Pirates of the Caribbean
It’s March 18th, 1967, and Disneyland is on the verge of debuting its most spectacular attraction of all time: Pirates of the Caribbean. The press is on hand to cover the attraction, and the park is as busy as it’s ever been. Wally Boag himself is in the vicinity of the park, and guests are eagerly waiting to experience the attraction for themselves. While making their way through the switchback exterior queue, guests notice the beautifully-designed New Orleans style exterior, which Imagineers never even considered changing, as it perfectly established the New Orleans time and setting.
Queue/Preshow
Originally, Imagineers planned to create a dining experience that would complement the attraction: The Blue Bayou. Ultimately, it was decided that this would give the attraction itself a smaller footprint, so most of the bayou setting was scrapped, except for the loading area. Upon entering the building, guests find themselves in an old-fashioned New Orleans shoppe called “Rogue’s Gallery: Antiques and Relics,” a quaint yet ominous store covered with various pirate items.
Old boots hang from the wooden rafters. Guests spot a number of creaky shelves which house a number of old books and utensils. A large anchor is wrapped in chains nearby a collection of old rum bottles. Rusty hooks, swords, telescopes, hats, and a table topped with authentic pistols, along with the eerie blue glow emitting from the walls, fully immerse guests as the handrails guide them along the ominous shop. Guests then enter the second and final room in the shoppe: The Treasure Store Room.
Guests curve around this small room and find a number of priceless pirate treasures, including golden instruments, jewels, coins, gold pots and vases, an old ship wheel, and authentic cannon, along with various empty barrels of rum. Disturbing sounds emerge from inside the barrels, and sharp-eyed guests might notice that the bits of treasure are vibrating slightly. Guests hear unsettling moans and echoes bouncing off the walls. There’s little doubt that these antiques and relics are haunted. Guests then exit the shop through an opening in the store room and find themselves in the loading area, a squeaky old dock located near the backside of the store. Guests see the twinkling lights of New Orleans in the distance. The night is forebodingly calm. Guests board their own bateaux and venture slightly away from the shoppe and towards the waterfront.
New Orleans Waterfront and Cellar
In the area that would have been occupied by The Blue Bayou Lagoon, guests glide along the banks of the New Orleans waterfront. A large matte painting depicts the twinkling urban landscapes of New Orleans in the distance. A river boat is perched beside an old swamp; the boat will utilize forced perspective to simulate its distance. Guests hear the distant sounds of the city’s residents, along with the croaking of toads and the chirping of crickets. The boat curves around the harbor and reenters the familiar shoppe, where guests find themselves in an old flooded cellar, Guests hear a rainstorm brewing from the outside; lightning flashes from the boarded windows as the sounds of rain “tap” against the ceiling. Guests look ahead to see a talking skull, Jolly is hanging from above a dark passageway; the talking skull is voiced by X Atencio.
“Avast there, for ye be heading into perilous waters, and this quaint little shoppe of ol trinkets might just get ye more than ya bargained fer. So ye come seekin’ adventure and salty ol pirates, eh? Heh, well ye came to the right place, but don’t go stickin’ your nose where it don’t belong, or Davy Jones might just take it fer his own. Heh heh heh.”
The boat careens down the first and largest drop in the attraction, sending guests decades back in time and into a quiet town in the Spanish Main.
Port Sagrado:
Port Sagrado is a peaceful little town located across from another island. Guests cruise under a wooden bridge and past a large ship docked beside the canal. On the opposite side of the ship, guests spot the town’s tavern, its windows wide open, revealing the various drunken townsfolk (animatronics) sleeping against the counter. The shopkeeper, a stout man, is cleaning glasses with a rag; guests overhear him muttering to himself.
“Pirates? Here? Bah. Let ‘em come have a drink on me. Go right ahead, boys, there’s plenty rum to go ‘round. Can’t be no worse than these drunken rats. Least them pirates might actually gimme something fer my trouble. You doin’ alright there, boys?” One pirate on the counter burps loudly in his sleep. “Pirates here? Bah. Let ‘em come…”
At this point, guests learn that there are rumors of pirates nearby. The boats travel deeper into the town, where they find an old man with a tattered coat grinning at a group of frightened townsfolk. A wooden sign near the man reads “Safe Passage to Nearest Port.” The townsfolk are fleeing the town, and this cunning character is trying to profit from the situation. Guests hear the man talking to his customers, a gold tooth shining brightly in his mouth.
