Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride removing ‘bride auction’ scene

Forbidden fiction?

THE Hall of Presidents isn’t the only Disney attraction getting an overhaul. Suzi Brown, a spokeswoman for Disneyland Resorts, has confirmed that the popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride will be swapping out a scene in which a pirate buys his wife at auction.

The scene, which appeared in the “Pirates” rides at Disney World, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, depicts a group of bound women on an auction block, with a banner reading: “Auction, take a wench for a bride” hanging above their heads.

As riders pass by, the pirate characters can he heard saying, “We wants the redhead,” in reference to the most prominently displayed of the “wenches” at auction, The OC Register reports.

Soon, however, the banner hanging at the site of the scene will read “Auction, surrender ye loot,” according to the Associated Press.

The redhead, too, will be recast as a pirate who will be overseeing the surrender of said “loot” at the three Disney parks in Orlando, Anaheim and Paris.

“Our team thought long and hard about how to best update this scene,” said Kathy Mangum, senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, in a statement obtained by The OC Register.

“We think this keeps to the original vision of the attraction as envisioned by Marc Davis, X Atencio and the other Disney legends who first brought this classic to life.”
The ‘buy a wife’ scene at the park’s popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride will be changed to auction off “loot”. Image: Film Frame/Disney Enterprises

The ‘buy a wife’ scene at the park’s popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride will be changed to auction off “loot”. Image: Film Frame/Disney EnterprisesSource:Supplied

This isn’t the first time Disney has modified its “Pirates” rides to become more family-friendly. In 1997, Disney redesigned a scene in which pirates were chasing women, and changed it so the pirates looked to be chasing the women for the trays of food they carried.

In a post to the official Disney Parks Blog, Magnum also confirmed that the Paris version will feature new characters, including Captain Barbossa, from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and the “ghostly visages of Davy Jones and Blackbeard.”

Characters from the “Pirates” film franchise had already been added to the US version of the ride between 2006 and 2011.

Brown confirmed that the changes to the auction scene will be made in July at the Paris park, and next year in the US parks, the Associated Press reports.

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