JDR: I've read your HAUNTED MANSION and loved it, I read that you approached the Disney people about writing the book you'd like to read about the ride and it's progression into a film. Was writing the POTC book also your idea and how did writing it differ from the Haunted Mansion book. Do you have a favorite of the two rides?
JS: Believe it or not, I pitched the Haunted Mansion and Pirates books at the exact same time in the summer of 2002. Since a book that focuses on just one attraction was a new concept at the time, they felt more comfortable testing the waters with one book, and went with The Haunted Mansion primarily because that’s what I pitched first. The fact that it would come out as a direct tie-in to the film also helped. The Pirates book is identical in format, with the first section focusing on the history of the attraction, the second section offering a scene-by-scene “ride-through” of the show, and the third section focusing on the making of the film – in Pirates’ case, the first film. I love both of the attractions – they’ve always been my two favorites – but if I had to pick one, The Haunted Mansion has a slight edge thanks to my lifelong love of ghost stories and horror movies. It’s a photo finish, though!
JDR : I was born and raised in Northern California and our family visited DL every summer. As a little girl I remember the excruciating wait for POTC to finally open and it did but only after the death of Walt Disney. What do you think would be his reaction if he knew that 35+ years late POTC is more popular than ever and now the basis for a series of incredibly popular films?
JS: I don’t think Walt would actually be SURPRISED by either one of those things. If you listen closely to the way he talked about Disneyland – and virtually everything else he did – it’s clear that Walt built things to last, so to speak. One of the most common adjectives used to describe Disney entertainment is “timeless,” and that’s by design. That’s why you don’t see pop cultural references or a ton of slang in the Disney animated features. Walt wanted his films to be just as accessible to audiences fifty years after they premiered in theaters – and they are. The same thinking applied to Disneyland, although in the three dimensions of the so-called “real world,” he’d finally have the freedom to change things that weren’t working and “plus” things that were. So the fact that Pirates is just as successful today – with a couple of changes and additions here and there – wouldn’t come as much of a surprise to him. As for Pirates getting turned into a film, I can’t say that that would surprise him much, either. Walt was a filmmaker, and so were all his original Imagineers. The Disneyland experience is derived from the motion picture experience, and its attractions are three-dimensional films in which guests can live the story. It’s no stretch at all to think that characters and situations that were originally developed for Disneyland would prove rich and compelling enough to move in the opposite direction and get translated into film stories.
JDR: This has probably been asked before, so please excuse me, but do you have a favorite of all the POTC rides in the different Disney locations? Do they, or how do they differ from park to park?
JS: The Disneyland original is, hands-down, my favorite version of Pirates of the Caribbean. The Walt Disney World version is quite similar once you hit the open sea, but it’s half as long because you don’t spend nearly as much time in the haunted caverns. Tokyo is even closer to the original; I believe only one of the haunted cavern scenes was cut. The Disneyland Paris version is the most drastically different, with the story told in “reverse.” There the skeletons in the grotto appear at the END of the attraction, putting the story in “chronological order.” There we get to see the pirates pillage and plunder and then pay for their crimes by spending eternity in the haunted caverns. The ultimate message there is a very clear “crime doesn’t pay,” along with the classic “Dead Men Tell No Tales.” But, for me, the Disneyland version is still the one to beat, partially because it was Walt’s swan song, but mostly because it represents Imagineering at its finest.
JDR: The rides have been updated several times, is there a part that has been removed that you really miss?
JS: To be honest, none of the changes have bothered me very much, including the controversial update of 1997, in which Disney was criticized for bowing to political correctness. The content of that scene may have been tweaked to come more in line with social mores, but it also got BETTER in the process. The Chase Scene, as it’s called, is much more detailed and dynamic now, with less emphasis on figures spinning around on turntables. There’s more going on in the scene now, the gags are funnier and the animation of the figures is much better. Beyond that, nothing has really been REMOVED from the ride that changes the experience all that much.
