Big Bertha
Big Bertha
Background information
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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 byBlaine Gibson and the lateMarc Davis. She is actually a modified version of the mammoth from the now extinctFord Magic Skyway attraction for the1964 New York World's Fair. After the World's Fair ended, all the attractions that Disney contributed to were moved toDisneyland, except for Ford Magic Skyway, due to a lack of space within the park. As the animatronic dinosaurs were placed into theDisneyland Railroad for thePrimeval 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 atCalifornia, the attraction was later constructed atMagic Kingdom,Tokyo Disneyland, andHong 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 theDisneyland 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 theMagic Kingdom andTokyo 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 theHong 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 a2010/2011 commercial for theDisneyland 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 onJungle Cruise Wiki.
