Report: Pirates of the Caribbean Special Event
Page 18 of 20

O'Day: As Kim was saying earlier, the staging. Here’s one of Claude Coates’ set designs. (A new slide is shown.) And I think we have another famous staging scene here, another shot one of Marc’s. Probably one of the most famous scenes in the attraction and it always gets a laugh.

Concept art for the town mayor being dunked

O'Day: Well maybe not, but that’s the dunking scene, of course and that goes back to what Harriet was saying earlier about the miniatures. But the next shot is one of the most famous in the attraction.  We all recognize him.

(A slide with the pirate with the pigs is shown)

O'Day: Do you all agree with a lot of Disney fans that Pirates of the Caribbean is possibly the greatest theme park attraction?

(all nod)

Atencio: I do.

O'Day: What do you think Walt brought to this attraction?

McKim: His enthusiasm I think was caught by everybody. If he didn’t have that enthusiasm we’d have to find it somewhere else no matter how creative we might be as artists. He believed in what he was doing and by George we did too.

Davis: Also he knew what the public wanted. He had the ability to look at a number of different ideas and always pick out the right one for the general public. And I don’t care whether you were extremely wealthy or extremely poor it appealed to you. And that was an ability that he had that I’ve known no other to have. When he asked you to do something he loved to have a lot of ideas to look at and choose from. Marc was telling me one day this young man who had just started came to Walt and he had one drawing and he wanted to know what Walt though of the idea. Walt looked at him and smiled and said its difficult to choose between one.

O'Day: We started this presentation with Walt and the Pirates, of course. So I think it's appropriate that we end this portion of the presentation with a video clip of him as well. Let's take a look.

(A clip of Walt Disney with the Disneyland Ambassador is shown. Walt explains the attractions' finale to an inquisitive Julie. She's amazed that the guests will exit by going up a waterfall until Walt explains, "Anything is possible at Disneyland")

(l-r) Tim O'Day, Sam McKim, X. Atencio, Alice Davis

O'Day: Well shipmates, it looks like it’s about time for us to shove off. But before we go I just want to thank you again for joining us in this very special retrospect of Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.