Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Disney updating "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme park rides

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-03-2006, 06:35 PM:

Yo-ho, yo-ho: Disney to update Pirates ride
By Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Orlando Sentinel article

Pirates of the Caribbean, a mainstay ride at Magic Kingdom since 1973 and at Disneyland since 1967, will close for three to four months this spring so it can be updated.

Disney wants to add characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, including Jack Sparrow, the Johnny Depp character, in time for the July 7 release of the sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Disney also plans to update some of the special effects.

The rides are closing and the changes are being made at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

The ride spawned the first movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003. Now the movie, and its sequel are changing the ride, Disney officials said. In addition to Jack Sparrow, his nemesis Barbossa and the ghostly character Davey Jones from Dead Man's Chest will be worked into the ride.

"The creative legacy of Pirates of the Caribbean has come full circle with the attraction initially inspiring our highly successful film franchise and now the films inspiring exciting additions to the attraction itself," Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, stated in a press release.

Walt Disney supervised creation of the ride at Disneyland and it premiered March 18, 1967. The ride was opened at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Dec. 15, 1973. The ride features a slow boat ride through caverns populated by singing, brawling and menacing robotic pirates and other characters.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 02-03-2006, 09:38 PM:

I've always loved this ride. There's something about the way Disney does those rides, the ones whose appeal is in the ambience, and stuff to look at.

For some reason, my favorite part isn't even the pirates at all. It's the slow beginning, as you're floating past the fireflies and the old guy with a pipe on the porch of that little shack, right on the water. I've always thought that was a cool shack, and the soft banjo and crickets, and the dusk sky ... it's a very relaxing scene. I've still never eaten at that bayou restaurant, adjacent to that part of the ride. I've had the clam chowder, though, since they wisely started selling it in other parts of the park. [thumbsup]

Good chowder!

Years ago, it was disappointing that they felt the need to make the wench scene politically correct by adding trays of food into the arms of the hotties being chased. No, the scoundrel pirates aren't chasing women, not any more ... they're just hungry!

By the way, I haven't seen the first Pirates movie, and I probably won't see this next one. As long as the changes they make to the ride don't include posters advertising the movie, on DVD, plastered to the sides of the flaming building ... I'll be fine.

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 02-03-2006, 10:26 PM:

Eating at the restaurant is great ... for exactly the reasons Brian listed above about the beginning of the ride. You are eating in that ambience. I always felt that the "Pirates" experience at WDW was lacking because there was not a restaurant connected with the ride.