Our slow lane winds around a two-story wooden boathouse filled with props from remote locations. At the front of the line, a khaki-clad Disney cast member helps us into a small, familiar boat for a tour of the forest.
This is Disneyland’s world-famous Jungle Cruise, complete with animatronic animals and poignant characters from your captain, with classic set pieces depicting scenes directly from the Amazon, Congo, Mekong and Nile rivers. It’s a ride that Walt Disney himself had a hand in developing, but there’s something new coming that separates it from its 1950s origins: a 3D printed prop.
You may have noticed miniature 3D printing made by home hobbyists. But that’s child’s play compared to what 3D printing workshops can do on an industrial scale.
Haddy, a 3D printing business based in Florida, says it can build the world. Specifically, Jay Rogers, founder and CEO, tells me that the company is putting its first boat in a Disney park.
“It’s on the Jungle Cruise,” he said at the time Disney Demo Day at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, late last year.
3D printing burst onto the scene in the mid-2010s. These printers take tiny pellets or strands of polymer or liquid resin and make fleshy designs, like the purple toy octopus and Prada purse my 3-year-old daughter got from her uncle Zach for her recent birthday. Using a digital file, you can send the project to the printer for production — whether it’s a small octopus or an armchair.
The illuminated figure of Mickey hanging from the tree at Walt Disney Studios was 3D printed by Haddy.
You can buy small 3D printerspriced between $180 and $400, for home projects, while larger jobs require larger machines that can remove large items such as coffee counters and even houses.
And, yes, boats.
Haddy’s Jungle Cruise is a boat that has been placed in the Disneyland ride, to be a part of a beautiful trip near those fake animals on the banks of the Amazon-Congo-Nile-Mekong river.
Walt Disney Imagineering worked closely with Haddy’s team to develop the boat’s plans, making sure it captured the spirit of the stage shows while in use. 3D printing technology.
“We had an old boat, and we did a 3D scan to get it right,” said Chris Hill, Disney’s R&D thinker, in January when Disneyland installed the boat across the loading bay. “For the creative part of it, we had a picture of a boat from the 1960s, so using the dimensions from the 3D scan, I made a model of the new boat, which is what we used to 3D print the boat.”
Imagineers 3D-skene their old boat, and using a reference photo of a 1960s boat to create a new one that can be 3D printed.
Do 3D printed boats have that Disney vibe?
Founded in 2022, Haddy creates home decor such as planters, as well as furniture such as outdoor benches, chairs and tables. His gig working with Disney’s Imagineers came about after he was selected as one of the four steps to receive funding, a platform and mentorship through the 2025 Disney Accelerator program.
Rogers says Haddy can immediately turn an idea into a reality, save a lot of time (and maybe money, though the companies wouldn’t give specifics). This is more than being able to recycle any 3D printed material into new materials, because when the substrate reaches the end of its life, it can be melted down and 3D printed into a new material.
A 20-foot canoe made by a typical boat builder can take 1,000 man-hours, but not the Jungle Cruise Canoe prop, Rogers said. “It’s not just quick to do, it’s quick to improve.”
He describes a typical process, which unfolds over weeks and months: design the boat, build and protect the main mold, repeat the mold making process an average of 30 times per boat and produce the parts that go on the boat.
By comparison, it will take Haddy 70 robot hours to produce. Both processes use a digital file as a starting point. The difference is that Haddy can simply make changes to the file and reprint the boat if there are any issues with the final product — no need to make a mold anymore.
The new 3D printed boat at Disneyland.
Nick Blackburn, director of technology business operations at Disney, says his team went to a series of conferences and seminars to find the right company to partner with in 3D printing.
“This project is currently the first project we are working on to demonstrate that we can use advanced manufacturing, robotics and innovation to bring parks to life quickly and efficiently,” said Blackburn.
Still, how much whimsy is left? Can a 3D printed boat evoke the same feelings of nostalgia and fantasy as a set of existing rides?
On the day of the Disney Demo, I see what appears to be a wrought iron fence leaning against a tree, and Rogers says it was 3D printed. Perhaps guests won’t even notice if the boat is made of polymer instead of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, and printed by a robot.
Even the light fixtures in the Main Theater at Walt Disney Studios, where I had just watched a video showing various new technologies. used by Disney-backed startupswere made by Haddy in this event. (I had thought that the complicated, glowing blue lights were a relic of the time Frozen 2 was in development in the theater.)
Haddy’s 3D printed gate looks like wrought iron.
Maybe 3D printed objects have their own whimsy? CNET Senior Editor James Bricknell, a 3D printing expert, says yes. Not only will the boat have everything Imagineer can do, but it will also be manufactured quickly and cost-effectively — and it will definitely float.
“It’s a great idea,” Bricknell said. “You can make them look any way you like, like regular boats, but instead of injection molding, you can make them individually at a much lower cost.”
Disney’s Imagineers they are always looking for new technologies to incorporate into parks and Disney cruise ships.
Walt Disney Imagineering is “the spearhead when it comes to emerging technologies” such as AI, robots and drones, according to Michael Hundgen, creative portfolio producer for Walt Disney Imagineering.
With Haddy, Imagineers explores the creation of set pieces for Disney theme parks. Beyond Jungle Cruise, these products can also include Monstropolis cabin doors — the new Monsters, Inc. ride. was built at Walt Disney World — and stonework in various countries, such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. There may be furniture creation for thousands of hotel rooms throughout the Orlando area.
“We don’t just create technology for technology’s sake; we do it to help our creative teams bring the stories from the company to life,” said Hundgen.
So now it’s out of fiberglass reinforced plastic and inside with polymer pellets. We will have to see if guests can really tell the difference between the old and new equipment.
