The Pirates of the Caribbean Ride at Disneyland

[Norrington]

Well, here's my breif desription:

Well, you enter the ride in New Orleans sqaure, a small part of DisneyLand modeled after The Queen of the Delta.

You go through the queue to Lafitte's Landing (The ride has it purposly mispelled), where you board the long boats.

Then you start the journey down the peaceful Blue Bayou Lagoon, where you pass a elderly gentlemen playing "Ol' Susana" on the Banjo, while smoking a pipe.

Then you proced to a bricklined passage way, where a Talking skull warns you of looming dangers, and to hold on tight, then you ride down a waterfall, where you hear "Yo-ho-yo-ho A pirate's life for me!" for the first time, then the song is cut short by another waterfall, and a ghostly voice admonsihing "Dead men tell no tales!" Over and over again. You pass by scenes of pirates that are long deceased. My favorite is the Cap'n's Qaurters, because a harpsichord is playing "A Pirate's life for me!"

You then exit from the grotto in the midst of a battle between the pirate Galleon the Wicked Wench and the spanish fort.

You escape the battle unscathed, finding a way through the town canal, where you fid the town magistrate, Carlos, being dunked, because the pirates want him to reveal the location of the treasure. His mistress in the window encourages Carlos not to talk.

You pass this scene of Caribbean water torture to find some more pirates auctioning off the town beuties, the item on the auction block is the best deal at only 6 coins, but the crowd constantly insists "We want the Red'ead!"

Then you pass under a bridge to where some pirates are looking for love in the wrong places. They are chasing town maidens that were not captured for the auction. The Pooped Pirate in the foreground brandishes a frilly slip of a maiden he's been chasing, while the maiden in the backround pops her head out of the barrel, to see if the pooped pirate is gone.

We then join most of the crew in the best of them all: Burning down the city. 3 musicians, a dog, and donkey play the Pirate Anthem, as the inebriated brigands help sing in the back round.

There are some pirates other than the hat theif who want to escape, but are hindered by a innocent gaurd dog.

The Attack is not over! Some extremly drunk brigands have broken into the town's military arsenal, and are having a shooting match over who can it the clearly marked "Explosivos" whcih they think is rum.

Then you travel past this scene, to another, where there is a small stash of treasue, and a pirate is making an escape. He has taken his jolly rodger, put a butt-load of treasure in it, and is trying to pull it up the upramp.

Trivia: Did you know that The grotto originally featured real skeletons from the UCLA medical center? The Plastic of the time was to unrealistic. The bodies were later returned to their countries of origin for burial. The only remaining real skull in the disney land original is the skull of the Captain reading in bed. It was a gift given to Walt by a friend.

Also, jsut so you know, there is a (Shortened) PotC in Walt Disney World Florida, a Lengthend in Disneyland Paris, and a relitivly the same one is Tokyo Disneyland.

The video Mr. Cole is refering to is an excert from a 1967 episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderfull World of Colour". Any of the European or Australian ;^) user wh have it, you can veiw it on disk 2. Though you shuld know they have the grotto scenes out of order in that video, they are in the order I have them Listed.

that helped ;-) Also, the people will judge, once all entries are in, I'll set up a thread in which there are polls on how they went each will be rated on creativity, imanagitive building styles etc.

ALso, for Mr.Phes, the Chase Scene (Maiden in the barrel) was deemed 'Politicly incorrect' and was changed in the 1997 rehab to them chasing maidens with food. The reason it was 'Politicly incorrect' was because some femnists 8-( couldn't bear the thought of what would happen to the maidens after the pirates caught them, and because the Pooped Pirate was spewing dialauge like "I'd like to hoist my colors on the likes of that little wench" And "Keep a weather eye open for her, I be willin' to share I be!" Which is actully ok for a PIRATE ride, because most pirates died from venerial deisesies they picked up in "Nasty Houses".

[WesternOutlaw]

On a side note, this will always be my favorite ride at Disney. Those are great picture too.

Sounds like a neat contest.

