Disneyland POTC v. WDW POTC

Fable McCloud

Fable McCloud

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, after hearing time and time again how much better the Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean is, I decided to find a ride-through video on YouTube.

I really enjoyed the entire beginning of the ride. The restaurant inside the ride (holy cow great idea!), the theming of the bayou/swamp area, the treasure cove before the ride really gets going...it's kinda nice. It sort of brings everything together.

I also noticed that the ride feels longer and not as rushed and that all their effects seemed to be working...Also, no mermaid song or really any reference to the 4th film, except for a (working) Blackbeard mist projection.

Wat does everyone else think? Which ride is the superior in your opinion? Why?
 
AndyS2992

AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
Yep, California's is much better, It's longer, has more drops, maintained a hell of a lot better. Just everything is better. I do like WDW's version but if they tore it out and rebuilt it just like California's then I wouldn't complain.

However if you like California's, then you'll love Disneyland Paris's version. It's the same as California, but still in it's original state. Not a single Jack Sparrow to be seen :D
 
180º

180º

Well-Known Member
Andy, you may be thinking of Tokyo's POTC. Disneyland Paris has a far different version, though it too is pretty amazing. ;)
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
It's a shame WDI took out so many of the things that made the WDW version special in 2006. The barker bird and cannon effects out front, the Spanish soldier's dialogue in the queue, ALL the figures and effects in the Treasure Room scene, and now you can't even see the indoor queue with the skeletons playing chess unless you have a FP+ reservation.

The biggest improvement to the area in the last 10 years was not to the ride itself, but the addition of Pirate's League. That's actually well done for what it is and the CMs are particularily amusing in their roles.
 
James122

James122

Well-Known Member
DL's is much better by a longshot. WDW has the better queue, but the ride itself doesn't hold a candle to its older west coast sibling. As much as people like to compare the attractions at DL and MK, this seems to be an opinion that the vast majority agree on. I dare say you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's ridden both versions and claims that Florida's is better.

I hear the Paris version is very nice too.
 
FettFan

FettFan

Well-Known Member
Disneyland's POTC is the better ride of the North American versions.

WDW's POTC has the better theming of the North American versions, seeing as how it's set inside a Spanish Caribbean fort, instead of New Orleans which, in case you haven't noticed, is over a thousand miles away from the Caribbean.
 
cheezbat

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
DLs wins hands down. The MK is a cheap version.

Growing up going to WDW I thought it was the greatest thing ever...but once I rode DL's, everything changed. No comparison.
 
ImagineerDude

ImagineerDude

Well-Known Member
Having ridden both WDW's and DL's I may be in the minority to say I like MK's better. DL's was great for a little while, but after a while I was constantly checking the time because we "had" to get to the next thing (our DL trip was a rushed, crowded, and poorly planned...we had other family leading the way). Queue in Florida is better and used to always have a short wait time (pre-FP). I want to go back to DL because truthfully our experience there wasn't great. In fact, the year we went to DL we went to WDW twice to "make up for it" I guess. Trying to talk the family into either this summer or the next.
 
Tinkerfan4ever

Tinkerfan4ever

Well-Known Member
The que at DW is better, but rides... Disneyland wins that hands down. Disney World Pirates was probably my favorite ride until I went to Disneyland. It was the one ride that I had to make sure we did on the last day because I liked it so much. It is so much longer, better themed, and everything was working! I still like DW Pirates, (would like it better if everything worked), but Disneyland wins this one.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
In Disneyland Paris the ride is an epic experience and there is even a surrounding pirate sub-land that crosses into Fantasyland.

Tokyo Disneyland is interesting as I have never known the Disneyland attraction without the bridge out front.

Magic Kingdom has the second themed queue (I argue that The Haunted Mansion has the first) that really sets the tone well. It's also interesting because the loved bayou and caverns were not so loved by WED Enterprises in the 1970s.
 
StarWarsGirl

StarWarsGirl

Well-Known Member
Definitely the DL version. Several extra scenes, extra drops, overall in better condition...every time I ride the WDW version, I feel like it's an abbreviation of the greatness that is the DL version. The only thing superior about the WDW is the queue line.

Also, the Blue Bayou has really good food. :)
 
180º

180º

Well-Known Member
FettFan said:
Disneyland's POTC is the better ride of the North American versions.

WDW's POTC has the better theming of the North American versions, seeing as how it's set inside a Spanish Caribbean fort, instead of New Orleans which, in case you haven't noticed, is over a thousand miles away from the Caribbean.
Click to expand...
Not so fast—WDW's theming may be more on-the-nose, but don't underestimate the brilliance of Disneyland's time travel narrative.
http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2011/08/fire-in-night-pre-eminent-attraction-as.html?m=1
 
FettFan

FettFan

Well-Known Member
180º said:
Not so fast—WDW's theming may be more on-the-nose, but don't underestimate the brilliance of Disneyland's time travel narrative.
http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2011/08/fire-in-night-pre-eminent-attraction-as.html?m=1
Click to expand...

Yeah, time travel is one thing, but unless they are going to throw in an AA David Tennant to explain that the boats are actually engineered from spare TARDIS parts, there's still no reason for them to transport the riders across space as well.
If you travel back to the Golden Age of Piracy in New Orleans....all you'd find there would be mud and mosquitoes.
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
DL's version is superior than WDW's but I think people tend to overplay it. I think the long Bayou scene and the first half of the caverns (before the skeleton) are kinda boring actually, the second drop doesn't add anything special and most of the rest of the ride is basically the same scenes as WDW except longer at DL (which is a good thing, mind you, I'm not disputing). When you consider that WDW's queue is superior, I don't think the difference in overall ride experience is as dramatic as people claim.
 
180º

180º

Well-Known Member
FettFan said:
Yeah, time travel is one thing, but unless they are going to throw in an AA David Tennant to explain that the boats are actually engineered from spare TARDIS parts, there's still no reason for them to transport the riders across space as well.
If you travel back to the Golden Age of Piracy in New Orleans....all you'd find there would be mud and mosquitoes.
Click to expand...
As I said, Disneyland's POTC is many things, but on-the-nose, it is not. I highly recommend reading that blog post I linked above. Also read Foxx's companion piece, "In Defense of the Florida Pirates," for the other point of view.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
WDW's has a better queue, that's about it. Otherwise Disneyland wins. The poor maintenance at WDW further ruins things as well. WDW's was rushed to be built when people complained that WDW didn't have a POTC upon opening, so it ended up half assed as a result (and we lost WRE to add insult to injury).

For a no compromise experience, I was lucky to have visited Disneyland Paris twice as a child and experience their version of POTC, theirs wins against all the others IMHO. Takes the best aspects of both WDW's and Disneyland's, has none of their downsides and plusses the ride even further. It's what WDW's should have been instead of the rushed one we ended up with.
 

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