Time To Throw Out The Pumpkins

Now This is More Like It

I have to admit that trips to Disneyland in September and October have soured me on pumpkins a bit. I'm definitely at odds with the color orange which oddly enough was my favorite color when I was a kid. But during Disneyland's Halloween season there are pumpkins of all sorts everywhere you turn. I'm sick of 'em. Pumpkins is one of those things where a little bit goes a long way.

But this is the transitional week in Disneyland, the week that the pumpkins are either put away or thrown out. And up come the Christmas decorations. By the end of this week a 60 ft decorated Christmas tree will replace the clever but garish Mickey Mouse pumpkin head in the Main Street plaza. At last, a holiday that can warm my heart and make me feel good.

Which brings me to the announcement of a couple of weeks ago that Disneyland (and even Disney World) will be adding Christmas theming to the venerable Jungle Cruise ride and giving it the holiday name of the "Jingle Cruise". In both Disneyland and Disney World the changes made the ride will not constitute a ride closure (like Disneyland's Haunted Mansion and small world overlays). Basically, lights and decorations are added to the queue area and the skippers are given a Christmas shtick to recite rather than the same tired old Jungle Cruse jokes. Simple enough and from what I hear, there are still people out there complaining about the changes.

There's a select few that believe that no Disneyland ride or attraction should be altered from the way it was conceived and since the Jungle Cruise was conceived by Walt Disney himself (based on his fondness for the classic film The African Queen), to alter the ride in any way is something akin to sacrilege. Well, it's time to get off your high horse.

Here's the deal. I've been looking at pumpkins in a sea of orange for two months for a made up holiday which isn't a holiday at all. Anything that Disneyland can do to bring Christmas spirit to the "happiest place on earth" then count me in - no matter how early it is.