Big Bertha is a character in the Jungle Cruise attraction at the Disney Parks. She is one of the most recognizable characters from the attraction, making her a popular character from the attraction.
History[]
Background[]
Big Bertha is a female elephant who had a reputation with skippers who passed through the elephant territory. Bertha is seen bathing in a waterfall where the other elephants are at as she shows a happy personality of bathing with the other elephants.
Development history[]
The Big Bertha character was designed by Blaine Gibson and the late Marc Davis. She is actually a modified version of the mammoth from the now extinct Ford Magic Skyway attraction for the 1964 New York World's Fair. After the World's Fair ended, all the attractions that Disney contributed to were moved to Disneyland, except for Ford Magic Skyway, due to a lack of space within the park. As the animatronic dinosaurs were placed into the Disneyland Railroad for the Primeval World sequence, the animatronic mammoth was modified and redesigned into its modern descendant, an elephant known as "Big Bertha" and was placed into the Elephant Bathing Pool scene in the waterfall of the said scene.
Due to the popularity and success of the Jungle Cruise attraction at California, the attraction was later constructed at Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland, still featuring the elephant scene in it.
Appearances[]
Jungle Cruise[]
Big Bertha appears in every version of Jungle Cruise in the elephant bathing pool scene.
In the Disneyland version, Bertha can be scene bathing in the waterfall with other elephants placed in the scene where she would occasionally be heard trumpeting. The scene is encountered after the boats pass through the ruins of an ancient temple.
In the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland versions, this scene is encountered after the boats exit the indoor ruins of an ancient temple. Bertha and the other elephants are seen towards the end of the attraction as one of the last scenes encountered after the temple sequence.
In the Hong Kong Disneyland version of the attraction, the elephant scene is the first scene encountered in the attraction where Bertha can be seen amongst various other elephants in the attraction.
Other Appearances[]
Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Disneyland Fun[]
Big Bertha appears briefly during the "Following the Leader" sequence where it features the kids riding the Jungle Cruise attraction. An elephant sound effect was added for the scene where she appears.
Disneyland/Disney World Ticket Discount Commercial[]
In a 2010/2011 commercial for the Disneyland Resort/Walt Disney World Resort's ticket discount, one of the elephants, Big Bertha, explains to the animals that the coast is clear just as the elephants and the rest of the animals of the Jungle Cruise attraction engage in a private conversation where no humans are around, giving them a time to discuss about the ticket discounts in Disneyland/Magic Kingdom which local California/Florida residents obtain just before Big Bertha tells the animals that another boat is passing through.
Big Bertha was erroneously inserted with a male voice for this commercial, despite being a female character.
External links[]
- Commercial featuring the talking Jungle Cruise animals for the Disneyland ticket discounts found here.
- Commercial featuring the talking Jungle Cruise animals for the Disney World ticket discounts found here.
- Big Bertha on Jungle Cruise Wiki.
