April 20, 2012

Location: Adventureland, Magic Kingdom

I would like to start of by apologizing for having a taco themed week. Let's jump right into it!

We've surprisingly have discussed several spots around Walt Disney World that serve up tacos this week, and today we will be revisiting Tortuga Tavern for the second time this week. On this week's Gamer Tuesday, Pap took us into the room where the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom has an interactive portal and its in this very room that we will be discovering our fun find for the week as well!

As you can see from the picture above Tortuga Tavern was established in 1673, right around the timeframe of when our story takes place this week. Just across the street from Tortuga Tavern is the popular Pirates of the Caribbean (which opened 300 years after Tortuga Tavern was created. While Tortuga (the tavern or the city) weren't present in the original 1973 attraction, the 2003 hit film introduced guests to Tortuga Tavern and it has since been associated with a location for pirates to assemble their crews to take on the high seas.

Just last year, in 2011, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise received its fourth film, On Stranger Tides, which introduced Black Beard (an actual pirate), to the Pirates series. Behind the condiment stand, in the Sorcerers Portal room, you can find a picture of Blackbeard (as seen below). It's what's on the other side of the room that is our true find for the week, however.

As I pointed out earlier, Tortuga Tavern is a location for ordinary people to visit and see if a pirates life for thee. In the films, and in actual taverns back when pirates were the thing of the Caribbean, captains of pirate ships would search for crews within these taverns hoping they'd find a crew that would help them pillage and plunder, but not be smart enough for mutiny. On the opposite side of Blackbeard's mural you can find a window with a book in front of it that looks like this:

As you can see rival pirates, Captain Hector Barbossa and Blackbeard, have set up quarters here looking for their crews for the Black Pearl and the Queen Anne's Revenge. Unfortunately for Barbossa, Captain Jack still has not given up the idea of the Black Pearl belonging to him. To show the crew who is boss he's crossed out Hector Barbossa and thrown in the name of the most popular pirate of them all, Captain Jack Sparrow!