Making Memories: Jungle Jammin’ Our Way through Animal Kingdom

on June 22, 2021

Each week through the Walt Disney World 50th anniversary, we will be taking a look back at various parades, entertainment, and nighttime spectaculars throughout the history of the resort. Walt Disney World has seen so many different things come and go throughout its 50 year history. So, let’s take a look back at what people remember dearly or forgot quickly.

Today, we move onto a new park as we gear up for some big Making Memories pieces down the line for Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is the newest Walt Disney World theme park, although not that new anymore. Due to that, Animal Kingdom doesn’t have the history some of the other parks have. Today we are taking a look at the parades that came to be at the park and maybe one that could’ve been.

First up, The March of the ARTimals parade! This was a very short lived parade and there isn’t a whole lot out there on it. The parade opened with the park in 1998 and ran through June of 1999. This was not your typical character filled parade however.

The concept behind this parade was residents of Discovery Island putting on a carnival. The parade was centered around six floats. The first title float had a variety of animals accompanying it. The next float was the Frog Bandstand float, featuring a jazzy frog musician. Then it was the Bumblebee Hive, featuring the queen bee on a honey throne. The Lion Bandstand featured a lion on xylophone, along with a Tiger, Monkey, and Elephants. Then you had the Spider float, featuring numerous insect related performers. Guests were confused by this parade and it did not stick around long.

That brings us to the next and only other parade Animal Kingdom has seen in its 23 year history. Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade ran from 2001 into 2014. The parade brought Disney characters on a jungle safari expedition. It was brought in as part of the 100 Years of Magic Celebration and ended up staying for 13 years. The puppeteer costumes were created by artisans in Africa. In 2004, Disney even added a holiday version of this parade called Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade.

Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade included five character based vehicles, along with drum sculptures, animal puppets, Disney characters, stilt walkers, and more. The music was written by Disney Show Director Reed Jones and Music Director Dan Stamper. The parade used over 60 cast members throughout. One of the special aspects of this parade was, spectators/guests in the park would be asked to join in and ride in units during the parade. Guests were at one point given disposable cameras to remember their special moment. The parade ended in May of 2014 as Disney made way for major expansion and changes to Animal Kingdom. This would lead to things like Pandora – The World of Avatar, Rivers of Light, and more. Disney has yet to bring a parade back to Animal Kingdom park.

Disney did explore bringing a nighttime parade concept to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the 2000s however that never ended up coming to fruition. Good ideas never die at Disney though, and that nighttime parade concept become Rivers of Light. A now extinct nighttime spectacular that we will discuss in a future Making Memories feature.

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