Sparrow, Barbossa coming to PotC

The theme park ride inspired the movie — now the movie is inspiring the ride. Pirates of the Caribbean park adventure is adding new characters and features from the "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" movie and debuting when the next adventure begins

in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Both the Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida will close the attraction in March to complete the updates in time for the opening of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" on July 7. The attraction will re-open at Disneyland on June 24 and in Florida's Magic Kingdom on July 7. The attraction will feature the addition of two of Hollywood's most infamous buccaneers, Captain Jack Sparrow and his nemesis Barbossa.

Woven into some of the attraction's most memorable scenes, the rival swashbucklers will be seen interacting with some of the more familiar Audio-Animatronics buccaneers found inside the ride-thru adventure. Also making a guest appearance is the ghostly Davy Jones from the second movie in the series, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." But new characters are only the beginning. New special effects will also be added to enhance the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme park experience.

Created under the direct creative supervision of Walt Disney himself, Pirates of the Caribbean is the quintessential Disney theme park adventure, a swashbuckling voyage that transports guests back to the days when pirates and privateers roamed the Spanish Main. Starring a comical cast of rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves, the world-famous attraction sends guests of all ages on a boat ride through mysterious caverns where "Dead men tell no tales" and then into a colonial era Caribbean seaport under siege by a band of fun-loving pirates. The attraction's jaunty theme song, "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)," sets the show's light tone with its tongue-in-cheek depiction of high-seas lawlessness.

The original incarnation of Pirates of the Caribbean premiered on March 18, 1967, in New Orleans Square at Disneyland in California. Featuring more than 120 Audio-Animatronics performers, lavishly decorated sets and special effects, it's considered to be one of the most spectacular and enduring attractions ever created for a theme park. With its setting revised slightly to fit a Caribbean Plaza location in Adventureland, the attraction opened to guests at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom on December 15, 1973. More than 500 million people have experienced the rollicking fun of Pirates of the Caribbean in California and Florida over the past 39 years.