Anyone Game? 2 Castles and a Road Trip TR! Last Day and TR Wrap Up! #2796; 10/01

[Luvchefmic]

Photobabble of a daytime parade?



I hadn't thought about photobabbling around the parade. Do you think it warrants it?

N O

 

[PrincessInOz]

N O

Glad that you and I are in complete agreement on this one.

 

[Luvchefmic]

 

[PrincessInOz]

The now Extinct Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade



I am officially in mourning. Probably my favourite daylight parade at WDW closed at the end of May 2014. This daily afternoon parade has run at AK since October 2001 and the combination of safari gear, animal puppets, brightly coloured floats and friendly cast members has always held a very special place in my heart. I love everything about this parade.
Even though I don't travel to WDW all that often, there has always been the hope that I would be able to see this parade again. Now all hope is gone.


Way back in October 2013, I had no idea that this would be the last time I would see this parade. Thank goodness we had a bird's eye view.







So....here are my pictures from this parade. I know I took a picture of every float in this parade. I didn't quite get every cast member but I did get every float.

I hope you'll let me indulge in the trip down memory lane and recreating this now extinct parade through this set of pictures and enjoy it along the way.







The start of the parade is appropriately opened by Baloo and King Louie.







I really love the Jungle Book. The music in this movie is so up-beat and I just love the animal characters in the movie. It's just perfect to include them in this parade.






This parade consisted of over 60 cast members aka Party Patrol. All of them exuding high energy! It is their jobs to keep the audience gee'd up and engaged. They didn't have much to do in the section I was sitting in. Everyone around me was like me.....happy to be here and watching it.







For this parade, up to 25 guests are randomly selected to have a front row view and be part of the parade. Lucky them!







That guest family gets to ride in the front of the opening vehicle, the Adventure Rover. It carries Rafiki. And in this case, "It DOES matter. Sadly, MJJP is in the past."







It's the animal inspired puppets/floats that I love the most.







So colourful! There are 8 animal puppets in total. It is seems that there is a familiar touch about the puppets, that's because they were designed by Michael Curry Designs, which created the puppets for Disney's "The Lion King" on Broadway.







I did say that I captured every float, didn't I?












These rickshaws are also brilliant.








So cool!







Between the animal puppets and the rickshaw floats, you can tend to miss the characters.







Not me on this trip! Our position was perfect for shooting and slapping character hands.







This jeep painted with red and white polka dots can only belong to Minnie.







It has everything on/in it except the kitchen sink!







What the pictures cannot convey is the music for this parade. It just gets you bopping along.







There were a number of floats with drums on them. I know DH would have loved to have gotten into one of these.















How cool would it be to be part of this parade?








I love the colour of this float.









Party Patrol! Like I said, this section of the parade didn't need much work on their part.








I think I've already had some discussion about whether Song of the South will ever come out of the Disney vault earlier in this TR. There is no denying the appeal of Brer Rabbit!








As long as Disney keep them alive by including Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear in their parades, we will continue to want to see them on the screen again.








(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Goofy's jeep and float with a range of random items.







Goofy looks great in Safari clothes!







Right to the very end. Wonderful details. I wonder if that BBQ ever catches on fire? We'll never know. It's been snuffed out now.







It is such a fresh colour palate used in this parade.








It may not be as vibrant as what you'd expect to see out of Africa and I suspect the pantones have all be toned down somewhat; but this parade has always been one of the more colourful ones in the Disney stable.







Have you been looking at the costumes on display? They sure match the floats.









Designed by Matt Davidson, the prototypes for the costumes were crafted in Africa by native artisan. They really did do a great job with them.







Behind the lion inspired rickshaw, we have Timon.








It's been a while since I've seen Terk! Just like Jungle Book, the Tarzan characters really fit in with this parade.













Donald's jeep was so much fun!








Everything nautical. Pass the Dramamine.







I wasn't kidding. I really did capture every float.
















At the time, I did wonder about taking all these pictures and how I was ever going to cull them down to an appropriate number to share.







I'm so glad that I did now. It means that I can share them all and keep enjoying this parade in my mind's eye.







Shake my hand, Pluto!






I think these are the last of the 10 stiltwalkers in the parade.







The final jeep belongs to Mickey. There's another lucky family in the front.








And my main squeeze.









