A green parrot in a pirate hat affectionately known as “Peg-Leg Pete” used to be perched at the entrance of the attraction. Pete advertised the Pirates adventure to passing guests and would even sing his own version of the attraction’s theme song, “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Parrot’s Life for Me!” This barker bird was removed during a refurbishment in 2006.
There are a total of five Pirates attractions worldwide. The original opened in Disneyland on March 18, 1967, and was followed by the Magic Kingdom on December 15, 1973, Tokyo Disneyland on April 15, 1983, Disneyland Paris on April 12, 1992, and perhaps the most impressive version of Pirates in Shanghai Disneyland on June 16, 2016.
Real History
Marc Davis:
Walt Disney’s Renaissance Man
Any discussion of Pirates of the Caribbean must begin with Marc Davis, the Imagineer most responsible for brining the attraction to life. Davis is rightfully considered Imagineering royalty. His credits as both an animator in Disney feature films and as a designer and contributor to attractions and experiences in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World spanned more than four decades.
Davis began working for Disney in 1935. He became one of the legendary “Nine Old Men,” a moniker given to Walt Disney’s core group of animators during the mid 1930s through the 1950s. Davis’ accomplishments as an animator are unparalleled. He designed and brought to life some of Disney’s most beloved characters, including Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); Bambi, Thumper, and Flower from Bambi (1942); Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear from the now controversial film Song of the South (1946); Mr. Toad, Rat, Mole, and MacBadger from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); Cinderella and Prince Charming from Cinderella (1950); Alice from Alice in Wonderland (1951); Tinker Bell from Peter Pan (1953); and Aurora and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959). As is probably apparent from that impressive listing, Davis developed a reputation inside the Disney company (then known as Walt Disney Productions) as the “go-to” artist for noteworthy animated female characters.
In the 1960s, Davis’ duties transitioned from an animator on Disney feature films to a designer and artist for Disney’s new Anaheim theme park, Disneyland. Davis initially worked on projects such as the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland, a train ride experience set in the Old West, and The Enchanted Tiki Room.
Walt Disney described Davis’ wide range of skills:
I have a whole building filled with animators and that’s all they can do. Marc can do story, he can do character, he can animate, he can design shows for me. All I have to do is tell him what I want and it’s there! He’s my Renaissance man.
—Marc Davis, Walt Disney’s Renaissance Man (2014), p. 7.
Original Inspiration and Technological Advancements
Davis’ most enduring contributions to the Disney theme parks are his work on two of the most beloved attractions in both Disney World and Disneyland: the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. In each of these fan-favorite attractions, Davis inserted his signature brand of gags, jokes, and comical characters. The Davis touch provided a sense of humor and storytelling that made those experiences absolute classics and two of the most popular attractions at any theme park in the world.
The original plans for a pirate-based attraction called for a wax museum concept. Disney Imagineer Sam McKim created a sketch in 1957 that depicted a layout for an early expansion project for Disneyland known as New Orleans Square. This sketch included, among other designs, a “Pirate Wax Museum.” This plan morphed and evolved into a “walk-through Rogues’ Gallery wax museum devoted to eighteenth-century pirate history.” Construction on New Orleans Square began in Disneyland in 1961. Marc Davis was given primary responsibility for bringing the “Pirate Wax Museum” concept to life.
In his book Pirates of the Caribbean, From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies (2005), Jason Surrell provided the following description of the proposed wax museum project and how many of those ideas survived in large part in the attraction guests enjoy today:
This would be no ordinary wax museum, however, with figures passively displayed on pedestals. In true Disney fashion, guests would walk through immersive environments and would be transported back to the eighteenth-century Caribbean islands. One of Marc’s early general views of the attraction depicts a pathway winding through a series of elaborate tableaux, including a rough-and-tumble tavern, a cobblestoned town square, a burning seaport, shadowy grottoes, a beachfront treasure hunt, and an anchored pirate galleon. The pirates themselves would be displayed in dynamic poses doing what they do best—the raucous pursuit of rum, women, and loot on land and at sea. Since its inception and in all following incarnations, the attraction would be about a crew of pirates ransacking a Caribbean seaport in search of a hidden or cursed treasure.
Although Disney made progress on Walt’s plans for New Orleans Square, work on that project (including both the Haunted Mansion and the Pirate Wax Museum) was put on hold while Disney’s creative team shifted focus to another monumental project: the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. Walt viewed the Fair as a tremendous opportunity to not only advance and expand Disney’s technological capabilities but, even better, to do so using money from other sources by virtue of corporate sponsorships.
Disney’s work on two pavilions in particular at the New York World’s Fair had a big influence on what would become Pirates of the Caribbean. The first was Carousel of Progress, which Disney created for General Electric’s Progressland. Disney audio-animatronics technology, which had begun with the Enchanted Tiki Room, made huge strides between the Tiki Room’s opening and the commencement of the World’s Fair. The audio-animatronic characters in the Carousel of Progress were astounding. As a matter of fact, they looked so realistic that many visitors thought those characters might actually walk off of the stage. From a technological standpoint, these audio-animatronic characters also proved durable enough to repeat the same lines over and over without significant fail.
