What Were They Thinking? - A "Politically Correct" Pirates of the Caribbean (1997 and 2018)

Today is the 53rd Anniversary of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean! In honor of the anniversary, let's go back to 1997 and take a look at some newspaper articles, about Disney's first major altering of the attraction.

This first article is from January 1997 and talks about the changes that were being made, 23 years ago:

This next article was also written during the refurbishment:

And this one was written in March of 1997, after the attraction had reopened:

Here's a link to a short news story about the 1997 reopening of Pirates of the Caribbean and the response from guests.





If you look closely in that video, you will see three pirate figures and at least three animal figures, which were all being added to the attraction at that time (and were all removed when the attraction underwent another rehab in 2006, for the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow). Those new figures which were added in 1997, all came from an EPCOT attraction that had recently closed. I had previously done two separate posts about the "new" pirate figures, so rather than include photos of them here, I will just provide the links to my earlier posts:

- "EPCOT in Anaheim"

- "More EPCOT in Anaheim"

In June of 2018, even more "politically correct" changes were made to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It seems that the "auction scene," which had been a part of the original ride for 50 years, was suddenly found to be offensive.

A local newspaper article by Mark Eades, dated July 2, 2017, talked about the changes that would be made to that scene, which included making the "Redheaded Wench" into a "Plundering Pirate." A senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering is quoted as saying, "We think this keeps to the original vision of the attraction as envisioned by X Atencio, Marc Davis and the other Disney legends who brought this classic to life." Personally, I beg to differ! I just wish the two legends who were mentioned, were still around today so that we could ask them for their opinions. Actually, X Atencio had already been quoted, calling the 1997 revisions to the attraction, "The Boy Scouts of the Caribbean." Maybe we should ask Rolly Crump, Bob Gurr and Alice Davis, for their opinions!

This was the official Disney concept art, showing how the scene would be reworked:

And here is the finished product:

Below, is another local newspaper article dated, October 1, 2017. The author of this article was predicting that Disney wasn't going to do very much to the auction scene, other than give the Redheaded Wench some new pirate garb and hang a new banner behind her. It would have been nice if that was ALL that they did to the scene, but unfortunately they changed far more than that, including giving dialogue to the new "Redheaded Pirate."

I would like to know who wrote the new script for this scene! It doesn't even make sense. She now interacts with the Pirate Auctioneer, who is trying to sell chickens (WHY?) to the group of pirates seated across the way. He asks them, "Do I hear ten? A ten for a hen!" The Redheaded Pirate then interrupts him and while holding up a bottle, tells him that the men aren't interested in the chickens, but rather, "It's the rum they want!" The men start chanting, "We wants the rum! We wants the rum!" Excuse me, but aren't these guys pirates? Aren't they looting the town? If they wanted rum (or even a chicken), wouldn't they just go steal it for themselves? The entire dialogue seems so inane.

Again, I think it would have been better if they had only made the minimal changes, which the author was predicting. Actually, it would have been better if they had just left the auction scene as it had been, for the past 50 years! I am all for political correctness, but I think their attempt at updating this scene was a huge FAIL.

And not that I want to give Disney ideas for ruining the attraction any further, but if they are truly attempting to be politically correct, isn't it hypocritical to make that one change, but then leave all of the pirates who appear to be drunk and holding bottles of booze....AND ALSO HOLDING GUNS? Maybe they should just make all of the pirates hold hands and sing Kumbaya? After all, aren't the lyrics of the attraction's theme song, A Pirates Life For Me, really just encouraging people to "drink, pillage, loot, extort, kidnap, embezzle, hijack, and burn up the city"?

The author of the article goes on to say, that she feels changing the one female to a pirate isn't enough. She thinks, "If Disney really cared about embracing diversity and creating better representation of women and minority groups, there is a lot more they should be doing." When it comes to Disney's live action and animated films, she would like to see them focus on creating new stories about "people of color, women, LGBT individuals, and other underrepresented groups." I totally agree with her, but when Disney tried to do that with the Star Wars franchise (The Last Jedi), didn't many of the "fanboys" scream and cry?

I better end my rant here!

Happy 53rd anniversary, to the "ORIGINAL" Pirates of the Caribbean!

