The serene exterior/entrance to Pirates of The Caribbean in our latest souvenir film restoration stands in stark contrast to the busy area we see today. The ride footage opens after the opening scenes as boats approach the galleon just after the famous “drop”. For those more familiar with the Pirates of the last decade where Barbosa from the Hollywood film is captain of the ship this film gives you a good glimpse of the original pirate captain.
As the fort battles the pirates our boats glide into the waterways of the town. There are excellent closeups of a lot of the original ride animatronics, which were a little more rudimentary in appearance than they are today, especially noticeable with the wench brides. Immediately after you see the original scene of the pirates chasing the 2 of the local women. These were the setup for the gag of a third woman, stouter that the others, chasing the pirate. This scene was changed in the early 1990’s to all the women chasing the pirates in response to complaints about Imagineer Marc Davis’s original gag.
For the most part what you’ll notice is how little much of the ride has changed (aside from the film references and characters added in the 2000’s) – except that dog holding the key which seems to completely change his look every dozen years or so.
Overall this souvenir film probably captures the attraction better than any of the others Disney sold at the time.
Great restoration job. The pirate that we sail under always gave me the creeps growing up. The leg hair made him seem so real, as a kid it was hard to believe it was an audio-animatronic.