RIP and Vale Mickey’s Jammin' Jungle Parade. I will miss you.

 

[Luvchefmic]

sigh... if we knew back in Oct what we know now ( about so many things ) I would have moved heaven and earth to join you that day at AK We could have watched it together I was counting on you having awesome and numerous pictures Thank You

 

[PrincessInOz]

sigh... if we knew back in Oct what we know now ( about so many things ) I would have moved heaven and earth to join you that day at AK We could have watched it together I was counting on you having awesome and numerous pictures Thank You

Avatarland had better live up to the hype and it had better put in some parades and something to fill in the nighttime (no fireworks, I get that....but they can do something like World of Colour with water, sound and light!)

Or the bulk of my tourist dollars will be spent on the Dark Side.

 

[ACDSNY]

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane with the Jungle parade. It's been a long time since I've seen it.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Avatarland had better live up to the hype and it had better put in some parades and something to fill in the nighttime (no fireworks, I get that....but they can do something like World of Colour with water, sound and light!)

Or the bulk of my tourist dollars will be spent on the Dark Side.

I am trying so very very hard to keep an open mind on what is happening to the beloved AK Honestly though it is closing more and more as time goes by

I didn't even know what Avatar was until all the plans started I bought the DVD on eBay about 6 months ago and had mixed feelings while watching it and then felt like it is very forgettable If there's another movie I don't know I can't get interested enough to find out or track it down

I would have been happier with a Dr Doolittle land and those imaginary animals the Push me Pull me, the Giant snail, etc I could think of 1,000s of things they could do with it Merchandising would have been easy too As someone said on another thread what the heck will they sell re-Avatarland most of the stars are pretty much naked !


Supposedly, the animal caretakers claim this night life aspect of the park will not effect the animals I'm not buying it While I'm certainly not a Vet I've been around enough animals to see them react to things long before we are aware of it Things they sense or feel through their paws, feathers, scales, etc

Alright off the soapbox, but I will be joining you on the dark side in the future

 

[SunDial]

Photobabble of a daytime parade?



I hadn't thought about photobabbling around the parade. Do you think it warrants it?

N O

Glad that you and I are in complete agreement on this one.

WOW

 

[Luvchefmic]

WOW

we love you but you will never win when we join forces

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW

we love you but you will never win when we join forces

(Seriously! You DON'T really need tips on how to photograph a daytime parade, do you???? In a pinch. Set in Automatic.....point......aim......and shoot....... )

 

[mvf-m11c]

It has been a long time since I have seen Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade and sad to see it go. It was a nice parade at AK and it is sad to see it go. Very nice pictures from the parade.

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm so sad that I will never get to experience this parade Are they replacing it with another parade, or just removing the parade altogether?

I guess by 2017 Avatarland might be up and running. I might have to make an effort to see the movie before I go I don't know though, all these things that I just don't associate with Disney seem to be taking up more and more valuable real estate - Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar... I don't mind Pixar as that is such a similar type of entertainment, but the others seem out of place to me. Personally I think all those franchises belong together in a separate park, which I just wouldn't bother going to

 

[tiggrbaby]

Wonderful parade pics! It is very sad that they have eliminated this parade.

 

[Pinkocto]

Thank you for all the photos, lots of melancholy scrolling through them. It really was such a unique and fabulous parade. Glad you took so many photos

 

[MarbleBob]

I never took the time to see Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Now that I've seen your photos, I'm sort of bummed out that chose to skip it in the past.

 

[jedijill]

I'm not a parade person but MJJ parade was my second favorite (the Christmas themed MJJ parade is #1!). I"m sad to see it go.

I'm very upset about the whole AvatarLand. I think its an awful idea based on a terrible movie. The money could have been invested in Carsland or Star Wars Land.

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

I am trying so very very hard to keep an open mind on what is happening to the beloved AK Honestly though it is closing more and more as time goes by

I didn't even know what Avatar was until all the plans started I bought the DVD on eBay about 6 months ago and had mixed feelings while watching it and then felt like it is very forgettable If there's another movie I don't know I can't get interested enough to find out or track it down

I would have been happier with a Dr Doolittle land and those imaginary animals the Push me Pull me, the Giant snail, etc I could think of 1,000s of things they could do with it Merchandising would have been easy too As someone said on another thread what the heck will they sell re-Avatarland most of the stars are pretty much naked !