****Post Update****

I forgot to include the following information in my post:

So far, the "auction scene" has been updated in three of the Disney parks, worldwide. Both Anaheim's and Orlando's versions have the plus-size "Winsome Wench," also known as "Tiny," holding a chicken in one hand and a basket of eggs in the other. (Again, why on earth would the pirates be bidding on eggs???) At least in the Disneyland Paris version (seen below), she is holding jewelry, which makes just a little bit more sense, in my opinion. I wonder why Paris received a different version than Anaheim and Orlando? As of right now, Tokyo Disneyland still retains it's original auction scene.

And no, you are not seeing things! The pirate auctioneer has lost his head, here. Coincidentally, this happened on the exact same day that the animatronic "Ursula" lost her head, in the "Little Mermaid" ride in Anaheim.

Glow Fest at the Disneyland Resort!

Well, I went to the Disneyland Resort's "second gate" yesterday for the public premiere of World of Color. I got to the park only five minutes before the start of the second show and a cast member informed me that Fastpasses for all three shows (a third show had been added to the schedule) were gone shortly after the park opened. I was not deluding myself into thinking I would still be able to get a Fastpass five minutes before the show started......it was a very last minute decision of mine to go to the park and attempt to see the show.

As it turned out, I was able to stand right in front of the Victorian "San Francisco" buildings and had a view over the crowd across the way. There was nobody between me and the official viewing area because they were keeping the parade route area clear. Being pretty tall, I was able to see....or at least I feel like I was able to see everything. However, since I wasn't right up in the actual "reserved" viewing area, I am not 100 percent sure that I didn't miss anything. For that reason, I am not going to give a review on the show. I definitely need to see it again, but I will say for right now, that I think I like it better than Fantasmic!
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So, since I am not going to discuss the World of Color any further (oh wait....they used the old Wonderful World of Color TV show theme song! I liked that!), I am going to post just a few pics of other things that are new at "the resort."


The signs by the trams have been changed. And look, the new logo for the other park is being used already. Hey, where did the "s" go?


Here's the new cover for the park guide. That crooked font is kind of wacky. I guess they are hoping it will attract many more people to the park than the old logo did. Personally, I would have changed the name completely like they did back in the nineties with "Euro Disneyland" when attendance was suffering so miserably at that park.

Hey.....this summer's going to be NIGHTASTIC! (I hope the new Fantasmic dragon is working across the way at Disneyland this summer.)

Park hours were actually extended to 11:00 last night and as mentioned earlier, a third showing of World of Color was added.

Okay, now this was weird. I saw some of these props in the Hollywood Backlot last Tuesday during the day and thought perhaps they were being used for Grad Nites. It turns out that they are for GLOW FEST, The Ultimate Summer Street Party! (Ends August 22nd.)

As with the rest of the park, I didn't know quite what to make of it all.

This large interactive screen was in front of the Frank Lloyd Wright bathrooms.

It took me a minute to realize that the "blob" on the left was me. My arms are raised and I'm holding my camera. The blob on the right is a guy that was standing further back and placing his hands together.

The third blob was a child sitting on top of his father's shoulders. Weird, but fascinating at the same time!

There are smaller screens all along the street with trippy changing kaleidoscopic patterns. I think I see Ellen Degeneres in this one.

Here are Bambi and Flower.

I told you the patterns get trippy.

This Volkswagon Bus was parked in the middle of the street, on top of the newly installed Red Car tracks. There was a hole in the roof with a turntable and other sound equipment on top. I'm guessing that a DJ pops up out of the rooftop and plays music at some point. There was already very loud music playing up and down the street.

There are several pedestals just like this one lining the street. Perhaps these are for go-go dancers? It's Club DCA!

The giant screen below is actually the wall of the Hyperion Theater that has the "sky" backdrop painted on it.

The people projected onto the wall were standing in a designated area just to my left. People did seem to be fascinated by seeing themselves up there.

This shot was taken from a spot near the Hollywood Backlot Stage.

As long as we're in the area, let's go pay a visit to my old friend, the Sea Serpent from EPCOT's World of Motion.

Oh, and the Silly Symphony swings are now open. They are SO MUCH more fun to ride now that.....hmmmm, actually, they're still just swings.