The “it’s a small world” attraction, created for the UNICEF pavilion that was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, also provided Disney with a breakthrough in terms of ride vehicle technology. Rather than the traditional ride vehicles utilized in classic Disney dark rides like Peter Pan’s Flight and Mr. Toad’s Wilde Ride, guests in “it’s a small world” travelled in boats down a river of water. This new ride vehicle technology proved very efficient, as it conveyed more than 3,000 guests per hour through the attraction.
Following the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and due in large part to the advancement in both audio-animatronic and ride vehicle technology, Disney Imagineers moved away from the “Pirate Wax Museum” concept. Instead, guests would now ride in boats known as “bateaux,” flat-bottom boats used to ply the waters of the Louisiana Bayou (which also provided a perfect thematic tie-in for New Orleans Square).
Pirates of the Caribbean opened in Disneyland on March 18, 1967, and quickly became one of the most popular attractions in the entire park. Thanks to both the extremely positive reactions by guests at Disneyland, and the promotion of Pirates of the Caribbean on Disney’s popular weekly television program Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, the attraction became a nationwide phenomenon. For theme park fans across the country, an opportunity to ride Pirates of the Caribbean became a right of passage.
The Florida Project and Thunder Mesa
In the late 1960s, Marc Davis was tasked with developing new concepts and ideas for Disney’s monumental “Florida Project.” Davis set quite a goal for himself: create the greatest attraction concept ever developed by Disney. In other words, Davis wanted to “out-Pirate” his signature attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean. Davis’ idea was known as the Western River Expedition, an attraction that would be the key component of a larger theme park area located in the Frontierland section of the Magic Kingdom known as Thunder Mesa.
In order to gain a true understanding of how ambitious the Thunder Mesa project was, one must first grasp the sheer magni
tude of the proposed show building. The massive structure was to be approximately four stories tall and cover a sprawling area from the current location of the Briar Patch gift shop (in front of Splash Mountain in Frontierland) all the way through the current footprint of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It would have literally towered over Frontierland and provided a very dramatic, breathtaking backdrop for that section of the Magic Kingdom.
Given the immense size of the show building, it needed a convincing exterior façade in order to maintain thematic integrity with the rest of Frontierland. To address this concern, Davis planned on cloaking the show building with an immensely detailed Monument Valley-style mountain theme. Specifically, plans for Thunder Mesa called for a “table-top” mountain (otherwise known as a “mesa”) with a relatively flat summit that would create a dramatic vista and even more opportunities for guest entertainment.
Notably, Thunder Mesa was not an attraction, but instead an almost complete land unto itself housing numerous attractions and guest experiences. Thunder Mesa would have included two signature attractions. First, guests would experience a runaway mine train attraction that travelled through a network of ore mines over, around, and through the mountainous landscape. The true star of Thunder Mesa, however, was to be the Western River Expedition, a Wild West version of Pirates of the Caribbean.
In 1969, Disney issued a booklet entitled “A Complete Edition About Walt Disney World” that provided a preview of “The Vacation Kingdom of the World.” This booklet emphasized those attractions that would be unique to Walt Disney World, and not simply replications of pre-existing Disneyland experiences. The Disney World “original” attractions depicted in the “Complete Edition” included Space Mountain, Swiss Family Isle (which eventually became the Swiss Family Tree House), Hall of Presidents, and the Country Bear Band (which later became Country Bear Jamboree). What is interesting in regards to the Thunder Mesa project is that the “Complete Edition” included concept artwork for not only Thunder Mesa as a whole, but also a second picture specifically for the Western River Expedition. It is clear that in 1969, Thunder Mesa was an important project for Walt Disney World.
Another reference to Thunder Mesa was included in the “1969 Annual Report” to the shareholders and employees of Walt Disney Productions. This Annual Report included a picture of Marc Davis working on a model for the Western River Expedition with the following caption:
WESTERN RIVER EXPEDITION: Project Designer Marc Davis completes a model for this musical parody of the wild old west. On the grand scale of Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the attraction will be located in “Thunder Mesa.”
In 1970, Disney issued another colorful marketing booklet named “Preview Edition Walt Disney World ‘The Vacation Kingdom of the World.’” The “Preview Edition” provided beautiful artistic renderings and detailed descriptions of the various resorts, amenities, and entertainment offerings that were coming soon to Disney World. It also provided readers with an entertaining preview of the various attractions and experiences guests could expect at the Magic Kingdom, broken down for each of its six theme park lands.
The “Preview Edition” provided the below description of Thunder Mesa:
Another major attraction to be added during Walt Disney World’s “Phase One” is Thunder Mesa, which will tower high above dense pine forests, offering a spectacular panoramic view of Frontierland. Resembling a “table-top” mountain, typical of those found on Southwestern deserts, it would include a pueblo-style village and a series of exciting adventures. Inside Thunder Mesa, guests will “sign aboard” the Western River Expedition—a musical parody of the wild old West. On their cruise, they’ll come face to face with cowboys and Indians in a frontier fantasy on the grand scale of Disneyland’s famous Pirates of the Caribbean.
