New Pirates of the Caribbean Changes May Be Permanent, Disney Fans Fear

Some big, permanent changes are possibly on the way for Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

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Following the announcement that Pirates of the Caribbean would be added to Disney Genie+, some new scanners have been installed outside the attraction’s entrance. That’s right, starting January 22, 2024, Pirates of the Caribbean will be available on the My Disney Experience app as a Disney Genie+ option for the first time ever. Disney stated that this would be a temporary change, but recent work on the queue seems to indicate these changes will be more permanent.

Lighting Lane scanners installed at pirates. pic.twitter.com/WiJ2HbO9oB

— RyanTheme Park (@Ryanthemepark) January 20, 2024

The photo shared by RyanTheme Park (@Ryanthemepark) reveals the new touchpoint scanners at the entrance of the attraction’s queue in anticipation of the ride hitting Genie+ on Monday. The reactions to these changes have not been entirely positive, with many worried about the future of Pirates of the Caribbean. “Nothing temporary about it,” stated Ryan. “They were just waiting for the treehouse to finish construction. They have been wanting to do this for a very long time.

“They’re going to ruin the best people eating line in the park, just another ride that has to be planned instead of walking up and enjoying at any time,” said one Disney guest. Another concerned guest wrote, “That line is bad enough without Genie+. You’re not going to be able to move into New Orleans Square now.”

“The one ride you could always count on the line moving fast will no longer move fast,” stated X user @TheSnapbackFamily.

These changes to Pirates of the Caribbean come at a very interesting and crucial point in time for Disneyland, with the resort undertaking several large projects simultaneously. Fans of the Disney theme parks will already know about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a ride that is replacing Disney’s iconic yet controversial Splash Mountain log flume ride. Disneyland is also overhauling Haunted Mansion’s queue, with multiple teams demolishing certain parts of the ride’s outdoor line areas. Both of these attractions are located near Pirates of the Caribbean, meaning that it’s likely the ride was added to Disney Genie+ due to concerns about crowds in the coming weeks.

The Disney theme park experience changed forever with the introduction of Disney Genie+ in 2021, a paid service that allows users to bypass the longer standby queues for certain rides and attractions throughout the Disney parks. For a long time, Pirates of the Caribbean was excluded from this list. There may not be a greater dark ride than Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Before it became a massive franchise, complete with films, video games, books, and toys, Pirates of the Caribbean was a simple yet effective dark ride featuring some of Walt Disney Imagineering’s greatest storytelling. The first iteration of this infamous dark ride opened at the Disneyland Resort on March 18, 1967, in the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland Park. Since then, the attraction has made its way to nearly every other Disney resort, with locations at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Shanghai Disneyland.

What are your thoughts on these new changes to Pirates of the Caribbean?