Mouse Extra

So what is The Pirate’s League?  No, it’s not a bunch of smelly fugitives playing baseball.  It’s Disney World’s latest attempt to cash in on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and connect to young boys in the same lucrative way they have connected with girls through the Princesses franchise.  According to many reports, this new Magic Kingdom spot will try and create more pirates to plunder the Mouse.  Here is the story from wdwmagic.com.

A new “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique” type experience is headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop area aimed at providing boys with an alternative to the mainly girl-orientated Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. The new “Pirates League” will be built in the section of the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop that closed some years ago. The experience is less hair and makeup, and more about costume and accessories, including some pirate and swordsmanship training. The experience is set to open around June/July 2009. More details should surface in the next few weeks including costs and a more precise opening date.

With parents bringing their little princesses in droves to shovel out unspeakable amounts of money at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique I can only imagine that Disney suits must spend countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how to also cash in on the other gender as well.  But it has not been nearly as easy.  Pirates are great, but pirates are fading somewhat as well.  Is there enough interest left in Captain Jack Sparrow for Disney to make the registers ring?

I think the trick here will be the experience.  Disney has done a good job with the Pirate Tutorial and the Jedi Training Academy.  I know my nephew loves them both.  This idea comes down to the cast members that will be initiating the new pirates.  If they are inconsistent, this could flop.  If they are as good as we know Disney’s cast members can be, this will be a huge hit.  All in all, I like this idea.