Disney World, Orlando Florida, Feb. 2017
"Pirates of the Caribbean" Attraction Figurines
It's been a while since I'd bought any Pirates souvenirs from the Disney Parks giftshops. Nothing had caught my eye in the past few years. Too generic, or too heavily-based on Captain Jack Sparrow from the movies. On my latest trip, this set got my attention. These figures are characters seen on the actual ride! None of this movie nonsense, or Mickey Mouse wishing he was a pirate. These are the real deal! Yes! |
| "Pirates" figurines in box |
1) "The Pillager" skeleton pirate from the "Dead Man's Cove" scene early in the ride. Normally seen pinned against a rock with a cutlass stuck in his chest. The figurine is slightly different from the ride figure because it's wearing pants and boots- probably a manufacturing necessity because a barelegged and barefoot skeleton would be too delicate for intended customers, including kids.
2) Adorable parrot pirate figurine- the spittin' image of the one that's perched at the front entrance of the attraction at Disney World.
3) "The Redhead" from "The Auction" scene. She really doesn't seem to mind being auctioned off to the highest pirate bidder. The figurine is true to the original Marc Davis concept sketches.
4) "The Pooped Pirate" from "The Chase" scene. He's shown in his current incarnation with a key and a treasure map, looking for Captain Jack Sparrow (and not a girl hiding in a barrel).
5) "The Auctioneer" from "The Auction" scene. He's also very true to the Marc Davis concept art. In particular, his caricatured face is wonderfully expressive.
6) The "Treasure Keeper" from the "Sacking the Town" scene. He's the menacing pirate in charge while his underlings dunk the mayor in the well. The figure's footwear differs from the ride figure. The toy version is wearing heavy boots while the ride figure wears striped socks and pilgrim shoes. This is also probably a manufacturing necessity to make a sturdier figure.
They're 4" tall and have zero points of articulation, but they have the true flavor of the ride. The set of 6 of them is only $16.99- meaning less than $3.00 per figurine. In this day and age, it's a bargain. Their size makes them reasonably compatible with Boss Fight Studio, Kaiyodo Dokuroman and Rement Pose skeletons.
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| Size comparison w/ Dokuroman, Boss Fight V-Hacks and Pose skeleton |
"A Pirate's Adventure" Treasure Maps
I guess these qualify as souvenirs. They're maps from a fairly recent new attraction called "A Pirate's Adventure - Treasures of the Seven Seas", only at Disney World. They're 11" x 17", on high quality paper, well-illustrated in full color and have some nice touches, like "aged" and "tattered" edges.
It's basically a self-paced treasure hunt. You enter a little shack at the edge of Adventureland, touch your admission ticket card to a well-disguised touchscreen and pick up a map. The screen gives you instructions on where to start your hunt. Each map has different symbols, and you're supposed to hunt for the real-life matching symbol on various props hidden in plain view in various locations in Adventureland.
When you find the match, you touch your card against the skull, cannon, furniture, etc. and it triggers some sort of physical animatronic action, such as a cannon firing, or a ship-in-a-bottle battle, and some dialogue and the next clue. When you complete the map, you can get it stamped, and receive a "collectable" (ha ha) Treasure Card. You may continue your quest with another map. After completing several maps, you can get a Fast Pass for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride.
This attraction is A LOT of fun! Unlike similar scavenger hunts at some of the other Disney parks, this one is clearly very thoughtfully planned, and took some time and expense to create. Instead of just nailing up a few painted boards of Easter Eggs, this attraction goes whole hog and is Imagineered with some impressive physical special effects. Objects that are normally considered "just part of the decor" now become key parts of a new Disney experience. I'm certain that by design, the maps guide you to make several trips to the Pirate's Bazaar gift shop. Some ulterior motive, perhaps, like separating your money from your person while you're thoroughly enjoying yourself.
The only improvement I can think of would be replacing the reward Treasure Cards with something more tangible. I just think a card is... anti-climactic. Something that's cheap but in-theme and completely appropriate would be a plastic "gold doubloon". They're sold as party favors at party stores, and a large mega-corporation like Disney could easily have a bunch custom-manufactured for this specific attraction. Guests would enjoy the more fully immersive experience, with a little piece of treasure to call your own to bring home.
Disneyland, Anaheim California, c. early 2000's
Mickey and Friends Pirate Ship Plush
I think I picked this up at the Disneyland Main Street USA Emporium in either 2001 or 2003. It was definitely after "Light Magic" debuted and tanked, and prior to the release of the hit movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" because the shop was not full of Johnny Depp at the time.Plushie beanbags are like stuffed animals. After Beanie Babies became big, Disney got in on the fad by selling plushies of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and their main cast of characters. The Disney Parks wisely sold plushies of Mickey Mouse dressed as a pirate, as park-exclusive merchandise tied to the theme park ride.