[Norrington]

Now, for the Pirates theme song to offically open the contest to all who want to post their creations!

Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho a pirates life for me!

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,

Drink up me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Maraud and embezzle, and even high-jack,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We kindle and char, inflame and ignite,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

We burn up the city, we're really a fright,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We're rascals, scoundrels, villans, and knaves,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We're beggars and blighters, ne'er-do-well cads,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

[WesternOutlaw]

And the old traditional pirate SPLASH! as the Disney ship falls into the underground realm of the pirates! X-O

[Norrington]

Then a ghostly voice admonishing "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES!" ;^)

[WesternOutlaw]

Har Har Har Har Har!!! As the lights go dark!

[Norrington]

Yo-ho a pirate's life for me on the organ plays, and the voices nce again states: "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES!" as if we needed telling twice ;-)

[WesternOutlaw]

Yo-ho a pirate's life for me on the organ plays, and the voices nce again states: "DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES!" as if we needed telling twice ;-)

Sorry... I was getting excited thinking about the ride. :'-)

[Norrington]

Who wouldn't? It's the best them park attraction EVER! Althugh I wish they hadn't done the 1997 rehab where the changed the chase scene, and the 2005 rehabe where they changed it again, among other things.

[Mister Phes]

What do you mean by 1997 rehab? Did they renovate the ride back in 1997?

In which case you should know they also renovated the ride recently to include Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Davey Jones. The Dead Man's Chest DVD extras has a featurette on the ride.

[Norrington]

Of course I know that they did! I mentioned it in my 3rd post of the thread. Personnally, I wish they hadn't added Jack Sparrow in the Chase scene, and the treasure room, because instead of just being there and not really changing anything like the well scene, he replace some of the figures and jist of the scene, also, Barbossa was a bad idea too because he replaced an original figure, the captain. I can't wait another 5 years for the PotC movies to be lost from the public spectrumm anthe Disney execs to go: "Uh-oh, we messed up!" and to change the attraction back to the way it was. Here is a better idea of them if my earlier post wern't clear enough:

Pirates of the Caribbean raised the standards for all theme park dark rides when it opened in 1967, and endures today as the world's best family dark ride. Look carefully when you watch the 2003 hit film of the same name, and you'll see many settings familiar to long-time fans of this classic ride.

You begin your adventure by floating gently through the Blue Bayou, only to drift into a forgotten crypt. Ignoring the warning to turn back, you plunge into a fantasic dream of pirates, treasure and battles upon both sea and land. Yet the enduring musical theme by X. Atencio and George Bruns keeps the mood joyous throughout. Only the most sensitive toddlers will not find something here to elicit a smile.

Pirates offers the bonus of being one of the theme park industry's highest capacity attractions, keeping wait times short during all but the busiest days. One simply cannot visit Disneyland without a voyage on Pirates of the Caribbean.

The ride was changed a few years ago to reflect a more "politically correct" pirate experience. The pirates now chase women for food, instead of the original concept of chasing the women to "pillage" them.

The popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has motivated the people at Disneyland to change the ride yet again. Instead of having the attacking pirates look for gold, they are now looking for Capt. Jack Sparrow. The scenes have changed in very subtle ways.

And for images of the original, the 1997 changes, and the 2006 changes, got to that daveland.web place that all the picture have at the bottom. Also, are the rules clear enough to front page yet?

Here is a

of the ride, I havn't watched it all yeat, so it's probably the 1997 rehabed version.

[SirNadroj]

lego potC ride (with some other disney attractions) Pretty good model, it's big anyway. I found this on brickshelf (it's not mine)

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=118683

[Mister Phes]

Here's the Pirate section :)

[SkaForHire]

Disney happens to be my other specialty besides naval history (LOL I am actually published in Disney History!) I love POTC, but I have never been able to get to Disneyland, which has the superior version.

