The lights came on in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean on Saturday night, and if you have ever been on that ride, you know that is not supposed to happen.
An alarm started going off inside the show building at Disneyland around 6:20 p.m. The work lights came up over the scenes, the boats kept moving, and everyone already on board rode the rest of the way through the attraction in full light before stepping off at the dock like normal. Once every boat was empty, Pirates closed. Blue Bayou, the restaurant tucked inside the same building, was evacuated.
The lights just came on on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland and the alarm started going off
— Matt Desmond (@DisneyScoopGuy) September 12, 2026
What It Looks Like With The Lights Up
Pirates is designed to be seen in the dark. Take that away and the whole thing changes. The scenes stop being a Caribbean port at night and start being a big warehouse with a river running through it, and you can see the track, the rigging and the machinery that makes the pirates move. Three videos shot from a boat caught it, lights blazing, alarm going the whole time.
It is a strange thing to float through. You are still in the boat, the ride is still carrying you along, and none of it is hiding anymore.
Dinner Got Interrupted, Twice
Blue Bayou is the restaurant with the tables right on the bayou scene boats pass at the start of the ride, lanterns and fireflies and all of it. Same building, same alarm. Guests were cleared out.
Then it reopened. Tables got seated again. And about an hour and forty minutes later, around 8 p.m., the alarm went off a second time and Blue Bayou was emptied all over again, with the noise carrying out across New Orleans Square. Word of the second one reached us roughly seven minutes after it happened, from someone eating there when it did.
A friend who was eating at Blue Bayou after it reopened just told me that they evacuated Blue Bayou again 7 minutes ago and the alarm is going off again in New Orleans Square at Disneyland
— Matt Desmond (@DisneyScoopGuy) September 12, 2026
Spare a thought for whoever got that second seating. Blue Bayou is one of the toughest reservations at the resort, people book it weeks out, and these diners walked in after the first evacuation only to get walked right back out.
It was a rough night for an attraction having a big year. Pirates reopened from a long refurbishment with a new animatronic that got attention well outside the usual theme park crowd.
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