Disneyland and the classic Pirates of the Caribbean attraction made headlines lately when it reopened:
Disneyland reveals high-tech upgrade to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
One of Disneyland’s most popular classic rides has reopened after refurbishment, with a new feature that brings an iconic scene to life using modern technology. Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square was the last attraction personally overseen by Walt Disney before his death in 1966. It opened 59 years ago, telling the tale of marauding pirates, swashbuckling sailors and cursed treasure. The dark ride reopened Friday after a nearly two-month refurbishment, and Disneyland is revealing the major update. The classic scene depicting the skeleton of a greedy pirate sitting atop a pile of cursed gold is no longer – just a skeleton. We now see his story unfold. Thanks to patented technology involving projections and robotics, riders now see the pirate as a living soul transform into a skeleton after picking up a cursed gold coin. “When he lifts and picks it up and looks at it, it casts a spell over him that freezes him in time,” Alfredo Ayala, a Disneyland Imagineer, explains in an official video released Friday. “And then, the weight of his arm after he turns into a skeleton drops the coin, releasing him from the cursed treasure.” But the short story, of course, doesn’t end there. The greedy pirate picks up the coin again and-this time- becomes frozen forever as a skeleton. The magic is accomplished through what Disney Imagineers call “hybrid front projection technology,” an extension of traditional animatronics seen throughout the park. What’s different here is that the animatronic figure moves, so the projection has to move with it. “It opens up a whole new level of engagement with our beloved guests,” Ayala said.
How the scene looked, a few years after opening, in the September 1969 image below:
How it looked in 2015; not too dissimilar:
While the “hybrid front projection technology” may be a new term, the concept is not anything new. Exhibit A: Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion:
Granted, the actual head is a stationary sculpt, the special effect still works and has been amazing guests since that attraction opened in 1969. The original film frames that were projected on the matching sculpted head:
The photographer who shot this blurry 1972 image used a flash, which canceled out the film projection and revealed the blank sculpted head:
Exhibit B: The same effect was used on the Singing Ghosts in the graveyard:
With the lights on, you can see the sculpts without the projection:
Exhibit C: In 2007 when Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island opened, they used projection effects in the Dead Man’s Grotto area; these were not quite as effective as the ones in the Mansion:
When Pirates of the Caribbean was being put together, it was brought up that the overlapping scenes and dialogue might be difficult for guests to understand and comprehend as the boats sailed by. Walt Disney’s response was that the attraction was akin to a cocktail party, where guests would hear bits and pieces of conversation as they walked through the room. He figured that each time guests would ride the attraction they would see new details or hear different bits of convo that they had missed before. It was important for Walt that guests would want to come back and ride the same attractions over and over again.
The “new” technology has been lambasted by fans, who say it is incongruent with the other scenes of the attraction. A missed detail from the “upgrade” is that the face changes back and forth from skeleton to living human, but the hand stays the same. I’ve said it before and I will probably say it again, but just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD. To me, this screams “Look at what we can do” rather than a true improvement. Below is a fan-made video about the changes:
If I had to make an edjumacated guess as to why this is a big deal for the Disney Corporation it would be (as always) because of cost. A projection effect is going to be a lot cheaper than upgrading and maintaining a mechanical audioanimatronic figure that has to work around the clock on a daily basis. What are your thoughts?
See more Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean photos at my main website.
