2015 Jingle Cruise Now Sailing In Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom (Including Full Video)

It seems like it was only last week that we were celebrating Halloween…oh wait, it was only last week. Well, never mind the 90 degree weather, the winter holidays have arrived at Walt Disney World! Only days after it was decked out with spirited All Hallows decor, the Magic Kingdom is already dressed for Christmas. And to start the season in safari style, the 2015 Jingle Cruise has docked in Adventureland, bringing holiday cheer to the world-famous Jungle Cruise attraction.

First, let’s take a stroll from the entrance’s poinsettia planter and up Main Street U.S.A., where a towering Christmas tree has made its annual appearance:

As in past years, the 2015 Jingle Cruise features off-kilter Christmas decorations throughout the queue, along with a seasonal soundtrack on the overhead speakers.

Once on board, the standard Jungle Cruise spiel has been tweaked with holiday-themed jokes (just as groan-worthy as the standard script) that reference seasonal props scattered among select show scenes.

Here’s a full video of the Magic Kingdom’s 2015 Jingle Cruise, shot at dusk on the attraction’s opening weekend:

On first impression, I’m a little underwhelmed by the apparent lack of upgrades in year’s Jingle Cruise, especially since the 2014 Jingle Cruise was such an improvement over the previous version. The queue is well done, but there are still many show scenes with no additions, and the script is mostly the same as last year.

I suspect the project might not be quite complete; at one point, our skipper attempted to point out props that weren’t there. We’ll check back a little closer to the holidays to see if the Jingle Cruise gets fleshed out any further. For now, it feels like a fun concept that isn’t being fully followed through.

From a touring plans point of view, the Jingle Cruise tends to make the attraction somewhat more popular, making it a good choice for your 4th FastPass+. I was able to secure an early evening FastPass+ a few hours ahead of time, and used it to ride with a 2 minute wait.

At the same time, the standby line was posted at 30 to 45 minutes, but seemed to be at a standstill; I waited 10 minutes and moved about 10 feet, finally just making it inside the queue building before I balked and waited for my FP+ window.