New Pirates of the Caribbean Animatronic Debuts at Disneyland

Written by Joshua Posted June 26th, 2026

If there were ever a time to fire up the “Be Fair to Florida” campaign bus, today is the day. Walt Disney Imagineering just revealed an incredible new Audio-Animatronic making its debut today at Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

In the latest episode of Great Moments in Walt Disney Imagineering, Joel, an R&D Imagineering executive, explains how his team brought a familiar pirate character to life using projections and a partially articulated mechanical face. Until today, the skeleton has been a static part of the ride for 59 years. Now he is fully alive. Well, kind of. He morphs between a living pirate and a skeleton.

Guests will find him in Scene 11, sitting atop a pile of gold.

Alfredo, another R&D Imagineering executive, explains the character’s backstory. The greedy pirate discovers a cursed gold coin in a treasure chest, which freezes him. Now a skeleton, he drops the coin and is freed from the spell. Then greed gets the better of him again, and the whole thing starts over.

Imagineers hinted that this technology could eventually make its way to other animatronics.

Nop, an R&D Lead, explains that the character combines new and existing technology. Its physical movements rely on tried-and-true mechanics, while its facial features are powered by Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine also powers Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

Imagineers have paired projections with animatronics before, but not like this. The figures on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, along with the previous Frozen Ever After characters, use rear projections. Here, redundant projectors cast the pirate’s expressions from in front.

Read more: Next-Generation Audio-Animatronics Revealed by Walt Disney Imagineering

My favorite moment in the video is when Nop physically moves the pirate’s head. The projectors never miss a beat. It’s a neat trick, but it also shows what happens if something goes wrong with the character, maybe a failed neck motor. The projectors won’t continue aiming at where the head is supposed to be. They adjust to where it actually is. That is a very cool fail-safe. WDI patented the technology.

I’m not sure what, technically, separates this patent from the projected animatronics Universal added to Epic Universe. But we’re all here for both companies giving us this kind of greatness.