Avast there! Guests sailing through Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Park will discover a new surprise beginning today. Following the attraction’s refurbishment, which began in early May, Walt Disney Imagineering has introduced an all-new transforming Audio-Animatronic that replaces the familiar skeleton perched atop a treasure pile in the attraction’s underground grotto scenes.
The figure is unlike any previous Audio-Animatronic Disney has installed in the attraction. Instead of remaining a static skeleton, the pirate appears to transform from a living person into a skeleton before guests’ eyes.
Disney shared a closer look in a video on social media:
The technology behind the effect combines traditional Audio-Animatronic engineering with a new projection-based facial system.
In an exclusive behind-the-scenes preview with TechRadar, Walt Disney Imagineering showcased the figure inside its Research & Development lab before its debut. While the body relies on conventional animatronic mechanics, the face uses a 3D-printed shell without visible moving parts. A high-fidelity projection system is mapped directly onto the surface, creating realistic facial expressions and allowing the transformation to happen seamlessly without cuts or physical changes.
According to Leslie Evans, Executive R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, the goal is to expand the ways Imagineers can tell stories through new technology. “We’re really going after more tools to just tell stories in an incredible way,” Evans told TechRadar’s Jacob Krol.
Evans also explained why Pirates of the Caribbean was selected as the first attraction to receive the new technology. “We were looking for a figure where creatively we could do a great transformation,” she said, adding that “this pirate transformation would be a great, great first place to do it.”
The new figure officially debuted as Pirates of the Caribbean reopened today at Disneyland following its refurbishment.
