Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicTake a deep dive into the history of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean.
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While The Walt Disney Company has certainly created, designed, and developed some of the world’s most famous theme park attractions, few stand quite as tall on the pile as Pirates of the Caribbean. Offering guests the chance to explore the seven seas alongside some of the Caribbean’s most notorious pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean has remained a staple of the Disney theme parks since it originally opened over six decades ago.
The swashbuckling adventure has undergone changes and upgrades over the years, though Pirates of the Caribbean still remains one of Disney’s most iconic and popular attractions.
Pirates of the Caribbean is about as famous as Mickey Mouse himself. However, the original idea for Pirates of the Caribbean looked a lot more like a traditional walkthrough museum than an exciting theme park ride.
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Disney Sets Sail
Initially, designers had envisioned a wax museum for guests to walk through at their own pace. Disney Legend Marty Sklar discussed why the idea was eventually discarded, highlighting some of the challenges with an attraction that guests go through at their own pace. “[It] can be fractured—some people see one thing and miss another, while others can have a different experience.”
Capacity was another concern, with Disneyland’s “it’s a small world” attraction being able to take hundreds of guests in consistently. If guests were left to their own devices, some might stay inside Disney’s Pirates walkthrough experience too long. The idea was eventually scrapped, with Disney choosing to make Pirates of the Caribbean a boat ride adventure.
Pirates of the Caribbean opened on March 18, 1967, at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and instantly became a huge success. The ride captivated both children and adults, transporting them into the world of piracy.
The dark boat ride is filled with over 100 animatronics and tons of special effects, most of which remain inside the attraction to this day. Walt Disney’s plans for a second theme park resort, Walt Disney World, made it clear that another version of Pirates of the Caribbean was inevitable.
However, this was apparently clear to everyone except the Disney team, with Imagineers wrongly assuming there would be little interest in a Caribbean-themed boat ride due to the fact that Walt Disney World would be located in Florida.
When the park opened in 1971, guests immediately noticed Magic Kingdom’s Pirates’ absence, leading Disney to quickly create a second version of the ride, which would open in 1973.
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Across the Seven Seas
The popularity of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean dark ride cannot be understated, with the ride now having locations all around the world. A third version of Pirates of the Caribbean opened at the Tokyo Disney Resort in 1983.
Today, guests can find the ride at multiple locations, including:
- Disneyland (California)
- Walt Disney World (Florida)
- Tokyo Disney (Japan)
- Disneyland Paris (France)
- Shanghai Disney (China)
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Pirates of the Caribbean also spawned one of Disney’s most successful film franchises. Led by Johnny Depp and his unforgettable portrayal of pirate scoundrel Captain Jack Sparrow, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean films grossed a whopping $4.5 billion combined at the box office.
The series kicked off in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Today, fans have their choice between five different Pirates films, and several more are rumored to be in production.
Do you enjoy riding Pirates of the Caribbean? What’s your favorite classic Disney theme park ride?