Ashley on the Jungle Cruise, morning 3/18/06

[MainStreet, USA]

Yes, it's another JC skipper report... I know it's like my third one, but I've seen a bunch of really good CMs over there and I think they need to be recognized.

On the first day of my spring break trip, 3/18/06, I decided to go take a Jungle Cruise over in Adventureland. As most of you know, JC is one of those attractions where the experience is either made great by a fantastic CM, or made into a waste of time by a poor one. Despite the fact that more often than not I get good ones, my last two cruises had been quite poor. My girlfriend, who had never ridden JC before, had ridden just a few days prior to the start of my spring break trip, and apparently had a poor skipper as well, because she told me how boring she thought it was after her ride.

So here I was ready to embark on another jungle cruise, hoping and praying for at least a decent skipper, just to convince myself that good JC skippers can still be found from time to time. Sure enough, Disney once again refused to let me down. This time it was Ashley who took the star role as our boat driver/tour guide/elephant herder/alligator wrestler/(and if you don't laugh at her jokes...swimming instructor). She was just the pick-me-up I needed after two lackluster skippers in a row, and had me laughing and groaning by the time we left the dock. She told most of the same old "classic" JC jokes you hear on most trips, but her delivery was good and made me laugh at almost all of them despite already knowing most of the punchlines. There were even a few in there that I'd never heard before ("Look out... Hippos! Don't worry though, I've got a gun. No I'm not going to shoot them, I'll just fire a shot or two to scare them off." Bang! - Bang! "That's what I like to call my Hippo shot-a-miss.").

As we neared the unloading dock, our vessel was stuck in a long line of boats waiting to unload. Ashley made a very clever joke about being stuck there in line that I remember laughing long and hard at when she said it, but sadly I've forgotten exactly what the joke was... sorry but it took me entirely too long to get around to writing this reiew. Anyway, this line to unload was an excessively long wait... there is no way anyone could have had enough JC jokes to make them last this long, so I was really starting to wonder what she was going to do to keep our interest. Somehow she managed to successfuly make a smooth transition from JC jokes, to random Disney jokes in general ("Why is Peter Pan ALWAYS flying? - Because he can NEVERLAND!"), and then somehow mix it up so that we were taking turns telling the jokes to her! I thought it was a brilliant way to keep things interesting, and I really applaud her for it. I made sure to look around at the other guests, and it appeared that just about everybody was having a good time and enjoying themselves and the humor greatly.

Thanks a bunch Ashley. You've single-handedly restored my faith in the great fun that it the Jungle Cruise.

[mini-V]

Thanks for sharing that story, Don. I guess my last few skippers have been lack luster because I remember riding JC way back when and really enjoying it, but I haven't had the same experience for a while. As guests we take for granted the skills that some cm possess. Being an entertainer may not come naturally for every cm. A good cm really makes the experience memerable.

[HappyDznyCamper]

I think Ashley was our skipper too!! We got to talking while waiting for our evening cruise, if it was the same awsome skipper she will be headed to our neck of the woods soon and attend UT.

[magikindom]

Like you said a poor skiper can make your experince misrible, good job ashley!

[wheredmy$go]

My family and I were there last year at the same time and I think I had the honor of having Ashley as a skipper as well.

Definitely the pick me up like you said.

And I think her joke was about getting the heck off her boat...

Too bad you can't request your skipper!!

[First Timer]

I love our skipper Alex he too was very funny..