Daily Archives: July 2, 2017

At Disneyland, pirates can still drink, pillage and fight.

But the swashbuckling tradition of abducting and exploiting women is being sent to Davy Jones Locker.

Call it a sign of the times.

The park plans to revamp a section of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean attraction that depicts a parade of women being put on the auction block under a decidedly un-PC banner that reads Auction, Take a wench for a bride.

The auction will be replaced next year by a less offensive scene of pirates forcing the local townsfolk to give up their valuables. After all, who can be offended by a little pirate pilfering?

In the 62 years since Walt Disney welcomed his first visitors to Anaheim, Disneyland has sometimes struggled to adapt the founders version of fantasy with public sensibilities that differ from those of park visitors of the 50s and 60s.

On Tom Sawyer Island, the mock frontier rifles were removed along with the victim of an Indian arrow, who lay sprawled for years in front of a burning settlers cabin.

For several years, the skippers in the Jungle Cruise were not allowed to blast a fake revolver at the animatronic hippos in the river until visitor complaints forced Disney to re-arm the cruise ship captains and give them the green light to fire at will.

But the Pirates attraction, the last ride that Walt Disney himself helped design before he died in 1966, may have been reined in the most to conform to a more politically correct world a tricky task given the rides original rowdy spirit.

Remember those scene of pirates chasing women throughout a pillaged town? In 1997, Disney put trays of food in the womens hands so that it looked like the pirates are lusting after the food instead of the fleeing women in their flowing gowns.

Another scene that got pitched overboard showed a pirate holding up womens lingerie while a frightened woman, apparently naked, hides in a nearby barrel.

At Disney, their specialty is scrubbing everything to be squeaky clean and palatable, said Rick Rothschild, a ride designer for Disney from 1978 until 2009. Thats the Disney way.

Walt Disney Co.

An artist's rendering of the scene that will replace the bride auction in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

An artist's rendering of the scene that will replace the bride auction in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. (Walt Disney Co.)

But Disney is not the only company that has had to change an attraction to avoid offending todays guests.

At Six Flags Over Georgia, a ride that was originally based on the Uncle Remus stories of the old South was renamed Monster Mansion in 2008. The previous name, Monster Plantation, it seems, recalled for visitors scenes from slave life on a Southern plantation.

Gary Goddard, an attraction designer who worked for Disney in the 1970s and early 80s, said that changes to rides are expected but if the modifications dont make the attraction more thrilling and fun the ride suffers.

Im not against change, he said. Im against change if it makes it bland. If it keeps the spirit of the ride and makes it more fun, Im for it.

Indeed, the Pirates ride has also been injected with some Hollywood pizzazz.

Characters from the multi-billion-dollar movie franchise starring Johnny Depp were added to the ride in 2006. An animatronic Depp, in full pirate regalia, later replaced the frightened woman in the barrel.

Its normal for theme parks to modify and upgrade attractions, primarily to increase return visits.

But Disneys Anaheim park one of the nations oldest theme parks faces a unique problem when rides that have been around for decades are overhauled. Hard-core fans who grew up with the attractions feel like a part of their childhood is being erased when attractions are altered.

Todd Regan, a Disneyland fan for more than 30 years and author of the Disney website MiceChat, said he received dozens of angry, even, hate-filled responses when he wrote on his website last week that he supported the removal of the bride-auction scene.

Its very interesting how some people are justifying a scene of human trafficking in an attraction, he said.

One of Regans readers responded to news of the changes by promising to boycott all Disney parks forever. No joke. With the other changes in the parks I didn't like, I accepted them and got over it, and but not this time, the fan wrote.

Scot Squires, 43, a marketing professor and Disney fan who has visited every Disney theme park in the world, described himself as a traditionalist who is still fuming that Disney revamped the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride at California Adventure Park to incorporate Marvel superheroes.

But Squires said he has no problem with the change proposed to the Pirates ride, saying, Times have changed and I think Disney is just trying to keep up with the changes.

