Welcome aboard! My name is Anna K. and I'll be your skipper, dance instructor, lifeguard, and social director for the next 15 pictures...or as far as we get.
I highly recommend opening this video in another tab and enjoying Albert Awol's humorous broadcast as you enjoy this tour of my tiny tribute to the World Famous Jungle Cruise.
I had to leave a few exterior things unfinished, but Undersized Urbanite is all about decorating, and I did manage to wrap up the interior. I'll re-visit the canopy over the stairs as soon as I figure out how to make it.
I shuffled some of the signage around (and I wish the removable office roof would stay put...). By the way, trimming a window down to size is really, really hard and I don't recommend it.
A peek inside. In real life, this room is filled by posts and chains directing the queue (also, as I had to selectively compress the boathouse to keep it a manageable size, the real-life room is MUCH bigger).
Cargo area.
Canteens and a butterfly net, waiting for their next trip out into the jungle. (And yes, that's a toy tiger. The Jungle Cruise visits Asia, Africa, and South America. Since Disney didn't assign a specific location to the boathouse, neither will I.)
"Jungle Chess", with tiny paper "feathers" denoting which pieces are whose. Again, this room is MUCH bigger in real life and the space under the stairs is staged with enough supplies for a safari.
A glimpse upstairs.
Familiar faces and a few nods to other Disney attractions and films.
The removable infirmary, shown from the back.
The "Jungle Radio" office. Albert must have stepped out...
A peek at the tower's removable back wall. Disney park visitors just might recognize the four macaws from a different Adventureland attraction.
Wake up, José! (And stop calling me señorita!)
A wider view showing more of the upstairs layout. Oh, did I mention the tower roof is also removable?
This is a very cluttered study in real life. I had to pare it down a bit due to the smaller footprint.
I have absolutely no idea what, if anything, is in the tower's top room in real life. So I decided a daring lady explorer, Dr. Victoria Falls, lives on site and works as a skipper to finance her own expeditions. (This was before Disney announced the Skipper Canteen, managed by Alberta Falls. Which is an inside joke: skippers love to quip that Schweitzer Falls was named for "Dr. Albert, uh, Falls." The pictures on the wall, incidentally, are of Dr. Schweitzer and Dr. Livingstone. I guess I could say Victoria is Alberta's cousin...)
Another view of the radio office.
The dispatch desk. I sneaked in references to three Pixar movies, a Disney Princess, and a menu from Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar (which is at the Disneyland Hotel, but inspired by the Jungle Cruise).
A closer look at the back wall, with three separate references to Disney's Animal Kingdom.
I flipped the infirmary around for a better view. Anyone know a good source for inexpensive miniature bottles that are tiny enough to fit into a vintage House of Miniatures closed cabinet top? Lowest 1/12 scale shelves ever...
And now, the most dangerous part of our journey - the return to civilization and the California freeways! If you enjoyed your voyage, my name is Anna K. and this has been my Undersized Urbanite entry; if you didn't, my name is Becky and this has been Storybook Land ;)