“Come on then, step aboard for safe passage to the nearest port. Come on, men, keep yer women and children safe! Yes, that’s right, only a few silver coppers. Get in the boat, now, or them pirates will send you swimming, heh heh. Come on now, boys, what’s a few coppers for your family’s safety? Heh heh.”
Guests look toward the line of frightened townsfolk. One husband is clutching his as their young son asks them what’s going on. Another man is holding a lantern in one hand while his wife cradles their baby in her arms. Another man is kneeling before his son, his arms on the boys shoulders, counseling him. The boats then curve along the banks of the scene and towards the town fortress. As the boats travel along the rocky waters of the town’s fortress, they find that the guards are comedically sleeping on the job, their hands barely clutching to their torches. We see that one of the guards is waving a torch in his hand, his expression that of a great concern.
“Pirates straight ahead! Wake up, you lazy dogs, there’s pirates about! Come on, won’t someone wake up! Wake up, you! Pirates near the harbor! Alert the town!”
It seems like the pirates have arrived, and the sleepy town is in for quite the surprise. The boats travel through the fortress where they see the town’s militia manning the cannons and gathering their supplies. One man is clumsily trying to pull his head out of a helmet. Another man is carelessly waving his pistol in the air while his comrades are ducking under some barrels. Others are terrified altogether of the oncoming attack, their legs shaking as they position the cannons. The boat exits the fortress and heads towards the harbor.
Sinking at the Harbor:
Guests find the crew of mischievous pirates aboard a few rowboats, all of them laughing at the opposing ship, which they managed to sink in a presumed surprise attack. The pirates move back in forth in glee as guests see the town’s militia struggling to stay afloat in barrels. The scene is altogether played for laughs. Guests see the militia shiver in fear as a shark fin circles around them. One particular militant is seen spinning in a barrel while a seagull flaps its wings on his head. Another militant is clinging to the plank, which is bouncing up and down; the man is whimpering in fear from the circling shark.
Guests see a militant swinging from one of the posts on the sinking ship, his hands clutching tightly to the rope while a militant on the crow’s nest clutches to a pole while looking down. Guests travel through the scene and into the sinking boat itself.
As the militia struggles with the sinking boat outside, guests explore the ship’s interior, where they find the militia Captain in a barrel of his own, “going down with the ship” as any good captain would. Across from the captain is a pirate rowboat, where a few members of the crew are trying to read the militia Captain’s map, which hangs from the ceiling near a swinging chandelier. A skinny pirate is hanging from the chandelier, spinning in circles and glancing at the map at every turn. Another pirate, this one fat and slow, is leaning against the front of the rowboat; his comrades, two lean pirates, are struggling to keep the boat from capsizing. Guests exit the sinking boat and head towards the island beyond the harbor.
Isla de Lagrimas
The boats approach Isla de Lagrimas, a dense island lit only by the moonlight and the pirates’ torches. Guests spot the crew digging up supplies near a cluster of palm trees. The pirates are digging up their weapons and several bottles of rum. One pirate in particular is seen with his head spinning in the ditch, having gotten drunk while digging. While most of the pirates grunt as they dig with their shovels, a few pirates are gawking over two lovely maids from the town, who were seduced into joining the crew. The maids are sitting on crates, one of them admiring her reflection and the other toying with a parrot.
As guests venture deeper into the island however, we find that the pirates are having trouble with the wildlife on the island. Guests pass a scene in which a couple of pirates are being attacked by a jaguar. The jaguar’s teeth are closed tightly on the pirate’s rear end, revealing polka dot trousers. The other pirate is attempting to reach for his pistol, which is perched on top of a hill, just out of his reach. On the other side of the river, a trio of crocodiles is snapping at a drunken pirate who is tauntingly wagging his finger at the creatures, giggling, burping and cooing. As the clouds loom overhead, guests wind along the dense jungles and into the largest show scene in the attraction.
