Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold was an interactive arcade game located at DisneyQuest from 2000 to 2017. The interactive attraction took themes and inspiration from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at the Walt Disney World Resort. Over the years DisneyQuest fell out of favor with guests and eventually on July 2, 2017, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold would close along with DisneyQuest. The game was notable for replacing the Hercules in the Underworld arcade game/attraction.
Background[]
In the late 1990s, Disney wanted to expand their parks. Instead of building new parks, the idea was to build small regional parks called DisneyQuest which would be housed in a five-story, 100,000-square-foot building.
The first DisneyQuest opened at Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs) on June 19, 1998, with plans to open more locations. The second location opened in Chicago, Illinois on June 16, 1999, and would later close on September 4, 2001. By then, the DisneyQuest parks were losing their novelty as the location in Chicago was facing low attendance issues.
To try to add more variety to the parks, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold opened at the DisneyQuest in Florida in 2000 and was also exported to Chicago's location as well. The attraction was revolutionary as it allowed guests to interact with the ride and played a video game. This still could not save declining attendance numbers at Chicago's location and Disney gave up on updating DisneyQuest, with the planned Philadelphia location scheduled to open in 2000 cancelled.
The original DisneyQuest location in Florida eventually closed on July 2, 2017, and was later demolished to make way for a new attraction called the NBA Experience, which would officially open to the public on August 12, 2019.
Gameplay[]
The attraction could have seven guests. Six would fire the cannons and one would helm the boat. Guests who were using the cannons would fire at other pirates' ships and get points for every hit. Starting off with a narrative sequence where Jolly Roger the Ghost Pirate would explain the various roles that the guests had to do. The attraction was divided up into three parts. The attraction would start the "burning island" where guests would fight off other pirate ships while at the same time try to navigate through a canal. The attraction would then move onto "volcano island". During this sequence, guests would have to fire back at other pirate ships but could score bonus points by firing onto treasure troves on the island. The sequence had two possible endings. If the score was high enough, the captain would discover a waterfall or the volcano would blow. Either scenario would send the players back to the main area. The final sequence would take players to "Fort Island" and there they would fire upon a fort while at the same time fighting off a large ship. There are no plans to port this game to any consoles despite the rise of VR.
External links[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold on the Lost Media Wiki
