Fun Find: Celebrating Pirates of the Caribbean Opening Day in 1967

Happy Friday!  Today, this Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean attraction turns 55, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to write a short fun find post to celebrate it!

Pirates of the Caribbean opened at Disneyland on this date back in 1967.  The ride has been through quite a few changes in it's 55 years, but it's still the classic ride we all know and love.  My favorite part of the Disneyland version is that it's longer than Walt Disney World's (this one is 15 minutes long) and it has more scenes.  There are two drops at the beginning.  There are also additional scenes of the Captain's Quarters, a room filled with treasure, an extended fire scene after the jail, a bayou and more!

If you've never been to Disneyland to experience the ride in person, I found this video that you can watch.  Please note, this video is a few years old and it's before the redhead scene changed to Redd being a pirate.  It's also missing the octopus scene.

I love how the video includes the queue!  At Disneyland, the boats pass right by the line; so guests standing in line can watch the parrot scene and the passing boats!

Another classic part of the ride is the song and soundtrack.  While looking for videos of the ride, I stumbled across this soundtrack video of the entire ride loop.  If you're in the mood for some pirate music to celebrate today, you might enjoy this as well!

Happy 55th Birthday Pirates of the Caribbean!  Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirates life for me!!!  °o°

National Talk Like a Pirate Day 2021

Arrr... today be National Talk Like a Pirate Day mateys!!!

As many of you already know, Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorite rides at Disney (along with the Haunted Mansion).  I also love all of the movies and I'm so glad that Disney keeps coming out with more of them!

Pirates are a popular theme among Disney fans.  Along with the ride and the movies, Disney also has the Pirates League experience at Magic Kingdom where you can dress up as a pirate.  There are pirate themed rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort.  

On the Disney Cruise Line ships, they even devote an entire evening each cruise that's themed as Pirate Night.  Lots of guests dress up in costume for the event... and Mickey and his friends do too!  There is a pirate themed show and the evening is capped with the 'Pirates in the Caribbean' fireworks at sea.  It's so much fun!!! 

Eliot and I have always enjoyed all things pirates but sadly, I won't be able to celebrate much.  My family and I are still on the road and should be arriving in Virginia Beach sometime today, so I thought I'd share a few fun videos here to get in the pirate spirit!

This is a video of the Muppets wishing everyone a happy National Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Of course, they're up to their usual silly antics!

This second video is from Brian Hull.  In this one, he's singing "A Pirate's Life for Me" in the voices of a bunch of characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!

I hope you enjoy the videos, have an amazing day and enjoy talking like pirates!

Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirates Life For Me!!!  °o°

Happy 50th Pirates of the Caribbean!!!

Today, one of my all time favorite rides, Pirates of the Caribbean, turns 50!!!

Fifty years ago today, Pirates of the Caribbean set sail at Disneyland.  Of course, over the years it's become a fan favorite and a classic.  It's so popular that there are currently pirate attractions in five Disney parks: Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and the newest ride at Shanghai Disney Resort.

The iconic attraction inspired the Pirates of the Caribbean movies staring Johnny Depp.  There are four movies with the 5th being released this May.  (I can't wait!)

Then, the movies inspired the ride.  Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa were both added to the attraction after the popularity of the movie franchise.  Other changes have included adding images of Davy Jones, Captain Blackbeard and mermaids.

Meeting the pirates characters is a rare experience, but one that I've fortunately been able to do a few times now!  Eliot and I first met Captain Jack Sparrow at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in 2015.  He commented on our outfits from the "spooky house."  Then, we met him again this past year at the Halloween party.

During the Princess Half marathon a few weeks ago, I also stopped to take a picture with Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa!  I figure that you don't see them together often, my foot was killing me and needed a break, so I went for it!  (Then, Captain Barbosa gave me a hard time about not liking his beard.)

Of course, there are many more pirate experiences at Disney: from the Halloween parade floats, to dressing up like one at the Pirates League, to themed resort rooms, and to Disney Cruise Line's Pirate Night adventures on the high seas.

