Phantom Manor vs Pirates of the Caribbean

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

Better ride?

 

[marni1971]

Both are stunning. And apples to oranges.

 

[cjkeating]

Both are amazing and... in my opinion... better than their US relations. However I connect to Phantom more even though I think Pirates is more impressive.

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

Both are stunning. And apples to oranges.

But which do you prefer?

 

[duder]

It was soul crushing that PM was closed for refurbishment on our only visit to Disneyland Paris. Had a return planned for May 2020.....one day we will be back.

 

[TokyoMiki]

Phantom which doesn't use boats/water as a basic conveyance is the noticeably better attraction, damn near perfect.

Once an attraction relies on water journey it loses points. It's certainly not a death blow by any means but a water conveyance to tell a story is inferior. But Paris Pirates is still stellar all in all.

 

[No Name]

Phantom which doesn't use boats/water as a basic conveyance is the noticeably better attraction, damn near perfect.

Once an attraction relies on water journey it loses points. It's certainly not a death blow by any means but a water conveyance to tell a story is inferior. But Paris Pirates is still stellar all in all.

Why do you find it inferior? What is this beef with water?

 

[marni1971]

Why do you find it inferior? What is this beef with water?

Indeed. An omnimover PotC just wouldn’t be the same.

 

[RoyalFool]

PM is the best disney haunted house in the world, PotC has barely any drop and so is trumped by the California iteration.

So my vote has to go to Phantom Manor.

 

[marni1971]

PotC has barely any drop and so is trumped by the California iteration.

Errr... it has two drops. Both comparable to Anaheim.

 

[RoyalFool]

Errr... it has two drops. Both comparable to Anaheim.

You're Marni so I'm sure you are 100% right - but are there any numbers out there for each drop?

I live in Paris and so do their ride all the time, the first time I went to Cali and was legitimately shocked at how bigger the drop feels there, almost like a splash mountain drop rather than just a gentle "if we do it in the dark maybe it'll seem scarier than it actually is" pussy drop the Paris ride has, the 2nd drop in Paris surely doesn't even count, I've had steeper drops just slipping around in my bath-tub.

 

[marni1971]

You're Marni so I'm sure you are 100% right - but are there any numbers out there for each drop?

Thank you - but I’m not always right!!

Anaheim’s first drop is 15ft, second is 9ft

Paris’s first drop is 15ft, second is 8ft.

Orlandos single drop is 10ft.

I‘d say Anaheim’s first drop feels bigger since you can’t see it. The second due to the subdued lighting and lower water splash down area being illuminated as the focal point.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Thank you - but I’m not always right!!

Anaheim’s first drop is 15ft, second is 9ft

Paris’s first drop is 15ft, second is 8ft.

Orlandos single drop is 10ft.

I‘d say Anaheim’s first drop feels bigger since you can’t see it. The second due to the subdued lighting and lower water splash down area being illuminated as the focal point.

Are they the same angles? Steeper angled drops might feel more extreme.

 

[marni1971]

Are they the same angles? Steeper angled drops might feel more extreme.

True. But I’m sat downstairs at the mo and aren’t about to go and dig out the figures again soon !

 

[Max Duane]

I’ve never been to DLP, but I’m a huge fan of Phantom Manor and all the Haunted Mansion lore. How is Pirates over there though? Like is it an exact clone of the versions at Disneyland or MK, or does it lack the Jack Sparrow stuff? Just wondering if there are any little changes or scenes the other parks don’t have.
(Same goes for Pirates at Tokyo, if anyone wants to take the time to break down some of the key differences for me!)

 

[Max Duane]

DLP Pirates is quite different. The Bayou feels more like a tropical island, with palm trees and sand bars. But there's still a restaurant. Lift is at the beginning, and from the top there's a view of the big pirate battle. You then move around in a circle, past pirates sword fighting and the jail scene, until you're parallel with the lift again. You then drop and directly ahead of you is the big pirate ship. Once you slip under the last bridge in the inferno scene, you drop down again into the caverns and see the stormy ship, sand bar, and treasure dioramas. Oh, and the queue winds through a fort, it's similar but distinct from MK's queue.

Essentially, the ride starts like the Disneyland version, moves onto the last scenes (jail cells and pirates fighting), then picks up at the big ship scene. After the inferno, they put the cavern sequence at the end of the ride. It's all mixed up. If you're familiar with the DL version's layout you might get something out of this blueprint.

View attachment 558069

I don't think the DLP remix is an improvement. The caves build up suspense at the beginning of the ride. When the static dioramas are at the end, it's kind of a let down after all the huge scenes filled with animatronics. Also, the drops come out of nowhere on the DL version. At DLP, you start the ride with a lift, so obviously a drop is coming up. And that's not all, from the top of the lift you are actually teased the open ocean with the pirate battle. Why is the canal seemingly 20 ft above the ocean?

