The Blue Hat

In 2007 I had taken a trip to Walt Disney World with my six year old son. It was our first family vacation since my husband had passed way, and so I wanted to make sure this vacation was as memorable and fun as possible for my son.

My son’s favorite movie at the time was ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and as a result we spent many hours in Fantasy Land. Time after time my son insisted on returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, each time he seemed more eager than the last.

The pirate animatronics that are featured on the ride looked incredibly realistic, with no small detail overlooked. In honor of the films new pirates were added, including Captain Jack Sparrow and other pirate characters. One of these animatronics in particular caught my son’s eye. This pirate was featured in the town square portion of the ride, leaning against the well in the center of the plaza. With the exception of Jack Sparrow, this pirate seemed to have a more advanced range of motion than the other pirates. His eyes watched the boats as they passed through the scene and he took off his blue hat and winked at my son, while running his hand through his dark brown beard.

Each time we passed through the ride the same thing happened over and over. The pirate with the blue hat would wink at my son as he tipped his hat and smiled. Since I had been through the ride so many times I was rather jaded by the aesthetics and no longer enchanted, unlike my son, who never lost his enthusiasm.

At the end of the ride we exited our boat and walked into the adjoining gift shop with pirate theme souvenirs filling every shelf. My son insisted on getting a pirate hat to wear, but not just any pirate hat, he wanted a blue one.

Despite the large array of hats to choose from I couldn’t find a blue hat, I couldn’t even find a bare spot on a shelf where the blue hats may have been. I asked my son if he was sure he really wanted a blue hat and he said “Yes. If I want to be the pirate’s friend I need a blue hat! He told me so!”

“When was this?” I asked. Just figuring it was son’s imagination.

“Just now, when we were on the ride. He pointed to his hat and said ‘Wear a blue hat and I’ll find you later.'”

This scared me. This seemed too specific for a child’s imagination running wild, even in Disney World. But I wanted my son to have the best vacation possible, so I continued looking for the blue hat, secretly hoping he’d change his mind and pick something else.

After scouring the shelves looking for a blue hat, and finding none, I asked the cashier if there were any blue hats left in the shop. She looked at me a little confused and told me that in all the months she worked at the park she had never seen a blue hat.

Now I was confused. I told her that it was a shame that they didn’t carry the blue hat, since the pirate on the ride with the blue hat was so realistic and charming.

The look on the cashier’s face still haunts me. She smiled uncomfortably and told me to stay in the shop, she was going to look in the stockroom and see if any blue hats were stored away. Not wanting to disappoint my son I did as she asked and continued to browse the souvenirs, just in case no blue hat could be found.

After a few minutes the shop suddenly filled up with other park guests. During my visit to the park the only time I saw shop’s overflowing with customers is when a ride had broken down.

Curious I asked a nice young woman, who had a son of her own, if a ride had been shut down. She told me yes, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride had been shut down and that it wouldn’t be reopened until the end of the week.

This was very odd to me. Why so long?

The woman continued to say that she had talked to one of the Disney cast members who worked on the ride, and he had told her that the ride was closed due to maintenance.

Now I was very confused. I had just been on the ride, in fact, I had been on the ride all day and there were no signs of malfunction or any other problem.

The cashier returned with two park security officers, approached me and my son. They quietly pulled us off to the side and began asking us bizarre questions. They asked how long we’ve been at the park, when we first saw the blue hatted pirate and if we noticed anything out of the ordinary. I said everything seemed fine and we were having a wonderful time. Before I ask them what was going on, my son suddenly spoke up, tugging on my shirt. “Look mom! There goes the blue pirate!”

I turned and looked where my son was pointing, expecting to see the animatronic being carted out on a trolley but instead I saw a man dressed as a pirate being escorted out of the park by two police officers in hand cuffs.

The pirate wasn’t part of the ride. He was a full grown man, and he had been watching my son the whole time…