Article By: Allison Strong
The real treasure of the Pirates of the Caribbean isn’t Johnny Depp (although it wouldn’t have been a box office hit in the first place without him) the real gem is how the story came to be. A lot of movies that become big hits were first great novels. The literary fans usually bawk at the watered down version of the story that played out so fully in their mind as they turned the pages of their favorite book. But, since many movie-goers don’t read the book (why should you, they made a movie) the film becomes a success and sells millions. The movie industry banks on this even if it breaks the heart of the novels fans as they realize that the ending has changed or their main characters don’t look as they were described.
I have always made it a rule that if a movie comes out after the popularity of the book, I will read the book first. But how the Pirates of the Caribbean with Pirates came to be a movie unfolded differently. The idea wasn’t born from a novel or a creative screenplay, it was born as a ride at Disneyland. Yes, Walt Disney himself was fascinated by pirates and learning the secret charades of the evil sailors of the sea.
The ride first debuted at Disneyland in 1967 three months after Walt passed away. Even more interesting is that the ride is one of a few that have survived the parks many revitalization’s -the Flying Dumbo ride and It’s a Small World boat ride are still big sellers too. With the success of the ride, another version was created for Disney World in 1973.
This past spring my family made its way to the magical land that Disney created and we set forth to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. My five year old got on skeptically with lots of tears and my two year old loved it and has since learned how to sing “Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A pirates life for me!” As we traveled the river boat ride it felt that the movie had taken over the ride. Like many sequels the Magic Kingdom’s ride isn’t as thrilling as Disneyland’s. I learned later in a “behind the scenes tour” this is because of the water levels under the park- they couldn’t dig deep for the drops so they had to build the ride up or they would hit water.
Pirates of the Caribbean is the only ride that I know of that warranted its own four part movie series to be built around it. The ride would still be marketable without the movie but it has taken on the look of the films since they have come out and it has lost its luster. I wonder if there are nostalgic Disney fans (like myself) that wonder where did the magic of this epic ride go? I guess I will never know since I will always give some of my money to see Johnny stumble onto the screen as Captain Jack Sparrow.
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