Jungle Cruise

The Jungle Cruise is a boat ride attraction located in Adventureland at the Magic Kingdom theme park in Walt Disney World. Guests load onto a boat where they are introduced to their skipper and then proceed into the jungle.

While cruising along in the boat, the skipper will speak about the things seen as well as make short jokes about them. Guests will notice lions, zebras, snakes just hanging around, elephants (some which intend to squirt the guests in the boat), a rhinoceros which chased a safari party up a tree, hippos that try to attack the boat, and many other animals and insects. Also in the Jungle Cruise you will encounter natives and near the end meet a shrunken head dealer.

In short, the Jungle Cruise is a spectacular attraction that deserves 4 1/2 to 5 stars. Wait times can be extremely long. In the summertime, it can be around 60 to 75 minutes long although we got right on in early June but that was in the morning when it wasn't so busy. My recommendation is to get a fastpass for this one. Jump ahead to the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Enchanted Tiki Room and then return back to the Jungle Cruise. Also, since this is an outdoor attraction and you are visiting in the hot summer months, I would suggest you ride this early or late in the evening or purchase one of those water fans to keep cool.

Check out this video of the Jungle Cruise below. It begins with many of the props in the queue area before you load onto the boat.

Columbia Harbour House

Columbia Harbour House is a colonial-style counter service restaurant located mainly in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom theme park in Walt Disney World. I say mainly because there are two floors to the Columbia Harbour House restaurant. Part of the second floor actually acts as an archway between Liberty Square and Fantasyland. We have eaten up there a couple of times while visiting Walt Disney World. You can watch other guests from the windows of the archway walk under you while you pig out.

A few of their menu choices include a fried fish basket, chicken nuggets, tuna and hummus sandwiches. Most entrees are served with fries, chips, apple slices or carrots. Columbia Harbour House also serves soups like New England clam chowder or vegetarian chili and desserts like apple crisp or chocolate cake. Yum. Now I'm hungry while blogging about this. The prices are also more reasonable compared to the other theme park restaurants.

I recommend Columbia Harbour House highly. It's a great place to sit down with your family for about a half an hour or more to eat, drink, talk, avoid the hustle and bustle of the crowds, and just get out of the heat for awhile (if you're visiting in the hottest times to be at Walt Disney World). I love the style of the Columbia Harbour House from the wooden floors to the relaxing atmosphere. I remember when me and my little brother were in our younger days getting up from the table and doing a little dance to the sailor-type music that was playing. That same music still plays today although I couldn't hear the music as well upstairs where we sat. I loved this place then and yet I still love it today.