Other headliners at MK include Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and (for reasons unfathomable to me) Peter Pan. At the next level are Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, and Small World (for young families). AK has virtually none of these other people eaters by comparison.
Of course Pirates is very popular, especially when new movies come out, but my point was that EE is THE BIG THING at AK. If it goes down, AK becomes a shadow of itself.
Thus, B Mode EE continues because shutting it down prior to the opening of Avatar makes absolutely 100% zero sense. As is, it eats people, and keeps the park viable. Meanwhile, EE is also an underwhelming embarrassment because its multi-million dollar multi-ton element is in John Travolta mode.
Thus, again, the most likely scenario is a major shutdown after Avatar is up and running. No one can convince me that this isn't the most likely scenario because this scenario makes the most sense. Yeah, rumors and contradictions abound, but the most likely scenario in any conundrum is usually (far more often the not) the scenario that makes the most sense. Oh there may be insidious bean-counters and people who somehow are too lazy to fix the yeti, but that makes far less sense than the scenario as I've been stating it.
I'm starting to feel like the guys who type in at Sports Illustrated.com arguing about who will win the Super Bowl. Until the game is played, it's all pointless speculation. Time to get on with my life.