Pirates of the Caribbean Refurb

[belloq87]

On a gut level, I'm not a fan of this change. The description of the scene is murky, but it appears the entire scene is going to be rewritten, so gone will be the Auctioneer's classic lines and the interplay with the other pirates. Maybe it'll still end up being a fun scene (though good luck trying to recapture that 1960s magic, Disney), and if it does, then fine. I just think Disney's fixing a problem that didn't need fixing, and will likely irritate more people than are irritated by the current version of the scene.

 

[Ryan]

"We wants the redhead" has merch, merch! So I think that line will definitely remain, with the redhead instead being the one who shoots.

 

[belloq87]

"We wants the redhead" has merch, merch! So I think that line will definitely remain, with the redhead instead being the one who shoots.

If that's how it plays out, I'll be totally fine with it. Hopefully they can salvage at least some of the Auctioneer's fantastic dialogue, too.

 

[ChristopherSE]

Yeah I just feel it's unnecessary, too. Personally, I'm entirely ambivalent, but from what I've seen on social media today, fans are up in arms. Between this and the recent talking skull photo op update, Disney is putting money into Pirates in ways nobody is asking for? Seems strange to me. Why were these updates at the top of the to-do list?

 

[Nick]

Yeah I just feel it's unnecessary, too. Personally, I'm entirely ambivalent, but from what I've seen on social media today, fans are up in arms. Between this and the recent talking skull photo op update, Disney is putting money into Pirates in ways nobody is asking for? Seems strange to me. Why were these updates at the top of the to-do list?

Well, the talking skull is easy to explain...

It's an on-ride photo which means it adds more "value" to the Memory Maker/PhotoPass and Disney can charge more.

 

[Tobias]

For me I'm not a fan of this piece of news, as others have mentioned it just feels downright unessicary. There's plenty of other attractions in the parks which need fixing, yet here Disney is going all George Lucas on Pirates.

The auction scene is a iconic scene, it's Pirates being Pirates. They wern't nice people, and the ride showed that.

I don't like the look of the new auction scene, it feels a bit convoluted for the Pirates to be telling the townsfolk to surrender their loot and then having an' auction for said loot right then and there. (Meanwhile the other Pirates are just straight up looting the town for themselves, so why would they need to go to an' auction at that time?)

Also with having the red head leading that, I feel we're going to lose both the auctioneer's dialogue and the iconic "We Want the RedHead!" line. An' if they try keeping that line in, it'll probably come off either awkward, or more as a fanservicy *wink wink* moment. (Speaking of fanservice, I think someone's betting that grandfather clock goes to 13.)

As another person mentioned, if you're honestly going to be replacing the auction scene, why not replace it with a brand new scene from one of Marc Davis's many concept sketches for Pirates? Case in point...



Make one of those female pirates a redhead and boom, you got a charming new scene which is better then what's being planned to be put in. Not to mention it wouldn't be getting a direction comparison to the auction scene which this new one certainly will.

 

[awhen]

Well my daughter did ask me what a wench was this trip. She's 9.

 

[Nick]

I get Disney wants to be 2017 Politically Correct with a move like this, but the ride is set in a very specific time period and is historically an accurate depiction of something that may have happened during that time period. Removing the scene is almost censorship because people don't like the bad things those before us did throughout history.

 

[jseal777]

Be careful now that's dangerous thinking

 

[captainmoch]

This doesn't bother me too much; but I've also never been as into Pirates compared to other classic Disney rides like Haunted Mansion. I do think it's pretty unnecessary, though.

 

[Andysol]

Well my daughter did ask me what a wench was this trip. She's 9.

Did you explain it to her? Was it a big deal afterwards?

 

[awhen]

Did you explain it to her? Was it a big deal afterwards?

I explained it was a derogatory way to refer to women. I wasn't about to get into rape and human trafficking. That said, she clearly has trouble reconciling all the chaos and destruction with the sympathetic way the jolly drunken pirates are portrayed. I can't imagine she's the only one, and I suspect future generations are going to have trouble seeing the entertainment in it all once we're gone. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to explain why I find it entertaining. To me it just.. is. To her it's not. She's probably smarter than I am.

The flippant part of me wanted to just refer to Mommy and say "This is a wench..." but I resisted, which is unusual for me.

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

Really? This was really necessary? At this rate, I'm expecting we will see Splash Mountain being closed down for a retheme since its based on a story that is not allowed to be seen. Just rework and rewrite everything so that any sense of history that someone might have issue with (giving up our ability to learn from and discuss it) is lost.

 

[Porkchop]

I explained it was a derogatory way to refer to women. I wasn't about to get into rape and human trafficking. That said, she clearly has trouble reconciling all the chaos and destruction with the sympathetic way the jolly drunken pirates are portrayed. I can't imagine she's the only one, and I suspect future generations are going to have trouble seeing the entertainment in it all once we're gone. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to explain why I find it entertaining. To me it just.. is. To her it's not. She's probably smarter than I am.

The flippant part of me wanted to just refer to Mommy and say "This is a wench..." but I resisted, which is unusual for me.

I rode this as a kid and it was just a ride? I have a 9 year old too....he asked me what a "douche bag" was once cause he heard it on tv.....told him its a bad word you cant use, that's it.

Dunno why "kids these days" are all of a sudden going to be effected by a ride that's been around for many generations of children? We can't shelter them from history, it's how stuff was back in those days...

 

[JungleSkip]

 

[tielo]

Original fairy tales (as depicted very well in my local theme park Efteling) are often horrific stories. Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne or The girl with the matchbox. It's about a girl that freezes to death. Another classic is Hansel and Gretel and it's a lovely fairytale about kids that get duped in the forest because their parents are to poor to take care of them. They get seduced by a stranger who offers candy and are prepared to be eaten by the witch. As a revance they burn the horrible witch.
These stories are un-sugarcoated and teach kids valuable life lessons in a playful way. They are there for parents to talk to their children and have a conversation about parts of life that are tough or could be dangerous. Kids are able to handle stuff much better then most adults give them credit for.

Slavery is a black page of history and still goes on today. The ride could be the starting point about how valuable freedom now is and how bad it was once. It's disappoint the Disney company feels the need to make changes again for the worst.

 

[Nick]

Was the headline story on my Twitter Moments page (not a "from your network" moment either):

Disney to remove 'wench auction' from Pirates of the Caribbean ride

 

[Ryan]

Seems to be a regular trending/hot topic on Facebook as well.

 

[Mad Dog]

And, knowing Disney, it just may be an attendance & marketing gimmick. Seems like they do that often at Disneyland. They state that they're shutting down or altering a show/attraction/parade/whatever and get a small attendance hike from people wanting to experience the "pure" version one last time. Small cost factor to make the fairly insignificant change, and they'll make a ton in increased interest. They're taking it to another level by doing three parks at one time.....That's my take.....Especially since that's been politically incorrect for the PC crowd for a long time. It's not like there was a recent hue and cry, demonstrations, petitions, and all that....It's money/marketing behind the scenes.

 

[GadgetGuru]

It's pretty crazy how differently the public and us are taking the auction scene changes.

Personally, I don't really care either way. But, I can see why Disney wants to change the ride. This is no longer a ride based on a historical time period. It's a ride based off a movie. From their perspective, I can imagine they want a very family friendly ride to mimic the very family friendly movies.