Originally Posted By dresswhites i rode the Columbia today. It is such a beautiful craft. i just wish they would do a live spiel between the captain and hawkeye. the current recorded spiel is kind of boring and the cms working the boat don't seem to be having any fun. i say let them speil! Also i thought Pirates were supposed to attack the boat.
Originally Posted By gadzuux My last voyage on the columbia was many years ago, but there was a great CM doing what must have been an 'unofficial' spiel - but very funny. He referenced everything from obscure beatles songs ("anna - go with him") to fantastic voyage and raquel welch. And he did it all with a kind of slow weary delivery, like he was bored with it all. He made the trip memorable, and I was never sure if this was just an odd day with an odd CM, or if this were a standard routine. It seemed improvised.
Originally Posted By dresswhites of course i don't blame the cms of columbia looking unhappy today! It was so hot and humid. It was just horrible.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't think all the pirate stuff in the area offically starts until the 7th, so that is probably why you didn't get attacked. I think it would be really hard (although entirely possible) to do the live attack with a recorded spiel. I think it would be a lot easier, and more fun for everybody, if it was a little different each time.
Originally Posted By dresswhites oh that makes sense. cause I didn't see the pirate band either. I am suprised though it all didn't start when Pirates opened on Monday.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think they were waiting to make sure that they were able to take all of the bleachers down, as they were expecting more crowds in the area. I guess that means they weren't expecting that many people to be lining up for the update on POTC then.
Originally Posted By Westsider They are waiting for the movie to be released in theaters before they start all the Pirates stuff. WDI put the kibosh on the live spiels a few years ago, exactly because some guys were referencing Beatles songs, Fantastic Voyage, Raquel Welch, and many other modern references in their spiels. The WDI show writers take that stuff very, very seriously, and they have little patience for CM's who go off script.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer A new show is starting on July 7th.... Disneyland Resort Press Release New Orleans Square at Disneyland Under Siege By Pirates! Summertime Guests to Disneyland to Encounter Captain Jack Sparrow and Bands of Comical and Musical Pirates ANAHEIM, Calif. (June 24, 2006) - - The cunning and crafty Captain Jack Sparrow has arrived at Disneyland and several of his sly and clever mates have joined him. They will all be roaming throughout New Orleans Square, near the newly enhanced Pirates of Caribbean adventure, to recruit new pirates, loot the city and overtake the main land beginning July 7. As part of today’s celebration of the world premiere of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and the reopening of the Pirates of Caribbean attraction that features the additions of Captain Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Davy Jones, 11 shrewd and brash pirates who have crossed the seas with Captain Jack Sparrow will wander in New Orleans Square. They will provide swashbuckling adventures and interactive experiences for Disneyland Guests throughout the summer. “Our pirates all have detailed back stories that connect them to both the attraction and the films,†said Glenn Kelman, Disneyland Resort entertainment show director. “It’s been fun to create characters that can relate to both worlds.†Unique entertainment offerings include The Bootstrappers, a sorry lot of deadbeat musicians, who will perform a medley of sea chanteys and snippets of Disney tunes in New Orleans Square in order to pay off their debt to the Faithful Bride Tavern’s owner; the Bilge Rats, a band of cursed pirates who recently escaped from the attraction, will entertain and amuse Guests visiting New Orleans Square; and Captain Jack Sparrow himself will mingle with Guests. The Sailing Ship Columbia – and its Guests – isn’t safe from a pirate’s siege either. Guests aboard the ship will be surprised when a scheming and wily pirate, in search of loot, overtakes the ship each time she sets sail. On this voyage, Guests will find out about the ins-and-outs of a pirate’s life, learn the secret pirates oath and how to live by their moral code.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <The WDI show writers take that stuff very, very seriously, and they have little patience for CM's who go off script.> As well they should. To me, you really only need one Jungle Cruise experience. I was so glad when the trams got recorded spiels, as the cast members working the trams were either trying to be the LAST COMIC STANDING, or they were so bored that they said nothing, or gave out mis-information.
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL ^^^Or you couldn't understand them because they were never taught how to properly speak on a P.A. system. Or, their accent was so thick you'd just sit there laughing at the whole situation because nobody on the tram could make out what was being said. Not making fun of anybody here, just a fact that we sat thru and witnessed more than a few times.
Originally Posted By dresswhites i hope the pirate show livens up the boat. It just really appears that the cms are having any fun. I still can't figure out how logistically they are going to have Pirates attack the boat every trip, though. It will be interesting to see.
Originally Posted By PirateJohn When I worked on the Columbia up until last September, the cast members were strictly forbidden from spieling during the trip. So, naturally, we all did. My favorite one to do was when we'd yield right of way to the canoes. I'd do the following in my pirate voice (and for those of you who have heard me, it's a very well polished voice, if I do say so myself): "Over to port side you'll see comin' up the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. In our journeys in the Pacific Northwest, canoes like these would come to our ship to trade. You could always tell which of the natives aboard the ship were deemed the laziest and least worthy, for they were forced to wear the gold shirts and brown pants."
Originally Posted By Westsider Going back a bit further PirateJohn, we used to only have a live spiel on Columbia. Some of the guys had pretty good spiels, a few guys had hilariously good spiels, and the rest of the guys had spiels that were either boring and uninspired or simply really, really bad. And that's why WDI came in and removed the ability to spiel. There were a few guys who even did kind of racy jokes that only the Guests who were paying attention would get, and even then it was mostly the adult males on the boat. While I do miss a few of the old spiels we used to do, and the few CM's who could do them really well, I think it's for the best that WDI came in and put a stop to the live spieling. It was just too hit or miss, and many Guests on the Columbia were treated to a poorly done spiel or an experience that just wasn't very entertaining, or sometimes even annoying or insulting.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I agree. I love the Columbia, but the days of live spiels were completely hit or miss. And even when they hit, they missed the point of the attraction. They used to have live spiels on the keelboats, too, and if the Columbia guy stuck to a "just the facts" approach, it tended to be a). boring, and b). pretty much exactly what they said on the keelboats. If they tried to spice it up, they could be either really good and funny and really bad and unfunny. The latter obviously was not a good thing. But even the good and funny ones didn't work for me like a good and funny Jungle Cruise skipper would, because part of the charm of the Columbia is the ability to "lose yourself" in the scenery and the beautiful ship itself and let your imagination go back a hundred years or two. Modern-day references and snarky comments, even if funny ones, kind of ruined all that.
Originally Posted By PirateJohn Until I transferred, I was hoping to put together a "Squishy Tour" of the Columbia. ("Squishy" is the name we'd give to the extra person if we were overstaffed -- it was a term that referred to the ship's cook) One manager fully supported me, but I left for Animation Academy before I could get everything compiled. I had even bought a book that was the original journal entries of Robert Haswell, who became first mate of the original Columbia. Until then, I had made small impromptu tours of the boat for people who were curious, and had learned several interesting facts about the boat. A few guests were even able to teach me some cool facts.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Today, the vast majority of the stuff done was "live" talk by a Pirate, they start with pre-recorded stuff, including the safety warnings, then a Pirate comes out and takes over the ship. He stands by the front sails and is miked and interacts with the crowd.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^I enjoyed it, our group found it entertaining..... There are a bunch of photos of the trip in this album.... <a href="http://darkbeer.smugmug.com/gallery/1624101" target="_blank">http://darkbeer.smugmug.com/ga llery/1624101</a>
