Magic Kingdom & Disneyland to Alter Memorable Scene of Pirates of the Caribbean

Yep, it's stupid. Somebody on another forum stated that they will always chant "We wants the Redhead!!" at that point, no matter what. A silly protest, perhaps, but I understand where they're coming from...

Here's the thing...this ride is already a VERY loose interpretation of "The Pirate Life."

It is not meant to be taken seriously. It never was.

This bride auction scene is already basically a joke. In real life, pirates just kidnapped and assaulted women willy nilly. There was no organized auction in the town square.

This ride was always meant to be a "light hearted" look into piracy, even though we all know, as adults, how terrible it really was (and still is).

My biggest issue here is that Disney seems to be defaulting to "let's not offend anyone ever," rather than allowing parents to discuss these kinds of historical facts with their kids when the kids are old enough to notice it. Erasing everything that is offensive is not a good way to educate people going forward.

On a sort of related subject...why can't parents just let kids be innocent anymore? This seemingly bothers parents who feel that they shouldn't have to explain human trafficking to their kindergartner at WDW. Then don't! Seriously, let them ride pirates and let it go over their heads, like it did for millions of other kids. When they are adults they will figure it out and realize they enjoyed the ride as kids and had NO IDEA about any of this "dark matter." All I remember as a kid is how much I LOVED the song and how cool that fire scene looked. My kids have ridden it and I certainly haven't piped up afterwards and said, "weren't you horrified to see such violence and horrible mistreatment of women? You know that bride auction scene is a demonstration of human trafficking. How does that make you feel?"

Seriously. Kids don't know any better. And adults should know enough to just accept it for what it is...a THEME PARK RIDE, not a political commentary.

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BrerGnat wrote: "...My biggest issue here is that Disney seems to be defaulting to "let's not offend anyone ever," rather than allowing parents to discuss these kinds of historical facts with their kids when the kids are old enough to notice it. Erasing everything that is offensive is not a good way to educate people going forward.

On a sort of related subject...why can't parents just let kids be innocent anymore? This seemingly bothers parents who feel that they shouldn't have to explain human trafficking to their kindergartner at WDW. Then don't! Seriously, let them ride pirates and let it go over their heads, like it did for millions of other kids. When they are adults they will figure it out and realize they enjoyed the ride as kids and had NO IDEA about any of this "dark matter." All I remember as a kid is how much I LOVED the song and how cool that fire scene looked. My kids have ridden it and I certainly haven't piped up afterwards and said, "weren't you horrified to see such violence and horrible mistreatment of women? You know that bride auction scene is a demonstration of human trafficking. How does that make you feel?"

Seriously. Kids don't know any better. And adults should know enough to just accept it for what it is...a THEME PARK RIDE, not a political commentary."

You absolutely nailed it Natalie! :thumbsup: Ms. Mangum & her gang have obviously received some complaints from people who like to do just that - complain, and sat around the conference table WAY overthinking this. They need to stop worrying about the small number of complainers (they won't ever be satisfied anyway), stop thinking like a corporate board member, and start thinking like a 11 year old kid. Otherwise, this kind of thing will continue, to the detriment of all.

Or better yet, they can all just go jump in Bay Lake.:thedolls:

BrerGnat;2503612 wrote: Here's the thing...this ride is already a VERY loose interpretation of "The Pirate Life."

It is not meant to be taken seriously. It never was.

This bride auction scene is already basically a joke. In real life, pirates just kidnapped and assaulted women willy nilly. There was no organized auction in the town square.

This ride was always meant to be a "light hearted" look into piracy, even though we all know, as adults, how terrible it really was (and still is).

My biggest issue here is that Disney seems to be defaulting to "let's not offend anyone ever," rather than allowing parents to discuss these kinds of historical facts with their kids when the kids are old enough to notice it. Erasing everything that is offensive is not a good way to educate people going forward.

