Pirates of the Caribbean: From Magic Kingdom to the Movies

[goofystitch]

I just finished this amazing book by Jason Surell, a show writer for Walt Disney Imagineering. I had previously read "The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies" and was in awe of all of the information I didn't know about the ride and movie. "Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies" carrys on the tradition giving you more information about the attraction than one could know if they weren't personally involved with it's creation. It is so incredible. I received it as a Christmas gift and just now got around to reading it. The book is broken up into three sections. The first, "Disneyland and the Magic Kingdoms," is all about the rides creation. How it was originally planned as a walk through, how that would have been, how the 1964 world's fair put the attraction on hold for 2 years and inevitably turned it into a ride through, what great ideas never made it into the ride, the complexities of it, pretty much the entire history. It got very interesting when it covered Walt's death and how the Imagineers figured the ride would never be completed as a result. It also talks about what it was like at Disneyland on December 15, 1966. This was the most interesting part of the book and it takes up the majority of this 145 page historical piece with 65 pages. The second section, "The Spanish Main," goes in detail about each scene from the ride, how they were created, interesting facts, wondeful conceptual artwork and pictures of the finished vignettes, and how these scenes vary between the 4 different versions of the ride (this book was written before Hong Kong Disneyland, so their version isn't included). The final and shortest segment of the book weighing in at 32 pages, "The Movies" provides you with some knowledge about the film you probably don't know, although most of it appears to be taken directly from the making of feature on disc two of "The Curse of the Black Pearl"'s DVD release. What I didn't know is that the writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (writers of "Aladdin," "The Mask of Zorro," and "Shrek") had come up with the idea back in 1990 and proposed it to the executives at the time who dismissed it saying the pirate genre was dead. A decade later, the studio decided to make a feature of the attraction not knowing of the previous effort because of a large turnaround in employment at the studio. The script went through three new versions before the team was called by Jerry Bruckheimer. They brought in their original ideas which were combined with the current script to form what we now know as the feature film. In all, the book is very interesting, worthwhile, full of knowledge, and actually a pretty quick read due to the large number of wonderful conceptual drawings that you otherwise would never get to see. Did you know the ride once used real human skeletons? Did you know the city in flames actually caught on fire? Did you know Disney World almost wasn't going to include this attraction and that Imagineers were working on a similar fronteirland western ride? Did you know that the version in Disneyland Paris basically reverses the entire ride with the jail sequence first and the cove sequence last? If you answered "no" to all or most of these questions, then this book will be highly entertaining to any fan of the ride and/or movie. I was unable to find it at my local Barnes and Noble, but the book carries a suggested retail price of $22.99, is easy to locate in the U.S. parks, and can be bought online through amazon.com for only $15.61, which will support the site if you use a link through the main page. Here is a direct link, but if you order it, please go through the main page and search for it manually to benifit the sight.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... /ref=nosim

[Flanger-Hanger]

I have the book to and its GREAT!!!!!!!!!

Do you have "Haunted Mansion from the Magic Kingdom to the movies" its also very good and done by the same guy. He is working on a new book called "Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak" which will talk about Space, Spalsh, Big Thunder mountains and the mattahorn.

[dizfan]

(this book was written before Hong Kong Disneyland, so their version isn't included).

No difference...Hong Kong Disneyland does't have Pirates of the Carribean yet.

[goofystitch]

Flanger-Hanger wrote:

Do you have "Haunted Mansion from the Magic Kingdom to the movies" its also very good and done by the same guy. He is working on a new book called "Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak" which will talk about Space, Spalsh, Big Thunder mountains and the mattahorn.

Yeah. I got that back when "The Haunted Mansion" came to theaters and it was awesome. That's what led me to want the Pirates version. That is awesome about the Mountains book. I love the format Jason Surrel uses and I can't wait to see it applied to the mountains. I hope he does more books, hopefully on the different lands of the Disney parks. It would be great to have a Tomorrowland book all about how it used to be, how it differs from park to park, how it looks now, what rides have been removed/changed etc... It would be awesome to have one for the four main lands.

[Flanger-Hanger]

knowing Jason Surrell, he could probably write a whole book on dead Tomorrowland attractions like America Sings or Adventure Thru Inner Space. He said in an interview (I think on Tellnotales.com) that he would like to write books on attractions that no longer exist, Although we still haven't got Country Bears: From the Magic Kingdom to the movies

[Loomis]

I've had this in my shopping basket for months, and I really should get around to buying it.

I have so many Disneyland books now, I could start a dedicated library

[Mr arrow]

Hey thanks goofyStitch I had been putting off getting this book for a while...But it sounds like a good read and a worthy addition to a personal library...I think Ill add it to my list of amazon orders...THANKS!!

[Big Disney Fan]

I have the book to and its GREAT!!!!!!!!!

Do you have "Haunted Mansion from the Magic Kingdom to the movies" its also very good and done by the same guy. He is working on a new book called "Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak" which will talk about Space, Spalsh, Big Thunder mountains and the mattahorn.

I have BOTH books! When is the mountains book coming out? I want that one too! Maybe he should also do a book called "Disney Dark Rides: Imagineering Riding the Movies", which talks about the Fantasyland dark rides.

[Flanger-Hanger]

I don't know when the mountain book is comming. I don't know anything about darkrides but he does want to write about never built disney attractions (like Western River Expedition)

[Loomis]

I don't know when the mountain book is comming. I don't know anything about darkrides but he does want to write about never built disney attractions (like Western River Expedition)

According to Amazon.com, the Mountains book is coming out September 2007.

However, I've never known a Disney book to ship on or close to its day of release. Most of them just keep getting pushed back and back, and the odd one never sees the light of day.

One on 'lost' attractions would be fantastic, but also incredibly depressing. Thinking about 'what could have been' often makes me weep, although some of those ideas occasionally get resurrected for later concepts.

[Big Disney Fan]

I don't know when the mountain book is comming. I don't know anything about darkrides but he does want to write about never built disney attractions (like Western River Expedition)

The dark rides are like Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, etc.