Disneyland Will Lose Its 'Wench'

The scene shows a redheaded female tied up in rope, about to be sold under a banner reading, "Auction, Take a wench for a bride." But if the sight at Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction hasn't yet offended some, the park apparently worries it soon will. That's why the entire scene will be swapped for another when the ride closes for routine maintenance next year. The scene, also to be updated at Disney World in 2018 and at Disneyland Paris next month, will instead show an auction with no humans up for grabs. "Auction, Surrender yer loot," the new banner will read, reports the Los Angeles Times. The redhead from the original scene, a purported fan-favorite in place since 1967, will become a pirate herself with a gun and liquor bottle resting against her hips.

"We believe the time is right to turn the page to a new story in this scene, consistent with the humorous, adventurous spirit of the attraction," a rep for the resort says, per the Orange County Register. It will only be the latest change to the Pirates ride. The scene that follows the auction once showed pirates chasing after women; those women now hold trays of food that the pirates are ostensibly going after, an alteration Theme Park Insider calls an attempt to "remove (or at least, soften) the insinuation of impending sexual assault." Another scene showing a pirate chasing a woman was flipped so the woman now chases the pirate. Many people commenting on a Disney blog post are against the change to an "iconic part of the ride," but a park designer says "change is a 'tradition' at Disneyland." (More Disneyland stories.)