Pirates of the Caribbean reopened at Disneyland Park on Friday, June 26, after a refurbishment that began May 4. CrowdLevels daily data recorded no operating samples from May 4 through June 25, a 53-day stretch before the New Orleans Square boat ride returned.
CrowdLevels recorded Pirates operating with a 25-minute posted wait at 8:55 a.m. Pacific. The first operating hour averaged about 16 minutes, after a short downtime window from 8:05 to 8:15 a.m.
Disney teased the change in an official X video Friday morning, pointing to new magic around the cursed treasure scene. The video is embedded below.
New Cursed-Treasure Figure
The new show moment centers on a pirate figure that shifts from a living face to a skeletal face through projection mapping. TechRadar's Jacob Krol, who previewed the figure at Walt Disney Imagineering's Glendale R&D lab before the Disneyland debut, reported that Disney built the effect around a 3D-printed shell and a front-projected image mapped to the character.
The installation brings a November 2025 Walt Disney Imagineering R&D concept into a working ride scene. Walt Disney Imagineering previewed the broader technique as a way to give Audio-Animatronics figures more expressive faces while keeping a physical character in the set.
Why the Reopening Stands Out
Pirates is one of Disneyland's signature indoor rides: an any-height, roughly 15-minute boat ride through New Orleans Square, with the original 1967 version still carrying the pacing and scale that shaped later Disney attractions.
The return gives Disneyland another high-capacity indoor ride during the resort's 70th anniversary summer. It also puts a new piece of Imagineering R&D in front of everyday guests after months of lab previews.
Open the CrowdLevels Disneyland Park live data.
Sources: Disney Parks on X, CrowdLevels live Disneyland Park data, CrowdLevels daily Pirates of the Caribbean data, CrowdLevels hourly Pirates of the Caribbean data, CrowdLevels downtime data, TechRadar, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Disneyland Resort.
Image credit: Disneyland Resort.