Lost Delta boathouse

**The Lost Delta boathouse** or **Original Headquarters of the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd.**, the **West Dock** and possibly also as **Forbidden Landing** is a location from Disneyland's *Jungle Cruise*.

## Description

The Lost Delta boathouse is a building in the Lost Delta of India, along the river. The building has two stories in-addition to a tower which had three stories with presumed attic crawl-space. The docks of the building were used by the *Jungle Navigation Company* and their skippers for their river operations. Across the river was a shack and to the of the North-West of the boathouse was the infamous Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

### Points of interest

#### Exterior

* **Dominguez Palm**: The Dominguez palm tree is a palm-tree to the west of the boathouse which has become part of the boathouse's architecture.

#### First Floor

* **Docks of Adventureland**: The Docks of Adventureland or more simply known as the Boat Landing was used as the boathouse's docks, on the South-East side of the building.
* **Entrance**: The main entrance for the building was located on its North-West side. Overtop of the entrance were spears and a tribal mask of unknown origin.
* **Infirmary**: The infirmary was a small room located along the docks.
* **Safari Staging Area**: The Safari Staging Area was a rest area for skippers where they were instructed to assemble their resources, equipment and provisions. This space was cramped and located underneath stairs for connecting the East-wing of the first-floor to the second-floor.
* **Shipping Office**: This was the office for the Jungle Navigation Company's cargo delivery services.
* **Ticket booth**: The ticket-agent's booth was located near the entrance on the North-West side of the boathouse.

#### Second Floor

* **Alberta Falls' office**: This was the office used by Jungle Navigation Company president, Alberta Falls. Many of her personal belongings were in the office, such as the cage of her pet, Kamaka.
* **Infirmary**: This was a room along the balcony overlooking the rivers which held a medicine-cabinet.
* **Jungle Air Mail Service outpost**: This was a structure used by the *Jungle Air Mail Service*. Built into the structure were bird-houses for JAM animals, Amelia, Wiley and Flash.
* **Rafters**: The rafters were used for storing luggage.
* **Vessel Traffic office**: This is a small office overlooking the docks, used to monitor the company's boats. Items within the office were a furnace, map of the Rivers of Adventure, radio, a sign for "K•NGO Radio", and a chalk-board listing the company's boats and their status.

#### Watch-tower

Over the main entrance of the boathouse, is a watch-tower making up a third-story for the building.

## History

### Background

#### Origins

The boathouse was presumably constructed in the 19th century given it being identified as Victorian. However, the building was originally only one-story tall, plus a watch-tower. Around the late July of 1891, the building was used by Dr. Albert Falls to depart on an expedition to chart the mystical Jungle Rivers of Adventureland. After thirteen days, Dr. Falls returned to the boathouse.

In 1911, the structure became the original headquarters for Falls' business *The Jungle Navigation Company*. In 1931, Jungle Navigation Company president Alberta Falls established the company's, "Jungle Cruise" tourism service. Due to this, businesses started popping up around JNC outposts such as the boathouse. The headquarters for the company would later be moved to the Falls family manor within a different jungle.

#### Lost Delta Archaeological Expedition & Adventure Trading Company

In 1935, the Lost Delta was visited by archaeologist Indiana Jones who was searching for the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in the region. While searching for the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Indiana Jones was attacked by an enemy called Desert Hawk, whom he had some history with, over the map. The two initially fought on the upper levels of the boathouse, where they used oars to battle. After this, Indy knocked the villain out with a crate and told onlookers, "When he wakes up, tell him Indy won!". Both Jones and Desert Hawk left shortly after, with Jones eventually finding the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

The Jungle Navigation Company would assist Jones and the *Lost Delta Archaeological Expedition* in their excavation of the temple. This also brought much more tourism to the base due to tourists travelling to the company in search of rewards within the temple. Some of those brought in would also become patrons of the Jungle Cruise and of a drinking-establishment run by affiliate, "Trader Sam" who was also involved in the archaeological excavation.

Around 1935/1936, JNC skipper Skip Dockmonkey accidentally demolished much of the boathouse's docks. Amidst this events, the company lost their boats the *Mekong Maiden* and *Magdalena Maiden*. Around this event, Skip was given the task of delivering a cargo of Elephant Jujus for the colonial *Adventure Trading Company*. However, Skip lost this shipment resulting in him getting fired by the Jungle Navigation Company.