Supposedly, the animal caretakers claim this night life aspect of the park will not effect the animals I'm not buying it While I'm certainly not a Vet I've been around enough animals to see them react to things long before we are aware of it Things they sense or feel through their paws, feathers, scales, etc

Alright off the soapbox, but I will be joining you on the dark side in the future

I'm going to wait to see what the Imagineers come up with first. DH loves Avatar and I guess there must be a demographics in the population that just love Avatar. But I'm not one of them.....yet.

Avatar 2 is due out in 2016. We'll see how it all pans out after that.

Perhaps the night time activities can be confined to the new section of the park; without real animals. I'm with you....the fireworks and loud noises are pretty distressing to my pets at home. I can only imagine that the wild animals will feel even worse about it all.

It has been a long time since I have seen Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade and sad to see it go. It was a nice parade at AK and it is sad to see it go. Very nice pictures from the parade.

Thanks Bret. I do understand that things change and that we need to see fresh stuff. I'm just sad to see a favourite go.

I'm so sad that I will never get to experience this parade Are they replacing it with another parade, or just removing the parade altogether?

I guess by 2017 Avatarland might be up and running. I might have to make an effort to see the movie before I go I don't know though, all these things that I just don't associate with Disney seem to be taking up more and more valuable real estate - Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar... I don't mind Pixar as that is such a similar type of entertainment, but the others seem out of place to me. Personally I think all those franchises belong together in a separate park, which I just wouldn't bother going to

The parade had to go because Disney are going to start construction in that part of the park and there won't be a route for the parade to follow....at least that's what Disney claim.

There are no plans for replacing the parade. Who knows with Disney?

Wonderful parade pics! It is very sad that they have eliminated this parade.

I'm just glad that I took the opportunity to catch this parade and to have a set of pictures in my collection.

Thank you for all the photos, lots of melancholy scrolling through them. It really was such a unique and fabulous parade. Glad you took so many photos

I'm glad I took the photos too. If I knew it was disappearing then, I would have staked out a different spot and gotten more!

I never took the time to see Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Now that I've seen your photos, I'm sort of bummed out that chose to skip it in the past.

That's a shame, Bob. I think this is one of the most colourful daytime parades in Disney's line-up. There's just so much to see and do at WDW that it's easy to overlook so many attractions.

I'm not a parade person but MJJ parade was my second favorite (the Christmas themed MJJ parade is #1!). I"m sad to see it go.

I'm very upset about the whole AvatarLand. I think its an awful idea based on a terrible movie. The money could have been invested in Carsland or Star Wars Land.

Jill in CO

Whilst I feel like Avatarland is not necessarily a good fit with Disney, I'm prepared to wait to see what the Imagineers come up with. Given how it did at the box office, I guess we're in the minority with regards to this movie.

I'm also guessing that given how DH feels about Avatar (he loves it), we'll be seeing Avatar 2 when it is released in 2106. I'm prepared to wait and see.

 

[PrincessInOz]

On our Way Out




By the time the parade was over, we needed to start heading back to the resort for the evening activities.


We did try to head to the exit, not pass go and not collect $200. But the CM were soooo enticing as we walked past the Adventure Outpost. I can't ever resist a red card! It was a Go for us.







Although....I don't know why they bothered. At this time of day, there was no queue. We walked straight it.







I completely relied on the Photopass for this Meet and Greet.








Both DH and I had packed cameras away and we just enjoyed the experience.







Our time with Mickey and Minnie was a little longer than most Meet and Greets.







It really was a slow time of day and they let us linger for a bit.







Given that we had already passed Go, I figured we might as well collect the $200.




The Flame Tree Barbeque location has long been a place well known for great views. I was last here in 2005 when I had no clue that cameras existed. I needed to grab me a shot of that $200 or million dollar view.







Okay. It was more than one shot.















It was our last moments in Animal Kingdom.









We definitely needed to keep crystal clear views for our memories. No soft focus or fuzzy bits.








I really was trying to hang on for a few more moments. But it was time to get a leg-on.








No more distractions. Time to go!








I think we might have waited about 5 minutes for the bus to the Beach Club to come by. In any event, we made it home in very good time.





(Continued in Next Post)