JDR: There has been internet "chat" about including Capt. Jack Sparrow in the ride and while in DL recently, we overheard kids wondering where Capt. Jack was. Without breaching any confidences, what is your "take" on this happening in any of the parks?
JS: The Pirates of the Caribbean movie is one of those once-in-a-generation things that any studio head would KILL for. The upshot of that is we now have literally millions of kids (and not just young ones) whose first frame of reference when you say “Pirates of the Caribbean” is the MOVIE and not the attraction. They love the story and they REALLY love the characters. That being said, it would be tough for us to ignore that as we move into the future of the Disney theme parks. I think it’s safe to say, to use my book’s subtitle, that Pirates of the Caribbean will be the first Disney attraction to go “From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies” and back again. Dead men tell no tales...but keep a weather eye open...
JDR: While you were researching this book, was there anything or any fact that you learned about the ride that surprised you?
JS: I was most surprised by the fact that the original Imagineering team – and even Walt Disney himself – really was concerned about how some of the pirates’ behavior would be received. Because when you think about it, these aren’t nice people and they’re not doing nice things – it’s right there in the song lyrics – so they really had to be careful in terms of how some of the subject matter was presented to guests. Even Walt, when he was reviewing the mock-up of the Auction Scene, turned to his Imagineers and asked, kind of sheepishly, “Well, this’ll be okay, won’t it?” In fact, Marc Davis’s first reaction to the concept was “This isn’t ‘Disney.’” His characters and gags, along with X. Atencio and George Bruns’s song, really helped defuse any potential controversy over the subject matter. The fact that the Chase Scene is the only one that’s really been tweaked over the years is a testament to the fact that they nailed it right out of the gate.
JDR: Have you been able to be on set for any of the filming of the original movie and/or the sequels? If so are there any ride details that they left out?
JS: I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been on the sets of all three films at this point: the treasure cave on Isla de Muerta, the bayou from Dead Man’s Chest, the Captain’s Cabin aboard the Black Pearl, and the ships themselves down on Grand Bahama. It’s absolutely amazing. For someone who grew up with the attraction, it’s like experiencing the ride on a massive scale. There are plenty of direct and indirect references to the attraction in all three films, and plenty that didn’t make it in. The important thing is that they have preserved the SPIRIT of the attraction while crafting a whole new world all at the same time. You don’t need to have even HEARD of the attraction to completely love the films, and that’s the biggest compliment you can pay to the filmmakers: they made a movie – soon to be movies – that pay tribute to the attraction while standing entirely on their own. I wouldn’t have minded seeing the “Dunking of the Magistrate” vignette during the Tortuga sequence in the first film. It was shot – and you can see it on the DVD – but didn’t make it into the final cut.
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JDR: I have a question about something we think we saw in the Haunted Mansion, there is a painting of the young woman who turns into the Medusa head and then we rode POTC and think that we saw a resemblance to her in the picture of a young girl in one of the pirate room areas where this is a pirate skeleton. Did we imagine this?
JS: There may be a similarity between the two figures because both paintings are based on Marc Davis sketches, which explains why they might look a bit alike. It’s not the same CHARACTER by any means, but the fact that it’s the same artist accounts for the resemblance.
JDR: We recently visited Disneyland for the first time in a long time and we think that the voice of the pirate skull at the beginning of the ride is not the same as it originally was. Can you help us? Thanks
JS: It’s funny how our memory can play tricks on us, but the voice of the talking skull remains the same, and it’s supplied by none other than X. Atencio, the Imagineer who wrote the script for the attraction and the lyrics for “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).”
JDR: As a Disney Imagineer, what is your favorite part of the job?
SJ: There are so many things I love about being an Imagineer that it’s hard to pick just one, but I have to say there’s nothing like seeing guests enjoy something you worked on. After spending so much time with a concept, alone in my office or with a group of Imagineers in a brainstorming meeting, it’s a thrill to finally see the idea living and breathing and people enjoying it, because that’s what it’s all about for us.
