On the new ride, chimpanzees overtake a cruise boat full of explorers.
Disneyland Resort/Christian Thompson, Courtesy of Disneyland

Jungle Cruise officially reopens July 16 from its extended renovation, but Disneyland fans attending the park this week have gotten a surprise: The ride is already operating in a soft opening.

The spirit of Jungle Cruise is largely the same — expect a lot of those corny jokes you know and love — but there is quite a bit that's new on the ride. The added scenes include a whole new group of characters from Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers who have already embarked on their cruise and have encountered a group of mischievous monkeys that totally derailed their exploration. The explorers are trying to escape any way they can — and are, you might expect, not having much success.

Things go awry for a safari of explorers on the new Jungle Cruise ride.
Disneyland Resort/Christian Thompson, Courtesy of Disneyland

The "plussing" — Disney's word for enhancing older rides — was announced in January, and Jungle Cruise has been closed at Disneyland since the park reopened in April. Specifically, Disney said, they wanted to remove older and problematic cultural depictions, like Trader Sam, the "head salesman of the jungle" who was depicted in stereotypical garb and with shrunken heads. Sam is no longer visible but is still part of the story line and has opened a "gift shop" of scavenged goods at the end of the ride. In another move toward inclusion, Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar in the Disneyland Hotel has renamed its "Shrunken Zombie Head" cocktail to just a "Zombie."

The chimpanzees on the revamped Jungle Cruise.
Disneyland Resort/Christian Thompson, Courtesy of Disneyland

“As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspectives of the world around us,” Carmen Smith, executive of development and inclusion strategies at Walt Disney Imagineering, said in a Disney Parks Blog post. “With Jungle Cruise, we’re bringing to life more of what people love — the humor and wit of our incredible skippers, while making needed updates.”

Trader Sam's new Lost & Found "gift shop."
Disneyland Resort/Christian Thompson, Courtesy of Disneyland

There are also Easter eggs throughout the ride. Quite a few of them are linked to the new "Jungle Cruise" movie that comes out July 30, like having the costumes of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt's characters on display inside the ride queue.

The new Disney World version of Jungle Cruise is slated to reopen later this summer.