The Japan version is a near clone of the original. There are small changes that some say make it the "designers cut" of the DL version. It omits the second drop. The ship/village scenes use the slightly different MK layout. Mark Davis reportedly revised the turns of the ride path to improve upon the staging. Finally, like the MK version, the ride unloads in a separate station right after the shoot out, before the lift. Another change that I *think* is a change is that the caverns leading up to the ship are longer, I assume to make room for the unload separate unload station when it returns back to the second show building. Something I remember is that you approach the skeleton sitting on the pile of treasure head on, rather than sliding past it.

Having been on all four versions, I'm torn as to whether I prefer the DL to the TDL version. I do think a lot of the staging subtly improved upon the original. Also, when I rode it at least, there was none of the movie stuff.
On one hand, riding up the hill is a bit anticlimactic, but I grew up with it that way. I think of that right turn around the sandbar between it and the station as the perfect way to cap off the ride. I think of it as a neat summery of what you just did before unloading.

That’s been extremely helpful! I’ll check out some POVs of the rides on Youtube just to get a better picture of the ride experiences for each version.

 

[marni1971]

I’ve never been to DLP, but I’m a huge fan of Phantom Manor and all the Haunted Mansion lore. How is Pirates over there though? Like is it an exact clone of the versions at Disneyland or MK, or does it lack the Jack Sparrow stuff? Just wondering if there are any little changes or scenes the other parks don’t have.
(Same goes for Pirates at Tokyo, if anyone wants to take the time to break down some of the key differences for me!)

I’ve some massive videos coming Later this year of all the PotC rides with sections specifically showing the changes, layouts and similarities of each.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

DLP Pirates is quite different. The Bayou feels more like a tropical island, with palm trees and sand bars. But there's still a restaurant. Lift is at the beginning, and from the top there's a view of the big pirate battle. You then move around in a circle, past pirates sword fighting and the jail scene, until you're parallel with the lift again. You then drop and directly ahead of you is the big pirate ship. Once you slip under the last bridge in the inferno scene, you drop down again into the caverns and see the stormy ship, sand bar, and treasure dioramas. Oh, and the queue winds through a fort, it's similar but distinct from MK's queue.

Essentially, the ride starts like the Disneyland version, moves onto the last scenes (jail cells and pirates fighting), then picks up at the big ship scene. After the inferno, they put the cavern sequence at the end of the ride. It's all mixed up. If you're familiar with the DL version's layout you might get something out of this blueprint.

View attachment 558069

I don't think the DLP remix is an improvement. The caves build up suspense at the beginning of the ride. When the static dioramas are at the end, it's kind of a let down after all the huge scenes filled with animatronics. Also, the drops come out of nowhere on the DL version. At DLP, you start the ride with a lift, so obviously a drop is coming up. And that's not all, from the top of the lift you are actually teased the open ocean with the pirate battle. Why is the canal seemingly 20 ft above the ocean?

The Japan version is a near clone of the original. There are small changes that some say make it the "designers cut" of the DL version. It omits the second drop. The ship/village scenes use the slightly different MK layout. Mark Davis reportedly revised the turns of the ride path to improve upon the staging. Finally, like the MK version, the ride unloads in a separate station right after the shoot out, before the lift. Another change that I *think* is a change is that the caverns leading up to the ship are longer, I assume to make room for the unload separate unload station when it returns back to the second show building. Something I remember is that you approach the skeleton sitting on the pile of treasure head on, rather than sliding past it.

Having been on all four versions, I'm torn as to whether I prefer the DL to the TDL version. I do think a lot of the staging subtly improved upon the original. Also, when I rode it at least, there was none of the movie stuff.
On one hand, riding up the hill is a bit anticlimactic, but I grew up with it that way. I think of that right turn around the sandbar between it and the station as the perfect way to cap off the ride. I think of it as a neat summery of what you just did before unloading.

I'm actually happy to hear someone else is lukewarm about the Paris version of Pirates. The common view seems to be that it was an improvement on the original version, but to me the restaging of the attraction falls a bit flat. Overall, it feels less atmospheric and more obviously like a ride than the DL (or even MK) version. I'm also glad to hear you mention that ability to look down on other scenes from the top of the lift hill, which always seemed odd to me as it blows the illusion you're on anything other than a theme park ride and makes it all look kind of condensed and compact rather than the feel of a long, meandering journey on the other versions. I think the first thing I would suggest as an improvement would be to seal off those views.

That's not to say I don't like the Paris version. I'm not sure it's quite as effective as the previous versions, though.

 

[Married5Times]

Why do you find it inferior? What is this beef with water?

it should be obvious why water is the lousiest conveyance for a ride.
Water inherently limits vehicle movement and manipulation compared to non water conveyances. And for those water bound journey type attractions that spray or drench guests count me out as that is not fun.

 

[No Name]

it should be obvious why water is the lousiest conveyance for a ride.
Water inherently limits vehicle movement and manipulation compared to non water conveyances. And for those water bound journey type attractions that spray or drench guests count me out as that is not fun.

I would say Shanghai’s pirates proves that one wrong. Also I hate your last sentence.