History and a Behind the Scenes Look at the Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction in Disneyland
Over the years that I’ve been coming Disneyland I have always loved Pirates of the Caribbean. There is so much history and back story with how this attraction came to be here in Disneyland. Let’s start with the outside. Pirates of the Caribbean opened on March 18th, 1967. This was one of the last attractions Walt Disney worked on himself. The building itself was modeled after the Cabildo building in New Orleans, Louisiana which is where the Louisiana purchase was signed which, as you know, nearly doubled the size of the United States and opened areas west of the Mississippi River for exploration and settlement.
But we’re here to talk about pirates not the history of the United States. The bottom half of the building is where you enter the attraction but the top half was originally going to be a bigger apartment for Walt and his family. Once Walt passed away however months before the attraction opened the second story sat unused for 20 years until it became the Disney Gallery in 1987, and then the Disney Dream Suite for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. Now it is called “21 Royal” which is just another name for the Disney Dream Suite but also a dining experience as well.
The attraction was worked on by some of the OG Imagineers who worked by Walt’s side such as Marc Davis, X Atencio, Claude Coats, Yale Gracey, and Blaine Gibson among many others.
We can’t set sail until we get to the dock so let’s saunter over and board our pirate ship from Lafitte’s Landing. Jean Lafitte was a French pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He is perhaps best known for his crucial role in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. Which is most likely why the dock is named after him. We begin our journey through the bayou. Here you’ll see some run down shacks, alligators, crickets chirping, fireflies, and the Blue Bayou restaurant where you can eat like a pirate right here in the ride and where you’ll see my Papi! Well that’s what I call him at least. Many people believe that he is the old Jean Lafitte reflecting on his pirating days and once we get past him we are going into his mind to see what he has seen.
Pirates of the Caribbean was first going to be a walk through wax museum until Walt’s team of imagineers decided a water ride would be a little more beneficial. Since Disneyland is pretty much land locked meaning Disneyland can’t really expand anymore, we must go underground where the show building is. Once we go down two drops we sink below the earth, past the train tracks and into the main show building this is where we see the skeleton pirates where it looked like a fight broke out of some pirates guarding their treasure but sadly, it didn’t go too well for them.
Another shows a skeleton helmsman piloting a ship to nowhere that has crashed into the rocks. Once we get to the crews quarters we see a few things, skeletons drinking never ending spirits and skeletons playing cards. That drinking skeleton trick is a really easy illusion involving some twisted ribbon and a motor hidden away. Up behind the crew members we see a portrait of the red head? Is that a picture of the red head? You be the judge. Over to our left we see the captains quarters and the captain studying his map. Above him is a skull and crossbones on the headboard. Disney and Disney cast members will not confirm or deny that the skull is real however the overall look and color of that skull compared to the rest of the white skeletons tells me otherwise. At one point the skeletons were real and donated by a nearby university. That skull is the last remaining real skull on the attraction.
The attraction has had a bunch of changes over the years. Once the “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” movie came out in 2003, the ride itself made the Johnny Depp changeover soon after. Once we pass the dark cave we see Captain Barbossa captaining the Wicked Wench and instead of asking for treasure like the last captain, he’s asking for Captain Jack since he knows where the treasure is.
There are thousands of hidden Mickey shapes hidden around the entirety of the Disneyland Resort, if you look toward the fort in this same scene you’ll see one cannon hole in the shape of a Mickey. How much do you love the smell of Pirates of the Caribbean? Call me weird but I love it. After we pass the massive cannon fight between Barbossa and the towns militia we see what looks like Captain Hook and Mr. Smee dunking the towns mayor in the well. The infamous red head scene comes soon after. This was changed back in 2018. It’s said that the auctioneer himself is such a sophisticated animatronic that if he breaks down Disney will not open the attraction for guests. Come to think of it have you ever been on Pirates when the auctioneer isn’t moving?
There are multiple attractions in Disneyland that have at least one key element that if it’s not working, the ride will not run for guests. Indiana Jones Adventure’s snake is also a key example of that like the Pirates auctioneer. Next we go further into the town, speaking of the many changes of this attraction, we used to see the men chasing the women during this scene while we hear this pirate sitting by the barrel called the “pooped pirate” since he was tired from chasing women while he’s holding a pair of trousers. This scene changed from the pooped pirate to the glutenous pirate talking about food, to the pirate we see today keeping the treasure map from Jack Sparrow.
Next we see the town burning to the ground and all the drunken pirates singing the famous “Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirates Life For Me” song written by George Bruns with lyrics by Xavier Atencio. George Bruns and Xavier “X” Atencio also wrote the Grim Grinning Ghosts song we hear in the Haunted Mansion attraction. Both songs were written with the intention of making sure guests who heard both songs felt like they didn’t miss any part of the song. Both songs were written with no real end or beginning making you feel like you didn’t miss anything.
My favorite pirate is dirty foot. His laugh always makes me laugh. The town is burning to the ground and that fire effect we see is a very simple painted cloth with a fan blowing on it and a light shining on it. The fire effect is so good that there is one off switch to switch off the fire effects all at a moments notice just in case of emergency.
Further down the bayou some pirates end up getting captured and we see this one silly, yet smart dog holding the key to their freedom but it’s just out of reach. Into a burning building with some really great burning charcoal effects. We reach the end of the attraction. Two possible hidden mickey’s in this room there is one on the shield to your left as soon as you enter this final room and the gun powder barrels hanging over your head. The barrels have been a debate amongst Disney die-hards for whether or not it is a true hidden Mickey since it’s so obvious but you be the judge. If you would like to know about the gun effects, they’re similar to the cannon effects with a simple light and pressurized air blowing out of the end of them. At last we reach the lift hill heading back to the surface where we see Jack hoarding the treasure for himself. That is some history and a behind the scenes look at this beautiful and classic attraction.
