Disney's Big Decision: Closing Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction Forever

On this day, Disney made some pretty interesting history.

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The Walt Disney Company is known for a lot of things, ranging from innovative and creative attractions to iconic hand-drawn animated films. Disney has become part of nearly everyone’s daily life, whether you like it or not, thanks to its streaming service Disney+, as well as the long list of brands and products it now owns. Recently, Disney opted to buy Hulu outright, adding it to its ever-growing list of brands.

As a quick reminder, The Walt Disney Company owns Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment, FX, Freeform, ESPN, and National Geographic, and while this all starts to sound very much like a monopoly, Disney shows no sign of slowing down.

However, for many fans, the core Disney experience is found at the theme parks.

Whether you’re visiting Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, or Disneyland in Anaheim, California, you can bet your Mickey Ears that you’ll have a magical time. From thrilling roller coasters such as Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster to classic and iconic dark rides like Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and Peter Pan’s Flight, there’s truly no end to the incredible list of attractions that are offered by the Disney parks.

However, there are few franchises as beloved or as financially successful as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean series of films. What started out as a movie based on a classic theme park attraction turned into a multi-billion dollar franchise for Disney, with a total of five films being released. The future of the Pirates of the Caribbean brand has been sailing on shaky waters since the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017, with Johnny Depp seemingly exiled by Disney, but we have hope that we will one day see another Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean has become synonymous with the Disney parks and a version of the ride can be found at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland.

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However, there may be a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction you’ve never heard of or forgotten about entirely, and this month marks a big anniversary for the extinct experience. Before Disney’s Hollywood Studios received the massive upgrades that we know as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land, the park used to be dedicated to the behind-the-scenes of movie and film production. Several attractions were based on a “backlot,” giving guests the impression they were on a real working film set. As part of this theming, many attractions at the park were themed around recently released from The Walt Disney Company.

The Legend of Jack Sparrow is one of these experiences. This attraction officially opened to guests in December 2012 and allowed guests to become part of the Pirates of the Caribbean story. Unlike other experiences at Walt Disney World,  this attraction allowed guests to walk through it.

During the experience, guests could watch Captain Jack Sparrow on top of a ship, accompanied by advanced projection technology and impressive screens. However, this attraction officially closed nine years ago to the day (November 6, 2014).

A video of this fabled attraction is linked below:

This is certainly one of the more fascinating attractions from Disney, and while we much prefer the iconic boat ride to this, we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. This closure marked one of, if not the first time ever that Disney officially closed an attraction based on Pirates of the Caribbean.