Report: Pirates of the Caribbean Special Event
Page 10 of 20

They turn on him immediately calling for him to walk the plank. The Pirate Captain agrees and O'Day, in handcuffs, is taken to walk the plank. O'Day begins pleading his case to the Pirates. "Captain, Captain hold it. I'm Tim O'Day! I think there's been a big mistake. I'm your buddy! I'm your pal!" The Pirate Captain doesn't appear moved by O'Day's pleas. Suddenly O'Day announces, "Captain we know where all the treasure is! And we're willing to share!" The Pirate Captain seems interested, "Treasure, says ya? Tell me more..." O'Day lets out a sigh, "Why sure I have this fancy treasure map right here" he announces as he pulls out a Disneyland Today park map.

Tim O'Day

The First Mate asks, "Want to trade us?" O'Day responds, "How about this map for our freedom?" The Pirate Captain says, "Give me a moment to think..." then immediately responds, "o.k. that's fine. Lads, untie the lot, we’ve got bigger fish to fry!" The Pirates uncuff Tim and then untie the famous panelists who make their way to their awaiting chairs. The Pirate Captain calls out to the rest of his crew, "Come lads! Treasure awaits!" The Pirates disappear offstage as the refrains of Yo Ho once again fill the air.

Then suddenly a bolt of lightning and clap of thunder quiet the music. All eyes are drawn once again to the Skull and Crossblades. "He he he…the lad who missed a watery grave now has some navigatin’ to do. Hear ye and listen well to that crafty knave known as Tim O’Day! For as ye know, dead men tell no tales…he he ha ha!" thunder and lightning.

"I've never been called a crafty knave before in my life," announces Tim O' Day. "Good evening fellow shipmates," he continues, "I think we all need to get into the spirit of this. So on the the count of three give me a big AARGH!." The audience responds and O'Day begins waving his hand in front of his face, "What did they have for dinner?" O'Day continues,   "For the next half an hour or so I’m going to navigate a course for us to the behind-the-scenes story of the creation of perhaps the greatest Disney theme park attraction of all time - Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. And now that our pirate friends have gone, we can sail through the evening safely, I hope. Let's give everyone a proper introduction."

Tim O'Day: Following the rule of ladies first, we have with us tonight a legendary Disney Imagineer who has costumed a multi-generational family in the Carousel of Progress and as she likes to say she went from costuming the adorable children of "it's a small world" to the dirty old men of Pirates of the Caribbean - welcome Alice Davis. (The audience erupts into cheers)

O'Day: Our next scallywag - I hope you don't mind me calling you a scallywag, it's just the theme of the evening - began with the Walt Disney Studios in 1939 as an in-betweener on Pinocchio and worked in animation and story on such classic Disney films as Fantasia, The Parent Trap, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. But he is perhaps best known for providing the title song for The Haunted Mansion and a familiar tune for Pirates. Please welcome X Atencio.

A slide accompanies each of the panelists' introductions

O'Day: Now, to my knowledge, our next crew member didn't make a living doing tattoos. Did you?

Sam McKim: Not much (chuckles)

O'Day: But did in fact begin his career with Disney sketching scenes of Frontierland and Main Street. And he is probably best known as the originator of the very first Disneyland souvenir map. He also worked on Disney live-action films such as Nikki, Wild Dog of the North and The Gnome-Mobile. Please welcome Sam McKim.

Now our next guest has created or helped create prototypes for virtually every Disneyland project since its opening in 1955, worked on the New York World’s Fair, was a figure finisher on such attractions as Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, "it’s a small world", and Carousel of Progress. I just love her tagline welcome, Hurricane Harriet Burns!

Our next panelist began her career at Walt Disney Imagineering in 1970 in the model shop. She helped legendary Disney Imagineer John Hench redesign many Disneyland exteriors. And worked extensively on the new Fantasyland and currently she is the Art Director at Disneyland Design Studios. Please welcome Kim Irvine-Alison! 

With over twenty-five years experience in themed entertainment, our final crew member has established himself as one of the industry’s premier designers. In his thirteen years with Walt Disney Imagineering, he helped to create such projects as Tarzan's Treehouse and the Indiana Jones Attraction at Disneyland, Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris and the Land Pavilion at Epcot. Please welcome, the former Art Director at Disneyland Design Studios, Bob Baranick!

O’Day: Well know - since we're discussing Pirates and as we see here it is Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean - I guess the most appropriate place to start is with Walt himself. For you Disney Legends here, when it all began, how did you come to find out about New Orleans Square and this Pirates attraction? Do you remember the very first time you heard about the Pirates attraction? (There's a long pause and Tim looks over the group)  Anybody?

Alice Davis: I remember Marc coming home and saying that Walt wanted him to do a walkthrough underneath New Orleans Square and so he started doing the drawings and ideas of how this would work. But he couldn’t get Walt to look at them. He said Walt would come in and look at anything else in the room but never looked at the Pirates drawings because they were still finishing up the New York World’s Fair. So he said the minute the New York World’s Fair was finished Walt cam back into the room and looked at the drawings and said 'you know these are so good I think we oughta go outside the berm and do a show where we have a waterway and waterfalls, go through on a boat and have a really good show.' And that’s how it all started.

Tim O'Day: How influential was the New York’s World Fair on the design of Pirates of the Caribbean?

Davis: I think Walt did the shows at the New York World’s Fair to see how all the A.A. figures would work and if they would be of use at Disneyland. So we did all the experimenting with it at the New York World’s Fair so when they came here they were working well.

O'Day: Did Walt steal the idea of the boat aspect from Small World and incorporate that into Pirates?

Davis: No, I think he did the boats to get you down to the bottom under the berm. He had to get you down there somehow so he figured he might as well have you go down a waterfall in a boat and add a little thrill to it as well as the audio Animatronic figures.

Walt reviewing models and miniatures