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View Full Version : no more hippo shooting??



DonaldDuck14
07-30-2002, 08:07 PM
is it just me...or did disneyland removed the idea of the jungle cruise skipper shooting a cap gun at a plastic hippo? recently...i notice that the skippers i had didn't do that gun shot event..and i didn't see the fake gun on the boat either. did those animal activists work their complaining into disneyland now??? what happened. and i also kinda miss that one joke that went along with that....i can't stop laughing now after thinking about it.

Disneyfreak
07-30-2002, 08:09 PM
Yes unfortunately some people complained and they stopped doing that.
It takes only a few to ruin it for millions.

Uncle Dick
07-30-2002, 08:10 PM
The guns are gone (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2003).

Techie7
07-30-2002, 09:02 PM
It was a sad day when this happened.

MonorailMan
07-30-2002, 09:03 PM
A Skipper once said:

"I'd shoot the hippo, but I was forced to drop my gun in the river."

Not Afraid
07-30-2002, 09:22 PM
My all time favorite JC line - post guns is "Look at the Hippos, look at the hippos, 'cause that's all we can do is look at the hippos".

Nigel2
07-30-2002, 09:38 PM
Originally posted by DonaldDuck14
i didn't see the fake gun on the boat either.

Actually they are real guns, but I beleive they are altered like movie guns so that at the time they only fired "candy" rounds. Shameless Plug If you look in Mouse Tales it will mention info on the ride (or was it more mouse tales? I guess you should get both).... Yes, I have no shame. :D

Also, if you haven't noticed all the toy guns have been removed as well (not the shooting gallery though).

ChipmunkStar
07-30-2002, 10:23 PM
I think my favorite "new" Hippo Pool line would have to be:


Skipper (on mic): And now, if you listen closely, you can hear the baby hippo as he calls for his mother. . . Just listen. . .

Skipper (off mic, yelling into nowhere): HEY MA!!!!!!

Skipper (on mic): Ah yes, the beautiful sounds of nature. . . .

GREGOR
07-31-2002, 08:58 AM
Along the lines of not shooting hippos on the Jungle Cruise anymore, I recently ran across this article:

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/news/response.cfm?ID=643

It makes some good points but make sure you read the responses too. They also make some good points.

Ghoulish Delight
07-31-2002, 09:35 AM
From the above article:

Surely Indy co-creator Steven Spielberg, director of "Schindler’s List," would never agree to this. Ha! This is the director who re-edited his hit movie such that law enforcement officers were chasing a fugitive alien being they felt was a threat to national and world security...with flashlights!

Bill Catherall
07-31-2002, 09:40 AM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
...with flashlights!
Walky-talkies, actually. :D

With all the complaining about PC'ifying the Jungle Cruise, I think it actually came down to the noise of the guns in close proximity to DTD. If it was indeed a case of "animal rights" then I say "Thhhppbpbb" to that. ;)

Andrew
07-31-2002, 09:50 AM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
From the above article:
Ha! This is the director who re-edited his hit movie such that law enforcement officers were chasing a fugitive alien being they felt was a threat to national and world security...with flashlights!

You saw that South Park episode too, huh? There were so many in-jokes there it was hard to keep up!

Ghoulish Delight
07-31-2002, 10:06 AM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall

Walky-talkies, actually. :D

With all the complaining about PC'ifying the Jungle Cruise, I think it actually came down to the noise of the guns in close proximity to DTD. If it was indeed a case of "animal rights" then I say "Thhhppbpbb" to that. ;) The story we were given by a CM (not that THAT guarantees accuracy) is that after a bunch of accidents (they disappeared just after the Roger Rabbit incident and the accident on TSI where the girl lost a finger), state safety inspectors decided to crack down. And, according to this guy, they took exception to the fact that it was a real gun, even though the muzzle was capped and they shoot blanks. Not sure I believe it, but it's at least plausible.

Uncle Dick
07-31-2002, 10:36 AM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall
With all the complaining about PC'ifying the Jungle Cruise, I think it actually came down to the noise of the guns in close proximity to DTD.
I'm sure the guns were nowhere near as noisy as the fireworks from "Believe" and "Fantasmic".

Bill Catherall
07-31-2002, 10:43 AM
Originally posted by Uncle Dick
I'm sure the guns were nowhere near as noisy as the fireworks from "Believe" and "Fantasmic".
I'm not talking about noise polution. I'm talking about the sound of firearms as you are leisurely strolling down DTD. How would you (well...maybe not YOU...but an unsuspecting tourist) react to sudden sounds of gunfire in an outdoor mall? (For the most part, guns don't sound like they do in many movies...they sound exactly like the "caps" used in the Jungle Cruise. Especially at a long distance.)

