Keep all posts about the updates to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction here to help keep the sub spoiler-free for those who would like to experience all the changes first hand!
Posted Jun 8, 2018, 5:09 PM UTC
After watching the full video, here's the changes I've seen:
- Gorgeous new lighting throughout, as well as some repainted sets in the town scenes. The lighting in the caverns is great!
- Of course, the redhead. It actually seems better than I thought it'd be. The auctioneer's voice was changed as well, which sucks since it was such a large part of the ride (for me, at least) but the new voice actor did a great job trying to replicate his voice. Overall not as bad as I thought it'd be.
-Now for a change no one expected: >!Davy Jones's projection/the mist has been removed from the ride. It has instead been replaced by- the pirate voices from before! There's also a new small show scene to the left with a new skeleton and an octopus. I think it's a great change, although I'll miss going through Davy Jones and watching everyone put their hands up through his beard.!<
Overall, the changes have for the most part enhanced the ride. I miss the redhead as most do, but I think this is a decent replacement. I'm sure it will be enjoyed for generations after and it still feels like the attraction it was before.
I love this touch. It definitly makes the transition to the living world of pirates make more sense. If only they would restore the skeletons at the lift hill scene bringing the whole ride together.
I used to love the pirates struggling to carry the treasure up the lift hill right before the skeletons. Their bulging muscles looked so real when I was a kid!
Where is this on the ride
The part that's hidden in the spoiler: I'll just say this. Woah! I am so excited about this!! Best news!!!!!
The lighting and some fire effects look improved, but in person it's not as drastic as that low light video makes it look.
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THE GHOSTLY VOICES ARE BACK
I NEVER THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD COME!
...Oh, right, the auction scene. Meh.
I rode this the day after it reopened in WDW to see the new redhead scene. I’m not a big fan of it personally, mostly her voice sounds weird. Like it doesn’t match up to the image portrayed. I’m also a little sad to lose Paul Frees voice there but it is what it is.
Edit- Rode Disneyland's Pirates yesterday. It's whatever. The new little addition is nice and all the animatronics are moving very nicely. However, they cleaned dirty foot pirates dirty foot. What blasphemy is this?! Clean pirates? 🙄
I’m glad I’m not the only one that noticed the clean feet.
Currently closed for "hours"
We were in the handicap line and they gave us a return time ticket to go right in. Sounds like it will be a while.
I like that they brought back something from the past and added something new at the same time. A+
It is nice that they did bring back the original cave dialogue though.
Is Redd meeting guests in New Orleans Square?
Yes. There is a film crew filming her too.
It’s broken down at the moment. The CMs indicated a 2 hour wait.
Curious that Disney would change a potentially offensive scene in a ride, while selling merchandise focused on the original redhead (pins, we want the redhead shirts, etc). Makes me wonder what the motive for the change was beyond the opportunity to market a new scene and meet and great to help pad attendance before Star Wars Land opens.
Curious to see if this new Redd face character lasts more than the summer, and becomes cemented in Disneyland history like the country bears- or fades away slowly.
The enhanced cave scene was great, hearing the original audio was surreal. Left me feeling giddy and excited, that's the kind of update Disneyland fans live for. WDI knocked it out of the park with that change.
The new auction scene plays like a cheap parody of the original. I would have been an advocate for a complete reimagining of that segment of the ride- moving away from an auction entirely if need be. Lines like "It's ten for a hen" stand out as especially poor. Redd's face looks a bit to "real", not like the caricature cartoon like faces the original animatronic designs have. Not impressed with this part of the update, making this overall experience very bittersweet- the Disneyland God's giveth and they taketh away.
Virtue signaling
You're not wrong- that is a major reason for this change.
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What Disney is doing is the very definition of Virtue Signaling. They are trying to show their progressiveness while at the same time trying to profit off the opposite side of the spectrum that they are trying to push.
Seems that words triggers people these days.
I agree.
People are getting really worked up over this, equating an admiration and respect for the artistic quality of the original scene with sexism and misogyny. Liking the original auction scene isn't the same as condoning that behavior (In the ride, the whole point is that they were bad and were punished for it, which is why you float by skeletons at the beginning). Calling this what it is, virtue signaling and shoehorning political correctness into a ride that didn't need it for positive PR isn't received well on here.