The ride is among the parks biggest attractions a popularity no doubt boosted by being the basis of the long-running Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise now in its the fifth installment. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced films have grossed $3.7 billion worldwide.

Disney Enterprises Inc.

Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," the latest in the five-film franchise.

Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," the latest in the five-film franchise. (Disney Enterprises Inc.)

And while some previous modifications have sparked fan outrage, they have not hurt Disneylands attendance numbers or damaged the popularity of the ride, which has welcomed more than 400 million riders since it opened, according to the park.

Martin Lewison, a theme park expert, does not expect that the latest change will hurt the Burbank companys bottom line either.

Some people will be intrigued and some disappointed and the net effect will be zero, said Lewison, a business management professor at Farmingdale State College in New York.

For its part, Disney defends its actions. Asked to comment, the company cited Marty Sklar, who helped design several of the original rides at the Anaheim park.

I cant think of a single attraction that has not been enhanced and improved, some over and over again, Sklar, 83, said in a statement. Change is a tradition at Disneyland.

Still, previous changes have not been welcomed by everyone, even within the Disney company.

Francis Xavier Atencio, a longtime Disney ride designer who retired in 1984, clearly was not happy with the changes made in 1997 when the trays of food were added to the attraction.

Nobody asked me but my reaction was this is Pirates of the Caribbean not Boy Scouts of the Caribbean, he said in an interview with D23, Disneys officials fan club. Atencio also wrote the lyrics to the rides theme song, Yo, ho (A Pirates Life for Me.)

Read more here:

Disneyland plans a PC makeover for its Pirates of the Caribbean attraction - Los Angeles Times

Old time something come back again! The older folks will say the old becomes new again or the more things seem to change is the more they remain the same. Stilt walking, junkanoo dancing and the moko jumbie phenomenon can be traced back many, many years as far back as the 1700s. In an online article dated 2011 the Virgin Islands Traveler focused on The Evolution of the Moko Jumbie. After reading it, I got a much clearer understanding of what stilt walkers, junkanoos and moko jumbie is all about. This part of our Caribbean culture originated in Africa where traditional dress was donned as stilt walkers were fulfilling various spiritual roles by communicating with the ancestors. They also played a key role in coming-of-age ceremonies.

B. E. Laine, a Delaware County resident recalls her memories of junkanoo dancing. I must have been about 4 years old when I became aware of junkanoo dancers. Back in those olden days they were a grass-roots group accompanied by their makeshift band. There was drumming, along with other homemade instruments mainly fashioned from kitchen utensils. Graters, spoons and pot covers made a great rhythm that kept the dancers in sync. This was not the greatest entertainment for most children, Laine said.

I can still recall how terrified I was when I saw a stilt walker for the first time in my life! A person that towered over everyone with a painted face and a scary costume. I clung to my mother for dear life! I almost lost my mind when the junkanoo dancers grabbed at other children in the crowd, Laine said. After that experience, whenever there was a parade and I heard the moko jumbie music, I would make a beeline to my bedroom and hide under my bed until I was sure that they had already gone by our house.

Since then, the art form has taken on a whole new look. The costumes that are worn have evolved into brightly colored costumes and the music that they dance to is more modern calypso, soca and reggae. When the children hear the lively beats, they jump up and start dancing to the music or tapping their feet and clapping their hands.

Stiltwalkers, moko jumbie and junkanoo have become a traditional act in circuses, parades and shows throughout the United States and other parts of the world. The UniverSoul Circus, for example, has a permanent dance group from Trinidad and Tobago called the Caribbean Dynasty Dancers. My daughter and I look forward to seeing them every time they come to Fairmount Park in Philadelphia because they bring something new and fresh to the big top every year. They are amazing. When they enter onto the stage the crowd livens up and starts to move. As someone from the Caribbean, it makes me very proud (as I am sure it does for all of us) to see other cultures embracing the beauty of the performance. We were recently at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and a part of the Lion King Circle of Light show features stilt walkers with the same type of lively Caribbean music.

Most of the Caribbean Islands boast several carnivals that feature these performers as a main tourist attraction.

