The long-running Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World just got a noticeable update.
Kind of a bizarre scene to have in a kid’s ride, no? Well, guests at the Disney theme parks have thought so, and now the company’s Imagineers have addressed the changing times. On a post on the Disney Parks Blog, Kathy Mangum announced “the redhead” was getting an 21st century update, one where the female pirate has a name, “Redd,” and a job – if you count pillaging and plundering a town’s rum supply a day’s work.
Redd has already made her debut in Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris. The swashbuckler in scarlet will then head to Disneyland once the ride shuts down in late April for her arrival. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Redd addresses the auctioneer, who now sells chickens instead of women, “Aw, quit your cluckin’, the gentlemen wants the rum, dontcha, boys?”
The group of men now demand rum instead of the redhead.
She’s not the only upgrade the ride has gotten over the years since its debut in Disneyland in 1967 and Disney World in 1974. An earlier image-conscious move was made to change the sequence of predatory men chasing women upstairs in one of the buildings. Now it’s the women chasing men for whatever wrong they’ve done.
The most significant change came with the addition of characters from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, which was originally inspired by the theme park ride. Animatronic figures of Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) were added to the attraction as well as an appearance by Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).
Last year, ahead of the premiere of the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” Johnny Depp surprised Disneyland visitors in New Orleans Square and on the ride with an in-costume appearance.
The cameo appearance was a change from the headlines Depp had recently made since his ex-wife, Amber Heard, spoke out about the domestic violence in their relationship.
