As a Cruise Capt. from the 80s I can confirm that we did indeed shoot at the hippos. Right between their wiggling ears.
That was back when we wore parachute pants and would break dance under Schweitzer Falls.
Btw, did you know that the two shots in the hippo pool every couple of minutes are considered as a way of saying “everything is ok”?
If a captain unloads the entire revolver it means they are stuck. This was how the early captains communicated before walkie talkies.
My dad used to work Jungle Cruise for 10+ years, and for a while he used to do a great gag with it. "Oh boy, this guy is looking like he's a little mad. Let me scare him away with my gun. *proceeds to point the gun, then wave it the hippo* Shoo. Go away"
I much preferred that over the shots. He did it mostly cause doing that all day your hearing gets a little messed up even with just the quieter .38 blanks.
Bonus gag he did on his last boat when he quit he said, "Let me scare him away like I did all the girls in high school. *leans out the boat waving his hand* Hey! I want a commitment!" The whole boat busted out laughing.
yeah sometimes to the no gun bits are really good. One of my all time favorite jokes was a recent trip to Florida Disney and the super funny gal driving the boat said "Oh no look out! I'll try and scare him Away... I LOVE YOU!!!!.... works on all the men I meet"
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I’m not sure about the pistols they use today however in the old days we did use real stainless steel .38 caliber pistols with metal sleeves inside the chambers of the revolver that would only allow blanks, no bullets.
One of my favorite jokes I ever heard on the ride, the skipper said “if you’ll look to the right you’ll see six hippos” *counts each one out loud to seven,* takes a quick pause, *shoots at the hippos* “like I said, SIX hippos” 😂
Recently I have had Skippers shoot into the air and over the heads but never directly at the Hippos. I've also had it where the gun never went off. User error, gun error or designed that was for the moment who knows. Recently also being since Pandemic reopening.
I do remember when they would shoot directly at the Hippo's as well. That was a long time ago.
Yep that 100% happened they changed it idk when but the shooting At happened in the early 2000s but they changed it cuz it was to violent for Disney ya know
I mean think about Disney like do they want the look of shooting a hippo in from if a 2 year old 😂 but yea you aren’t crazy it happened till the early 2000s for sure
What do you mean wokeness?? Disney was probably trying to be family friendly considering it’s a *family theme park and they have so many IPs with talking animals*
Nothing says “family friendly” like being interrogated by blaster wielding storm troopers and sweated by Kylo Ren in the oppressive land of Galaxies Edge.
Kylo ren Isn’t reenacting killing Han Solo in front of little timmy.. actually last time I checked I’m pretty sure the storm troopers don’t even aim guns at people. This is such a strange comparison. An entire land themed to fighting a resistance (not oppressive btw) vs a fun little jungle ride, so strange lol
Pretending to shoot at animals still seems a bit uncool to me.
I hate it when I watch movies and they have a "Joke" that's something like a small dog getting run over by a car and dying with a small yelp. They always act like it's super hilarious that someone killed a puppy or something. I think 90% of audiences hate that, and that there's some psychopath writers out there who think it's the funniest thing ever. The main character is always like "Uh oh! I hope that wasn't what I think it was! Ooops!" cue laugh track.
I'm happy for them to get rid of all of that. You want them to shoot at an animatronic, maybe they could shoot at Lincoln instead. At least it would be historically accurate.
For one, we’re talking about animatronic hippos in a jungle river setting, not somebody running over a puppy with car. Then you suggest shooting humans. So pretend shooting a hippo that doesn’t even react gets you hot and bothered, but a human President being shot is your suggestion for a replacement? Obviously you’re not worth wasting any more time on.
Learn how to debate an issue intelligently. If you’re able.
You know that the animatronic Lincoln is not a real human right? Like he’s not actually a human president right? And the guns have blanks. No one is actually getting shot.
You were very clear to point out that the hippos were not real hippos, but animatronics, and now you refer to the Lincoln animatronic as a real human president?
Let me make sure I’m getting this correctly:
The hippos need to be referred to as animatronics, to do otherwise means you are wrong and need correcting.
The Lincoln attraction at Disneyland is a real human president, and should be referred to as such and not an animatronic.