Due to these incidents, the company was forced to rebuild the docks and perform patchwork on their boats. When the boathouse was rebuilt, it was so has a two-story building albeit much more ramshackle. Skip himself was later rehired when aspiring members of the *Adventure Trading Company* advocated for him in exchange for his elephant juju.

#### The Jungle Cruise

In 1938, the Jungle Navigation Company's boathouse served as a stop for a Jungle Cruise V.I.P. tour arranged by Alberta Falls. This tour was lead aboard the *Kwango Kate* with, "New guy" skipper Felix Pechman XIII. The passengers of this tour included the likes of Siobhan Murphy, Rosa Soto Dominguez, Dr. Leonard Moss and Dr. Kon Chunosuke. After stopping at the boathouse, the boat became lost on the Rivers of Adventure due to wrecking somewhere along the Nile river in North Africa, marooning those aboard in the African veldt.

At least one Jungle Cruise tour departing from the Lost Delta happened upon the lost expedition, run up a tree by a black rhino. The skipper chose to ignore the discovery due to it being too much paperwork and later returned to the Lost Delta's boathouse. Along the way, they found the long lost *Mekong Maiden* in the same region, being piloted by a group of chimpanzees.

At some point following a 1938 adventure for the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones lost at-least three artifacts along the Rivers of Adventure. A boat departing from the Lost Delta's boathouse would locate these three artifacts: a Hangar 51 crate containing the Ark of the Covenant in the Congo Basin, the umbrella of Henry Jones, Sr. near the lost safari along the African Veldt, and the headdress of Thuggee cultist Mola Ram in the Umbala territory of North Africa. This artifacts were presumably recovered following their rediscovery by the Jungle Navigation Company.

### Development history

The Jungle Cruise boathouse was originally one level. Concept art by Marc Davis shows an unused entrance-design which would have featured a rotating mask on tribal masks (similar to those worn by the Umbala warriors) and a pair of elephant tusks. During a 1990s refurbishment, the building was rebuilt in correlation with the creation of the attraction *Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye*.

## Appearances

### Adventureland Treehouse

The location is mentioned in a letter sent to the daughter sent by SEA member Aya Kouame-Beauciel, explaining that Dr. Kon Chunosuke was delivering her new telescope lens for Alberta Falls to hold onto.

### Adventure Trading Company

The boathouse is featured in several missions within this attraction. A Jungle Navigation Company board made reference to deliveries from Tropical Imports and the Nile River to, "Forbidden Landing", likely referring to the boathouse as it is the boathouse used for the vicinity of the Temple of the *Forbidden* Eye.

### Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries

Glyphs appeared on the boathouse and Tropical Imports which combined with glyphs across Adventureland, revealed the message, "To survive the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, beware the eyes of Mara". In Random Acts of Indy, Indiana Jones fought the villain Desert Hawk on the upper levels of the boathouse and Tropical Imports, using oars to fight. On the docks, the life-preserver of the Vasquez de Coronado ship from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was added to the docks of the boathouse.

### Jungle Cruise

The boathouse serves as the queue building for Disneyland's Jungle Cruise. In the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise, an annotation from Alberta Falls on the map of Frank Wolff points towards the, "West Dock". The crew shift exchange chalkboard also has multiple allusions to the boathouse including: Skipper Sammy switching shifts to travel from east dock to west dock with Skipper George, and Kungaloosh Kate switching shifts to travel from west dock to east dock with Skipper Alex.

### Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

Framed on the wall of the *Enchanted Tiki Bar* is a photograph of the boathouse and her docks from before it was rebuilt. Along with this is a note from Trader Sam reading, "*Happy hour brings in boatloads of tourists!*".

### Other connections

#### Indiana Jones

The Lost Delta is a location created for the Indiana Jones franchise, being the setting of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. There are references to Indiana Jones' operations within the boathouse, such as the Jungle Navigation Company transporting cargo for his excavation team. On the docks of the boathouse is a life-preserver from the Vasquez de Coronado, a ship from the film, *Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade*.

#### Jungle Cruise (film)

The Jungle Navigation Company's boathouse contains several apparent connections to the Jungle Cruise film. Namely, the outfits of Frank Wolff and Lily Houghton both hang in Alberta's office, Lope de Aguirre's helmet is hung in one of the corridors, and the map to Lágrimas de Cristal is framed on a wall. The Mekong Maiden which departed from the boathouse was also found to contain a map of the *Rivers of Adventure* made by Frank Wolff and altered by Alberta Falls to be used by skippers.