I remember riding these at Knott's Berry Farm when they added them to Fiesta Village in 1987!

The Knott's version has a figure of a Senorita on top!

Okay, sorry for the lame post and the blurry photos today!

***POST UPDATE: To see Knott's Berry Farm's version of a "Glowfest", click here: Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular.

More EPCOT in Anaheim

In my last post , I included photos of some figures from EPCOT's World of Motion attraction that found their way to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Let's take another look at those figures as well as some of the others that made the long trek from Orlando to Anaheim.


Here again, is the sea serpent from World of Motion's "Christopher Columbus scene."

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He is surrounded by other props in the Hollywood Backlot area. With the upcoming changes planned for DCA, I wonder if these items will be staying?

I've been reviewing old attraction footage trying to figure out if these other props are from WOM as well. I haven't come to a definitive conclusion yet. Maybe I need to see some better footage!

Here are the pirate, the horse and the goat from Pirates of the Caribbean that were mentioned in my last post. All three of these figures were originally from WOM. I wonder where they are now?

And just a few feet to the right of these figures, was a pig from WOM that used to sit next to the "gluttonous pirate" in the chase scene. Notice the pirate's belly sticking out under his sash...that was a 1997 addition. Thank goodness they covered it back up when Jack Sparrow was added to the attraction in 2006. And that cat that used to rise up on a platform from inside the barrel was just plain ridiculous!

Here's the partner of the pirate that was seen pulling on the rope in my last post. (He can also be seen in the background of this photo.) This squatting figure was originally from the Assyrian scene in WOM, where he was attempting to get a seated Zebra to stand up.

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I hope everyone enjoyed this peek at some old EPCOT remnants. My next post is going to be another vintage trip report from Disneyland in the 1980's. Get your time machines ready!

EPCOT In Anaheim

Once upon a time in EPCOT, there was an attraction called World of Motion. It was housed in a large wheel shaped building and was a 15 minute Omnimover ride through the largest assembly of Audio-Animatronics ever produced in Disney history....188 figures in total.
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The attraction was similar to Spaceship Earth, but instead of tracing man's achievements in communication, World of Motion traced the development of transportation from man's earliest forms of mobility, up to present times (and even hinted at some possible future methods.)


Another difference between this attraction and Spaceship Earth was that most of the scenes in World of Motion were infused with humor. Here's one of the scenes from the attraction showing an encounter between Christopher Columbus and a sea serpent during his search for the New World.

Unfortunately, after entertaining guests for 14 years, World of Motion closed in 1996 and was eventually replaced by Test Track. So what happened to all those set pieces and figures? Well, a small number of them went on to have a life after WOM. The sea serpent from the Christopher Columbus scene can actually be found today in Anaheim, at Disney's California Adventure. I'm wondering how many people right now are saying, "Where in the heck?" Well, he is hidden behind the buildings on the north side of the Hollywood Backlot, just next to the Hollywood Backlot Stage. He's surrounded by some wooden barriers that have "Props Dept." stenciled on them, as well as a few other props such as some Roman columns and a Chinese rickshaw. I haven't yet been able to confirm whether or not these are also from World of Motion, but I would tend to believe that they are. Maybe someone out there can say for sure.

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Here's the sea serpent in his new home.

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Now let's go back to EPCOT. Does this figure from World of Motion look familiar? He should. He resided in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean from 1997 to 2006. He was one of the two pirates right before the chain lift that were trying to make off with a heavy load of treasure.

Below, is a photo from Daveland (used here with permission) showing how this figure appeared at Disneyland. His partner that was bent over in a rather unflattering position while trying to help lift the load, was also from World of Motion.

There were other figures that were taken from World of Motion and installed in Pirates of the Caribbean during it's 1997 redo, but I need to find some photos of them in order to show the comparisons. These figures included the pirate from the "chase scene" that was trying to keep a basket of fruit away from a horse and a goat (both from WOM as well) and the pig that used to sit next to "the pooped pirate/gluttonous pirate" in that same scene. If anyone has photos of any of these World of Motion figures from either Orlando or Anaheim and would like to share them, please let me know!

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***Post Update*** Click here for my next post: More EPCOT In Anaheim to see more figures from WOM that ended up in Anaheim's Pirates of the Caribbean.