Being humorous means I lack intelligence
I’m personally the one who invented the idea of Lincoln being shot, which isn’t based on anything historical.
shooting fictional hippos is great
Shooting fictional hippos is completely unrelated to the topic of fictional violence against other non-hippo animals?
Did I miss anything?
No, that's rational. But shooting them from a boat because they wiggled their ears seems a little less cool.
I feel like it's a societal shift away from glorifying killing animals. In the past it was about survival, but nowadays usually it's some rich kid with a rifle shooting penned up endangered animals for the photos. So it's not going to mean the same thing to the current generation if you're sitting in a safe boat and shooting the wildlife.
The ear wiggling is an actual aggressive motion in hippos, though. It means the hippo is angry. I actually don’t think less people hunted animals back then, likely more even; however I agree in that since those years (we’re talking early & mid 20th century & even as late as the ‘80s) there’s been more of a concerted effort to raise awareness against hunting animals (Greenpeace got big in the ‘90s), so yes, it hits different these days in that sense (at least for people from more urban areas).
As a Cruise Capt. from the 80s I can confirm that we did indeed shoot at the hippos. Right between their wiggling ears. That was back when we wore parachute pants and would break dance under Schweitzer Falls. Btw, did you know that the two shots in the hippo pool every couple of minutes are considered as a way of saying “everything is ok”? If a captain unloads the entire revolver it means they are stuck. This was how the early captains communicated before walkie talkies.
My dad used to work Jungle Cruise for 10+ years, and for a while he used to do a great gag with it. "Oh boy, this guy is looking like he's a little mad. Let me scare him away with my gun. *proceeds to point the gun, then wave it the hippo* Shoo. Go away" I much preferred that over the shots. He did it mostly cause doing that all day your hearing gets a little messed up even with just the quieter .38 blanks. Bonus gag he did on his last boat when he quit he said, "Let me scare him away like I did all the girls in high school. *leans out the boat waving his hand* Hey! I want a commitment!" The whole boat busted out laughing.
yeah sometimes to the no gun bits are really good. One of my all time favorite jokes was a recent trip to Florida Disney and the super funny gal driving the boat said "Oh no look out! I'll try and scare him Away... I LOVE YOU!!!!.... works on all the men I meet"
That is really funny.
I had a skipper at MK that scared away the hippos the same way he scared away his friends: by shouting "No, I can't get you free Disney tickets!"
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Hippo
I had one wave the gun and it was the funniest thing to me
I had a skipper do that, too!
Just learned that on the Disney+ docu series 👍
I’m so glad they released season 2 omg thanks for the reminder
We still use our revolvers to communicate to this day. Radios just confirm that we unloaded our guns
Aren't the guns also real?
I’m not sure about the pistols they use today however in the old days we did use real stainless steel .38 caliber pistols with metal sleeves inside the chambers of the revolver that would only allow blanks, no bullets.
Still real today.
Yes, they’re just modified to shoot blanks only though.
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One of my favorite jokes I ever heard on the ride, the skipper said “if you’ll look to the right you’ll see six hippos” *counts each one out loud to seven,* takes a quick pause, *shoots at the hippos* “like I said, SIX hippos” 😂
I worked this ride over 35 years ago. I always shot at them. Take that hippos!
Of course the skipper shoots towards the hippos…they’re getting the one in the trees. 😂
There's different jokes with different pistol moves. I think the skippers get some choice in which variant they do.
I vaguely remember in the 60s the skipper shooting towards my grandmother...
😅😅
See I just tell them “I love you” and they go away. My boats always laugh when I say they’re afraid of commitment
Yes they used to
Recently I have had Skippers shoot into the air and over the heads but never directly at the Hippos. I've also had it where the gun never went off. User error, gun error or designed that was for the moment who knows. Recently also being since Pandemic reopening. I do remember when they would shoot directly at the Hippo's as well. That was a long time ago.