On a sort of related subject...why can't parents just let kids be innocent anymore? This seemingly bothers parents who feel that they shouldn't have to explain human trafficking to their kindergartner at WDW. Then don't! Seriously, let them ride pirates and let it go over their heads, like it did for millions of other kids. When they are adults they will figure it out and realize they enjoyed the ride as kids and had NO IDEA about any of this "dark matter." All I remember as a kid is how much I LOVED the song and how cool that fire scene looked. My kids have ridden it and I certainly haven't piped up afterwards and said, "weren't you horrified to see such violence and horrible mistreatment of women? You know that bride auction scene is a demonstration of human trafficking. How does that make you feel?"

Seriously. Kids don't know any better. And adults should know enough to just accept it for what it is...a THEME PARK RIDE, not a political commentary.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Yeah, explaining all the intricacies of Aladdin must kill some parents. Along w/ Splash Mountain (song of the south), Country Bear, and the murder in Haunted Mansion. Do they need to purge the voices and songs from South, pretty much nothing from CB can exist, and remove all of the murder from HM. Yeap, sounds like a blast to me.

While freshening up things is necessary, keeping some aspects of nostalgia are also necessary. At least for me, to keep coming back. If totally different, I see it as a break for me to go check out other offerings. B/c of so many moves, similar to this, is why we are considering an all Universal/Seaworld vacation. I see less of an anchoring me to what I am familiar with that creates sentimental nostalgic feelings, and thus makes me think, "what else is out there." I dont know if that makes sense to anyone else?

texas211;2503634 wrote:

While freshening up things is necessary, keeping some aspects of nostalgia are also necessary. At least for me, to keep coming back. If totally different, I see it as a break for me to go check out other offerings. B/c of so many moves, similar to this, is why we are considering an all Universal/Seaworld vacation. I see less of an anchoring me to what I am familiar with that creates sentimental nostalgic feelings, and thus makes me think, "what else is out there." I dont know if that makes sense to anyone else?

I am right there with you.

Yeah, I am late to the thread, but agree with most everyone else. Where do you draw the line for that ride? Murder (Pirate skeleton with sword through it, Mermaid skeleton), arson, robbery, giving alcohol to animals, etc.... Why not get rid of all things not PC in Disney? The bride in HM is far more graphic, but I guess killing husbands does not rank as high on the PC scale as a subtle auction that no kid under age of 10 or so would comprehend.

I am personally offended by the bigger dinosaur being a bully and eating the smaller dinosaur on the Dinosaur ride. Maybe they should change that scene too and show the two dinosaurs working together to resolve their differences.

I respect Disney for trying to make the parks family friendly for everyone, but at some point parents need to be parents and decided if a ride is too scary or thought provoking for their kids. I believe they are making things worse as they are putting a PC band aid on a scene for a ride that is based upon a topic that is certainly not PC. Disney is quite hypocritical in profiting off of the glorification of Pirates and feudalism (Princesses) on one hand while trying to act ultra PC on the other.

Not a lot to add here from me ... I echo John's sentiments and actually feel like Natalie really hit the nail on the head with her post.

I'd also like to know why it's perfectly acceptable to water board the mayor in the second scene but not to auction off the redhead in the third?

Redheads are better than politicians :P

California...

Eh, I think people are conveniently nostalgic when it's consistent with their preconceptions of "good" nostalgia, and then cling hard to Disney's notion of "it's never finished" when changes are the same "good" kind of progress. There were already tonal changes to the ride: who's getting chased by what, for example. Substantive changes, too: isn't a movie character based on a ride being in the ride the very definition of a snake eating its own tail?

It's a change that doesn't necessarily alter the theme of the ride: the pirates are there, and they're behind some silly mischief, including widespread arson. Carlos will still be entreated to not be a cheeeecken. A pirate will still be so drunk, he sleeps in pig spoor. Dead men will continue to not tell tales. The sky didn't fall when Captain Jack turned the ride into a companion piece to Pirates of the Caribbean 9: A Long Wait At Lenscrafters Me Hearties. This is making Space Mountain out of Space Molehill.

