A Look at Disney Sets Sail For Aventure: Pirates In The Parks

Argh,   welcome back aboard, the SS Fluttershy.  Ah,  it's been a while since  I've done one of these articles and what is that, you ask?  Taking a look at the different various ways,  a popular film or franchise are represented in the parks and seeing as I'll be reviewing the Pirates films next, I decided to start this week off by looking at  the way, the films are represented in the parks.  Now, some history on the ride, first from the Disney Wiki.

The attraction was originally conceived as a wax museum and a walk-through adventure. But following the success of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers decided that Audio-Animatronics—Walt’s latest animation technology—was the most imaginative way to tell a rousing pirate story.

So, as you see this ride is one of the most iconic attractions in all of Disney and it has led to what is arguably one of the most successful and most iconic, if a little over long film series. And now, with that out of the way, let's begin.



Pirates of The Caribbean  - Disneyland/Magic Kingdom/Tokyo Disney  



In 2006,   characters from the Pirates films were added to the classic attraction with Jack Sparrow popping up all over the place and even seeing Hector Barbosa.  And the ride now started with a mist that the boat went through as you saw Davy Jones but in promotion for the fourth film, the mist was changed to Blackbeard or as the host of WDW News Today  called him, Mumble Beard, due to him being barely audible.  


Now back in 2011,  I went over my opinion on how that I'm not too keen on this idea and three years later, my opinion hasn't changed too much.  Look, the ride and movie are fun but this is just one of those instances, where I wish that the ride and movie had been kept separate.   I understand updating and changing things but call me a purist or something, I rarely like it when things are added to an attraction as old as this.  I understand that this is in part, brand recognition as people who saw the movie, i.e. young kids are going to expect Jack Sparrow, when they see Pirates of The Caribbean and on that front, I can't blame Disney for adding the characters and trying to spot Jack Sparrow throughout the ride is a lot of fun.

It's still a good ride and one that I'll always enjoy going on, but I just wish the film characters weren't a part of the ride.  Oh, well.  Sorry for being so down on this but  could you imagine if that horrid Haunted Mansion film had been successful and Eddie Murphy was added to the ride.  Ugh!   

Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial -  Magic Kingdom

From what I've read and understand, this is similar to the Jedi Training Academy in which young kids get to learn how to be Jedis but with this, it appears that young buccaneers get to learn the way of pirates from climbing rope and sword fighting.  This is a cute but odd idea because what I recall from the film,  Captain Sparrow wasn't the most child friendly character. Sure, kids love him but he didn't seem to be the type that cared for children.  Again, it's just a way of capitalizing on the popularity of the films and there is nothing wrong with that and I imagine that kids have a blast learning the ways of a pirate.  Though,  I'm not even sure if this is still around?  R8, you worked there, can you answer that for me?

Pirate's  Lair  on  Tom  Sawyer  Island  - Disneyland

Prior  to the release and as part  of a promotion for At World's  End,  Tom Sawyer  Island was re-themed to the Pirates movies with  locations  such as Dead Man's  Grotto,  where guest  will find the chest  that has the heart of Davy  Jones but be warned, Captain Sparrow  has left a note of caution.

You  may even  spot  Pintel and Ragetti from the films guarding cursed treasure here.   And then  there is  also  W.  Turner Blacksmith,  where you can spot props from the films and other places such as the Captain's Treasure,  where you may find Captain Jack.

Very  few  references to Tom Sawyer remain other than his tree house.  Now,  it's all about the pirates.   Now,   I'm  not as upset  about this as I am with the Pirates attraction itself because  Tom Sawyer Island never seemed to be popular  and  this was just another way to drum up crowds and I do think at  one  point,  this was supposed  to be Pixie  Hollow  from the Tinker Bell  films  but that  got it's  own  location and  Pirates  is more relevant property than  Tom  Sawyer.  I have nothing against Tom Sawyer but I  do  think  kids  will be likely  more to know who Jack  Sparrow  is,  over  Injun  Joe.  I may be wrong and I hope  I'm wrong  as Tom  Sawyer on this but  I can't fault  Disney in this decision.  

