The Gorilla Raiders are a group of characters in the Jungle Cruise.
History[]
Background[]
These animals are a group of Eastern gorillas which inhabited the jungles of the Congo in the 1930s. They were known for their frequent plundering of Jungle Navigation Company outposts.
Development History[]
The gorilla raiders were designed by Marc Davis and Blaine Gibson for the Jungle Cruise, though they have been subject to many changes over the years. When the Jungle Cruise first opened in Disneyland, the gorillas were watching guests from the shrubbery. In 1977/1978, the Jungle Cruise was refurbished to install the new comedic camp raid scene. At least one of the removed gorillas would be repurposed into the Yeti for Matterhorn Bobsleds. A tableau which would be altered showed a gorilla fighting with a crocodile half-submerged in the river. Due to issues with the crocodile audio-animatronic, this would be changed to the gorilla trying to grab a floating crate of bananas just out of reach.
Appearances[]
Adventure Trading Company[]
The gorillas are referred to in the Daily Gnus newspaper and journalist Thompson J. Gazelle as performing an adaptation of Hamlet as the Adventureland Gorilla Theatre Company.
The Jungle Cruise[]
The gorillas are encountered in raided camp scene of this attraction showing a JNC outpost taken over by the apes. One gorilla tries on a pith-helmet in a mirror, another plays with its baby, one observes photographs, and one by the river unknowingly shoots at guests with a revolver.
In the queue for the Magic Kingdom version of the ride, they are mentioned by Albert Awol in his radio-announcements. At one point he mentions the gorillas having "borrowed" their projector (again) causing JNC staff to not be able to attend their "Tarzan and Me" movie-night. Albert also has a trivia question about, "How many gorillas does it take to destroy a basecamp? An average of 8 minutes for a family of gorillas to destroy a typical base camp". He also can be heard trying to contact the owner of the jeep turned over by the gorillas in their sacking.
Jingle Cruise[]
During the seasonal Jingle Cruise overlay, the gorillas are seen ripping open a variety of Christmas presents. The radio-announcements of the queue mention how this base was being used for storing the Christmas presents intended for the JNC's skippers.
Skipper Canteen[]
There is a book by Thompson J. Gazelle in this restaurant titled, "Gorilla Theatre".
Other Appearances[]
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures[]
These gorillas are the enemies in the Native Vilage chapter of this video-game's Jungle Cruise mini-games. Here, the camp raided by the gorillas was collecting precious artifacts which the player must recover. The player must play monkey-see-monkey-do with the gorillas to trick them into removing the precious relics which they pillaged from the camp. In between these parts of the level, the player must toss bananas at the gorillas in the camp, which can throw other fruit back at the player who must dodge them to avoid losing points. Armored gorillas occasionally appear and require more hits than regular ones. The secrets for this level involve hitting 40 gorillas, hitting 3 armored gorillas, and correctly matching all the poses and actions for the last gorillas with the artifacts.
Gorillas also appear in the Kayaking chapter, once again throwing fruit at the player. This time they must use their paddle to hit the fruit back at them. A secret can be earned by hitting 8 gorillas.
Trivia[]
- In Hong Kong Disneyland's version of the ride, the song Trashin' the Camp from Tarzan is played from a vintage radio. This is done to allude to a scene from the film where a group of gorillas led by Terk and Tantor raids a British explorers' camp.
- The gorilla holding a rifle to its face in curiosity is referenced in Tarzan when one of the gorillas steals Clayton's rifle and examines it in a similar fashion.
- A common skipper joke refers to the gorillas as the in-laws to skippers.
External links[]
Gallery[]
