{"id":53,"date":"2012-06-14T16:49:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T16:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2014-06-11T15:05:01","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T15:05:01","slug":"pirates-of-the-caribbean-chess-stalemate-rumor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-chess-stalemate-rumor\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates of the Caribbean Chess Stalemate Rumor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pirates of the Caribbean – Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida: The Chess Board Stalemate Rumor<\/h2>\n

Pirates of the Caribbean is a popular attraction in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The line for this ride has some of the best and most detailed scenery. Part of the line includes a peek-down view into a dungeon cell where two skeletons were playing chess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rumor online was that they were at a stalemate in their game of chess – a funny joke that they died unable to finish the game. Story goes that Imagineer Marc Davis intended for the stalemate in the original art and design of the ride.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Marc Davis Pirates of the Caribbean Chess Board Concept Art
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

We scoured the net to find out if this rumor were true or not, but with little success. A few sites mentioned the rumor, though each offered totally different placement for the chess pieces and no conclusive photos. So on August 27, 2003 we took a friend’s camera with us to the Magic Kingdom in WDW to find out once and for all. <\/p>\n

The original image taken:
\n

\"\"<\/a>

Original photo: August 2003
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

While Marc Davis may have wanted<\/i> a stalemate, the fact is, THE PIRATE CHESS BOARD IS NOT IN STALEMATE<\/b>.<\/p>\n

This started a bit of an obsession. Every time we rode the attraction, we tried to get a shot of the board. In the early years, it was more challenging due to digital camera limitations. So there’s a wide variety of quality to these shots. As Florida residents living about an hour away, we have the opportunity to get there more often than most. (I have to admit, I’ve also gotten pretty good at taking this photo. \ud83d\ude09 It used to take several minutes for me to get the shot. Now I can take it almost without stopping! LOL)<\/p>\n

While we found out that the pieces do in fact move, they do so randomly. A result of cleaning, dusting and the board being bumped or shifted rather than anything intentional. Sadly though, throughout the entire process, over the course of a dozen years, and through a refurb, the fact remains that the chess board is NOT in stalemate<\/b>.<\/p>\n

2003<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

September 2003<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

October 2003<\/p><\/div>\n

2004<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

January 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

March 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

May 2004
\n(This is an example of how pieces get unintentionally moved around)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

June 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

July 2004<\/p><\/div>\n

2005<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

July 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

September 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

October 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

December 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

2006<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

February 2006<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean closed for several months for renovation and refurbishment. Captain Jack Sparrow was added to the attraction as well as some scenery and script changes. It was believed that during the renovation, the chess board would be finally, properly set to be a stalemate. Sadly, this proved NOT to be the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(Post Refurbishment) August 2006<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

October 2006<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

November 2006
\n(Someone tossed a paper item on the board. Sadly this kind of thing happens often.)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

December 2006<\/p><\/div>\n

2007<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

April 2007<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mah 2007<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

December 2007<\/p><\/div>\n

2008<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

January 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

February 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

April 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

May 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

August 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

November 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

December 2008<\/p><\/div>\n

2009<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

January 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

February 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

April 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

August 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Septemeber 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Novembmer 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

2010<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

January 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

March 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

April 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

May 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

June 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

August 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

December 2010
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

2011<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

March 2011
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

April 2011
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

May 2011
\n(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

2012<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

August 2012
(Click image for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

2013<\/h2>\n
\"April<\/a>

April 2013 (Click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"May<\/a>

May 2013 (Click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

2014<\/h2>\n
\"February<\/a>

February 2014
(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"May<\/a>

May 2014
(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"June<\/a>

June 2014
(click for larger)<\/p><\/div>\n

Images and content originally posted on my personal site, GivenEyesToSee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tags: Pirates of the Caribbean, Walt Disney World, Pirates playing chess, Pirates of the Carribean, Pirates of the Carribbean, Pirates of the Caribbean queue, skeletons, pirate skeletons, pirate skeletons playing chess, Marc Davis, concept art, stalemate, chess stalemate, skeletons playing chess, pirates stalemate, pirates chess, wdw, magic kingdom, Adventureland, Disneyworld, pirates ride, pirates attraction, pics of pirate chess, pics of pirates playing chess, pics of pirate chess concept art, photos of pirates playing chess, photos of pirates queue, pirate dungeon, pirate skeletons in dungeon, rumor, urban legend, fun facts, little known disney facts, disney trivia, disney secrets, hidden disney<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pirates of the Caribbean – Walt Disney World, Orlando Florida: The Chess Board Stalemate Rumor Pirates of the Caribbean is a popular attraction in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The line for this ride has some of the best and most detailed scenery. Part of the line includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-53","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefloridaproject.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}