I have many memories of Pirates of the Caribbean: riding the attractions at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, of going to see the movies and now from Pirates in the Caribbean during our first Disney Cruise last fall.  It's safe to say this attraction will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was also the last ride Walt Disney oversaw the construction of- which makes it even more special to me.

Happy 50th Anniversary Pirates of the Caribbean!  May you sail on voyages and delight park guests for many more years.  Drink up me hearties, yo ho! °o°

KeyCon 2014 Trip: Day #3

Day number three I got up early and donned my Maleficent outfit.  Today was the day I would finally meet most of my fellow KTTW agents!  Wanda and I agreed to meet over at Boardwalk, where she had previously moved rooms.  I got ready and hopped on the bus to Hollywood Studios so I could take the Friendship Boats to the Boardwalk Resort area.

I've never taken the Friendship Boats before and I was excited to try something new.  I loved seeing the view of the Swan and Dolphin Resorts from the water.  I never realized how architecturally beautiful they are!

A few minutes later, we rounded the corner and I got my first view of the Yacht and Beach Club and Boardwalk Resort areas.  I met up with Wanda outside of one of the restaurants.  She had also met up with Linda, who was waiting on her room at Port Orleans Riverside to be ready.  We decided to go up to Wanda's room to cool off and relax until Tara arrived.  It was so nice to hang out in the air conditioning for a bit.  The entire trip was at least 90 degrees out it was also really humid.  Tara arrived in the early afternoon and we talked while she got settled.  

Tara and I decided that we'd go over to Epcot for some lunch at the Food and Wine Festival. I've never entered Epcot at the International Gateway before!  I've also never bought food from the Food and Wine Festival booths.  Eliot's not that adventurous with food so I decided to take advantage of the festival this trip!  Tara and I started at the Mexico end and worked our way around.  The garlic shrimp at the Australia booth was our first stop.  It was so good!

After that, we decided to go on the Gran Fiesta Tour ride in the Mexico pavilion to cool off. We enjoyed the ride and then took a sombrero selfie!  Next, we adventured over to Norway where we went into the Stave church to look around.  Then we stopped in the Kringla Bakeri og Kafé for pastries.  I didn't have much of an appetite, but Tara insisted I have some of her troll horn.  It was yummy!

We made our way over to China where Tara tried some of the shrimp the black pepper shrimp with sichuan noodles.  Once again, she made sure I ate something and insisted that I eat part of it.  It wasn't bad, but we agreed that it was no Australia.  (I was shocked at my lack of appetite the entire trip.  Looking back, I know it was the heat and humidity.) We eventually ended up at Germany where Tara ordered the German Riesling Flight.  A few minutes later, we met up with Wanda and headed back towards Mexico where we were going to meet up with a few other agents at 3:00.  Instead, I decided to go back to Pop Century to take a quick shower and to change before our 6:00 meet and greet.

After I showered and felt refreshed, I got dressed in my Elsa tank and my Olaf button. (Jeff, one of the KTTW owners, said he's a hugger so I thought it was appropriate.)  I used our conference app to message the others at Pop and we agreed to meet at the lobby to head over to the meet and greet together.  It ended up being only Joleen and myself, but it was good to finally meet her in person.  We talked nonstop as we took the buses to Hollywood Studios and the Friendship Boats to the Yacht and Beach Club pier.

It took us a while to find the Martha's Vineyard Lounge since neither of us had any clue where it was.  We finally found our destination and were greeted by Key to the World owners Heather and Jeff.  I ordered a white wine sangria and spent the next few hours meeting the other agents.  It was nice to put everyone's photo and name to a face!

After the meet and greet, Wanda, Linda, Tara and I decided to find something for dinner. We tried numerous restaurants around the Yacht and Beach Club and Boardwalk area. All of them said we'd have to wait until 9:00 just to get on the waiting list.  Linda even slipped one of the hostesses a $20 bill- that still didn't change anything.  Eventually, we were too hungry to wait and we went to the Boardwalk Bakery for dinner.

