Pirates of the Caribbean turns 50 this week at Disneyland
Fifty years ago this week, the Pirates of The Caribbean ride opened at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, and five decades later it remains one of the theme park’s most popular classic attractions.
To celebrate the ride’s first half-century, Disneyland is hosting a three-day celebration that will begin Thursday with pirate-themed food items for sale, themed entertainment, limited-edition merchandise and special appearances.
When Pirates opened on March 18, 1967, it featured the latest in audio-animatronic technology. It was also the last attraction personally supervised by Walt Disney, who passed away three months before it opened following a brief battle with lung cancer.
Since then, more than 400 million people have ridden the boat ride down the dark rapids, through spooky caverns and past the shores of Puerto Dorado, where drunken pirates shop for brides and ultimately set the city on town on fire.
On Thursday, March 16, several new food items will be introduced at the restaurants that surround the subterranean ride in New Orleans Square. They include buccaneer pulled pork sandwich, Jolly Roger punch and Calypso’s Caribbean chicken stew.
On Friday, live entertainment will be offered in the Square by the Boostrappers and Lucky the Pirate.
And on Saturday, expanded entertainment will include a visit by Captain Jack Sparrow. There will also be anniversary merchandise for sale and Pirate Speak! collectible cards for those who want to talk like a pirate.
The anniversary arrives while the three-day ticket special is still available to Southern California residents. Through May 22, residents in ZIP codes 90000 to 93599 can buy a three-day, 1-park-per-day pass for $149.
And for foodies who aren’t interested in pirate fare, diners can cross over to Disney California Adventure theme park, where its annual Food & Wine Festival is underway through April 16.
The monthlong festival includes culinary demonstrations by celebrity chefs (Guy Fieri, Robert Irvine, Cat Cora, Duff Goldman, Emily Ellyn and Keegan Gerhard), culinary demonstrations, more than a dozen marketplaces around the park offering food, wine and beer tastings. And for children there will be live entertainment and a “junior chef experience” program led by Goofy. A full schedule is online.
Want to know more about the Pirates ride? Here are some little-known Disney fun facts:
Pirates of the Caribbean was originally envisioned as a New Orleans-themed Blue Bayou Mart featuring a pirate wax museum, housed in a 70-foot deep basement. The basement now serves as the grotto section of the attraction.
Pirates of the Caribbean was loosely inspired by films like “Captain Blood,” “The Sea Hawk” and “The Buccaneer,” plus Disney’s “Treasure Island,” “Kidnapped” and “Swiss Family Robinson.”
It cost $15 million to build New Orleans Square, the home for Pirates of the Caribbean, which is the same price the United States paid for the real New Orleans in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
The facade for Pirates was partly inspired by the Cabildo building in Jackson Square in New Orleans, which was the seat of the Spanish colonial government in 1799.
Guests ride through the attraction in a 1,838-foot canal.
Approximately 120 animated characters (human characters plus nine different types of animated animals) are featured on the ride.
Disney Imagineer X Atencio, who wrote the attraction’s memorable tune, “Yo-Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” is the voice of the Jolly Roger skull and crossbones, seen just before guests plunge down the waterfalls.
In the lyrics of the song “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” the phrase “Yo Ho” is uttered 18 times.
Guests ride through the attraction for approximately 15 minutes, on one of the longest rides at Disneyland Resort.
In 1997, Pirates of the Caribbean won the Thea Classic Award from the Themed Entertainment Association. The Thea Classic Award is given to an outstanding “compelling place and experience” which has been in operation for a minimum of 20 years.
Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series, which breathed new life into the ride with the addition of the popular character Captain Jack Sparrow, returns this year with a fifth installment, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
Approximately 400,000 pieces of gold coins and set pieces were added to the attraction during a long refurbishment in 2006 when some of the film characters were added to the story.The Aztec pirate chest used in the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.