The Man-Eating Piranhas are characters who are featured in the Jungle Cruise attraction at the Disney Parks.
History[]
Background[]
These piranhas are said to inhabit a place that represents the Amazon River. They are shown to have a hostile attitude to anyone who arrives in the river representing the Amazon River where they leap out of the water to attack the skipper and the guests whereas in real life, piranhas are not actually hostile unless when provoked.
Development[]
The scene featuring the piranhas was animated by Ethan Reed, an Imagineer who worked with Chris Runco for Walt Disney Imagineering, which was one of the ideas originally used for the Hong Kong Disneyland version of Jungle Cruise in collaboration with Skip Lang. However, the piranhas debuted on May 4, 2005 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California as part of its 50th Anniversary. [1][2]
Appearances[]
Attractions[]
Jungle Cruise[]
In the Disneyland version when the boat arrives at the Amazon River area after surviving the last part of the area with African elements, the boat passes through two piranha decoys as well as two rock formations illustrated with paintings of piranhas giving out a warning that the boat is entering a piranha territory. The boat stops for a while and far from them is an area where two water buffalo and a snake are at; suddenly, jets of water appear and various piranhas start leaping out of the water to attack the guests and attempt to eat them in which the skipper manages to escape from the piranhas in time and end up in an area where the water buffalo and python are at.
In the Magic Kingdom version, piranha carcasses can be seen on the "Boats & Baits AND Bites" shop sold as food while a map displayed on a queue depicts illustrations of piranhas starting in the 2021 revamp. Additionally, the trophy section of the attraction depicts a golden piranha statue on the Order of the Golden Piranha organization in the aforementioned queue.
In Hong Kong Disneyland's former Pirate Takeover overlay of Jungle Cruise, the piranhas were encountered next to the crocodiles during the former overlay which ran from 2007 to 2008[3]. However, the piranhas were removed from the attraction itself at an unknown date after the Pirate Takeover overlay ended.
The Magic of Disney Animation[]
Piranhas are depicted in a poster for a fictional movie called The Jungle Cruise where they are seen swimming towards Mickey and Minnie Mouse alongside two hippos.
Video Games[]
Epic Mickey/Epic Mickey: Rebrushed[]
In the Stretching Room area at the Lonesome Manor area, one of the three portraits shown in this room consists of a school of piranhas attacking a group of explorers resembling that of the painting depicting men in a quicksand.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures/Disneyland Adventures[]
In the Jungle Cruise mini-game on Kinect: Disneyland Adventures and its 2017 remaster Disneyland Adventures, piranhas are encountered in certain parts of the mini-game where they appear as enemies. When piranhas leap onto the player, they must shake the piranhas off their arms to avoid getting attacked in order to avoid losing coins. They can also repel them with their water cannons before they even reach the boat.
Film[]
Jungle Cruise[]
Piranhas also appear in the 2021 live-action Jungle Cruise film based on the Disney Parks attraction.
On their way to the Tree of Life, Frank Wolff helps McGregor Houghton and Lily Houghton find food during their long journey to the area where the Tears of the Moon are located. Upon passing through a lily pad area, Frank decides to catch some piranhas so that he can provide the couple some food to which Lily and her brother started enjoying the freshly cooked piranha that Frank caught for their dinner. They later take part during the climax of the film swimming around the temple where the Tears of the Moon would be at where Lily pulls a lever where various piranhas swim around the water and attack Frank. The piranhas attempt to devour Frank alive while Lily Houghton activates a switch to open the entrance to the temple where the Tears of the Moon are in which the two manage to overcome the challenge together, causing the piranhas to retreat.
Shorts[]
Chibi Tiny Tales[]
Hostile piranhas appear in the short "Jungle Cruise x DuckTales" as one of the hostile animals encountered in the jungle. As they leap past by Scrooge McDuck, he worriedly reacts in shock of what the piranhas did to him.
Trivia[]
- In real life, piranhas are not actually hostile towards humans; they only attack their predators when provoked unlike the ones seen in Jungle Cruise. On a similar note, they are not depicted as all-consuming in real life, contrary to their reputation. The latter aspect had roots from Teddy Roosevelt's trip to South America where he was presented with a spectacle by the natives of the country involving couped up piranhas and a cow.
References[]
External links[]