Dirty Bird Street;2503891 wrote: Eh, I think people are conveniently nostalgic when it's consistent with their preconceptions of "good" nostalgia, and then cling hard to Disney's notion of "it's never finished" when changes are the same "good" kind of progress. There were already tonal changes to the ride: who's getting chased by what, for example. Substantive changes, too: isn't a movie character based on a ride being in the ride the very definition of a snake eating its own tail?

It's a change that doesn't necessarily alter the theme of the ride: the pirates are there, and they're behind some silly mischief, including widespread arson. Carlos will still be entreated to not be a cheeeecken. A pirate will still be so drunk, he sleeps in pig spoor. Dead men will continue to not tell tales. The sky didn't fall when Captain Jack turned the ride into a companion piece to Pirates of the Caribbean 9: A Long Wait At Lenscrafters Me Hearties. This is making Space Mountain out of Space Molehill.

Actually, I disagree with this statement. I did not like the changes they have done so far, such as making the women chase the men and adding Johnny Depp. I liked the ride the way it was. That is why I rode it.
I think the "mist screen" in the ride is a pretty awesome idea, but I would have been much happier if they left it out of Pirates and used it in another ride. I like mermaids, but I don't think adding them due to them being in one of the movies is a good thing.
It doesn't have anything to do with my perception of what is morally "good" and what isn't.

Ian;2503826 wrote: Not a lot to add here from me ... I echo John's sentiments and actually feel like Natalie really hit the nail on the head with her post.

I'd also like to know why it's perfectly acceptable to water board the mayor in the second scene but not to auction off the redhead in the third?

Waterboarding is not torture.

Also, I don't agree putting Jack in the ride was a great move. I would have preferred creating a ride based on the new POTC movies, Like POTC the adventure continues or something and put in the Shanghai version.

BUt editing a classic seems wrong to me. Other, less iconic or even newer attractions are fine. But some are too iconic, or staples of the WDW experience I feel should be left alone. I look at it like McDonalds. They can change anything on the menu, but just not the Big Mac, nuggets or Fries. Thats what they do. Companies that change something core, like when Coke introduced New Coke, well, learned quickly.

These changes can make something for the now, but isn't it heavy nostalgia that brought us back after visiting at kids?

BrerGnat;2503612 wrote: On a sort of related subject...why can't parents just let kids be innocent anymore? This seemingly bothers parents who feel that they shouldn't have to explain human trafficking to their kindergartner at WDW. Then don't! Seriously, let them ride pirates and let it go over their heads, like it did for millions of other kids. When they are adults they will figure it out and realize they enjoyed the ride as kids and had NO IDEA about any of this "dark matter." All I remember as a kid is how much I LOVED the song and how cool that fire scene looked. My kids have ridden it and I certainly haven't piped up afterwards and said, "weren't you horrified to see such violence and horrible mistreatment of women? You know that bride auction scene is a demonstration of human trafficking. How does that make you feel?"

Seriously. Kids don't know any better. And adults should know enough to just accept it for what it is...a THEME PARK RIDE, not a political commentary.

This is spot on and I couldn't say it any better. I'm all for teachable moments, but never has it occurred to me to dive into deep and serious conversations with my kids about the world's injustices while enjoying the day at Disney or any theme park. I've been going on Pirate's since I was 2 and even to this day I have never taken that scene too seriously or given it much deep thought. This change won't ruin the attraction for me and it will always be one of my favorites, but people have to lighten up a bit and stop taking everything so seriously.

Totally see both sides to this. I am shocked that they're changing the scene. But, I can understand where they're coming from. It's sure not going to ruin the ride for me though. Sometimes we cling to things too much just because that's the way it originally was.

And, have to thank everyone who posted here because you guys made me giggle! Two pages of complaints about "the complainers". And, hands down my favorite line - making things nicer to the detriment of us all. And, I am not making fun of anyone, I swear. Disney people are dead serious about their love of all things WDW and I'm right there with you. This was a genuine thank you for making me giggle. :-)

guns are ok though...