Gone are the days when one has to travel to the Caribbean Islands to experience this form of entertainment. Today many stilt walkers, junkanoo dancers and moko jumbie dancers have organized themselves and are available at a price to those who so desire to make them a part of their next affair. These performers are being hired for entertainment at weddings, banquets and parties.

But, if you want to experience the original, true junkanoo, carnival, moko jumbie, you have to check the list below and visit one of the islands of the Caribbean. You wont regret it.

Anguilla: August (Carnival and Boat-Racing)

Antigua: August (Road March and Steel Drum)

Aruba: Lent (Torch Light Parades and King and Queen Elections)

Bahamas (Junkanoo): December-January (Rush-Out Parade)

Barbados (Crop Over): August (Calypso Music)

Bermuda (Bermuda Day/Junkanoo): May (Celebration of Bermudan Ancestry)

Bonaire: Lent (The Burning of King Momo)

British Virgin Islands (Emancipation Festival): July-August (Food Fairs and Street Jamming)

Cayman Islands (Batabano): April-May (Bar Hop and Soca Performances)

Cuba: Lent (Comparsas street performances)

Curacao: Lent (Tumba music)

Dominica: Lent (Jump-up Street Parade)

Dominican Republic: Lent (Elaborate Masks and Multi-town Celebrations)

Grenada: August (Local Band Performances and Queen Show)

Guadeloupe: Lent (Dance Marathons and Competitions)

Haiti: Lent (Rural Rara Festival and Creole Celebrations)

Jamaica (Bacchanal): April (Mas Camp and Bacchanal Fridays)

Martinique: Lent (Burning of Vaval, the Carnival King)

Montserrat: December (Beauty Pageants and Masqueraders Dancers)

Saba: July-August (Celebration of the Old Caribbean)

St. Barts: Lent (Vide Parade Day and Costume/Dance Competitions)

St. Eustatius: April-May (Carnival Village and International Show)

St. Kitts and Nevis (Sugar Mas): December-January (The Sugar Cup and Cocktail Party)

St. Lucia: July (Boutique Carnival and Parade of the Bands)

St. Martin/Maarten: St. Martin: Lent; St. Maarten: April (Balloon Parade and Light Parade)

St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Vincy Mas): June-July (JOuvert, Miss Carnival, and Junior Pan Fest)

Trinidad and Tobago: Lent (biggest and most well-known Carnival in the Caribbean)

Turks and Caicos (Junkanoo): December-January

U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Croix, December-January; St. Thomas, April (Food Fairs and Fireworks)

See the original post:

Caribbean Currents: Stilt walking, junkanoo dancing and moko jumbie more popular than ever - The Philadelphia Tribune

The notorious hate group World Congress of Families (WCF) began its fourth regional Caribbean conference in St. Johns Antigua. The conference will wrap up today.

The misleading theme of the rabidly anti-LGBTQ hate groups regional conference is Building Strong Caribbean Families Upholding Marriage, the Family and the Sanctity of Human Life.

Notorious American exporters of hate such as Sharon Slater, Brian Brown, Don Feder, Sharon Slater and Scott Stirm are listed as featured speakers for this event. The foreign minister of St. Lucia is also scheduled to appear at the conference.

WCFs fourth Caribbean gathering comes a little more than a year after anti-LGBTQ exporters of hate descended on Barbados in April 2016.

WCF is one of the most active American organizations involved in the export of hate. Since 1997, it has organized events around the world that foster homophobia and transphobia under the guise of protecting the "natural family." WCF's activities range from holding conferences in Nigeria on denying rights to LGBTQ people to working to silence Russias LGBTQ community.

HRC stands in solidarity with LGBTQ activities in the Caribbean as this toxic gathering of exporters of hate meets this week. Read more about our work on countering the export of hate here.

Continue reading here:

World Congress of Families Caribbean Meeting Underway - Human Rights Campaign (blog)

The pirates will no longer be saying We wants the Redhead in Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland after the auction scene undergoes a modification in 2018.