A note on refurbs... they are refurbishing both California and Florida soon to add a couple more characters to the ride. (ugh! Florida is short enough that they really can't change it....) Florida also has a different outside, its set in a spanish influenced plaza in Adventureland, rather than in New Orleans Square (which is replaced by Liberty Square in Florida) Although the Johnny Depp Audioanimatronic is one of the best Disney has ever produced, it somewhat taints the ride in my mind.... I don't mind where he is hiding by the mayor scene, and I don't mind him in the bucket replacing the lady, but in the final scene in Florida they changed the whole scene to be him in a treasure room... it kind of changes the whole ending. but oh well, it brings people to ride it more (though I seriously doubt it ever lacked riders, and whoever mentioned capacity is right on, its one of the only major rides in all the parks with out the fastpass system because wait times are never longer than 45 minutes)

also, i think the refurb that changed the chasing pirates was pre-1997. And it was not Disney's official excuse to make the ride more politically correct, they actually to my knowledge never acknowledged the fact that they changed all of the chasers around so the women were chasing the men. A lot of writers, especially critics cite that this was a PC move, but I have yet to see any actually proof. It may be likely that Imagineers switched the models around to make people laugh.

I hadn't read that the Paris version is longer than California, has anyone been on both to confirm this?

And a note for all you who make it to the POTC in Florida, take the line on the left, it is much shorter! and usually people go to the right! :)

I also want to state something about the competition... um Walt would be 105, not 100! :P

[Pirate Maniac]

I have been on the ride in Paris, and I am going to California in October, so if you can wait a few months then I can tell you ;)

The Paris ride was quite long, and there was a cafe where you could go down into the ride and order food whilst watching the boats go by. It's not actually called Pirates of the Caribbean there, something else but I can't remember. It is brilliant though and highly enjouyable.

I want to raise the stakes, how about who can build the best mechanized piece of ride?

[Norrington]

I have a book that has pictures nd walk-throughs of all four Pirates of the Caribbeans The Paris version is a combination of the Florida story line (the pirates find the tresure in this one) and the California (They all die in this one) The Arsenal scene from the original explodes, sending you forward in time, where you go the the grotto at the very end as "Crime dosn't pay" thing. ALso, the fort in bmbarding the fort is flooded, so you get carried up a pully, land there, drift thru the flooded fort, and see a Jail scene (Pirates with dog). From the battlements you see Spaniards fighting off pirates, then you splash down into the bombardinf the fort scene. The resturant you're talking about it the Blue Bayou Resteraunt, it was in the original, and has the most expensive food at Disneyland, it's in the ride opposite the Blue Bayou scene, and you can watch the boats go by

[SirNadroj]

I've only been to the Florida one, but I hear that California's has a way better flume part. Did I hear right?

[SkaForHire]

Wow, i want to go to Paris' ride way more now lol

I don't know how much flume ride element there is in the one at DL, I think it just has the normal one drop required to propel the ships, I have seen a diagram of it before and that was all i noticed.... but someone that has actually been on it would know better.

I am disappointed they never put a restaurant into the Florida one, but I am guessing it would have had to look alot like the Mexico pavilion at epcot if they did. The two buildings (potc and mexico) share alot of characteristics like the false skies.

The whole reason POTC is cut short in florida because they were not going to put it in there. They were going to do a totally different (and much longer) flume ride in Frontierland that involved many scenes from the "wild west" However, when WDW opened, people complained that the "pirate" ride was not there. So they utilized what small space they had in adventureland and put in POTC. meanwhile this led to the eventual cancellation of the Western ride, and the construction of Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain. The flume ride for frontierland was pretty cool looking, and it is disapointing they did not put it in, though splash mountain and POTC are pretty awesome in themselves, and it would stink to have lost them... Big Thunder Railroad is okay too i guess. I just wish they would extend the Florida version of POTC under the railroad track and make the whole ride longer... but that will never happen.

[SirNadroj]

I am disappointed they never put a restaurant into the Florida one, but I am guessing it would have had to look alot like the Mexico pavilion at epcot if they did. The two buildings (potc and mexico) share alot of characteristics like the false skies.

I hear the resturant is really nice, yeah, just like mexico at Epcot, but it is also expensive. I hear it is the only place that sells mint julups, too!