How did Captain Hook lose his hand? According to him, Peter Pan cut it off and fed it to the crocodile. But maybe Captain Hook really is a codfish. Because I’m pretty sure that Captain Hook’s hook is a fake disability.
It wouldn’t be the first time Peter Pan’s Flight has been caught faking (like with these painted shadows). I recently noticed something odd about Captain Hook’s hook. Check out these images from Walt Disney World:
It’s tough to take good dark ride pictures unless you use the forbidden photo flash. But this should be familiar. It’s Captain Hook dueling Peter Pan on the yardarm, holding his sword in his right hand.
The second picture is the finale, with Hook balancing precariously on the Crocodile. It’s clear from both of these shots that Captain Hook’s hook is on his left hand.
Meanwhile, in Disneyland…
If we take a quick 4-hour plane trip over to Anaheim, we’ll see pretty much the same scenes. Only something’s different.
It’s basically the same scene as in Walt Disney World, but now the sword is in the left hand and Captain Hook’s hook is on his right.
Crocodiles often cause confusion in the Magic Kingdom. In the big Crocodile finale, we again see Captain Hook’s hook on his right hand. His left is fully intact (and somehow his pants have changed from purple to red and his belt buckle is flipped).
Something is clearly fishy with Captain Hook’s workman’s comp claim. Who’s insuring this guy? And whatever happened to due diligence?
At least each coast is consistent. Oh wait, here’s the mural from Anaheim’s loading area:
Whoops. We’re back to the hook on the left hand. And in case you were wondering which coast has it right, here’s a still from the movie:
Looks like we finally found something that Walt Disney World does better than Disneyland!
Although as Frank Thomas (Hook’s original animator) will testify, even Captain Hook’s hook in the movie is not consistent.
Now that I think about it, Hook does appear in one other spot in the ride: In miniature, onboard the Jolly Roger, firing his cannon at you. Could that hand be the tie-breaker? I’ll leave it to you to find out.
Photo Credits from the Awesome Folks at Flickr:
WDW Croc: Express Monorail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/expressmonorail/2700605934/
WDW Duel: Hyku: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/538985224/
DL Duel: Loren Javier: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/3850454273
DL Croc: Loren Javier: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/3496352567/
DL Mural: ATIS547: http://www.flickr.com/photos/albaum/2510779824
I am a Disneyland Cast Member & besides being a big fan of Peter Pan’s flight, I also worked on that attraction. So in the movie Hook’s hook is on his left hand. On the attraction they switched hands on purpose. When Hook & Pan are dueling, Hooks back would be facing you if he was sword fighting with the sword in his right hand. They switched it so you get a good view of him & to keep continuity throughout the attraction they let it remain on his tight hand at the finale.
Great info, Never Fairy! I could not remember which hand was the hook in the book (but I agree that the book is very awesome).
And DisneyBabies, I’m glad there are others out there who love Peter Pan’s Flight. It’s far and away the best Fantasyland dark ride for my money.
And the truth is that the “wrong” one is correct, if one goes by the original story by J.M. Barrie.
Yep, Disney changed the hand that the hook is on! If you haven’t read the ‘real thing’ – please do so! You’ll find that Disney nissed the mark on a lot of the finer nuances of it. Barrie does such a great job of mixing the darkness and the whimsy, the sweet and the bittersweet. Plus, Captain Hook is not a ‘bumbler’ AT ALL as he is in Disney.
And here are two other cool Pan books worth reading –
A story based on Barrie’s own idea for more:
Click!
And a great ‘What if?’ adventure (but it’s not for the kids!): Click!
BELIEVE!
Hysterical! And one of my favorite rides, too!
I admit I’m a little proud of this one. But surely the Imagineers know… right???
Shane- what a fantastic discovery! And after all these years, I’ve never heard of anyone noticing this before now. Nicccccccceeee.
Yea I guess that’s never a good thing. Any chance that those were originally planned to be used with mirrors? Now there’s an excuse.
Thanks for the love, WDWDisneyDiva!
Another thing that’s odd to me is that Hook’s pose while dueling Pan is pretty much the same on both coasts, but in WDW he’s leading with his hook rather than his sword. Seems like an odd choice.
And Phil, that line usually means you’re about to be reamed thru the heart by Dustin Hoffman.
Awesome! Looky looky, Anaheim got snookied!
haha oh my gosh I have NEVER noticed in all my trips that the hook switches hands. That is HILARIOUS!
love your blog! super cute!
– Disney Diva