There is just something about The Jungle Cruise that brings a huge smile to my face. When we visit Adventure Land at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom many of my favorite experiences are there. The Tiki Room, Swiss Family Robinson’s Tree House, Dole Whips, and of course The Jungle Cruise.

I am a sucker for a good pun, and this attraction always tickles my fancy. I’ve had some great skippers on my few times on the ride, and one experience in a downpour that will always be a great story.

Last year’s motion picture based on the Disney Parks’ attraction was also a hit in our household. We have a soft spot for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (my wife and I’s first official date was to see 2003’s “The Rundown”), and we love action/adventure stories. The film hit all of our favorite notes, and brought a lot of laughs to a tough time.

With that being said when we had an opportunity to review Ravensburger’s board game based on the ride we were excited. Thank you to Ravensburger for sending us a copy of the game to review. It is another game designed by Prospero Hall that we enjoy playing on family game nights.

Let’s begin by looking at the packaging. If you’ve read my past reviews of board games you may know that I love a good looking box. The artwork on the box is wonderfully done. The illustrations are poster worthy for the attraction. It looks good on a shelf.

The box contains a game board, 80 Navigation cards, 4 Dice, 4 Boat movers, 4 Boat placards, 6 Skipper Specialty cards, 4 Warning Flare tokens, 48 Passwnger tokens, 30 Lost & Found tokens, 4 Club tokens, 12 Outpost tokens, 5 Tip tokens, and a Rulebook.

The game play can be summed up in this description from the box;

Can you keep your passengers and cargo safe from jungle rangers? Find clues about which families have fallen out of Alberta’s favor along the way. The Skipper who finishes with the most valuable freight of travelers and cargo will win… a cruise back home!

The game is rated for 8 & Up, 2 – 4 Players, and takes about an hour to play. Both of my girls are over 8 years old. I can confirm that the game is playable by them, but I don’t know that they could have played their first time without me. The Rulebook is… kind of large. I read the Rulebook several times before we played, and I wasn’t sure that I had a grasp on the game when we started. This is one of those games you just have to jump into and explore each turn. Once we were a few turns into the game we felt like we had it figured out, and we were able to enjoy it.

The Game Board is themed to match the world-famous attraction perfectly, and we felt that it complimented the movie well. The board allows you to choose your path a couple of times, taking shortcuts that can cost you clues that may increase your tip for navigating the jungle more quickly than your fellow skippers, but it also may cost you if you carry the wrong cargo.

The Boat Movers are plastic and they are detailed perfectly for the game. Each player also has their own Boat placard that allows them to organize and strategize the placement of their cargo. The goal is to navigate the river quickly, collecting cargo and passengers. Some travelers are more important that mothers, and your final score (pay day) is determined by the cargo that you deliver.

The Navigation cards determine what dangers and fortunes your cruise will experience. Every turn is filled with treachery and obstacles that can cost you cargo and passengers. The cards reference familiar sights on the Jungle Cruise attractions, with some punny jokes. Of course telling the jokes properly is part of the fun, and adds another level of enjoyment to the play.

In summary, this game is a win in our household. Now that the girls have played a few times I have no doubt they could navigate the jungle on their own, but those first few play through a were confusing for them and it took some patience before they felt they understood how to play. For a group of adults I believe this game enjoys enough strategy and chance that playing with friends or family would be a fun time. If those playing happen to be Disney nerds or fans of the ride/movie I believe the enjoyment factor goes up exponentially.

If you would like to play Ravensburger’s Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game you can order it from Amazon.com by following our *Affiliate link; Ravensburger’s Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game at Amazon.com

Big thanks again to our friends at Ravensburger for supporting our blog. They are producing some very fun games that can provide you and yours hours of entertainment.

*Purchases made after using our Amazon Affiliate link supports DuckTalks at no additional cost to you.