The Walt Disney Company plans to make changes to the auction scene in the attraction at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris in the coming year, according to Suzi Brown, spokeswoman for the Disneyland Resort.

While the scene has long been a favorite of many Disney fans, it has been the brunt of criticism for what some believed to be a sexist approach to women. Years ago, the scene that comes after the auction scene, which used to have pirates chasing women, was changed to pirates chasing women for food, and one where a woman was chasing a pirate.

Disney officials declined to comment about the sexism question.

In the auction scene, the Redhead will become a pirate, helping the Auctioneer gather valuables from the townspeople to auction off to the pirates.

Potential brides will no longer be offered at the auction to the pirates either, once the change is made; expected to take place during a refurbishment of the attraction in 2018.

We believe the time is right to turn the page to a new story in this scene, consistent with the humorous, adventurous spirit of the attraction, Brown said in a statement.

The first version of the attraction to receive the new scene will be at Disneyland Paris next month, with the two domestic parks receiving it within the next year or so.

The park announced the changes in a blog post by Kathy Mangum, senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, who also released this statement: Our team thought long and hard about how to best update this scene. Given the redhead has long been a fan favorite, we wanted to keep her as a pivotal part of the story, so we made her a plundering pirate! 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.

This is not the first time the venerable Disneyland attraction has undergone modifications. The first was in the mid-1970s when a scene with a drunken pirate and some cats was added. In 2006, characters from the film franchise, including Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa and Davy Jones, were added. In 2011, Blackbeard was added for a while.

Changes to Disneyland attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean and others have always taken place since it opened. Just a couple of years ago the Haunted Mansion added a headless ghost to that classic attraction.

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Marty Sklar, the former vice chair of Walt Disney Imagineering, who worked alongside Walt Disney for many years, said that Walt always wanted Disneyland to grow and change, with some of those changes starting right after the park opened in 1955.

The Imagineers are simply reflecting what Walt started the day Disneyland opened making changes that create exciting new experiences for our guests. I cant think of a single attraction that has not been enhanced and improved, some over and over again. Change is a tradition at Disneyland that todays Imagineers practice, Sklar said in a statement.

He went on to say, Pirates of the Caribbean has always represented great Disney Park storytelling; it has set the standard for the theme park industry for half a century. But its a story you can continue to add fun to, with great characters in new performances. Thats what the Imagineers have done with this new auction scene its like a theatre show with a new act.

Read the original here:

Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride will stop auctioning brides - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Royal Caribbean offering 50% off second guest, plus discount for kids Royal Caribbean Blog (blog) Our goal has been to provide our readers with expansive coverage of all aspects of the Royal Caribbean experience. Whether you cruise multiple times per year or you're new to cruising, the goal of Royal Caribbean Blog is for it to be a useful resource ... and more »

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Royal Caribbean offering 50% off second guest, plus discount for kids - Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Environment According to tourism officials, the Caribbean tourism industry faces significant future threats related to both competitiveness and climate change impacts.

CTO Secretary-General Hugh Riley (left) and CDB President Dr. Warren Smith share a light moment during the signing of a partnership agreement at CDB headquarters. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

Bridgetown, Barbados:The tourism industry is the key economic driver and largest provider of jobs in the Caribbean after the public sector. Caribbean tourism broke new ground in 2016, surpassing 29 million arrivals for the first time and once again growing faster than the global average.

Visitor expenditures also hit a new high, growing by an estimated 3.5% to reach35.5 billion dollars. And the the outlook for 2017 remains rosy, with expected increases of 2.5 and 3.5% in long-stay arrivals and between 1.5% and 2.5% in cruise passenger arrivals.

But tourism officials say Caribbean islands are significantly affected by drastic changes in weather conditions and they fear climate change could have a devastating impact on the industry.

They note that the Caribbean tourism sector faces significant future threats related to both competitiveness and climate change impacts. And for a region so heavily dependent on coastal- and marine-related tourism attractions, adaptation and resilience are critical issues facing Caribbean tourism.

