Pirates of the Caribbean

Location: Adventureland

Pirates of the Caribbean is still one of the most popular rides in Adventureland especially and the Magic Kingdom in general. You ride through various audio animatronic pirate pillage scenes portraying a sacking of Port Royale. Throughout the scenes you hear the pirates singing of "Yo Ho, Yo Ho A pirates life for me", which is the theme song of the attraction.

The ride lasts for approximately 11 minutes in total, and is different to the original Disneyland classic of the same name.

Recently "PotC" has undergone a minor refurbishment and has been made a little more politically correct, whereby instead of scenes of Pirates chasing the women of the port around town, the women now chase the pirates around town which begs belief and lets PC run amok at the expense of historical fact. A number of other changes were also made to the ride at various places; the modifications don't really make too much difference unless you are a PotC buff.

The ride itself is very tame, with only one very small water slide, although it seems much larger than it really is as a result of the atmospheric darkness. Small children however could find some of the scenes a little frightening, although it very much depends on the particular child.

The queueing area on the way into the ride is themed to represent an old spanish style dungeon. As you queue it's worth taking the time to look around and take in some of the incredible detail that the Imagineers have built into what is basically just a covered queueing area, and it is probably the level of detail as much as anything that makes the ride so popular.

The theming not only extends to the physical look of the queueing area, and ride, but also to the atmosphere, which turns quite cool and dank as you progress along the queue, with a distinct musty smell as you approach the ride loading area.

Amongst the audio animatronic characters featured in the ride are kittens and chickens, both of which could be easily be mistaken for real animals, a couple of dogs, various swashbuckling pirates, complete with parrots, and even a drunken pig. Each pirate has it's own personality, and each face is different. There's also an audio animatronic parrot dressed in a pirate costume high up on the wall as you first enter the attraction's queueing area, by the attraction's sign.

The ride has now been updated to incorporate characters from Gore Verbinski's trilogy of highly successful Pirates of the Caribbean movies and it's an added challenge to spot Captain Jack Sparrow.

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Last Updated: May 18, 2009