The “Preview Edition” explained the “Phase One” terminology as being Disney’s plan for the addition of various hotels, recreation options, entertainment experiences, and theme park attractions during the first five years of Walt Disney World.
Thunder Mesa was a monumental project and it carried a correspondingly monumental price tag. As construction for the Magic Kingdom progressed and costs soared, Disney executives faced a very difficult decision. Did they move forward with the ambitious and costly Thunder Mesa project and sacrifice multiple other attractions? Or did they devote resources to developing numerous smaller attractions in order to help divert and occupy the huge volume of theme park guests expected on opening day? Ultimately, Disney executives chose the second option, and Thunder Mesa was placed on the Phase One project list.
The rationale behind a Phase One plan for Thunder Mesa, as opposed to pushing that it be completed for opening day, was threefold. First, the five-year Phase One period provided Disney personnel with sufficient time to get a threshold number of attractions and offerings operating at the Magic Kingdom to address the aforementioned expected crowd levels. Second, the revenue from the Magic Kingdom, which was expected to be significant, could be used to offset the enormous construction costs for Thunder Mesa. Finally, a promise of additional attractions coming within a five-year period was the perfect enticement for first time visitors (which they all were at that point) to come re-visit Disney World in the future.
Where Are the Pirates?
When planning for the Magic Kingdom, the executive leadership for the Disney company, and in particular Dick Irvine, the executive vice president and chief operations officer of WED Enterprises (now known as Walt Disney Imagineering), wanted to mix attractions from Disneyland that were already extremely popular with guests with new and exciting projects unique to Walt Disney World. The 1970 “Preview Edition” made a point to emphasize this approach, noting that “[w]hile some of the attractions in the new Magic Kingdom will be familiar to the more than 90 million people who have already visited Disneyland, many more will be unique to this new Disney theme park in Florida.”
Of course, the decision of which Disneyland concepts to bring to Walt Disney World was extremely difficult. A delicate balance needed to be struck between capitalizing on the vast goodwill created by Disneyland while also providing enough unique offerings to entice guests to make the trip to Florida.
Irvine and the rest of the Disney decision-makers did incorporate many familiar attractions from Disneyland into the Disney World opening day plans, including what would become known as Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise, and Peter Pan’s Flight. Given the immense popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean on the West Coast, it would most assuredly be one of the attractions replicated in Florida…right? Surprisingly, Disney executives decided NOT to include Pirates of the Caribbean in Walt Disney World. As crazy as this decision may sound from today’s perspective, Disney did have a couple of reasons for making it. First, because Florida was so close in geographic proximity to the actual Caribbean, Disney executives worried that guest excitement and anticipation would not be high for a pirate-based attraction. In fact, Disney made clear in its “1970 Annual Report” that it expected guests to visit Disney World in conjunction with trips to the Caribbean:
Walt Disney World is by definition a destination point, a place where people will come from afar and where they will stay for several days in combination with a visit to the Florida and Caribbean area.
In addition to the geographic proximity concern, construction costs for the Disney World project were astronomical…and growing. As Pirates was one of the most expensive attractions in Disneyland, the cost of adding the fan favorite to the Magic Kingdom would have created a budgeting nightmare. Finally, as noted by Jason Surrell in Pirates of the Caribbean, From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies (2005), construction of Pirates in Florida would have been at the cost of several other attractions that were needed to “eat guests” and deal with the expected flood of theme park guests. Ironically, this final point was also a key justification for delaying Thunder Mesa to the Phase One timeline.
You can probably guess what happened when t
he Magic Kingdom opened Pirate-less on October 1, 1971. Thousands of guests began asking one question over and over again: “Where are the Pirates?!?” Unhappy Pirate-seekers wrote nasty complaint letters, made angry phone calls to Guest Relations, and continually registered complaints with cast members in the parks.
Demand for Pirates of the Caribbean was so significant that in 1972 the president of Walt Disney Productions, E. Cardon “Card” Walker, decided to give guests what they wanted. Walker tasked Imagineers with creating a Disney World version of Pirates of the Caribbean on a breakneck timeline. The Imagineers tried to explain to Card that they were already working on a boat ride attraction that would “out-pirate” Pirates, but Walker had made up his mind and there was no convincing him otherwise. A site was selected for Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland and construction began in the fall of 1972. In the 1972 Annual Report for Walt Disney Productions, Disney executives made clear that the pirates were coming to Florida:
Pirates of the Caribbean. Responding to the need for a new high capacity attraction, the Company has begun construction of Caribbean Plaza adjacent to Adventureland. Here, we will locate shops and restaurants designed in a Spanish motif. Here, too, will be the entrance to the Pirates of the Caribbean, a new version of Disneyland’s famous adventure. Schedule for opening before Christmas, 1973, the attraction will entertain 4,200 guests per hour.
Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland Page 7