50 years of Pirates of the Caribbean panel
The D23 Expo 2017 featured “Pirates of the Caribbean: 50 years of swashbuckling adventures in Disney parks” with a panel that included Marty Sklar, Tony Baxter and Orlando Ferrante.
What Makes Pirates Special?
“Pirates of the Caribbean really changed the whole theme park industry,” says Sklar. It brought storytelling to the attraction. The New York World’s Fair allowed Disney to develop ways to move a lot of people through an attraction. Marc Davis loved to do sketches. One gag that didn’t make it was a pirate sawing the wooden leg off another pirate.
“Imagineering has kept the tradition that Walt started,” says Sklar. He trusted that his imagineers could do it.
“The story was everything,” says Ferrante.
“It invites the audience to be the main characters,” says Baxter. Baxter’s experience with the original Pirates attraction evokes mixed emotions. He saw it on the day that Walt Disney passed away. Baxter’s favorite pirate is the auctioneer.
With its music, thrills and smell, Pirates “touches on all the senses” according to Disneyland Art Director Kim Irvine. Leota Toombs, Irvine’s mother, worked in the model shop and she kept taking her daughter’s toys. Jacks became candelabras, bobby pins became wrought iron, and Barbie’s red high heels? You can guess where they ended up.
On Shanghai Pirates of the Caribbean
Shanghai Disney Creative Executive Luc Maynard says that it is both scary and funny. The Pirates attraction in Shanghai is more of an experience and a land. “Battle for the Sunken Treasure” needed to take into account that Chinese audiences may not be familiar with the original attraction, but they were familiar with the movies. More movie scenes were added to the attraction. The goal was to put the audience “in the middle of the greatest pirate story ever told.”
“It’s so rich,” says Creative Development Executive at WDI Nancy Seruto, “I wish it was 40 minutes long.” Working within the context of a different culture on a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction came with a different challenge.
“It was really wonderful to try to find the common language,” says Seruto.
Audio-animatronics now have “compliance” which allows the figure to stop movement without any shaking or reverberation. This technology allows the sword fight to happen with fewer problems and more realism. Sklar was impressed by the seamlessness between the built sets and the video projections.
“The technology did not drive the story,” says Sklar. “Story first, then figure out how to do it.”
We don’t entertain with technology according to Maynard. It’s invisible. The real innovation in Shanghai was synching the music to the motion.
Shanghai Disney used a proven technology to test out the ride scenes. An old office chair was wheeled through the model to get the feel of what it would be like on a boat; Walt used the same method during the development of the first attraction.
Shanghai collected water from each of the other Disney Pirates attractions and added it to their attraction symbolically bringing all of the attractions together in Shanghai.
Nothing is impossible when you have a team like you do in Imagineering according to Maynard.
On Changing the Red Head Scene
“Every attraction at Disneyland has had some kind of change since Disneyland opened,” says Sklar. “You want things to be the way you saw them initially,’ and imagineers appreciate the fact that parents and grandparents are bringing their children and grandchildren to the parks. However, it can’t stay the same forever.
Check out the photos from the Pirates Life for Me exhibition at D23 Expo 2017
The top 5 Disney Pirates
What Makes Pirates Special?
“Pirates of the Caribbean really changed the whole theme park industry,” says Sklar. It brought storytelling to the attraction. The New York World’s Fair allowed Disney to develop ways to move a lot of people through an attraction. Marc Davis loved to do sketches. One gag that didn’t make it was a pirate sawing the wooden leg off another pirate.
“Imagineering has kept the tradition that Walt started,” says Sklar. He trusted that his imagineers could do it.
“The story was everything,” says Ferrante.
“It invites the audience to be the main characters,” says Baxter. Baxter’s experience with the original Pirates attraction evokes mixed emotions. He saw it on the day that Walt Disney passed away. Baxter’s favorite pirate is the auctioneer.
With its music, thrills and smell, Pirates “touches on all the senses” according to Disneyland Art Director Kim Irvine. Leota Toombs, Irvine’s mother, worked in the model shop and she kept taking her daughter’s toys. Jacks became candelabras, bobby pins became wrought iron, and Barbie’s red high heels? You can guess where they ended up.
On Shanghai Pirates of the Caribbean
Shanghai Disney Creative Executive Luc Maynard says that it is both scary and funny. The Pirates attraction in Shanghai is more of an experience and a land. “Battle for the Sunken Treasure” needed to take into account that Chinese audiences may not be familiar with the original attraction, but they were familiar with the movies. More movie scenes were added to the attraction. The goal was to put the audience “in the middle of the greatest pirate story ever told.”
“It’s so rich,” says Creative Development Executive at WDI Nancy Seruto, “I wish it was 40 minutes long.” Working within the context of a different culture on a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction came with a different challenge.
“It was really wonderful to try to find the common language,” says Seruto.
Audio-animatronics now have “compliance” which allows the figure to stop movement without any shaking or reverberation. This technology allows the sword fight to happen with fewer problems and more realism. Sklar was impressed by the seamlessness between the built sets and the video projections.
“The technology did not drive the story,” says Sklar. “Story first, then figure out how to do it.”
We don’t entertain with technology according to Maynard. It’s invisible. The real innovation in Shanghai was synching the music to the motion.
Shanghai Disney used a proven technology to test out the ride scenes. An old office chair was wheeled through the model to get the feel of what it would be like on a boat; Walt used the same method during the development of the first attraction.
Shanghai collected water from each of the other Disney Pirates attractions and added it to their attraction symbolically bringing all of the attractions together in Shanghai.
Nothing is impossible when you have a team like you do in Imagineering according to Maynard.
On Changing the Red Head Scene
“Every attraction at Disneyland has had some kind of change since Disneyland opened,” says Sklar. “You want things to be the way you saw them initially,’ and imagineers appreciate the fact that parents and grandparents are bringing their children and grandchildren to the parks. However, it can’t stay the same forever.
Check out the photos from the Pirates Life for Me exhibition at D23 Expo 2017
The top 5 Disney Pirates