"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!"

Welcome to Pirates of the Caribbean!

I said in my last post that my favorite ride is the Peoplemover, and I can honestly say that Pirates of the Caribbean comes in a very (very) close second. This ride does something that many others don't; it transports you, and makes you feel like you're in a completely different world. When you step into the Spanish Fort, wind throughout the tunnels of the queue, and climb into your boat, you don't feel like you're in the middle of Florida at a theme park, you feel like you're a pirate sailing on the seas.

Pirates of the Caribbean is considered to be one of the most spectacular attractions ever created for any theme park, Disney or non-Disney. This was the last attraction that Walt Disney personally supervised before his death, and on March 18, 1967, Pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disneyland. The attraction earned rave reviews and has remained a beloved classic ever since. Due to popular demand, the attraction opened at Magic Kingdom park on December 15, 1973 and most recently has spawned a blockbuster film series. The ride has also been replicated at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney. Pretty impressive for a theme park attraction, right?

So what makes this attraction so special? For starters, the Disneyland attraction was far ahead of it's time. Back in 1967 when this ride opened, it's use of Audio-Animatronics was phenomenal, and so realistic to Disneyland guests. They really felt like they were riding through Pirate territory. Originally, Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't planned to be built at Disney World. Imagineers felt that Florida residents were too accustomed to pirates, as pirates are part of Florida's local legends and lore. So they planned a different ride called Western River Expedition (pictured below) instead. It would be a dark boat ride, filled with Cowboys and Indians rather than Pirates. Disney management thought that cowboys and Indians would be more surprising and exciting to Florida residents. However, this led to many inquiries of "Where are the pirates?" and complaints being filed during the early days of the resort's operation.

Because of popular demand, Disney hastily built a second Pirates of the Caribbean ride in the Magic Kingdom, thus scrapping plans for the Western River Expedition. This grand ride was never built, because the budget planned for it was used for Pirates of the Caribbean. Because of Imagineers' haste to build Pirates, Disney World received a slightly "watered down" version of the ride, compared to Disneyland. In fact, Disney World's Pirates ride is actually the shortest of all four Pirates rides, at 8:30 minutes long. In comparison, Disneyland's version is 15:30 minutes long, Disneyland Paris's ride is 10:30 minutes, and Tokyo Disneyland's is 9:30 minutes long. This may lead you to believe Disney World's version isn't as good, but I concur. Having ridden this ride at least 10 different times, I can truly say that Disney World's Pirates of the Caribbean is absolutely amazing.

After the success of the Pirates movies, characters such as Jack Sparrow were added to the attraction. So, the attraction inspired the movie, which then inspired the attraction! Pretty cool.

So, are you ready to ride? (Make sure you watch this in HD!)

Walking into the back of Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom, you stumble upon an old Spanish Pirate Fort. You walk through the winding, dark, musty tunnels, stumbling past caves and cannons and barrels and all sorts of Pirates gear. The classic song "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me" plays in the background and really sets the tone. The queue for Pirates is amazing, truly amazing, and really sets the mood for your adventure.

Climbing into your boat is incredibly exciting; the water is rushing all around you, and the first place you sail to is a dark, cold cave, hearing "Dead men tell no tales!" over and over again.

Blackbead from the Pirates movies greets you in the mist, and all of a sudden you see shipwrecked boats and skeletons of pirates and even mermaids! There's a storm going on, and the air is misty and foreboding. You can feel that something's going to happen. Then, your boat takes a steep drop! You're not expecting it because it's pitch black, and this transports you to the world of Pirates.

A huge ship is seen, and there's some sort of battle going on. Cannons are firing, and the water splashes where the cannons land in the water. You almost were hit! Sailing around the corner, you find yourself in a small Spanish town, invaded by pirates. The mayor of the town is being hung from a well, and the pirates are torturing him for information about where Jack Sparrow is (Sparrow is then seen peeking around the corner).

Moving along, an auction is going on for brides. "We want the redhead!" the men shout, as the lead pirate is auctioning off a rather stout woman.

More pirates and mischief are seen, lots of them talking about Jack Sparrow. All of a sudden, the town is set on fire, buildings are burning and smoke fills the air. Apparently the pirates aren't happy with the townspeople. Then, prisoners in a burning jail cell are seen trying to get the key from the guard dog. However, the dog can't be swayed!

We then finally see Sparrow, in a treasure room enjoying his success in raiding the town without being caught. I'm still amazed at how realistic his Audio-Animatronic looks, it could easily be mistaken for Johnny Depp being inside of the attraction! Your ride is now over, and you unload and head up the speed ramp.

Wasn't that awesome?
One of my favorite memories of Disney World took place at Pirates of the Caribbean. It was 2011 and my family and I were in the Magic Kingdom for extra hours. It was almost midnight, and the park was pretty much deserted. We went to go and ride Pirates and found that it was completely empty. We walked through an empty queue with the music creating a strange and almost creepy atmosphere. We arrived at the loading dock and a Cast Member greeted us with a smile, saying that we were going to get an entire boat to ourselves. The four of us each took our own row, and we rode through the attraction completely alone. It was kind of creepy but mostly awesome, we literally felt like we'd been transported by ourselves to this Spanish world of Pirates. It was amazing and one of my favorite memories of any of my trips to Disney World. You've gotta love those pirates!