I just plainly don't like the auction scene change. It's not needed and is executed in a very mediocre manner. It was never, and still isn't, politically incorrect. If anyone looks bad in the scene it would be the pirates, y'know, the ones treating women like property and drunkenly pillaging the town. It's hard to tell how you are supposed to view the ride (as what pirates were like with some fantasy or as fun pirates with some fantasy). Based on how they auction off women, drown a man, burn down a town, likely kill or at least injure people, steal food and belongings, get drunk, and mouth off throughout the ride, I would say that it aims to be accurate and not present pirates as good people. With how pirates are viewed now, as something children can dress up as and play around with, it makes things weird. In the end though, it didn't need to be done, it takes some history out of the ride, and does a mediocre job at fitting in with the rest of the ride.
Excellent post. You highlight a lot of issues that Disney faces with society's perception of pirates and how that works in a ride that views them in a playful, but overall gritty and negative light.
I'd be curious to learn more about how society viewed pirates before the ride was built, and after- especially now with the popular Disney films.
I agree. They are bad guys. Just like Darth Vader. But I still want to dress up like him.
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Yes.
What is it being politically incorrect towards? Pirates? That’s a good thing. They’re bad people that are supposed to be viewed in a bad light.
New scene = meh (rode it last night). I get why people hated the bride auction, but when was the last time you equated a pirate with politically correct?
Can you imagine being a little girl riding the ride and not understanding why all the cool pirates are men and the women are slaves? When is the last time the ride was historically accurate?
It's worth mentioning that those "cool pirates" are all portrayed as drunken greedy misogynistic pigs, who all get cursed and die by the treasure you float through at the beginning (the live bits are a flashback showing the pirates searching for the treasure). That's the whole point of the ride.
As a whole, the Disney company has had trouble tapping into the young boy market, not young girl- which was a major reason for the Lucasfilm and Marvel acquisitions.
I'm all for having strong women in pop culture for young girls to look up to, but in this specific case, I think the execution was poor, and frankly insulting to those young girls. The boys have a fleshed out character with depth like Jack Sparrow, and the young girls get Redd- who's a brassy buccaneer who's only love is profits (according to that blog post). That's not equality, that's a cheap PR stunt.
K.
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Were you ever a little girl? It seems like this always comes from guys who don't have that perspective.
Yes, sleeping beauty was kissed in her sleep, but we aren't going to go back and change Sleeping Beauty, because sleeping beauty isn't popular enough to warrant a change that would change the entire narrative. Pirates is still incredibly popular and the change was easy.
Just because it was "tame" to you, doesn't mean it can't be changed for the better. It's not about a little girl saying "mommy, why can't the girls be pirates?" It's about the subconscious thought that men are the cool fantasy characters that do whatever they want, and women are the object. Remember, this ride has mermaids and talking skeletons, it wasn't trying to be historically accurate. I welcome the new character. Redd adds more to the Pirates of the Carribean story than jack popping out of Barrels.
Hey, LADYBIRD_HILL, just a quick heads-up:
Carribean is actually spelled Caribbean. You can remember it by one r, two bs.
Have a nice day!
^^^^The ^^^^parent ^^^^commenter ^^^^can ^^^^reply ^^^^with ^^^^'delete' ^^^^to ^^^^delete ^^^^this ^^^^comment.
Redd adds more to the Pirates of the Carribean story than jack popping out of Barrels.
There was already tons more to the story. The whole idea is that the treasure you float through at the beginning is cursed, and then you go back in time to see the pirates hunting for it. That's why a lot of the original dialogue before Sparrow, and some new dialogue after, focused around the treasure.
I think it's even more important to not expect every aspect of pop culture to be equal. Within the Disney company, there's far more Rey's, Moana's, and loads other Disney princesses for girls to go and meet, and dress up as. Young boys don't complain about, or are hurt by that- they seek out other forms of entertainment that they do relate to.
But, it's not the fact that they made the redhead "Redd" that bothers me, it's that this new scene feels hastily and cheaply put together, parodying the original's lines. They could have made a scene far better than they did if they had spent more time, possibly strengthening Redd's depth and validity as a character.
As she stands, I fully expect her to fade into obscurity within a year or two- unless they actually give her a place in pop culture beyond the ride like Jack Sparrow. After that, she'll just be a redhead in the ride waving a gun and yelling for the auctioneer to sell the men rum.
Yeah, looks like she's going to learn some history then
Didn't really seem to be a problem for the last 50 years though? The ride has always been immensely popular, and that scene got recreated multiple times in later versions of the ride.
I mean sure, it wasn't a problem, but I don't see why it should be a problem to change it then either. If the ride had always been this way nobody would be complaining. People want to say Disney is pandering, but I like to imagine a bunch of imagineers decided to change it because they personally felt that this was a good addition, and it wasn't the product of Disney trying to be PC or something.
