it gets complicated. In fact, the designer of Disneyland’s Jungle Book ride cited a movie as one of his main sources of inspiration: “The African Queen.”

What goes around, rides around.

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 15 years as executive director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation’s first storybook theme park.