We sat there for quite a while after eating.  (IllumiNations was going on in the background before we left.)  We had so many laughs.  The family beside us jokingly asked if they could join us at one point because it looked like we were having so much fun.  I'm surprised we didn't get more looks than we did.  We were all laughing pretty hard. Unfortunately for you guys, we all agreed that what happened at Boardwalk stays at Boardwalk so you can't find out any of our private jokes.

Eventually, we decided it was time to leave and to get some rest.  Tara and I weren't quite done for the evening, so we bid everyone else a good night and headed over to the Magic Kingdom.  It was open until 3:00 am with extra magic hours.  We knew there was no way we'd make it until then but we were happy to be there for a little while.

We went to Pirates of the Caribbean first since the ride had been closed on and off due to problems.  Thankfully, it was open and we didn't have to wait too long to get on it. 

After Pirates, we slowly made our way back to the hub and stopped to take pictures at the Partners Statue.  We both were starting to fade quickly.  Plus, Tara had been up since 3:00 am and hadn't slept at all!  I don't know how she did it when I was falling asleep mid-afternoon after my 3:00 am wake up and early flight!  She's a rock star!

We took a few more PhotoPass photos on Main Street USA and made our way out of the park.  We also got a few pictures at the Train Station before leaving.  Then, we said goodnight and split up.  Tara headed to the Boardwalk bus and I went back to Pop!  °o°

Elissa's First Week in Maine

Well, it's been another crazy week here at the Cady residence!

Eliot had a great birthday last week.  We enjoyed our quick trip to Boston before Elissa arrived last Wednesday morning.  We got home and had a few hours of sleep before we were off to Bar Harbor.  Thursday, my family went to my Grammie's burial service.

After the service, we went out to an early dinner with my aunts and cousin.  Then, all of us "kids" went to play mini-golf at Pirates Cove!  We all love mini-golf, and who doesn't like pirates?  Visiting Pirates Cove is definitely one of my favorite parts of summer!

While we were home, we also went walking the Carriage Paths in Acadia National Park. Elissa and I saw 2 turtles, lots of fish, tadpoles, 3 frogs, a snake and a beautiful butterfly!

On Father's Day, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.  (We even got Nana up there!  Yay Nana!!!)  There was a cruise ship in town so it was fun to see it from up above the town.  

Eeyore, Olaf and Duffy also had a good time on the mountain.

Eeyore got a picture with "Grandpa" since they both had Red Sox shirts on.  (Daddy was having way too much fun propping Eeyore up in the front window of the car and making him wave to little kids in the parking lot.)

Eeyore even took a Cadillac Mountain "selfie."

Then, we went into Bar Harbor to have some ice cream down on the pier.  Eeyore sat in the car with Olaf and Duffy while the rest of us watched the cruise ship pull out of the harbor. Finally, Sunday evening we headed back to Southern Maine.

This past week, Elissa and I have kept ourselves busy cleaning the house and preparing for our DisneySide BBQ party this weekend!  We've also been shopping for supplies at a few of our local craft stores.  I'm pretty sure Eliot isn't going to let Elissa and I go shopping alone anymore... he he.  ;-)

Photo Source: UCreate Pinterest

Wednesday, Elissa and I went to our Zentangle class at JoAnn's.  It was so much fun!  I really couldn't wait for this class.  We learned a lot of new drawing and shading techniques.  We even both drew Zentangle inspired pictures with our favorite mouse!

Now it's back to party preparations!  This is going to be so much fun!!!  °o°

WDW Honeymoon Recap- 3/30/13 (Part 2)

Our second half of Saturday the 30th was spent at our favorite Walt Disney World parks: Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.

We headed over to Epcot so we could catch IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.  We got there early enough that we had time to take a few pictures on the way over to the World Showcase Lagoon.

We ended up getting a short photo session with the PhotoPass guy at the Spaceship Earth location.  He even had us pose with our Just Married buttons.

