Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride will stop auctioning brides – The Pasadena Star-News

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.

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Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride will stop auctioning brides - The Pasadena Star-News