Walt Disney World has made a massive change to its Jungle Cruise ride already — and it has to do with Trader Sam.
Jungle Cruise riders will remember the Trader Sam animatronic character at the end of the ride. But Trader Sam has now been removed from the adventure. Instead, Disney has replaced Trader Sam’s animatronic with his own gift shop, which will appear at the finale of the ride.
According to Disney Parks, the Trader Sam character will manage a new “Lost $ Found” store, which will be shown in the ride’s finale scene.
- “Clearly, Sam is betting on an established reputation as the best merchant in the jungle! But, while he’s out lost and finding some new inventory, it’s the animals that get the last laugh,” according to Disney Parks.
Disney shared a new rendering for the ride, which you can see below.
A look at Trader Sam’s new gift shop.
Disney Parks blog
Changes to ‘Jungle Cruise’
In January, Disney said it would upgrade the Jungle Cruise ride to address and fix “negative depictions” of cultures, as I wrote for the Deseret News. The ride previously was criticized for racist connotations. Disney said it planned to upgrade the ride to “reflect and value the diversity of the world around us,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
- “Imagineers are constantly looking for opportunities to enhance experiences, and when it comes to updating classic attractions, they employ a very careful and thoughtful approach,” Disney officials said in a statement, according to The Orange County Register. “In this particular case, Imagineers created a storyline that builds upon what people love the most while addressing negative depictions simultaneously.”
The changes to Jungle Cruise were announced after Disney said it would retheme Splash Mountain to focus on characters from “The Princess and the Frog” instead of “Song of the South.”