In the end everyone will forget about it, and little girls can be excited to meet a real life pirate outside the ride. Boys have Jack to look up too, and now girls can have Redd. No harm done in my eyes. (Of course, I'd love to have Frees' voice back, but it's inevitable as time passes that things will change.)
"We want the redhead" is an iconic line, a fan favorite- that Disney has had no problem selling merchandise that focuses around that line and the redhead. This new scene doesn't strike me as becoming iconic- I expect Redd to soon stop doing meet and greets once the buzz wears off, and this new auction scene to go down in history like the Sparrow changes- not necessarily liked but tolerated.
The problem here is you assume Disney spent the money to change the ride for the sake of change, without an agenda. There's always an agenda.
For example, here-
If they thought the new auction scene was a good addition, and not a pure PC change, they wouldn't have parodied the original dialogue and set up. They would have developed an entirely new scene.
The cave sequence change can be argued as being done to be a good addition, but I suspect they only did that to help pacify the rabid fanbase who's upset about having yet another part of the original attraction gone, by giving them the old dialogue back in an improved segment that's better than it's ever been before.
But, to your last point about no harm being done- I think there is harm that's been done. Pirates of the Caribbean is the last ride that Walt personally oversaw to (near) completion. He had a direct hand in the creative direction the ride took, with the artistic talents of Claude Coats, Marc Davis, Mary Blair to name a few.
But now, after the '97 PC changes, the Sparrow additions, and now this- very little of the original attraction that changed the standard for themed entertainment remains. Most of the dialogue heard in the ride now isn't original, and the changes have hacked away at the intent of the ride.
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I just think it's insane that we live in a world where people are getting offended by a Disneyland ride.
What's next? Remove all reference to alcohol in the ride to avoid it being offensive? Change the lyrics to the song (We pillage and plunder and rifle and loot, drink up me hearties yo ho! We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot!)? Get rid of the hung skeleton in the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion for being in poor taste?
I think it’s insane we live in a world where people are getting offended by a change to a Disneyland ride.
I think it's insane that the Imagineers didn't use this as an opportunity to completely reimagine the segment into something new and amazing, instead of parodying the original scene.
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Exactly - it’s ridiculous. Yo ho, yo ho, it’s a politically correct lifestyle for meeeeeee ......
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Ride is back operating. About to get on a boat.
Is there fastpass?
Not yet, but I saw they installed the scanners and had them covered
Few things that i noticed different than before but not sure
I thought Jack Sparrow was on the pirate ship?
there’s a projection of ppl fighting(canvas) on top on the fortress on the far left?
When I rode it, a girl behind me kept pointing out everything as being potentially different.
"The drop wasn't this dark" "That wasn't here before" "Is that rockwork different"
All in places of the ride where, far as I could tell, nothing was changed. I think that these rides are so detailed, and since people's memory can often be fuzzy and false about stuff like this, we fall victim to imagining changes.
I don't think Jack Sparrow has ever appeared on the ship.
Also, the projection was added, I want to say maybe in 2016? Definitely has been there throughout 2017.
he's never been on the ship
the fighting was there as far back as early 2017 from my recollection.
Originally, it was just a pirate captain on the ship. He was replaced by Barbossa when Sparrow was added to the ride.
The swordfighting projection has existed since at least the 90's. It was one of my favorite effects as a kid.
Is it just me, or is it difficult to follow the story after each change? Perhaps I'm missing something, could someone explain what story is being told now?
And I really appreciate the Davy Jones animation being removed - but now the Davy Jones and Blackbeard voice over on the final lift to the surface is completely out of place.
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Did anyone else notice that they cleaned up the mud that was on the foot,leg of the one pirate that is hanging over the boat on the archway? I swear to you it was always a muddy foot and now it's clean as a whistle. No lie.
Ok, I really hope someone can answer this question. I checked the sub and can’t find an answer. Did they change the boats, or remodel them? My husband, son and I thought they looked longer by a row, and the inside redone. Are we crazy?
I'm picturing a bunch of vloggers all stacked up at the entrance, trying to be the first people with HD LOW-LIGHT PERFECT AUDIO RIDETHROUGH OF NEW PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN MUST SEE!!! videos.
More cameras will ride today than people...
Do we have a west coast Tim tracker?
Randomland real Justin scarred is the timtracker of the west coast.
Me_irl
😂😂😂