From the earliest planning stages of Disneyland, Walt Disney knew he wanted a pirate attraction but for one reason or another it never materialized for the opening in 1955. Supposedly concept work by imagineer Herb Ryman was to have a pirate shack along with pirate laundry drying out on a line at the edge of Frontierland. 1957 Walt was back on Pirates again and asked for concept designs and plans for a walk-through museum, this was all while work was being done to create the Submarine Voyage, the Monorail and the Matterhorn. The only preliminary work for pirates in the 1950s is this layout by Claude coats in 1957. In 1960 there was a big ship, a Cypress swamp and a burning City. October of 1960 Walt tasked Marc Davis to put together the preliminary work for Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt is quoted by Marc Davis as saying he thought it could be a walk- through. Marc Davis began developing gags, story-lines, staging and interesting scenarios and completely immersed himself in Pirate lore for two years drawing and conceptualizing Pirates. The enormous amount of work Marc produced during this time, combined with his limitless talent leaves little room to wonder why Pirates of the Caribbean is as amazing as it is! He really honed in on every aspect of the attraction, the character designs, facial expressions, clothing, background, set design, ship design, architecture, humor, lighting, color palettes, idea after idea after idea! He even took it upon himself to revise the layout. Keep in mind - there wasn't a team of people doing all of this, it was just Marc Davis. The Carousel of Progress would hone the technology of the audio required, along with the animatronics developed in the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction. Guests would experience all of it within the safety of a boat gently weaving through a canal as another world seemingly took place around them similar to It's a Small World. The working name was the Blue Bayou Lagoon boom or the Blue Bayou boat ride. We'll cover more in part 2.
Pirates of the Caribbean is the perfect attraction to unwind on during warm days. Here are five cool facts about this classic experience:
The original version of the Pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disneyland March 18, 1967. It was the last attraction whose construction was envisioned and personally overseen by Walt, who died three months before it opened.
During construction Walt learned that one of the construction workers happened to be from the bayou area of Louisiana, where the beginning of the ride takes place. Walt called the man over and asked him to walk through the ride with him. As they walked, Walt asked about the man’s opinion, if it was realistic to the bayou country, and did it remind him of home. The man said it was missing something, fireflies! There needed to be fireflies in the swamp. A a few days later, the bayou was lit up with several little electric fireflies. Walt demanded nothing less than the best when pursuing his dreams. Whatever project he was working on, he wanted it to be a quality one. Thank you uncle Walt for your dedication and example. Disney IS the gold standard. Its address is 21 Royal Street, but it is also known as the Royal Court at Disneyland. Fortune Red is a beloved arcade machine also located within this hidden spot in New Orleans Square. After a lengthy refurbishment, Red was returned to the park in October 2012.
Fortune Red first appeared in the Pirates Arcade back in 1967. That pipe is an original and he always had it in his mouth up through the 70's, but in later years it sat at the bottom of his case amidst the coins, most likely after simply falling out, or else as a result of the Disney folks not wanting to send a pro-smoking message. |
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