The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow - Disney's  Hollywood Studios

 

From what  I understand, this is a walk through experience, where guests get to see if they have it takes to be members of Jack's crew and they actually got Johnny Depp to reprise his role for this attraction.  Here's the ride description.

For the main show, guests enter a large room which is decorated with various props along the sides and features a large scale model of the Black Pearl which serves as a portion of the show's projection screen. Using Disney's high-resolution, projection mapping system such as the one used in ‘The Magic, the Memories and You’ and ‘Celebrate the Magic,’ the now floating skull invites the pirate pledge holding the iron key (chosen prior to the show) to ‘insert it into the treasure chest’ (the child really just holds it up) and the show begins. From here, the audience journeys through each of the films in an show that involves physical and lighting effects in addition to the projections: from a skeleton army to Davy Jones to the Kraken and more, the lifelike projections also appear to literally fly off the screen along the back of the wall to over the Black Pearl and other objects inside the room. Eventually Captain Jack Sparrow himself appears aboard the ship and, after defeating Davy Jones' ship the Flying Dutchman, leads guests through the pirate's oath in a way that only Jack Sparrow can.

This  sounds really cool and really fun and reminds me of a mix of the pirate tutorial and something like the attraction Turtle Talk with Crush, in which kids talk to the turtle live but this is different as it isn't live and this actually sounds like something that would be really fun. And something that I wouldn't mind partaking in


Meet and Greet


This was interesting reading that Jack only comes out for special occasions due to varying reports such as girls harassing the poor cast members playing Jack and flashing them or that he was either too popular or not popular enough to garner a line.  I'd say I don't buy the second one but then, Flynn Ride was removed from the parks because his lines weren't as long as Rapunzel's  and he only comes out for occasions such as Valentine's Day.  (Why do the Disney Parks hate Flynn Rider?  Between taking him out of the parks and barely having any Flynn merch.  You make it hard for a Tangled fan).  I couldn't find a concrete reason for why Jack doesn't appear in the parks as much for photo ops with the guests.  This is the one area that is perplexing to me as you'd think, the parks would want Jack Sparrow in the parks as he is one of the most popular characters but then again, I can't recall I saw Mary Poppins and Bert in the parks for meet and greets with the guests.  The parks seem to put more emphasis on the animated characters than their live action counterparts. And  I understand that it has been three years since the fourth film came out but I wouldn't think that people would've forgotten about Captain Jack already and with rumors of movie 5 due out next year, I'd think they would make a harder push to have Jack in the parks to meet the guests.


World of Color  -  Disney's California Adventure

 

Back,  when the fourth film was being promoted,  an extended clips  of Jack  Sparrow were added to the nighttime show, World of Color.  This show uses  water, fire, lasers, fog  to create projections on mist screens  and I get this and I actually like this and this was done again with Frozen.  For those that want to know, it was the mutiny scene that they used.  This is a really cool idea and I'd like to see this show one day.




A  Pirate's  Adventure:  Treasure  of the Seven Seas - Magic Kingdom

I just learned about this, the other night and from what I understand,  it's an interactive takes place all over Adventureland,  where is the goal is to find the treasures of the Seven Seas, while fighting off people like The Royal  Navy  and Barbossa and if successful,  they'll be welcome to join Captain Jack's crew.



Treasure  Cove  - Shanghai Disneyland

The next thing, I want to talk about isn't even open yet.  You see Disney  is currently building a park  in Shanghai  that is do to open in  2015  - 2016  and  one  of the lands  in that park  is going to be Treasure Cove, an entire land  based on the Pirates movies.   And their  version of the Pirates ride called  Pirates of The Caribbean: Battle for Sunken Treasure will feature new technology  never before on any of  the other Pirates rides and the land will also  have  shops, and stores and  it looks like the land is being  based off Port Royal.   This is pretty cool to see.   




I hope that you enjoyed my look at the pirates in the parks.   It  is fascinating to see how a ride influenced one of Disney's most successful film franchises and in turn, the presence the film now has in the parks. Join me tomorrow as I start the film reviews with the first film as we board the Black Pearl.