Pirates of the Caribbean VS. Western River Exhibition

[Big C 73]

Which ride do you think is/would be better, the 1973 Pirates of the Caribbean or the Marc Davis proposed Western River Exhibition?

 

[willtravel]

I want both...

 

[MarkTwain]

I think Disneyland's Pirates still would have been better than Western River. I suspect WRE would have plagued by major problems of political correctness by now, which would have required changes to the ride that would make Pirates' PC changes seem minor by comparison. There was much also much talk in the Eddie Sotto thread about the design of the "backgrounds"/setting and landscaping of the two rides. One huge reason Pirates is so successful is not just the animatronics (which WRE certainly would have had in spades), but also the deeply immersive and realistic theming of the forts, town, and other settings in the ride. Many indications show that WRE (being primarily designed by Marc Davis, who was primarily a character designer) wouldn't have had that, and would've had much cartoonier backgrounds like the ones here. I suspect that design wouldn't have the same lasting emotional impact and wouldn't have held up as well as Pirates.

Would have been interesting to see and experience, for sure. Still, I suspect that by 2013, if WRE had been built instead of Pirates, we'd be saying on the boards "you have to see Pirates in Disneyland by comparison" much the way these boards do with the current Pirates, or with Dinosaur/Indiana Jones. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I think Disneyland's Pirates still would have been better than Western River. I suspect WRE would have plagued by major problems of political correctness by now, which would have required changes to the ride that would make Pirates' PC changes seem minor by comparison. There was much also much talk in the Eddie Sotto thread about the design of the "backgrounds"/setting and landscaping of the two rides. One huge reason Pirates is so successful is not just the animatronics (which WRE certainly would have had in spades), but also the deeply immersive and realistic theming of the forts, town, and other settings in the ride. Many indications show that WRE (being primarily designed by Marc Davis, who was primarily a character designer) wouldn't have had that, and would've had much cartoonier backgrounds like the ones here. I suspect that design wouldn't have the same lasting emotional impact and wouldn't have held up as well as Pirates.

Would have been interesting to see and experience, for sure. Still, I suspect that by 2013, if WRE had been built instead of Pirates, we'd be saying on the boards "you have to see Pirates in Disneyland by comparison" much the way these boards do with the current Pirates, or with Dinosaur/Indiana Jones. Maybe that's just me.

Also Thunder Mesa as to what it was called was made at Disneyland Paris Frontierland area. Most of the idea is there from the concepts plus some scenes from the WRE were used in World of Motion and Especially in Phantom Manor..There is more info about it here..http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/wre.htm

 

[MarkTwain]

If it's of any interest, when I was self-tutoring myself in Photoshop a few years ago, I taught myself about layers and filter effects by trying to add realism to that Thunder Mesa rendering up above. Because I clearly have no respect for classic Disney concept art, here's a slightly more realistic rendering of Thunder Mesa:

 

[Vader2112]

Hard one to call have to agree much of it would now be politically incorrect and would have faced greater changes. I wish POTC had a more immersive area outside of the show building.

 

[willtravel]

Which ride do you think is/would be better, the 1973 Pirates of the Caribbean or the Marc Davis proposed Western River Exhibition?

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Make a movie of Western River Exhibition and build it in DHS.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Hard one to call have to agree much of it would now be politically incorrect and would have faced greater changes.

Suurrre and this is no Sex Slave Auction....

 

[George]

Suurrre and this is no Sex Slave Auction....

GREAT point! Plus, there is the recently constructed MILF attraction.

 

[marni1971]

DLP PotC > DL PotC > WRE > WDW PotC

 

[Tim Lohr]

I don't think the WRE background colors weren't supposed to be cartoony just the desert at sunset

like this model to me looks like the the sun is lighting up the top edge of these rocks in orange and the shadow is in blue

 

[Bairstow]

While I'm intrigued by the massive proposed scale of Western River, the concept art never has impressed me much.
As Mark Davis stuff goes, a lot of the style and gags would be reused for the more interesting World of Motion.
The whole wild west thing has been done to death at other theme parks starting with Knotts Berry Farm, and Disney's take on the pirate concept is much more exotic.

Still, hard to compare a ride that was never built with a ride that has been built better three other times.

 

[wolf359]

While I'm intrigued by the massive proposed scale of Western River...

Still, hard to compare a ride that was never built with a ride that has been built better three other times.

I agree the huge pile of attractions idea is the most interesting thing about the concept, there's really no way of knowing what level of finished product we would have actually seen. Budgets got cut back in the 70s too...

And in a lot of ways we almost got Western River anyway, in the form of Splash Mountain and Big Thunder, AND we still got Pirates of the Caribbean too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I want both...

I agree with this.