Donkey Kongo River Run
On this one of a kind atmospheric, water attraction, guests have the ability to come face to face with some of the unique wonders of Donkey Kong Country. Taking Heavy inspiration from the aesthetics of the Donkey Kong games, and especially "Jungle Japes," this attraction takes guests on a river adventure through a variety of iconic and original locales in order to find the 3 golden bananas along the course of their journey.
Guests begin their journey at the "Base Camp," home to Expedition Supplies (the exit gift shop of the attraction), a restroom, and the entrance to Kongo River Run. Once guests pass under the hut that acts as the attraction's marquee, they enter the first switchback section found in a canvas tent. In here, basic adventuring supplies, like backpacks and pickaxes, are found throughout in various storage areas. Keen eyed visitors may notice that some of the helmets look like they would fit a Kong's head better than a human head. From here, guests will ascend a staircase (guests unable to use stairs may enter the attraction by going along a path parallel to the exit ramp) to cross over a portion of the river where guests can see other adventurers in the final stages of their journey floating by, likely soaked.
Once over that section of the river, guests will descend back to ground level to explore the outpost. Here, guests will find drawings made by earlier explorers that hint as to what they will find on their journey ahead. All visuals from this attraction proposal will be found throughout the many corkboards of the outpost as all concept art was made in a "retro explorer sketch" aesthetic.
From the outpost, guests will ascend a slight ramp into a temple of the Kongs. Here, not too much distinguishes the space from other temples, except some of the carvings found throughout the walls feature the cartoonish Kongs in ancient rituals. The final room of the temple queue will pass by a glowing mural highlighting three golden bananas. For guests that couldn't understand the subtlety of that, they will immediately turn a corner into the loading turntable, where guests will find a large poster stating to "Find the Three Golden Bananas!" Guests will then be led onto their 12-seat, circular "Kongo Kruiser" by an Expedition guide, as they are sent off into the temple. The initial path slowly winds through a series of temple scenes to the tune of a rhythmic drum beat, including the first Kong Animatronic of Diddy Kong who appears to be waving the guests as they continue on into the temple. After passing a unique fountain featuring a generic Kong character spitting out water onto guests raft, the drumming intensifies as the rafts stop at a a dead end. Here, the rafts begin to suddenly ascend on a vertical lift as the drums subside into a lighter soundtrack. Here on the uppermost level, guests get their first taste of light rapids as they pass by Tiny Kong holding onto the first banana.
Following a series of twists and turns, the rapids slightly intensify, along with the music as guests find themselves outside, with a gorgeous, mountaintop view of Donkey Kong Country and the entire Jungle of Pixels. After a stretch of bobbing rapids, guests find themselves at the entrance to a mine, which, guests will take a short drop into.
Once inside, guests will see Chunky Kong punching at a boulder, making it fall apart revealing the second Golden Banana, which will spit at guests. After a few more turns, guests will exit the mine into an outdoor jungle section featuring a unique look at the unique-to-the-attraction flora and fauna found in Donkey Kong Country. As guests dodge spitting flowers and prickly plants in a series of increasingly rambunctious rapids, they will soon find themselves at a bridge slowly going over the falls that the river appears to be heading right towards!
As the raft seems to almost slow to a halt, a water spout hits the back of the raft, getting some guests wet and pushing the raft to the falls, where a 25 ft. final drop awaits guests.
Once to the base, a series of tame rapids will take guests back to the unloading turntable, but not before they get a chance to encounter Donkey Kong in a crashed mine cart, holding the final banana (Conveniently located under the bridge where guests pass over the river in the initial stages of the queue).
Once guests disembark their rafts, a series of ramps will lead them out of the temple and back to base camp, where they will exit into Expedition Supplies, which is home to plush versions of all of the Kongs encountered on the attraction, and a unique set of plastic figurines of the unique plants and creatures encountered in a clear plastic tube. Additionally, prints of the drawings found in the queue are available for guests that wish to hold onto their memories of this unique attraction!
