Mermaid Skeleton in Pirates of the Caribbean

[JerseyJanice]

I never noticed this skeleton before, but my 30-something year-old nephew was traumatized by it for his 2 year-old daughter. She saw it and wanted to know if it was Ariel.

Later in the trip, someone suggested going on the Haunted Mansion. My nephew's answer was that seeing the skeletons on Pirates was bad enough, especially the mermaid one, and he wasn't taking her into a whole house full of them. LOL!

 

[mesaboy2]

I never noticed this skeleton before, but my 30-something year-old nephew was traumatized by it for his 2 year-old daughter. She saw it and wanted to know if it was Ariel.

Later in the trip, someone suggested going on the Haunted Mansion. My nephew's answer was that seeing the skeletons on Pirates was bad enough, especially the mermaid one, and he wasn't taking her into a whole house full of them. LOL!

Other than a skeletal hand and forearm trying to (humorously) get out of a coffin, I struggle to think of another physical skeleton that appears in HM. The one or two other instances I can think of are more ghostly in appearance.

 

[MommaBerd]

If his 2-yr old daughter noticed the skeleton is of a mermaid, that is impressive. She is very observant!

 

[JerseyJanice]

There is the part with the pictures on the wall where you see their skeletons when the lightning flashes.

But there are none in HM that are as graphic as the mermaid skeleton in Pirates.

 

[mesaboy2]

There is the part with the pictures on the wall where you see their skeletons when the lightning flashes.

But there are none in HM that are as graphic as the mermaid skeleton in Pirates.

Agreed.

 

[JerseyJanice]

If his 2-yr old daughter noticed the skeleton is of a mermaid, that is impressive. She is very observant!

Toward the beginning of the ride, the mermaid skeleton is lying in a wrecked boat in a scene with other skeletons on the left side of your boat.

 

[Klayfish]

Yes, we joke all the time that it's Ariel.

Shame that it was that big of a deal to him that he would refuse to go in HM.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Wow. How about explaining Ariel is human now.

 

[bumbershoot]

I thought it was pretty questionable to put that in a no-height-req ride given the Disney mermaid franchise. Few 2 year olds will have seen the Pirates with the evil mermaids, after all.

ETA: I feel like I should mention that my kid saw POTC years before we showed him Little Mermaid. His personality is funny, and he dealt with the stuff in POTC better than the emotional stuff and Ursula etc in LM. Crazy kid. (As in, DS was 3 when we showed him Pirates 1)

So I wouldn't judge anyone for showing Pirates 3 or whichever one it was to a bitty kid, or taking a bitty on pirates, but I do judge Disney for adding the skeleton. They should have thought about it for 2 seconds.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Yes, we joke all the time that it's Ariel.

Shame that it was that big of a deal to him that he would refuse to go in HM.

He was worried that if HM scared her a lot, she wouldn't want to go on anything else.

 

[AllEar2017]

He was worried that if HM scared her a lot, she wouldn't want to go on anything else.

Not a terrible idea! My kids were afraid of Pirates. I convinced them HM would be ok bc in my memory, HM was more silly than scary. But they were terrified on that as well!

 

[MDIME]

I never noticed this skeleton before, but my 30-something year-old nephew was traumatized by it for his 2 year-old daughter. She saw it and wanted to know if it was Ariel.

Later in the trip, someone suggested going on the Haunted Mansion. My nephew's answer was that seeing the skeletons on Pirates was bad enough, especially the mermaid one, and he wasn't taking her into a whole house full of them. LOL!

How can he be traumatized “for” her?

 

[JerseyJanice]

How can he be traumatized “for” her?

LOL! He got really upset that she thought Ariel had been turned into a skeleton. The characters are very real to her.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Wow. How about explaining Ariel is human now.

Or reminding her that the Real Little Mermaid in the tale actually turns into sea foam?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The ride has incorporated a lot of elements from the Pirate's of the Caribbean movies at this point. I would, kind of, assume there would be skeletons in it. I think Disney crosses age-appropriate lines all the time (case in point, marketing PG-13 Star Wars movies to much younger children through ads and merchandising). At some point, doesn't the parent have to take responsibility for the choices they make for their children? My DS9 has been going to WDW since he was 1 and just rode HM this past summer because he said he felt he could now handle it. I don't mean to sound like a Disney apologist here, but, I don't rely on Disney to tell me what is and isn't appropriate for my kid. A little research prior to exposing your child to something can go a long way.

 

[crazedprincess]

LOL! He got really upset that she thought Ariel had been turned into a skeleton. The characters are very real to her.

The characters ARE real!

I agree with the poster above who said that she was amazed that a 2 year old could be that observant! I was impressed too that she put 2 and 2 together that not only was it a skeleton, meaning that it was a dead person, but that it was a MERMAID! Wowzers!

 

[cgattis]

Is the underwater evil mermaid effect no longer working? We haven't seen it in a while

 

[Bound and Rebound]

Is the underwater evil mermaid effect no longer working? We haven't seen it in a while

It died and they put the corpse on the beach

 

[kandb]

I think this is an important time to explain to a child that some things are "make believe". I never pushed my children to go onto anything that scared them but I would always explain the difference of "real" and "make believe".

 

[mamamelody2]

I noticed the mermaid skeleton, but never made any connection to Ariel.