Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction Part 6

Yale Gracie played a great role in creating Pirates. He was another animator turned imagineer, though given his skills with special effects, they actually called him an illusioneer. During his time he did an outstanding job for the special effects all without the use of video images. His lighting work on Pirates is subtly brilliant adding yet another layer of depth and dimension that's easily taken for granted. Any other artist would have made the lighting more stark or even brighter in which guests would see more, changing the tone entirely.

Yale Gracie is also responsible for the storm effects of the skeleton helmsmen cloud projections, the moonlit lighting of the Blue Bayou with its original fireflies and perhaps most importantly, the flames of the burning city. the effects of these flames were surreal for their time, so intense that the Fire Marshall made Disney install emergency shut off switches to the effects. Just in case guests began to panic believing the flames were actually real. And in the event there ever was a real fire; firemen needed to know which fire was real! There was even a divide between the imagineering team whether the flames were too intense.

Even the caves which seem so simple, were well thought out. Marc Davis purposely designed the bayou with an atmospheric sense of mystery. The stillness working almost as a pallet cleanser from the busyness of Disneyland. Lulled by the calm and quiet, you gradually sense a foreboding as you approach the dark tunnel then drop!

People believe the skull and several skeletons are real human bones that Walt Disney wanted for the attraction. Disney has never confirmed or denied any of the rumors.

One of the bigger technical problems with the attraction was to minimize the splash at the bottom of the water drops. Every modification made to the boat resulted in adjustments, either to the boat guide system, the boat or elsewhere making for a long and slow tinkering process. Eventually it resulted in a dependably dry attraction.

The scale, colors and wide scope as you wind the turn into the cacophonous bombarding fort scene, was all intended to jar the senses of guests. You're suddenly confronted by an entire pirate ship and sizable fort with audio animatronics yelling and firing at one another. According to Marc Davis this really did stun and excite people but is generally become taken for granted.

Carlos, the Mayor or Magistrate of Puerto Dorado on the island of Isla Tesoro - a.k.a. the well scene was one of the extremely rare instances where an imagineer's original design remained the exact same until completion. The Magistrate's shirt has a wash of mineral oil to make it look as though it's perpetually wet. Revealing just how great Marc Davis' concepts were, the dialogue, the character design, the costuming, and set design.

The auctioneer was added late to the attraction and yet it was the headlining scene. For the imagineering team, the auctioneer was the most sophisticated audio animatronic. Up to that point when Pirates of the Caribbean was released, he had more moves, a stronger lip sync and tons of small quirky variations. A leap from the Abraham Lincoln animatronic that was released only several years earlier.

Near the auctioneer is the redhead. So many people hotly debated the change of the redhead back in June of 2018. According to Claude Coats he said even Walt Disney himself openly voiced concerns about whether the auctioning of brides fit into the Disney park brand. And though they obviously went through with making the scene, Walt nonetheless held doubts.

It wasn't unfounded given some of Marc Davis' concept work. Marc was amused that someone thought that chickens would somehow lighten up a scene involving the selling off of women.

One of the things Walt personally asked for early on regarding Pirates, was a scene where the Pirates are sacking a city. Originally pirates chased all of the women in circles, at the time I suppose it was humorous, however Marc did actually conceptualize one woman chasing after a pirate.

Blaine Gibson used multiples of his face sculpts. It's also rumored that he used many real faces as inspiration. Big John's face was modeled after one of the janitors.

Look at the resemblance!

The man seated in the chair outside of the shack, across from the Blue Bayou Restaurant has the same face as the pirate standing in the jail cell trying to get the keys from the dog.

Big John is supposedly the same face as the ghost blowing out the candles in the ballroom scene and the same face used in the Haunted Mansion graveyard scene for both the bagpipe and flute players.

The man circling in the Haunted Mansion ballroom has the same face as the original
Auctioneer.

What's not as well known is that Walt originally intended Pirates to be part of the dining experience which apparently didn't turn out so well during a dress rehearsal.  The Blue Bayou Restaurant was up and ready to go months before Pirates yet Walt refused to open its doors. He felt both the attraction and restaurant were part of the same experience.

Unfortunately Walt never got to see Pirates of the Caribbean completed. He died just 3 months beforehand, while the kinks with the auctioneer scene were being ironed out. Given how much work he personally poured into its creation, it can easily be said that it was the last ride with his stamp of approval.

Pirates of the Caribbean is still the most popular attraction Disney has ever produced. It's the pinnacle of Disney magic and continues to unflinchingly withstand the test of time. Marty Sklar was quoted as saying that Pirates of the Caribbean broke the mold, it created a genre.