The ride tells the story of a band of pirates in the West Indies islands around the Caribbean Sea in the 17th and 18th centuries with the saga of their voyages, troubles, and exploits.

A different ride influenced by visitors' familiarity with the worldwide success of the feature film series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure, opened at the Shanghai Disneyland Park in 2016.

Opening on March 18, 1967, the Disneyland version of Pirates of the Caribbean was the last ride that Walt Disney himself participated in designing, debuting three months after his death.

[5] The ride's passenger carrying boats are very similar to those in a patent assigned to Walt Disney Productions, but filed by Edgar A. Morgan, one of the founders of Arrow Development.

[1] The debut of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 1971 brought many popular rides from Disneyland to the East Coast, but Pirates of the Caribbean was not among them.

[9] The opening of the Disney Gallery in 1987 also coincided with the ride's outside queue area being completely redone to improve traffic flows.

A bridge walkway was built in front of the entrance to allow crowds to pass through New Orleans Square without causing traffic jams with the guests waiting in line for the ride.

[10][11] Further details of the history and behind the scenes of the attraction were chronicled in the 2005 book, Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies by Jason Surrell.

[12] After a second plunge further into the depths of an underground grotto known as Dead Man's Cove, guests behold the skeletal remains of an unfortunate band of pirates, guarding their loot and treasure with macabre delight.

As guests continue through an empty, dark tunnel, two ominous voices boom from above warning of the cursed treasure and what lies ahead.

[12] Once guests are out of the tunnel, cannonballs whistle overhead and explosions throw water into the air – a fierce battle in the Caribbean between a marauding pirate galleon, the Wicked Wench, and a Spanish fortress is in full swing.

The first sight is the town square, where some pirates have kidnapped the mayor, Carlos (voiced by Paul Frees), and threaten to drown him in a well if he does not divulge the location of the treasure.

A small dog just out of the prisoners' reach holds the key to their escape in his teeth; he seems all but immune to the pleas of the pirates trying to coax him closer.

Timbers are smoldering and cracking overhead as riders sail through a storage room filled with gunpowder, cannonballs, and rum-filled, gun-shooting pirates continue singing.

A shootout between the inebriated crew and captain of the pirate ship in a flaming ammunition warehouse threatens to demolish the entire village.

[9] At the load area of Pirates' Cove, guests board boats to escape the fortress under siege through a series of tunnels leading out to the bay.

The ride continues as guests pass through a town being ransacked and see a woman shouting down to her husband who is being dunked multiple times into a well in an attempt to get information from him on the location of Captain Jack Sparrow and the treasure.

Jack Sparrow, having used the key stolen from the Pooped Pirate to open the door, drinks rum and sings "Yo Ho" in victory.

The Barker Bird that guarded the entrance of the Magic Kingdom's version was originally installed in the unloading area when the ride opened in 1973.

However, issues with crowd control and congestion in the unloading area led to it being moved outside of the entrance in 1975, and the 2006 refurbishment relocated the Barker Bird to the World of Disney store until 2012.

[9] On August 11, 2024, at D23 2024, Disney announced the planned 2025 opening of a new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed tavern featuring a restored Barker Bird in Adventureland at the Magic Kingdom.

The "Pooped/Gluttonous Pirate" now held a treasure map in his lap and a magnifying glass in one hand, and other modifications were made to the ride's lighting, audio, dialogue and effects.

The Disneyland Paris version reopened on July 24, 2017, with the changes, while also incorporating the animatronic of Captain Barbossa and projected images of Davy Jones and Blackbeard.

[33][34][35] The June 2018 refurbishment at Disneyland also included three changes to the tunnel scene following the treasure room: the mist waterfall (and Davy Jones/Blackbeard narration) was removed entirely, the original 1967 narration by Paul Frees was reinstated, and a scene was added at the end of the cave, depicting a skeleton transforming into a live pirate as the boat passes by.

[36] In 2003, Disney released Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a feature film inspired by the ride starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in an Oscar-nominated performance.

Worlds based on the Pirates of the Caribbean films appear in the Square Enix games Kingdom Hearts II and III.

In 2000, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold opened at DisneyQuest at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort.

One obvious homage is the prison scene in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, in which the player needs to retrieve the cell key from a dog using a bone.