Alberta Falls is a Jungle Cruise character introduced in the Skipper Canteen restaurant.
Background[]
Biography[]
Alberta Falls was born in 1911 to historian Albert Falls, Jr. and Indian artist Sneh Falls. When she was eight years old, her father was busy traveling on the lecture circuit and sent Alberta to live with her grandparents, adventurers and owners of the Jungle Navigation Company, Dr. Albert Falls and Victoria Marie Falls. Alberta never wished to leave the jungle so her parents recognized an adventurous spirit in her that would be better allowed to grow in the jungle. With Albert Falls often going on adventures of his own, she was generally raised by the skippers of the Jungle Navigation Company and she considered them a second family.
When she inherited the Jungle Navigation Company from her grandfather, shipping was in decline. Seeking a solution to turn things around, she turned to the Skippers for ideas and they suggested switching their business model from moving cargo to moving tourists. The first of these Jungle Cruises would be held on October 1, 1931 and these became very successful. In time, she would open up the Skipper Canteen, headquarters and Falls family home, to offer food for travellers in 1938. Also in 1938, Alberta arranged a V.I.P. tour of the Rivers of Adventure aboard the Kwango Kate under skipper Felix Pechman XIII. This tour-boat was lost however, having been sunken in a hippo pool in North Africa stranding its passengers in the African veldt.
Development history[]
Alberta Falls was originally created in 2015 for the Skipper Canteen in the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. She was part of the canteen's backstory, inspired by the joke-character of Dr. Albert Falls; a dated joke in the ride's script which riffed on historic physician Albert Schweitzer. Alberta's name too was likely a play on the real-world Alberta falls of Colorado.
Alberta was only integrated into the Jungle Cruise during a 2021 refurbishment albeit to controversial avail. Asides from discourse relating to her gender or changing a familiar ride (E.G. that received by Redd in Pirates of the Caribbean), Alberta was asserted by some to be a romanticized depiction of colonialism and colonial capitalism albeit with an Indian woman in-charge instead. This was made prevalent due to said refurbishment having been supposedly aimed at removing racism from the Jungle Cruise with Alberta being emblematic of said colonial racist depiction of jungle exploration and imperialism. Additionally, Alberta despite being heavily world-built in promotional materials, Alberta does not appear in the ride itself nor have any agency within the attraction's plot.
Personality[]
Being raised by Albert Falls and the Jungle Cruise Skippers, Alberta inherited much of her sense of humor from them. Her introduction in the Skipper Canteen's menu possesses many references to the Jungle Cruise skipper spiel. Additionally, her portrait is done in an abstract style, in contrast to the more formal and realistic portrait of her grandfather that the painting is hung next to.
Disney Parks[]
Jungle Cruise[]
Alberta's office makes up part of the Jungle Cruise's queue in Disneyland, containing a portrait of her. Leading up to the attraction's reopening, an interview with her was published in the fictional newspaper, "The Daily Gnus" elaborating on some parts of the attraction's new backstory. She appears in a mural advertisement for the Jungle Navigation Company in Walt Disney World's Jungle Cruise queue.
Skipper Canteen[]
Alberta is frequently referenced and depicted in the Skipper Canteen of the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. This includes her awards being on display, an expressionist portrait of her, and letters being left from her for guests.
Other appearances[]
The Jungle Cruise: Adventure Game[]
The Jungle Cruise: Adventure Game board game is based around Alberta Falls looking to pick one of four families to look after the Jungle Navigation Company while she goes on vacation, leaving the jungle for the first time since she moved there. The four families which she selects as potential candidates are: the DeNyle family, the Cruz family, the Temple family and the Lyons family.
Trivia[]
- It is possible that the Falls family has a connection to Phantom Manor as one of Mélanie Ravenswood's suitors was a man named Captain Rowan D. Falls.
- In Alberta's office is a crate from Merriam Pleasure at the Adventurers Club. Merriam is a character from Pleasure Island who was the daughter of Merriweather Adam Pleasure. Alberta herself uses the Adventurers Club expression, "Kungaloosh!" in her description for the maps of the Jungle Cruise's rivers.
- The clothing of Frank Wolff and Lily Houghton from the Jungle Cruise film appear in Alberta's office.
- Alberta has the same year of birth as Imagineer Harper Goff who largely made the Jungle Cruise.
- Alberta's portrait in the skipper canteen was retconned into having been created by her friend Rosa Soto Dominguez.
External links[]
Gallery[]
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