Pirates Lair - Hot or Not?

[MainSt1993]

My friend and I visited Pirates Lair on Memorial Day, having to wait in a decent sized queue to get over to the island because only one raft was operational at the time. We explored the whole island, and have to say I was a bit disappointed. The cave wasn't scary anymore. And it didn't leave anything to the imagination. Sort of like riding through a dark ride, things happen that always happen when the right sensor is activated. And it was kind of lame waiting your turn to see the same effect up close.

As for the other stuff, it's good to see the two bridges in good repair. I suppose the two boat/treasure activities were alright and nice additions, but again, no surprises. I was underwhelmed by the pirate stunt show. And the make-up on all the pirates is freakish. They looked like dudes wearing too much makeup, and bad prosthetics.

I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but I miss the Tom Sawyer's Island I grew up with. Who else has visited the revamped island? What did you think?

 

[Nicole220]

I have yet to see the real deal, I've only seen pics and videos. Because of that I'm not going to judge but I will say one thing. I'm glad they re-themed the island, it's finally bringing people back onto the island. Before, the place was a ghost town, sitting there all alone and neglected. Now it's bustling with people.

I'm hopefully going next week, and I'm excited to go over there for the first time in many years to check it out.

 

[Kman101]

I love Pirates but I'm so relieved ours at WDW has stayed Tom Sawyer's Island. And ours is usually fairly steady. I always see a full raft throughout the day. Sometimes two at a time. Why was Disneyland's apparently so dead?

 

[Nicole220]

I love Pirates but I'm so relieved ours at WDW has stayed Tom Sawyer's Island. And ours is usually fairly steady. I always see a full raft throughout the day. Sometimes two at a time. Why was Disneyland's apparently so dead?

Probably because most of DL's guests are locals who come all the time. There was nothing to do, it was neglected, and we got bored. This is probably why DL gets more of the new stuff (holiday overlays, good refurbs, etc). They gotta keep us coming back where as guests at WDW are probably there for the first time.

 

[Nicole220]

So, I finally got to check out the island today. It was my first time in many years. I was probably about 4, maybe 5 when I last went. The only thing I remember about the old island is getting lost in the caves.

I went into this with very little expectations. I wasn't extremely excited over this like I am with the Subs, so I think that helped. I thought the island looked good. I enjoyed walking around looking at the new and fresh things. My friend and I spend a good 45 minutes trying to find Dead Man's Grotto. We zipped through the cave, no one held up the line. My friend also was in a bad mood, so I did not get to see everything I wanted. I liked the little turn wheel and water pump things. I thought they were clevar. The kids loved those. I also liked going through the smaller caves...I barely fit!

Caught a glimpse of the stunt show. I must say, the Jack Sparrow was horrible! I couldn't stay and watch it. He had good facial expressions and movement. His looks were ok, but he did not sound anything like Jack. Such a disappointment.

I think the Pirates overlay was a good thing for the island. It got the attention it needed. Everyone was having fun enjoying the island, something I haven't seen in a long time. Is it an E ticket attraction? No, but it's still fun.

Edit: Here's some pics! These were the only ones I could get because my camera's batteries died...
A look at it from New Orleans Square

The sign in front of the rafts

One of the many caves (my friend not me)

One of the many waterfalls/ creeks. The area was just beautiful and relaxing!

With this guy you have to turn a wheel for him to come out of the water.

And with these guys you have to pump the water out.

The stunt show.

I couldn't get any pics of inside Dead Man's Grotto because 1. It was too dark for my camera and 2. People were not stopping, I didn't want to make people mad by holding up the line.

edit again: why won't the pics show up?? It always does this to me!!

 

[3IAlienKid]

NEGATIVES
I have mixed feelings about how the theming fits into Frontierland. Basically, the island has become part of New Orleans Square now. Even though they call it Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyers Island, and it's still listed on the map as being in Frontierland, there's pretty much nothing left of Tom and Huck except the island tree house which retained it's original name. I will miss the full second leg of the Mark Twain trip around the Rivers of America where you could look either port or starboard and see Frontierland backwoods. It could actually be peaceful and serene. Now I will see Cascade Peak port side, and pirates treasure and Will Turner's blacksmith shop starboard.

POSITIVES
On the other hand, it's still nice they finally fixed a lot of what was broken, like the bridges, and put some TLC into the place. And although a couple of the new effects in the caves could have been done on a larger scale, I felt these were all genuinely atmospheric and scary. When I visited (Friday 6/8 early afternoon), in spite of Disneyland being pretty crowded, the Island itself was not crowded at all, I was alone in the caves (my wife elected to stay outside), did not have to wait for anyone ahead of me, and got to experience the effects to myself. The effect where the human prisoner turns into a cursed corpse is pretty well done.

 

[starwood]

anyone know how long you might wait for a raft at about 9:30AMish?

How about coming back to the actual park?

 

[Nicole220]

anyone know how long you might wait for a raft at about 9:30AMish?

How about coming back to the actual park?

It's not a long wait at all. There's two rafts running, and they are large enough to fit a bunch of people. Sometimes you have to wait a bit longer to let the Columbia or canoes go by, but nothing longer than a few minutes.