Jake and The Never Land Pirates to Replace Pirates of The Caribbean Ride

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. It was one of the original attractions at Disney World when the park opened on October 1, 1971. Although it doesn’t always have the longest waits, it’s an attraction everyone loves and has a huge fan base. We just got news following the D23 Expo that Pirates of The Caribbean will be closing and will be replaced with a Jake and The Never Land Pirates attraction.

For those not familiar, Jake and The Never Land Pirates is a kids TV show that launched on Disney Junior. The show debuted in 2011 and the last episode aired in 2016. Despite the show ending, it continues to be a top show on Disney Junior and Disney+. The show is about Jake and his friends Izzy and Cubby battling Captain Hook and Smee.

Disney knows the popularity of the show and has a perfect opportunity to bring it to their theme parks. They will be closing Pirates of The Caribbean at Disney World and Disneyland in 2023 to make way for Jake and The Never Land Pirates Adventure. The attraction will use the same boats and track as Pirates of The Caribbean, however all of the characters and scenes will be updated.

According to Disney, Jake and The Never Land Pirates Adventure will take you through the story of Jake and his friends trying to find the treasure that Captain Hook has stolen. As Disney states, “Follow Jake, Izzy, Cubby and their parrot Skully as they board their Ship Bucky and sail from their hideout on Pirate Island for a treasure hunt adventure against Captain Hook and Smee”.

As mentioned above the track layout will be the existing track. The adventure will start in Jake’s hideout with his friends. You will then go down the drop and be right in the middle of a huge pirate ship battle between Jake and Captain Hook. The adventure will continue as Jake searches for a treasure map, a key, and ultimately finds the hidden treasure, which he shares with you and his friends. Many scenes from the current Pirates of The Caribbean attraction will remain, however it will have some character updates as well as a more cartoonish style to align the show Jake and The Never Land Pirates.

There were a few factors that went into Disney’s decision to do this retheme. First off, Pirates of The Caribbean has a lot of animatronics that don’t work as well as they used to. The ride at Magic Kingdom is 50 years old and is experiencing wear and tear. Disney also is also trying to get rid of some of their older IP and bring in newer IP into their parks. On top of all of that, Disney is becoming less of a destination for families with kids. They want to use more of their younger programs to appeal to families, which is their core consumer, to get them coming back to their parks.

This update to Pirates of The Caribbean seems to make sense and be a great fit. This is similar to what Disney was going to do with the retheme for Splash Mountain, however, the Splash Mountain retheme was recently canceled. Jake and The Never Land Pirates would fit better in Fantasyland, but this is still a good solution to replace an attraction that needs some newness. What do you think of Pirates of The Caribbean closing and being replaced with Jake and The Never Land Pirates? Let us know in the comments!

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