The impact of more severe hurricanes and the destruction of our most valued tourism assets, our beaches and coral reefs, and the damage to our infrastructure threaten to reverse the developmental gains that we have made, Dominican Senator Francine Baron said.

Our efforts to attain the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations cannot be achieved without dealing with the causes of climate change.

Baron, who serves as Dominicas Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the comments as she addressed a forum on the issue of climate change at the general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) held in Mexico recently.

In the face of these threats, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the Caribbeans tourism development agency, has received a much-needed boost with a 460,000-euro grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to implement a project to increase the Caribbean tourism sectors resilience to natural hazards and climate related risks.

Global climate change and its impacts, including the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, pose a significant risk to the Caribbean region and threaten the sustainability of Caribbean tourism, the CTOs Secretary General Hugh Riley said.

The CTO is pleased to have the support of the CDB to implement this project which will contribute to enhancing the resiliency, sustainability and competitiveness of the regions tourism sector. Mainstreaming climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk management (DRM) strategies in tourism development and planning is our duty to our member countries.

The CDB/CTO partnership was formalized at a signing ceremony held on June 22 at CDBs headquarters in Barbados.

Speaking at the event, CDB President Dr. Warren Smith noted that the tourism sector makes an enormous contribution to the regions socioeconomic development.

Tourism generates high levels of employment, foreign direct investment and foreign exchange for our borrowing member countries and, given its multi-sectoral nature, it is a very effective tool for promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction, Dr. Smith said.

However, maintaining this critical role calls for adequate safeguards to be erected against the enormous threats that climate change and natural hazards pose to the sustainability of our region.

Funding is being provided under the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union-Caribbean Development Bank-Natural Disaster Risk Management in CARIFORUM Countries programme, which aims to reduce vulnerability to long-term impacts of natural hazards, including the potential impacts of climate change, thereby achieving national and regional sustainable development and poverty reduction goals in those countries.

During the 19-month project implementation period, the CTO will support the regions tourism entities with policy formulation, the promotion of best practices in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, and the development of tools to enhance the tourism sectors knowledge and awareness of disaster risk reduction strategies and the potential impacts of climate variability and climate change (CVC).

A training component will also be included to strengthen the ability of public and private sector tourism stakeholders to undertake adequate mitigation and adaptation actions to CVC. The CTO secretariat will also benefit from institutional strengthening to help provide technical assistance and ongoing support for tourism-related climate services.

The project is in keeping with 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, which has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly.

At the CDBs Annual Board of Directors meeting held in Turks and Caicos Islands last month, Governors noted the acute environmental vulnerability of the Region and urged CDB to continue to play an important role in helping its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) build resilience.

Smith said CDBs commitment to this role was evidenced during the meeting, at which CDB signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the second Climate Action Line of Credit (CALC).

This will facilitate increased climate proofing of critical infrastructure in the Caribbean. The Line of Credit for Euro 100 million is the largest single loan made by EIB in our region. We are very encouraged by the strong statement of confidence in CDB that this line represents, he said.

Eligible investments under the Climate Action Framework Loan II include climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, road transport, water infrastructure and community-level physical and social infrastructurethat reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resilience to the impacts of climate change.

We are delighted to be signing this new climate action loan with CDB, which is the result of a fruitful partnership that lasts for almost four decades, to support new projects in the Caribbean, said Pim Van Ballekom, EIB Vice President.

This partnership is currently supporting CDBs efforts to mainstream climate action to help its borrowing member countries (BMCs), which are all considered Small Island Developing States, to adequately tackle risks related to climate change. Caribbean countries face economic and social challenges which must be addressed whilst ensuring resilience to climate change, he added.

To date, CDB has committed the total resources under the ongoing Climate Action Line of Credit (50 million euro), for nine projects. This co-financing is associated with total project financing of approximately 191 million dollars (from CDB loans/grants, EIB CALC, counterpart and other sources of financing).

(IPS)

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The Caribbean Islands Are Looking to Climate-Proof Their Tourism Industry - The Wire