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Monday, June 26, 2006

Disneyland slips product placement into 'Pirates'

Back in February, we took one final ride on Disneyland’s classic Pirates of the Caribbean attraction before the ride was closed for “upgrades” to add product tie-ins to the surprisingly successful movie franchise of the same name.

The new ride was unveiled this weekend at the Disneyland world premiere of the second movie in the series, "Dean Man's Chest."

We’ll head down there soon. In the meantime, according to IGN.com, here’s what you can expect:

* A congregation of pirates talks about "Captain Jack Sparrow" while a likeness of the Johnny Depp character crouches behind a barrel nearby.

* In another stretch, the dreaded Sparrow pokes his bearded head out of a barrel.

* As the ride moves to the section where the ship battle is taking place, the boat goes through a waterfall (the illusion is made by fog) bearing the likeness of the CG Davy Jones. He delivers a message of dread that concludes just as the boat passes through the faux falls.

* At the end of the ride, as the boat begins its climb to the end, Johnny Depp's Sparrow sits in a room full of booty singing his pirate song.

* A likeness of the Captain Jack from the movie has been added to the Rogue's Gallery.


No word about Geoffrey Rush’s Captain Barbarossa, as had been anticipated. And costar Keira Knightley (featured on this racy site) is not among the wenches. The site says, “in all the changes aren't too intrusive.” We won’t complain too much, not yet, if the movies and their timeless content keep interest in the ride—and park—alive.


Meanwhile, Governor and former movie spectacle star Arnold Schwarzenegger was booed on the Disneyland red carpet-- though the jeers could have been directed at wife Maria Shriver's t-shirt, bearing an image of Michelangelo’s David with a sequin fig leaf.

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