George is Real!!!

[swimasb]

I was in the parks in December and I was wearing my "I Believe in George" shirt. Even though I was frigid, I felt the need to show it off while in line for PotC. When we got near the entrance to the indoor queque, Edwin, a cast member, was looking around my shirt for any special clues. Eventually he just looked at me and asked if that was what he thought it was. I said yep and he was kind of like, wow..... He then called another passing Cast Member to look at my shirt and then when I was walking in, he started just kind of shaking his head and said, "So do we, so do we". (This pretty much made my day) But, while we were on the ride, when I had made it into the burning town scene, just before the jail, we hit an unmoving line of boats. After we sat their for a few minutes, with the usual "Stay in your boats, it'll be working any time now" messages, they announced that they would have to shut the entire ride off and restart it, starting with the jets! Luckily, restarting the jets seemed to work, since we started moving again in about 10-15 minutes, but I sure do believe in George now!!!
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Doing the impossible is pretty fun - Walt Disney

[ericpabear]

Man, I have no clue to which you speak. Fill me in, enlighten me.

[kray]

I don't have a clue either.

Please, do tell.

[jahosifatz]

George, mind your manners.

[swimasb]

George was a construction worker in PotC in WDW while it was being built, but he was crushed by a column and died. The story goes that George now haunts the attraction, and as such, the Cast Members tell George good morning and good night each day before and after they start up and shut down the ride. It is also said that if you yell, I don't believe in George, or something to that effect, that he will somehow stop/break/shut down the entire ride.
_________________
Doing the impossible is pretty fun - Walt Disney

[ericpabear]

I Googled the subject, and found this.

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/MagicKingdom/Secrets/AL/Pirates.html

24. Each day when the cast members arrive at Pirates of the Carribean, they must say hello to George, the resident ghost. If a cast member fails to say hi, or if someone goes on the ride and repeats, "George isn't real," then the ride will break down.
REPORTED: Lindsay 12 FEB 99
The first ride I went on with one of my friends was the Pirates of the Carribean. The whole entire time we had chanted, "George isn't real." The ride never broke down, nor did the operators have any clue as to what we were talking about.
UPDATE: S. Ryan 11 SEP 99
There is a ghost who haunts the Pirates of the Carribbean building, however, nobody has to say hi to him, and he definately does not cause the ride to break down. If anything, he actually tries to help the cast members. "George" is the ghost of a maintenance man who was killed inside the building when a support beam fell and crushed him.
CONFIRMED: anon 30 AUG 99
George on Pirates of the Caribean is real. We asked the cast member about him when we were there last time and he said "Which George the cast member or the Ghost?" I was supprised to hear this. Then just to test it we kept saying/thinking George was not real. Sure enough the ride got jammed up in the jail area and all the other boats kept running into us and eachother. They even ran into us as we got into the unloading area. Scary. I know that next time I go I will definately say hi to George.
CONFIRMED: Ry Ogron and Mike Crowell 06 OCT 99
I don't mean to dissalusion you but I have been to Disney World every summer for the last six years and have ridden Pirates many times and there has only been once when the boat hasn't got jammed and shunted in the jail area, right up untill unloading. I think this has more to do with the amount of boats on the ride than you thinking of George.
UPDATE: Axel 14 JUN 01
I am a Disney World Attractions cast member that can confirm the story of the George the Ghost on Pirates as we call it. Long story short he was a Imagineer that built the tracks for the ride and died on the ride. I will not tell anymore of this very complicated and secret story. He did design a secret area on the ride to hide, when stressed. The ride does break down if we do not say goodnight George after closing everynight, if we do forget the next day if a guest says I dont believe in George, it will and has broke down. The rest I will take with me to a grave, or you need to be a pirate for the carribean to learn the true secret behind the myth that is George.
UPDATE: anon 25 MAR 02
George is indeed real, and was an engineer working on the POC building, when a beam collapsed and killed him. Thus, he haunts the building where he died, but is a friendly ghost and his intent is always to help the CM's, unless somebody purposely gets him mad.
CONFIRMED: Jennifer Dubin- Future CM 31 MAR 02
I work at Disney World right now, and I operate Pirates of the Caribbean. George was a worker on the ride when it was built. He was involved in construction mainly. He was also close friends with Walt and Roy and had a close history with them. Two of the pirates have his face. In the Burning City scene, on the right hand side, there is a tower with one window. This is the tallest onstage point throughout the ride. This is George's Tower. He was up there to survey the Burning City (which was his favorite scene), and in coming down the ladder, he lost his balance and fell. The fall is the equivalent of four and a half stories. That is how he died. For any cast member to climb the ladder is an automatic termination because of the danger. We do not say hello or goodmorning to George in the morning, we say goodnight to him after we close. On mornings which the night before was missing his goodnight salutations, no more than 3 full cycles of boats have been completed before an E-stop, or and Automatic Power Disconnect. He is real, he isn't mean or haunting, but he can be mischevious. When walkin backstage by yourself, the plastic boards you walk on, you can feel someone walking behind you. If you're running he runs. It's not all the time, but it does happen. Not all E-stops and APDs are George though. The ride is quite tempermental herself. She has been operating since Dec 15, 1973 so she's old, which is why now, the ride is going under renovation until July. Another thing about George. He has a door that can be seen from the Unload station. If it is open you can see flames from behind the jail scene, and having George's door open will stop the ride. No one is ever back there, not even Maint. or MGNT. and yet the door sometimes get's opened. The ride has never even survived one full cycle of boats when George's door is open. He really doesn't care about guest going through the ride saying/thinking "George isn't real" he only cares about the cast members, cause we're the ones he is trusting to run the ride. So think it all you want. George isn't going to APD for you.
UPDATE: Kalyani 28 FEB 06

[swimasb]

That last one actually fits well into my dad's theory. He figured that the cast member who noticed my shirt talked to had talked to some other cast members and that it was one of them who made the crippling statement. Creepy....
_________________
Doing the impossible is pretty fun - Walt Disney