The Counterattack:
Guests enter a massive scene that takes place along one of the island’s beaches. The miltia is in the process of delivering a fierce counterstrike against the pirates. Guests see the opposing ship in the distance via forced perspective, tiny lights simulating the blast of cannonfire. Guests wind through the canal and notice that the trees appear to be on fire. Thick fog simulates fire as the leaves on the trees begin to crisp, many of the pirates taking refuge underneath the rocks. We see the presumed Captain of the pirate crew perched on a rock; he calls out to the pirates to take refuge in the caves. “Come on then, ya swabs! Get in them caves, move on! I said retreat, you scurvy scum! Come on, boys, this battle’s lost! Move that bloomin’ cannon down there!” It appears as if the Captain is ordering the crew to defend the island with their own cannons, but the pirates are having trouble positioning the cannon because it too is on fire. One of the pirates is seen clutching an anteater animatronic in fear; the creature meanwhile is too preoccupied with his dinner to notice. The boats wind through the scene and enter a nearby cavern, fleeing the scene along with the pirates. Guests are sent down a second, smaller waterfall in the attraction and into the subterranean areas of the grotto.
Deadman’s Grotto:
Guests find themselves traveling through a series of dank caverns, past a roaring waterfall, a shipwreck, and under a family of bats, which flap their wings menacingly at guests from above. Guests then meet the pirate crew once more, as they discover the clan of buccaneers in a drunken state, swimming in large piles of gold. The pirates, it seems, have found the treasure at lasts, hills of twinkling gold coins, jewels, goblets, vases, and other relics. Three of the pirates are struggling to balance themselves atop a pile of gold coins, but that doesn’t stop them from playing their new golden instruments.
The pirates don’t seem to notice that the rest of the island is on fire. Guests notice that the cavern is falling in on itself, as evident by the large cracks and crevices on the ceiling. Guests see the fiery palm trees swaying helplessly in the wind as some of the fog penetrates the cavern itself. A few pirates, all of them draped in elegant gold cloaks, have taken a militant prisoner and strapped him to a rock, where the tide begins to surround him. Again, the scene is played for laughs, as the man looks down in horror at the rising tide and then looks up at the fire outside. After traveling a little deeper into the grotto, guests find that a few pirates are fleeing the celebration and attempting to ditch the crew, taking some of the treasure with them in the process. The pirates are scrambled along a rocky ledge, and they are well aware of the fact that some of the fire is starting to penetrate the cave. One pirate in particular is wielding a rifle and overseeing the procedure. As the pirates struggle to lift the chests of treasure they’ve scavenged, the pirate leader is mocking them.
“Put yer backs into it, you lot of worms. What good’s a treasure if ye ain’t ‘round to use it, huh? Come on, lift that ruddy crate, you! Get along, you scum, ‘fore the cave collapses on us all. Yer all gonna be a lot crispier if you don’t put yer backs into it boys, come on then!”
Caved In:
The boats then cruise past one of the final scenes in the grotto, depicting a section of the grotto that has caved in on itself. Guests watch as the rocks begin to vibrate, some of them spinning on top of each other. The sounds of hurried pirates echo through the walls, looking for an escape. One pirate is literally caved into a segment of the grotto. Guests watch as his hand reaches for a gold coin a few feet ahead of him, his greed consuming his fear. Another pirate on the opposite bank of the canal is seen sitting flat on the ground, counting his coins as a large boulder teeters above him, posing to crush him. It becomes clear that the pirates are so consumed by their greed that they can’t conceive of the danger they’re in. The boats then begin to travel up the waterfall. As they travel up, they find that the song of the pirates has been reduced to echoes, implying that the spirits of the pirates remain within the grotto, celebrating their wealth for all eternity. As a final touch, guests notice a skeleton draped in jewels and coins, a crown on his head. A large crate stocked with gold coins reveals that this pirate was unable to escape because the burden of his treasure was too much to carry. Guests then emerge from the grotto and return to the familiar boarding area, where they exit the attraction via a short corridor leading to the heart of New Orleans Square.
