Pirates ride, where's the mermaids?

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
While we are talking about POTC, the one at Disneyland opens tomorrow after being closed for refurbishment. Hope that they didn't change the auctioneer too much. Also it has been highly rumored that they are gonna add a surprise character. Possibly Salazar in the mist.
 

The Duck

Well-Known Member
Plus they had him to the left of the drop was a bit odd and difficult to see since they really didn't put much lighting in that area..
I've always thought that the skull was on the side as a surprise factor. The riders are looking at the skeleton at the wheel on the right and looking and looking...... and suddenly there's a voice coming from the left and there's a talking skull that (if you were a first time rider) you didn't know was there and he distracted you for a moment right before you went down the drop. Well anyway, that's how I felt when I first rode in 1975.
 

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
I still wish they would bring back this guy (or at least, a reasonable facsimile). The WDW POTC is the only one without a talking skull. View attachment 194074
Dude, I loved that skull. I've always wondered why they got rid of it and I have missed it for a long time! One of my favorite memories of POTC as a kid. Far cooler than the shoddy mist screen they have now with two characters I couldn't care less about.
 

MotherOfBirds

Well-Known Member
They added the glass coffin/mermaid aquarium to the beach scene sometime in 2016 which made me think that perhaps those AA's were on their way. That and the new skull shaped rock made me think they still had bigger plans for the scene. Its a shame, since the mermaids would have effectively turned my fear of AA's in water into high-octane nightmare fuel.
 

TheGhostWithTheMost

Well-Known Member
@marni1971 correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a prototype or a model of a mermaid figure and there was a fuzzy picture of it circulating of it online around the time of they added the projectors. I believe they wanted a figure but, at the time, they wouldn't even pay for the ride to be safely run from a operational standpoint... little less new animatronics.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
@marni1971 correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a prototype or a model of a mermaid figure and there was a fuzzy picture of it circulating of it online around the time of they added the projectors. I believe they wanted a figure but, at the time, they wouldn't even pay for the ride to be safely run from a operational standpoint... little less new animatronics.
Yep. You remember well.
 

MotherOfBirds

Well-Known Member
@marni1971 correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a prototype or a model of a mermaid figure and there was a fuzzy picture of it circulating of it online around the time of they added the projectors. I believe they wanted a figure but, at the time, they wouldn't even pay for the ride to be safely run from a operational standpoint... little less new animatronics.

I believe this is what you're referring to, in all its cardboard glory.
 

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JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
There's like 10 feet of usable space on the beach in that scene now... surely they can cram in some zombie pirates or a Jack Sparrow or five.

Coming from a Star Wars fan, WDW's Pirates has become the Special Edition of this attraction around the world. Too much junk crammed into too small of a space. The mermaids are the WDI equivalent of a CGI ronto walking directly in front of the camera.

I honestly never understood what the story of the revised show scene was trying to convey...

Did the pirates capture a mermaid, tie her up to their boat, run it a ground, go for a stroll on the beach (looking buried treasure?), then get jacked by another group of pirates and got run through with swords all while their captured mermaid was left to die a slow painful death from dehydration or starvation all while being left tied up in the boat?

or

Did the pirates go ashore in their boat, got jumped and killed by other pirates, and then a mermaid jumped into their boat to "catch some rays" and get a good base tan and suffered a fatal heart attack?

In my mind, I've come up with an alternative story... the crab was behind it all.

Just look at him. G-U-I-L-T-Y

a45b3367105e7afe0fb1e11f260fc6ae.jpg
 

MotherOfBirds

Well-Known Member
I have also been wondering what they have been building to in this scene. I get the impression that there are some people in Imagineering who are trying to move forward with some additions/concepts but are always put on the back burner because of bigger projects and budget cuts. Or perhaps I've become too optimistic and the reality is that they simply see it as a means to advertise PotC 6: Please, He Really Needs The Money
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
Please, no. It's a time vortex (In the California Version, In Florida it is just a sign that California-based WDI is not familiar with the story of WDW's POTC.) not a marketing platform.
Love having Jack, Barbossa, and Davy Jones. Blackbeard can go. He just wasn't that good of a vilian.
 

HMF

Well-Known Member
Love having Jack, Barbossa, and Davy Jones. Blackbeard can go. He just wasn't that good of a vilian.
I can live with Jack and Barbossa (If they change his dialouge to not reference "Captain Jack Sparrow" every other word), though I would prefer the original Captain back. Davy Jones does not make sense in the Florida version and must go.
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
I can live with Jack and Barbossa (If they change his dialouge to not reference "Captain Jack Sparrow" every other word), though I would prefer the original Captain back. Davy Jones does not make sense in the Florida version and must go.
Yeah Barbossa says "Captain Jack Sparrow" 4 times. It's a bit to much. Why doesn't Jones make sense in WDW?
 

HMF

Well-Known Member
Yeah Barbossa says "Captain Jack Sparrow" 4 times. It's a bit to much. Why doesn't Jones make sense in WDW?
Never mind the fact that in the movies only Jack himself refers to himself as "Captain" Jack Sparrow or the logic bomb of just "Why are the legal Spanish authorities hiding Captain Jack Sparrow, a notorious pirate who wants to steal THEIR treasure from other pirates who also want to steal their treasure
As for Jones, There is no context for him to be there. In the Disneyland version he serves as a time vortex to transport you back to the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean from the "present" New Orleans Square. In the Florida version there is no time travel and all the events are supposed to be happening at the time you experience them. Having the Davy Jones mist there makes no logical sense and just confuses things.
 
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