## In other media

### Printed-materials

#### Skipper Survival Guide

The boathouse has an expanded backstory in this retconned Jungle Cruise tie-in story. Here, the building was constructed as the home for one Colonel Blumbert. The mansion was constructed to be an outpost for the many explorers and adventurers who would pass through the jungle. When Blumbert contracted malaria in 1928, he had to put the building up for sale before being purchased by the Jungle Navigation Company in the April of 1930.

### Video-games

#### Epic Mickey

A twisted version of the boathouse appears in the game Epic Mickey as a part of Ventureland, the counterpart to Adventureland in the Wasteland, a dark reflection of Disneyland which serves as home to forgotten and discarded cartoon characters. The pirate Gentleman Starkey can be found within the boathouse and Mister Smee outside.

### Paraphernalia

#### Jungle Cruise Adventure Game

The Mekong boathouse is the starting point in this game.

## Trivia

* Several pieces of cargo and decor contain Easter eggs:
	+ The tribal mask appearing over the entrance to the boathouse resembles the face of Donald Duck. It also resembles a similar Donald Duck mask used by the removed headhunters of the attraction.
	+ There is a crate belonging to Hightower Industries, referencing the evil Harrison Hightower III from Tower of Terror.
	+ There are crates from and to Mystic Point.
	+ One crate is being sent out by Indiana Jones.
	+ There barrel of, "Bob + Son's Gourmet Pickles" from Hammond, Indiana. This references Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company and native of Hammond, Indiana.
	+ There are several tablets from the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
	+ In Alberta's offices a parcel from Merriam Pleasure at the Adventurers Club of Pleasure Island.
	+ A crate addressed to *Club Obi Wan* from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) can be seen at the docks from the boats.
* The palm-tree adjacent to the boathouse belonged to the Dominguez family who owned the orange groves proceeding Disneyland.
* In the lookout area there is a cabinet of medicines. Some have Easter eggs:\*\*"Practically Perfect Peculiar Way Remedy". This is a reference to the film *Mary Poppins* (1964) where the titular nanny gave the children a bottle of medicine, inspired by the polio vaccine.
	+ Another bottle is the, "Nightly Dream Developer" with the note, "Think Happy Thoughts" and a picture of two stars, referencing *Peter Pan* (1953). It is mentioned as coming from, "St. Bernard", a reference to the Darling's pet St. Bernard, Nana.
	+ The bottle, "Prof. Plump's Miracle Tonic for Everlasting Life" is likely a reference to the Hitchhiking Ghost, "Phineas" from the *Haunted Mansion* who in the non-canonical, "Ghost Gallery" backstory was explained to have been a snake-oil salesman and who in many materials is given the name, "Professor Phineas Plump".
	+ The bottle of, "Instant Relief Remedy for All Laments" made by, "Terminus" is a reference to the 1977 film Pete's Dragon.
	+ Big Top Courage Elixir might reference the film Dumbo (1941).
	+ Witch Hazel, which while a real plant could be an allusion to the Mickey Mouse universe character of the same name.
* It is very possible that Colonel Blumbert from the Skipper Survival Guide is intended to be Colonel Blumbard, a member of British Colonial Affairs from *Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye*. It is also possible that he was intended to be Captain Phillip James Blumburtt, a British officer occupying India from the film *Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom*.

## Gallery

On a map of AdventurelandDuring refurbishmentsThe boathouse in Epic MickeyAlberta's officeIllustrated on a map.
### Pre-refurbishment

Concept-art by Harper GoffConcept art of the entrance by Marc DavisThe docks of the original boathouseThe original boathouse
## References

1. ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/07/16/photos-new-jungle-cruise-characters-introduced-as-guests-enter-attraction-queue/
2. ↑ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/02/the-magic-of-disney-parks-storytelling-jungle-cruise-at-disneyland-park/
3. ↑ http://disneylanddiva.blogspot.com/2008/09/indiana-jones-and-summer-of-hidden.html
4. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/photos-new-trophy-wall-alberta-falls-and-map-murals-added-to-jungle-cruise-queue-at-the-magic-kingdom/
5. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca-ZFo4PiQb/
6. ↑ https://dlnewstoday.com/2021/07/photos-video-updated-jungle-cruise-with-all-new-scenes-soft-opens-at-disneyland/
7. ↑ https://duchessofdisneyland.com/disneyland/the-dominguez-tree/