POTD: The Rock Crashes Disney World's 'Jungle Cruise' To Research His Movie
Last week, we learned that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would be officially starring in a film adaptation of the classic Disneyland ride Jungle Cruise. Now that the movie is greenlit, The Rock surprised park guests at Disney World's Magic Kingdom park by taking over the skipper duties of the Jungle Cruise attraction. And yes, of course there's a photo and a fun story from the man himself.
The Rock On Jungle Cruise Photo
Johnson posted the above photo on his Instagram page, along with the following statement:
(I think the lady to my right is snapping a pic of my bootaaaay) Surprise! Once I committed to our Disney partners to make the movie based off the JUNGLE CRUISE ride, I wanted to dive head first into the research. So I headed to Walt Disney World and surprised tourists by commandeering the JUNGLE CRUISE boat. It was a GREAT day on the river. Learned a lot.. for example, it takes approximately 12.6 minutes for all the passengers to get over the shock of me jumping on the boat and thinking I'm a DJ look-a-like. One passenger even said, "Oh the real Rock is much smaller than this guy". I threw his ass off the boat. Jokes aside (and yes, with me as the Cruise Skipper there will be an abundance of puns) this is such an amazing, fantastical and cool world to build out. Best part about this surprise research day was knowing how FUN of an experience we're gonna work hard to create for families around the world. That's the part that gets my excited the most. The movie. The ride. The experience. It's the cruise of a lifetime. And trust me, you'll want me as your Skipper. Just don't forget to bring the Skipper's beer. Next step... we find our visionary director. #SurpriseAroundEveryCorner #ResearchDay #DisneyWorld #AllAboard #JungleCruise
How cool is that? I wonder if The Rock just enjoyed the ride or if he actually took over the part of the Skipper on the trip. If so, please tell me someone got that on video and uploaded it to YouTube. And either way, I'd love to see Disney release a video of The Rock hosting the Jungle Cruise ride in the park as a promotion for the film. That could be a lot of fun.
What We Know About The Movie
In the text, The Rock confirms a couple of things about the film:
Previously The Rock revealed that the story is a period piece taking place during the 1920's that will "push the envelope in a smart, edgy, epically fun way."
The Jungle Cruise ride is set in 1930s and takes guests on a "tramp steamer tour in the untamed waters of the Mekong, the Amazon and the rivers of Africa." The 9-minute boat ride takes park visitors past many exotic audio-animatronic animals including the Bengal tiger, king cobras, elephants, lions and hyenas in their native habitats as your skipper tells humorous and corny jokes about the surroundings.
The ride was in place when Disneyland first opened its gate in 1955, but the film has been in development for a few years now. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were going to star in a version back in 2011 produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman (The Fighter) with a screenplay by Roger S.H. Schulman. However, I think we can all agree that Dwayne Johnson seems like the perfect fit for this material.