The Hippos are characters that have been featured in the Jungle Cruise attractions at the Disney Parks. They are one of the most recognizable characters seen in the attraction.
History[]
Background[]
The hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) are said to live in a river which represents African fauna throughout the attraction. Like hippos in real life, the hippos in the Jungle Cruise attraction are herbivorous semi-aquatic animals native to the African continent. They are shown to be very territorial to visitors who trespass their territory and during the attraction, the skipper would grab a pistol so they can shoot to scare off the hippos.
Development History[]
Originally during the time Jungle Cruise was being developed for the Disneyland park, Walt Disney himself wanted to use real animals in this attraction. However, due to difficulties of using real animals, this idea was abandoned due to the fact that the animals Walt was thinking of would be reclusive and may not be visible for guests to see. As a change, the idea to use real animals was later dropped in favor of using animatronic animals instead where the animatronic hippos were displayed during the attraction.
Due to the success of the attraction at Disneyland, the Jungle Cruise attraction was later constructed at Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland, still featuring the animatronic hippos in it.
Appearances[]
Attractions[]
Jungle Cruise[]
As the boat arrives at the Hippo Pool area after passing through a large section featuring African animals in it, the boat passes through a pool filled with hippos where they are seen rising out of the water and preparing to attack the boat. Throughout the attraction, the skipper will usually grab a pistol to scare off the hippos just before the boat manages to escape the hippos' territory and later arrives into an area inhabitted tribal warriors. As of 2021, the tribal warriors seen in the Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions of the attraction were removed, due to outdated cultural depictions of the natives and the scene was replaced by a chimpanzee scene after the boat passes through the hippos. Despite the removal, the tribe still appears in the Tokyo and Hong Kong versions of the attraction.
Due to the success of the attraction, the scene was later used again in Florida, Tokyo, and Hong Kong where the Jungle Cruise attraction was built, still featuring the hippos in it.
Video Games[]
Virtual Magic Kingdom[]
In the discontinued game, hippos occasionally appear throughout the Jungle Cruise mini-game as one of the animals the player must take a picture of to earn points.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures[]
In the River Cruise level of the Jungle Cruise mini-game, hippos also appear as obstacles that the player encounters throughout the game. The player must spray water at the hippos when their mouths open using their water cannon before the boats bump into them. If the player does not do so in time, their boat will bump into a hippo, causing the player to lose coins. 1 of the collectible secrets for the mini-game requires the player to spray at least 8 hippos.
3 more hippos are also located on the rocks at Schweitzer Falls with the lost expedition that the player can wave to to earn another secret. After that scene, the boat is briefly surrounded by more hippos until the skipper forces them to submerge with his flare gun.
Disney Magic Kingdoms[]
A hippo can be seen in the Jungle Cruise attraction in the Disney Magic Kingdoms game which was released on Update 51 in the game.
Film[]
Jungle Cruise[]
A fake hippo also appeared at the beginning of the film based on the popular Disney Parks attraction. Because the film takes place in the Amazon River basin, Frank, while talking to a group of tourists on the attraction, passes by a fake hippo only for a girl to almost explain that hippos only live in Africa just before the skipper tells her not to spoil the moment. Frank then grabs a pistol and shoots at a vine, which drops a counterweight on the fake hippo, causing it to suddenly rise and frighten the tourists just before the La Quila passes through eighth Wonder of the World representing the waterfall scene at the Disney Parks.
Other appearances[]
Virtual Safari[]
The hippos in the Virtual Safari bonus feature included in Disc 2 of The Lion King Special Edition play a role similar to the ones seen in the Jungle Cruise attractions at the Disney Parks. Timon and Pumbaa pass through a herd of hippos during the tour and upon seeing some of the hippos opening their mouth, Timon and Pumbaa decide to go around them. They appear again when the viewer chooses the right path after passing through a nearby snake just as the meerkat/warthog duo sail past the hippos again to which one of them sprays water on them just as Timon tells one of them that they made the warthog wet again just before the boat continues its tour where the boat stops at a crocodile territory.
Chibi Tiny Tales[]
Hippos appear as obstacles who appear in the short "Jungle Cruise x DuckTales" as one of the hostile animals that Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie face throughout the short. Launchpad fires a yellow t-shirt on one of the hippos, which it happily reacts.
External links[]