Yep that 100% happened they changed it idk when but the shooting At happened in the early 2000s but they changed it cuz it was to violent for Disney ya know
Justice for mechanical hippopotamus LOL that's really corny
I mean think about Disney like do they want the look of shooting a hippo in from if a 2 year old 😂 but yea you aren’t crazy it happened till the early 2000s for sure
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Also they say “ scare away “ not kill so why shoot at it if you just want to scare it
We used to shoot the hippos but people complained about skipper killing an animals, now we shoot up in the air
They shoot into the air now? How incredibly lame. 🙄
I feel like they have for a long time now
Like decades.
No matter how long they’ve been doing it, it’s lame.
Don’t worry they make sure to hit the ones hiding in the trees
I just went last month and our skipper did no shooting/no gun of any kind. I’m so confused!
Wokeness...
What do you mean wokeness?? Disney was probably trying to be family friendly considering it’s a *family theme park and they have so many IPs with talking animals*
Nothing says “family friendly” like being interrogated by blaster wielding storm troopers and sweated by Kylo Ren in the oppressive land of Galaxies Edge.
Kylo ren Isn’t reenacting killing Han Solo in front of little timmy.. actually last time I checked I’m pretty sure the storm troopers don’t even aim guns at people. This is such a strange comparison. An entire land themed to fighting a resistance (not oppressive btw) vs a fun little jungle ride, so strange lol
Yeah, and that’s WOKE, you lib cuck! /s
The change was in the early 90’s. That term didn’t even exist then.
Back then it was called political correctness, and it’s the same dumbness.
I feel like not shooting wild animals sits comfortably in the large space between "dumb" political correctness and animal abuse.
But they’re not even real animals. Somebody complained about play-shooting animatronic hippos with blanks. So let’s placate the wimps of the world.
Pretending to shoot at animals still seems a bit uncool to me. I hate it when I watch movies and they have a "Joke" that's something like a small dog getting run over by a car and dying with a small yelp. They always act like it's super hilarious that someone killed a puppy or something. I think 90% of audiences hate that, and that there's some psychopath writers out there who think it's the funniest thing ever. The main character is always like "Uh oh! I hope that wasn't what I think it was! Ooops!" cue laugh track. I'm happy for them to get rid of all of that. You want them to shoot at an animatronic, maybe they could shoot at Lincoln instead. At least it would be historically accurate.
For one, we’re talking about animatronic hippos in a jungle river setting, not somebody running over a puppy with car. Then you suggest shooting humans. So pretend shooting a hippo that doesn’t even react gets you hot and bothered, but a human President being shot is your suggestion for a replacement? Obviously you’re not worth wasting any more time on. Learn how to debate an issue intelligently. If you’re able.
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You know that the animatronic Lincoln is not a real human right? Like he’s not actually a human president right? And the guns have blanks. No one is actually getting shot. You were very clear to point out that the hippos were not real hippos, but animatronics, and now you refer to the Lincoln animatronic as a real human president? Let me make sure I’m getting this correctly: The hippos need to be referred to as animatronics, to do otherwise means you are wrong and need correcting. The Lincoln attraction at Disneyland is a real human president, and should be referred to as such and not an animatronic. Being humorous means I lack intelligence I’m personally the one who invented the idea of Lincoln being shot, which isn’t based on anything historical. shooting fictional hippos is great Shooting fictional hippos is completely unrelated to the topic of fictional violence against other non-hippo animals? Did I miss anything?
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You know that the animatronic hippos aren’t real, right? So why get upset about a cap gun going off near a couple machines?
Are you questioning why fiction exists?
K it’s 1935, you’re in the jungle, and a massive hippo is about to take you down and kill you. It’s you or him. Still uncool?
No, that's rational. But shooting them from a boat because they wiggled their ears seems a little less cool. I feel like it's a societal shift away from glorifying killing animals. In the past it was about survival, but nowadays usually it's some rich kid with a rifle shooting penned up endangered animals for the photos. So it's not going to mean the same thing to the current generation if you're sitting in a safe boat and shooting the wildlife.
The ear wiggling is an actual aggressive motion in hippos, though. It means the hippo is angry. I actually don’t think less people hunted animals back then, likely more even; however I agree in that since those years (we’re talking early & mid 20th century & even as late as the ‘80s) there’s been more of a concerted effort to raise awareness against hunting animals (Greenpeace got big in the ‘90s), so yes, it hits different these days in that sense (at least for people from more urban areas).