Pirates: WDW vs DLR.

[The Duck]

It's pretty much common knowledge that POTC at DLR is about twice as long as the WDW version with more skeleton scenes, the swamp and 2 waterfalls. It's also well known that the WDW version has a better themed queue. What I would like to propose is, which version does a better job at telling the story? The swamp at DLR is used primarily to set the mood and also as a transition between the French Quarter of New Orleans Square and the rest of the ride. The waterfalls (while fun) are mainly used to bring the boats to a lower level to bring them under the RR tracks and into the show building. The skeletons (again, part of the fun), are used to help create the atmosphere and to prepare you for the main part of the ride. All of these elements are part of the fun and excitement and they all serve their purpose but they don't really add to the storyline of pirates attacking an 18th century Spanish colonial town. My argument is that while the WDW version is considerably shorter, I believe that it's a more clear, concise example of Disney story telling. The WDW queue basically achieves the same purpose as the swamp, skeletons and 1 of the waterfalls. Granted, a longer ride is more fun than any themed queue but the end result is achieved. Disney story telling.

 

[Crockett]

I have to give DLR the win for this one. I've always loved the mood & theme of the bayou scene at the beginning, hearing the banjo music, crickets, etc. All these elements, plus the extended skeleton scenes, all build the story until we finally see the pirates themselves. Probably one of my favorite rides in any park. Not that I dislike the WDW version, but would take the extended DLR ride any day.

 

[Krack]

DLR .... the entire extended lead up with the Blue Bayou alone blows any queue advantage WDW has completely out of the water (pun intended).

 

[cheezbat]

Love the Pirates queue at WDW...but the overall ride experience at DL gives it the win hands down.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

DLR for the win on this one. I love the Blue Bayou being right there, and the scenes are much more detailed. I don't recall the queue, but I do know the ride was better, IMO.

 

[Lee]

Option 3. Disneyland Paris.
Better than DLR's Pirates, which I didn't think was possible.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Having never been on Disneyland Paris' version of the ride, I give the win to Disneyland, by a mile. Yes, WDW has a nicer queue, but the ride experience at DLR wins hands down. The scenes are more detailed, the mood is set better, and the experience is longer.

 

[Theosus]

Love the Pirates queue at WDW...but the overall ride experience at DL gives it the win hands down.

I agree.... The ride at DL is definitely better. The queue is still awesome at wdw.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Also please remember that PoTC was supposed to be for DL Only..WDW Was to get the Western River Expedition instead but fell through and just went with a smaller version of PoTC.

 

[Crockett]

WDW Was to get the Western River Expedition instead but fell through and just went with a smaller version of PoTC.

But that's so out of character for WDW to scrap bigger, more elaborate projects in exchange for scaled down ones. :shrug:

 

[The Empress Lilly]

To me, DL wins.

But not by the usual 'landslide win', but by a narrow margin. I think the elements that are missing in Orlandso are not essential, and I think WDW's storyline is better. I also love WDW's Caribbean Plaza.



DLP is a sight to behold. From the setting outside to the ride itself. for the entire park goes that what Paris does well it does oh so well. Their Pirates is a real winner.

 

[Chrononymous]

Though WDW's is more concise, I do believe that the DL has slightly better storytelling. For one thing, longer ride means more soundtrack, which makes a big difference to me...the extended cavern tunnel between the skeleton scenes and the living pirates does an important job of describing the curse...and telling you what is coming next.

Although...this was before the whole "upgrade" to Jack Sparrow. I admit I haven't ridden DL's since they did that.

I imagine some things have changed.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Ah, yes. I had mentally blocked out the 'Jack Sparrow's Nightmare Before Pirates' overlay.

My vote for best Pirates goes to the one that will remove the celebrity spotting subplot.

 

[The Duck]

Option 3. Disneyland Paris.
Better than DLR's Pirates, which I didn't think was possible.

I agree that Paris has the best Pirates. This version employs the best of both U.S. versions and adds a bit of it's own. I just feel that the plot moves a little smoother in WDW compared to DLR. Some people have called the WDW version, the "Cliff Notes Pirates" (and for good reason). IMHO, the main plot begins when you see the ship firing on the fort and carries on to the end. As much as I like the swamp and the extra skeleton scenes etc., I just feel like their purpose was simply to set the mood. While I agree that a longer ride with more eye candy is more fun than a really nice queue, I've always liked the way the WDW waterfall takes you directly into the world of the pirates. But that's just me. Now if WDW could make a longer POTC to satisfy all of my desires, that would be great. I suppose that construction could begin right after they fix the Yeti:lol::lookaroun.

 

[DisneyGigi]

DL wins for me!