Then we made our way over to watch IllumiNations.  It seemed appropriate to end the last night of our honeymoon with the same show that was the ending to our wedding day.

The show was amazing as always.  We underestimated the crowd and didn't get the best view, but it was still awesome.  It's always one of my favorites.  People around us ended up copying my camera movements because they realized that I'd seen the show and knew all the appropriate moments to be ready.  (And I may have been quietly humming along with the music too!)

I still get chills every time I see it!  After the show, our first dance song "Promise" played over the World Showcase Lagoon.  We danced at the edge of the water.

We waited to let the crowds pass, then we slowly made our way back towards the front of the park.  We stopped to take a picture at the Monster's University topiaries.

I also took a photo of the Lion King topiaries on the walk back to Future World.  You can see how packed it was!

We took one more photo with Spaceship Earth at night.  It ended up being the same photographer from our mini photo session!  Then we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to go on all of our favorite rides one last time!

When we got to the Magic Kingdom, we decided to get more autographs for our book.  I was pretty determined to fill it at this point!  We went to meet the Princesses at City Hall. First we met Cinderella.  She was ok with letting me borrow her coach for our wedding.

Then we met with Aurora.

And finally Rapunzel!  She taught Eliot "the smolder" Flynn does.

Then we made our way over to New Fantasyland one more time.  We passed by Be Our Guest at night when the Beast's Castle was all lit up.

We stopped by Gaston's Tavern for a quick picture.  The area was basically empty.

We went on Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid one more time.

After, we continued on our quest for autographs and met Ariel in her grotto.  She was pretty spunky and told the guy in front of us a thing or two!  (He was trying to hit on her.)

I took another picture of Prince Eric's Castle before we left New Fantasyland.

We continued heading towards Liberty Square but we stopped to get pictures of Rapunzel's Tower and village lit up at night.  The lanterns were beautiful.

And I guess it was officially time for my bathroom creeper adventure since Eliot got photos of the thugs in the men's restroom.  I went inside and got pictures of the ceiling where Rapunzel painted it.  Her paint supplies are on a shelf near the ceiling.  And Disney even themed the doors to the stalls!  There are actually little grooves in the Corian so it looks like they're wooden doors.  It's a really beautiful restroom.

My absolute favorite part is the painting in the entrance way to the bathroom.  It wraps around the outside door and then there's a mural on the wall.  I love it!

I also took another photo of Rapunzel's Tower as we walked by.  I like how it's lit up pink and purple like her dress.

Of course, we had to go on the Haunted Mansion one more time!

I took a few photos around the graveyard and inside since it was quiet.

Our last ride this trip was Pirates of the Caribbean!  And the ride wasn't broken this time! Did we break our Pirates curse?  (I think so, but we got another one instead!)

Disney had added new mermaid features since we were there in September for our wedding!  There are mermaids projected on the water in the cave now, as well as them singing.  And this is a very dark picture of the mermaid skeleton that they added to the shipwreck scene!  It's a subtle change, but it ties in well with the newest Pirates movie.

I stopped for a few moments to take one more glance at Cinderella Castle at night time.  I always like to take a few minutes to reflect on how blessed I am to be there.  And this time, it was really necessary, because I physically had to stop walking.  Ok, I'll share the story:  We might have broken the Pirates ride breaking curse, but I think that I picked up another one! After our ride on Pirates, I broke myself right outside the ride!  My left foot had a spasm in it and I barely made it back to the end of Main Street. 

Once I hobbled down Main Street, I took a few photos in the windows of the Emporium while I was waiting on Eliot.  I thought that he'd gone into the Emporium to trade a Vinylmation or some of his pins.

But apparently, he left me for a mission...

When he returned a few minutes later, he had a wheelchair for me so I didn't have to keep hurting my foot every time I stepped down.  He pushed me all the way to our Pop Century bus stop!  (Which is the farthest possible stop at the Magic Kingdom.)

He's a good husband- "in sickness and in health" right?  °o°