Yo ho, yo ho, a collector's life for me!
Ahoy there! Today is the 50th anniversary of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland! In honor of this milestone, I decided to share the top five items from my personal collection that pay tribute to this amazing ride. These items are not categorized by monetary value, but are a reflection of my five personal favorite POTC items that I own.
#1 ~ Stamped pirate doubloon souvenir from the first time I took my then-high school-sweetheart-and-now-wife on a date to Disneyland back in 2000. This remains on my key chain to this very day and is quite frankly my most prized Disney-related possession.
#2 ~ Robert Olszewski: Pirates of the Caribbean light-up miniature replica. The detail on this piece is absolutely amazing! I can stare at it for hours and visualize myself walking through the line cue, and then travelling through the two ride scene inserts that can be changed and viewed in the back of the ride building. Also, part of the rooftop is removable to reveal a section of the Dream Suite which makes this piece even more special to me as I had the opportunity to stay there overnight back in 2009. Mic drop.
#3 ~ Disneyland 50th Anniversary POTC trinket box and gold-colored doubloon. The top dome of this amazing trinket box encapsulates the image of Marc Davis’ famous ride painting of the Redhead that is often referred to as “the portrait of things to come.” There are many who believe that this painting foreshadows the fate of the Redhead seen auctioned off later in the ride. This trinket box emulates the translucent look of jade with some ornate pirate carving decor. This was a limited edition of 1000 and also came with the gold-colored doubloon that is of the same design the vintage souvenir stamp machine doubloons had (as pictured above in #1). Just to note, most of these trinket boxes that end up for sale on the secondary market do not come with this doubloon, so be careful if you decide to search this item out, and make sure to ask the seller whether or not it is included. It seems as though this doubloon is more often than not kept by its owners when they decide to part with the trinket box itself, making it incredibly difficult to find.
#4 ~ Pirate skeleton with seagull ride scene snow globe. Normally I don’t do snow globes. They always seem to get that annoying air bubble that renders it tacky-looking in my opinion. However, I had to make an exception for this amazing snow globe that happens to be quite rare as well. The pirate skeleton with the seagull nesting on his hat is one of my favorite characters in the entire ride. Ever since I was a little kid this scene always mesmerized me. Also, this snow globe has a blue-dyed oil that is of a higher density than the water so it sits on the bottom. This emulates the actual water from the ride which is an amazing touch! The ornate pirate themed carving on the base and the fact that you can wind it up to hear, “Yo ho (A pirate’s life for me)” play from it’s internal music box simply puts it over the top. I choose to collect things that can transport me back mentally to a specific ride, event, etc. and this snow globe definitely does just that! I am not sure of the event that this snow globe was featured at the park, and I will update this post as I come upon information in the future.
#5 ~ Dead Men Tell No Tales 2003 event souvenir hologram coin. I have loved holograms from childhood, and they fascinate me still. This coin features a hologram of the pirate skeleton atop his treasure hoard depicted in the ride. While I believe this to be a limited edition item, I do not recall the exact details as far as how many were made.
I hope you have enjoyed this peek into my Pirates of the Caribbean top five collectibles. What are some of your prized POTC collectibles? I would love to read about all of them, simply comment below!
