Pirates of the Caribbean (attraction)

**Pirates of the Caribbean** is a classic Disney theme park adventure, a swashbuckling voyage that transports guests back to the days when pirates and privateers roamed the Spanish Main. Starring a comical cast of rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves, the world-famous attraction sends guests of all ages on a voyage through mysterious caverns where “Dead men tell no tales” and then into a colonial era Caribbean seaport under siege by a band of fun-loving pirates. The attraction’s jaunty theme song, "Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)," sets the show’s light tone with its tongue-in-cheek depiction of high seas lawlessness.

Since its debut at Disneyland in California in 1967, the rollicking fun of Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean adventure has thrilled guests from around the world. The popular Disney theme park attraction was brought to the big screen in *Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl*.

## History

When it was originally conceived, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was planned to be a pirate wax museum. Later, it was developed as a walk-through attraction, before eventually being transformed into a ride. After nearly ten years of development, Pirates of the Caribbean debuted at Disneyland on March 18th, 1967.

With the release *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest* in 2006, it was decided to refresh the original attraction with the addition of characters from the films. The enhanced attraction features three Audio-Animatronic figures of Jack Sparrow, and one of Captain Barbossa (who replaced the original captain of the Wicked Wench), along with new special effects, improved lighting and audio, and a ghostly appearance by the sequels' character Davy Jones, materializing via mist projection.

## Description

### The Blue Bayou

Located in New Orleans Square, the ride begins as guests board their boats at Laffite's Landing, and drift off placidly through the moonlit waters of the Blue Bayou. The soft strumming of a banjo can be heard over the peaceful symphony of nature, and fireflies glimmer as they dance in the night air. As the boats continue onward into a darker passage, the mysterious voice of a talking skull, mounted above crossed swords on an archway, provides a taunting warning:

*Psst! Avast there! It be too late to alter course, mateys...and there be plundering pirates lurking in every cove, waitin' to board. Sit closer together, and keep your ruddy hands inboard. That be the best way to repel boarders. And mark well me words, mateys...dead men tell no tales!*
*Ye come seekin' adventure and salty ol' pirates, eh? Sure ye come to the proper place. But keep a weather eye open, mates, and hold on tight, with both hands if you please...there be squalls ahead, and Davy Jones waiting for them what don't obey.*
### The Grotto of Lost Souls

After passing under the Jolly Roger, the boats then plunge down a roaring waterfall to a dark and mysterious grotto. Guests behold the skeletons of an unfortunate band of pirates scattered over a beach, guarding their treasure with macabre delight. One lies sprawled facedown in the sand, a cutlass protruding from his back. Atop the weathered hat of another dead pirate, a seagull has made its nest. A ghostly voice echoes throughout the cavern - *Dead men tell no tales!*

As the boats glide gently past a thunderstorm, a lone skeleton stands, still clutching the helm of a shipwreck, doomed to eternally pilot the ship to a long-forgotten destination. The tattered rags still left clinging to his bones flutter in the hurricane winds.

Moving through the grotto, guests pass the Crew's Quarters. In this pirate hideaway, two skeletal crewmen enjoy their rum, the drink endlessly pouring down through one pirate's rib cage. Drifting onward, the guests' boat passes the quarters of the captain himself, who is nothing more than a bony corpse propped up in his lush bed, studying a treasure map while his harpsichord plays a melancholy rendition of the now-familiar pirate song.

The breathtaking treasure room comes into view, a forbidden cache of ill-gotten riches. Seated atop this mountain of plundered wealth is a final skeletal pirate of this doomed crew, basking in his fleeting glory for all time. The boats drift down a dark cavern shrouded in mist as ghostly voices echo, warning of a curse placed upon the treasure, and the grim fate awaiting any who dares take it from its resting place.

*No fear have ye of evil curses, says you? Arrrgh... Properly warned ye be, says I. Who knows when that evil curse will strike the greedy beholders of this bewitched treasure?*
*Perhaps ye knows too much... ye've seen the cursed treasure, ye know where it be hidden. Now proceed at your own risk. These be the last friendly words ye'll hear. Ye may not survive to pass this way again...*
### The Wicked Wench

Emerging from the eerie grotto, the guests find themselves thrust through a blinding mist into in the middle of a fog-enshrouded harbor under cloudy night skies. The boats are caught in the middle of a fierce battle between a marauding pirate galleon and a Caribbean fortress. The pirate captain of the *Wicked Wench* barks orders to his crew as cannonballs whistle and fly overhead, splashing down into the water and narrowly missing the boats.

### Sacking the Town

The once-peaceful Caribbean village is overrun with pirates in search of treasure. The first sight is the town square, where the pirates have kidnapped the magistrate, Carlos, and threaten to drown him in a well if he doesn't divulge the location of the treasure. Carlos' proud wife peeks out of an upstairs windows, begging him to be brave and not listen to them. A pirate fires a shot at her and she vanishes back into the house, as Carlos is repeatedly dunked in the well, while several other captive town officials look on.

The boats drift onward into the bustling marketplace, where an auction is taking place. A pirate Auctioneer is selling off the town's maidens to an audience of rowdy buccaneers across the waterway. The Auctioneer extols the virtues of a pleasantly plump and positively beaming maiden who is clearly pleased to be landing a husband, even by such means. The drunken bidders across the way cry out for the Redhead, a buxom and flirtatious woman waiting in the wings for her turn to go to the highest bidder, with apparent delight.

The boats drift further into the heart of the town, where lecherous drunken pirates chase after women. An angry matron wielding a broom turns the tables on a hapless buccaneer. Leaning up against a barrel near the boats is a hopelessly debauched pirate, dangling a frilly petticoat as he prattles on about the object of his desire. The terrified young woman peers out from inside the barrel behind the pirate's back as he keeps boasting, unaware.

### The Burning Town

Rounding a corner, guests approach a merry band of pirate musicians, singing their rollicking theme “A Pirate’s Life For Me”, as a donkey and dog bray and bark along. Their fellow buccaneers sing and cackle in a drunken stupor as the town burns to the ground around them, their song thundering over the rooftops. One pirate stands with one foot in an unsteady rowboat, in his arms a treasure chest overflowing with riches, and a dozen hats balanced precariously on his head, swaying from side to side. Just across the way, another rum-swilling pirate wallows in the mud with a trio of pigs, oinking in delight to the theme.

Entering a fortress deep within the heart of the town, the boats drift past prison cells that are threatened by the looming flames. The captive pirates trapped inside are growing increasingly desperate as the blaze creeps ever closer. A dog just out of the prisoners' reach holds the key to their escape tauntingly in his jaws; he seems all but immune to their every attempt to lure him closer.

Timbers smolder and creak overhead as the boats then enter the town's underground arsenal. Among the piled kegs of gunpowder, the drunken pirates have decided to settle their trifles by shootout, carelessly firing off their pistols. The boats make it through the arsenal and begin an impossible journey up a waterfall, thereby escaping the pirates and returning to the safety of the Blue Bayou. From the water-lapped beach piled with treasure, a parrot welcomes guests back as they disembark from their adventure.

## Trivia

* Pirates of the Caribbean was the last Disneyland attraction personally supervised by Walt Disney.
* There are approximately 122 animated characters (68 lifelike humans and 54 animated animals) in the Audio Animatronics cast of Pirates of the Caribbean.
* Disney Imagineer X Atencio, who wrote the attraction’s memorable title tune — “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” is the voice of the Jolly Roger skull and crossbones before you plunge down the waterfalls.
* The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction weaves through two buildings totaling 112,826 square feet and a channel that contains 750,000 gallons of water.