January 16, 2008 - The Jungle Cruise

The Jungle Cruise, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"[Walt} Disney himself spent a great deal of time on the attractions, not only checking them but also monitoring the performance levels of his own staff, a task he performed rigorously. Dick Nunis, who by now had become responsible for managing Adventureland, got a "battle scar" from Disney. "Walt came running down to the Jungle Cruise, got on a boat and took a trip, returning with both eyebrows raised." (His eyebrows were a Disney barometer-one raised was bad, two raised meant deep trouble.)
"What's the trip time supposed to be?" asked Disney.
"Well, sir, it's seven minutes," replied Nunis.
"I just had a four-and-a-half-minute trip and went through the hippo pool so fast, I couldn't tell if they were hippos or rhinos! How would you feel if you paid to go to the movies and they cut the center reel out of the picture?"
For the next three weeks, Nunis spent so much time on the jungle boats training the crew that he almost became seasick. Then Disney arrived again, riding the first boat, then the second, and so on, through the last available boat. He was determined that Nunis would not "stack the deck" with his best speaker on the first boat (a ploy that Nunis admits he had tried). On each ride, the timing of the trip was perfect. After this experience, everyone realized that Disney was very serious about giving the guests the best show possible."

-Disneyland: Inside Story