JDR: I have to ask this, did you get to meet Johnny Depp, and if you did, was he able to provide any stories to you about riding POTC when he was growing up?
JS: I was very fortunate in that I got to meet a number of the people involved with the movies, behind AND in front of the camera. They all share fond memories of the ride, wherever they may have experienced it – Disneyland, Walt Disney World. I actually got to watch Johnny play scenes as Captain Jack Sparrow, and that was one of the true highlights of my time on the set. It’s one thing to meet someone, or interview someone, it’s another to watch one of the best actors of his generation bring one of the most beloved characters in movie history to life before your eyes. Johnny’s a big fan of the ride – in fact, he even asked about getting the plans for the headboard of the bed the pirate captain is lying in in the Captain’s Quarters scene. I think he’s really embraced the “pirate lifestyle!” I also got to meet Keira while she was in costume – a wedding dress of all things – and I literally almost passed out.
JDR: Where you able to work with or interview any of the original Imagineers that opened the park in '55?
JS: I actually dedicate the book to a number of the original Imagineers – X Atencio, Harriet Burns, Alice Davis and Blaine Gibson – who came to Imagineering throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s and worked on the original attraction. That’s one of the joys of doing these books, spending time with the Disney legends who inspired me to become an Imagineer. It’s also a way for me to feel close to Walt, because these folks talk about him as though he’s still around. They get a kick out of the fact that their work has been turned into a movie, too. X even got to visit the set of Dead Man’s Chest. There are some great pictures of X and Johnny taken on the bayou set.
JS: There may be a similarity between the two figures because both paintings are based on Marc Davis sketches, which explains why they might look a bit alike. It’s not the same CHARACTER by any means, but the fact that it’s the same artist accounts for the resemblance.
JDR: We recently visited Disneyland for the first time in a long time and we think that the voice of the pirate skull at the beginning of the ride is not the same as it originally was. Can you help us? Thanks
JS: It’s funny how our memory can play tricks on us, but the voice of the talking skull remains the same, and it’s supplied by none other than X. Atencio, the Imagineer who wrote the script for the attraction and the lyrics for “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).”
JDR: As a Disney Imagineer, what is your favorite part of the job?
SJ: There are so many things I love about being an Imagineer that it’s hard to pick just one, but I have to say there’s nothing like seeing guests enjoy something you worked on. After spending so much time with a concept, alone in my office or with a group of Imagineers in a brainstorming meeting, it’s a thrill to finally see the idea living and breathing and people enjoying it, because that’s what it’s all about for us.
JDR: I have to ask this, did you get to meet Johnny Depp, and if you did, was he able to provide any stories to you about riding POTC when he was growing up?
JS: I was very fortunate in that I got to meet a number of the people involved with the movies, behind AND in front of the camera. They all share fond memories of the ride, wherever they may have experienced it – Disneyland, Walt Disney World. I actually got to watch Johnny play scenes as Captain Jack Sparrow, and that was one of the true highlights of my time on the set. It’s one thing to meet someone, or interview someone, it’s another to watch one of the best actors of his generation bring one of the most beloved characters in movie history to life before your eyes. Johnny’s a big fan of the ride – in fact, he even asked about getting the plans for the headboard of the bed the pirate captain is lying in in the Captain’s Quarters scene. I think he’s really embraced the “pirate lifestyle!” I also got to meet Keira while she was in costume – a wedding dress of all things – and I literally almost passed out.
JDR: Where you able to work with or interview any of the original Imagineers that opened the park in '55?
JS: I actually dedicate the book to a number of the original Imagineers – X Atencio, Harriet Burns, Alice Davis and Blaine Gibson – who came to Imagineering throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s and worked on the original attraction. That’s one of the joys of doing these books, spending time with the Disney legends who inspired me to become an Imagineer. It’s also a way for me to feel close to Walt, because these folks talk about him as though he’s still around. They get a kick out of the fact that their work has been turned into a movie, too. X even got to visit the set of Dead Man’s Chest. There are some great pictures of X and Johnny taken on the bayou set.
