More changes be comin’ to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, mateys

The brides are being taken off the block in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks.

In a change first being rolled out at Disneyland Paris, the redhead among the “wenches” being auctioned as brides is “joining the pirates ranks and helping the local townspeople ‘unload’ their valuables at the Mercado auction,” according to the Disney Parks Blog. “In the U.S., this famous redhead will appear in a similar scene at the Magic Kingdom Park (at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.) and Disneyland park (in Anaheim) in 2018 following a previously scheduled refurbishment.”

The bride auction scene, long a favorite of many Disney fans, occasionally has been criticized as sexist, The Orange County Register reports. “Years ago, the scene that comes after the auction scene, which used to have pirates chasing women, was changed to pirates chasing women for food, and one where a woman was chasing a pirate,” it reports. Disney declined comment on the sexism question, the Register reports.

Kathy Mangum, senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, released this statement: “Our team thought long and hard about how to best update this scene. Given the redhead has long been a fan favorite, we wanted to keep her as a pivotal part of the story, so we made her a plundering pirate! We think this keeps to the original vision of the attraction as envisioned by Marc Davis, X Atencio and the other Disney legends who first brought this classic to life.”

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 7:37 AM with the headline "More changes be comin’ to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, mateys."