As I was hunting for souvenirs, I was more interested in this one than most, because a) these plushies were smaller than the ones sold separately. They're only 6" tall. b) it had a whole plushie ship c) It had large cloth tags specifically saying "Pirates of the Caribbean", making this unique to the parks and not available at the local mall's Disney Store.
Even though it was $30, I went for it. I kind of knew that if I passed it up, it would not be available on my next trip to Disneyland. And sure enough, the plushie pirate ship was gone by my next trip to Disneyland a few years later.
The entire ship is soft, kid-friendly plush. There are no bits of plastic or sharp edges, so in theory, it's safe to give to babies, but c'mon... this thing cost $30.00. Better to wait until the kid gets older and begins to comprehend just how cool "Pirates of the Caribbean" (the ride) really is.
The plushies included are Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pluto, all dressed as pirates. They're attached to the plushie ship with those thin, clear plastic clothing ties. Since I bought it as an adult, I kept the tags on and left Mickey and Friends tied to their ship.
Disneyland, Anaheim California, 1974
"Pirates of the Caribbean" Souvenir Book
This "Pirates of the Caribbean" souvenir book is probably one of my favorite pieces of Disney memorabilia. See, kids, there was a time when people didn't have cell phones, tablets or digital cameras, and such things as "The Internet" didn't exist. You didn't have a way to view videos, or access thousands of pictures of the attraction. So, when your family went to Disneyland in the 70's, your parents took vacation snapshots of the family standing outside some attraction. Photographing a dark ride like Pirates was near-impossible, unless Dad was a professional photographer with some high-end equipment. And, Disneyland highly discouraged flash photography, so all you had were memories of the best-ride-in-the-world... until this book (originally published in 1968) made it back to gift shops in Disneyland in 1974. |
| 1974 version of Pirates souvenir book |
The first part was titled, "The Golden Age of Piracy", a factual and educational history of real pirates. This section contains a large number of humorous Marc Davis conceptual artwork depicting many of scenes and characters that did (and did not) make it into the final ride. His drawings of the real pirates exist to this day painted on the walls of the Pirates attraction entryway at Disneyland.
The middle section, "The Pirates Come to Life... IMAGINEERING" is about how Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers created the ride, using "space-age Audio-Animatronics". This section contains a lot of photos of how the props and life-sized, moving figures were made, using the most advanced, state-of-the-art technology available in the 1960's. I'm very fond of the pictures of the miniature diorama mock-ups of the ride in approximately MEGO scale.
The final section is a set of photos from the ride, with the scenes in roughly sequential order, interspersed with more Marc Davis artwork. They've become important now, showing the ride in it's 1960's/1970's politically-incorrect glory, as several of the scenes had been toned-down and replaced in the past 20 years.
Note: A more in-depth and up-to-date history of the ride is covered in the excellent book, "Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies" by Jason Surrell. Highly recommended.
Disneyland, Anaheim California, circa 1970-78
Treasure Coins of the Caribbean
Here's one of my vintage Disneyland Pirates souvenirs. I recall that these used to be for sale at the cash register counter. I don't remember the exact date- sometime between 1970-1978, based on the price ($5.00), lack of a barcode, and my age at the time. |
| Treasure Coins of the Caribbean from Disneyland |
What kid could resist this? To be able to ride "Pirates of the Caribbean" at Disneyland and then go home with your own piece of "real" pirate treasure? It's not gold, sure, but silver is almost as good, right? A child could pull out the silver cob, hold it in hand, and whisper about it being "blood money" and how pirates stole it, fought each other for it and died for it.
These are (of course) no longer sold in gift shops at Disneyland, but it is possible to buy similar (actually better and more detailed) reproduction Pieces of Eight coins online.
GAF View-Master "New Orleans Square and the Haunted Mansion"
Ahhh, View-Master! Another blast from my past. I believe that I got this around 1972. Unfortunately, I did not get View-Master sets of the other Disneyland themed-lands. I probably should have begged my parents to buy the other ones, since Disneyland had gone through many changes in the last 40 years, and many of the photos show places and attractions that no longer exist.
For the uninitiated, View-Master is a toy 3D slide viewer. The slides were sold in packages of 3 round reels, each with 7 pictures, making 21 different pictures total. You'd stick a reel in the slot, look through the viewer, admire the high-quality color 3D photo and then push the lever on the right hand side to advance to the next slide. The View-Master packages also contained a booklet that had additional information about each of the slides.
Don't laugh... in the days before video recording became widespread, View-Master was an inexpensive way look at your favorite tourist attractions again and again in the comfort of your own home. It was a way to vicariously re-live that trip to Disneyland. With some imagination and a lot of wishing, it was the closest thing to being there.
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| View-Master and Disneyland New Orleans Square reel pack |
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| View-Master slides scanned on a flatbed scanner |
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