True-Life Adventureland
True-Life Adventureland

Is there a better piece of Disney graphic art than the Jungle River poster? Not only is it absolutely great-looking in its own right, but it showcases something practically unheard of in today's Disney parks. Take a look at the boat skipper. In case he's a little too small to make out, that's no Disney character. It's a mean-looking guy. You ask him what time Fantasmic starts or how your kid can get her picture taken with Ariel and he'll just scowl. How great is that?

I guess what I really mean is, "how refreshing." Kevin Yee and others have already written at length about the migration of Disney cartoon characters from Fantasyland to the farther reaches of the parks; the guy in this poster--indeed, the very idea of this poster--is one of the casualties. It was never accurate to call Disneyland "real," but it at least used to play off something besides the latest Disney/Pixar movie release. It was more willing to pull concepts from American history, culture, childhood fantasies. It wasn't all about "ride the movies." I know why the change has taken place, I respect the decisions behind doing it that way...but it's hard not to feel nostalgic for the way it was.

When Disneyland was in its formative stages, Walt Disney planned an area where the studio's True-Life Adventure series of nature films could be played out right in front of the park visitors. The term "True-Life" was eventually dropped from "True-Life Adventureland," I suspect for brevity more than a change in focus (the very true-life-ish Jungle Cruise was still the centerpiece of the land.) That's where the name of this blog--"True-Life Adventureland"--came from, a concept that I think has now become completely antiquated. The idea that something in today's Disneyland could even in the slightest sense be playing off of "true life" rather than corporate synergy is gone, at least temporarily, and I miss it.