Uncle Dick
07-31-2002, 10:51 AM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall

I'm not talking about noise polution. I'm talking about the sound of firearms as you are leisurly strolling down DTD. How would you react (well...maybe not YOU...but an unsuspecting tourist) to sudden sounds of gunfire in an outdoor mall? (For the most part, guns don't sound like they do in many movies...they sound exactly like the "caps" used in the Jungle Cruise. Especially at a long distance.)
I've always thought that fireworks sounded an awful lot like gunfire. Besides, how far does the sound from the Jungle Cruise pop guns really carry? Are guests eating at the ESPN Zone going to hear it? Isn't that where all the action is late at night when gun shots might be a concern? I don't buy it. Disney's desire to remove all gun-related materials from its parks sounds like a more plausible explanation. Remember, WDW has had its guns removed, too. No DtD nearby to justify that one.

Frees
07-31-2002, 10:59 AM
Yeah, the times have really changed.

I first trained on the Jungle Cruise in '94 and at that time, we just weren't allowed to shoot AT the hippos. We had to point the gun in the air in an effort to scare them off. The reason we were given? It wasn't PC to shoot AT them anymore.

No mention of stray bullets taking out other wildlife or, God forbid, one of the natives when the bullets came back down to earth...

The guns were also used as signals if something were to happen while you were on the course like, oh say... derailing the boat...

A few months ago, I spoke with a skipper on a boat with a light load (who happened to be a woman; another change from when I was there) and she told me that the boats could no longer be derailed...

Where's the fun?

Nigel2
07-31-2002, 11:23 AM
Originally posted by Uncle Dick

I've always thought that fireworks sounded an awful lot like gunfire. Besides, how far does the sound from the Jungle Cruise pop guns really carry? Are guests eating at the ESPN Zone going to hear it? Isn't that where all the action is late at night when gun shots might be a concern? I don't buy it. Disney's desire to remove all gun-related materials from its parks sounds like a more plausible explanation. Remember, WDW has had its guns removed, too. No DtD nearby to justify that one.

Basically they can be heard by guests near the main enterance on the left, especially after the tunnel, and most of all in that Guided Tours garden. Also you can hear it on the train. I am surprised they didnt keep the guns and just have them use "silencers". Sure they probably don't exist for guns like that but who knows?:D

Allysen1Derland
07-31-2002, 02:04 PM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
The story we were given by a CM (not that THAT guarantees accuracy) is that after a bunch of accidents (they disappeared just after the Roger Rabbit incident and the accident on TSI where the girl lost a finger), state safety inspectors decided to crack down. And, according to this guy, they took exception to the fact that it was a real gun, even though the muzzle was capped and they shoot blanks. Not sure I believe it, but it's at least plausible.

Whew! If that's really the case, then I can deal!
However.......
if it was one more case of invidious "p.c." behavior, I would break down and weep (it really upsets me that much!) because I am so tired of peoples inordinate sensitivities! Not to say that there aren't examples where a little p.c. behavior is called for (because there certainly are!), but not in the Jungle Cruise's case ( or Pirate's, for that matter! I still really have an axe to grind on that one! ). I mean, if you really want to get down to brass tax, Disney did an incredible job of making those pirates look fun-lovin' before the renovation! Do these very same people take into consideration that POTC is just a wonderfully fun "meant-to-be-taken lightly" attraction? It's not a 100% precise boat ride through history. No one would want to see that horror! C'mon! All pirates are baddies! Except the Pittsburgh Pirates, but that's a whole different theme there! :D
And maybe I'm crazy, but what I find the most disturbing is that in their quest to make the whole world p.c., these same people (the extremists, mind you!) are desperately unaware of the history that preceded them. When you forget history, you tend to repeat it. And that's a really frightening thought!

Okay, I'm done preaching! Back to your regularly scheduled thread.....(I'm sorry- we were talking about Jungle Cruise, right?)

AnimeNut
07-31-2002, 02:16 PM
Okay, I don't know the exact dates on which each change occurred, but here's the evolution of Jungle Cruise, as gathered by excessive viewage of Vault Disney and my own experiences on this wacky attraction.

In the beginning, the final hippo in this section of the ride actually charged the boat. It basically looked like a Hungry Hungry Hippo, except that the whole body moved - not just the head and neck. The skipper fired the gun at the hippo, which then stopped and submerged.

Then, the charging hippo was replaced by a stationary hippo that only moved its jaws and ears. This may be the same hippo, but I'm not sure. The skipped aimed the gun into the sky and fired to scare away the hippo.

Finally, the gun was completely removed from the attraction. The hippos are no longer a threat. All we are left to do during this now-docile section of the ride is glance around the boat and ogle hot guests who don't know you're staring at their low-cut outfits...

Ahem, what I meant to say was, all we are left to do is sit back and enjoy the cruise... the jungle cruise. Oh yeah.

Cheers,
Anime Nut