Disney taking some pillage out of pirate ride

The scene of leering pirates auctioning off women as brides on the Pirates of Caribbean attraction in Disneyland will be gone forever this month, replaced by a scene considered less offensive to contemporary tastes.

The Anaheim, California, resort announced last week that it will close the ride on April 23 to begin its planned makeover, which includes replacing the auction scene with a depiction of pirates selling the pilfered belongings of local townsfolk. The ride should reopen this summer. A similar overhaul was completed last week at the Magic Kingdom Park in Florida. On that ride, a tall, redheaded woman in a red hat — the prized bride in the auction scene — has been retained in the new scene where she plays a guntotting pirate named Redd.

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland Paris was also overhauled to remove the bride auction.

In a post last week on the park’s blog, Disney officials explained the changes by noting that Walt Disney himself said he envisioned that his theme parks would always be changing and evolving.

This is not the first time the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction has been altered. The scene of pirates chasing women through a pillaged town was tweaked in 1997. Trays of food were placed in the women’s hands so that it looked like the pirates were lusting after the food instead of the fleeing women.