 

[doppelv]

I have to say that while DL has the superior ride experience in pretty much every way, I think WDW's actually does tell a story better. I think that way primarily because that's what Marc Davis designed it to do. DL's Pirates was pretty much a hodge-podge, it consisted of any and all things the Imagineers could fit in its two buildings. WDW's suffered because it was built quickly, but due to its unrestricted location, Davis was able to compose a sequence of events that constitutes a complete thread. Granted, much of this was true before the addition of Sparrow, but even with Cap'n Jack, the sequence is still there.

 

[TP2000]

Though WDW's is more concise, I do believe that the DL has slightly better storytelling. For one thing, longer ride means more soundtrack, which makes a big difference to me...the extended cavern tunnel between the skeleton scenes and the living pirates does an important job of describing the curse...and telling you what is coming next.

Although...this was before the whole "upgrade" to Jack Sparrow. I admit I haven't ridden DL's since they did that.

I agree with you about the storytelling ability the longer ride at Disneyland allows. And the Jack Sparrow overlay from '06 highlights this.

For example, the mist-screen waterfall where Davy Jones (and now Blackbeard) appears in WDW 35 seconds after your boat leaves the loading dock, while people are still settling in, fiddling with purses, whispering about lunch, etc. At Disneyland that same mist-screen waterfall appears at the 5:30 second mark into the ride, just before you enter the Battle Scene and the first big animatronic area.

On the opposite end of the ride, the farewell act given by Jack Sparrow in the Stockade Scene with all the jewels happens at the very end of the ride in WDW. You see Jack Sparrow doing his Yo-Ho shtick as your boat clunka-lunks onto the conveyor belt and pauses, and then you whizzz right into the unload area and it's gather-your-belongings-and-exit-to-your-left-folks.

At Disneyland the same Jack Sparrow scene appears as your boat clunka-lunks onto the conveyor belt that attaches to the lift, and then your boat glides back up the waterfall as you pass Jack Sparrow. Yet there is still a full 2:30 minutes of ride time left as your boat ascends the waterfall lift and glides back into the bayou and passes the talking parrot and treasure map. You get the full impact of the Jack Sparrow scene, with further closure from 30 seconds of additional dialogue as you go up the lift, and then another two minutes of floating time to decompress before you exit your boat.

The Disneyland pacing and extended ride time really lets the plot settle in and gel, and I think the overall effect is far more powerful.

The different ride times between the two parks are most telling.

Pirates of the Caribbean at WDW
7:15 Minutes Long

Pirates of the Carribean at Disneyland
15:15 Minutes Long

There's a full eight minutes of extra time on the Disneyland version! Several of those minutes are just spent floating through pretty bayou scenes or passing extra cavern scenes, but several of those minutes are used quite effectively to build up the story more and provide a buffer in the plotline that lets your brain process it all much smoother.

 

[TP2000]

DL's Pirates was pretty much a hodge-podge, it consisted of any and all things the Imagineers could fit in its two buildings. WDW's suffered because it was built quickly, but due to its unrestricted location, Davis was able to compose a sequence of events that constitutes a complete thread. Granted, much of this was true before the addition of Sparrow, but even with Cap'n Jack, the sequence is still there.

Are you referring to the queue as part of Davis' "sequence of events"?

I ask because the WDW ride uses the exact same sets and scenes as Disneyland does for the animatronic core of the ride, from the Battle Scene to the Jail Scene. Everything inbetween those two major points in the ride at WDW is a direct copy of Disneyland.

The difference in the ride at WDW deals with the beginning and the end. At WDW the beginning was cut down to just what is known in Disneyland as the Hurricane Scene and Drop 1. At Disneyland it takes six full minutes from the time your boat leaves the loading area until you enter the Battle Scene. At WDW it takes two minutes from the time your boat leaves the loading area until you enter the Battle Scene. There's four minutes and a drop missing from the first part of the ride at WDW, and what was included in WDW in abbreviated form (Caverns, Davy Jones mist screen, Hurricane Scene, Drop 1) is also found at Disneyland.

And then the end at WDW was cut down to.... well, it was cut down to a conveyor belt that bumps you along into the unload area where the CM tells you to exit to your left. So there's not much there to argue that Marc Davis brilliantly Imagineered that abrupt ending to be meaningful in some way.

The "thread" at WDW that Marc Davis came up with is just a cut-down and abbreviated copy of the main thread that already exists at Disneyland. WDW was a shortened clone, with some changes made to the drops and unload process to accomodate the high water table in Orlando and the inability to dig underground.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Option 3. Disneyland Paris.
Better than DLR's Pirates, which I didn't think was possible.

I totally 100% agree, Paris is by far the best version of Pirates. I feel extremely fortunate that i was able to ride it several times as a child. A privilege i'm unlikely to ever get again, but i have fond memories of it. It's probably tied with my favorite ride of all time- Splash Mountain (which is apparently in dire need of maintenance at the moment and lacking the experience, so Pirates at Paris would probably win in its present condition).

I feel that Paris' makes the most sense with the storytelling by far, the events unfolding in chronological order of actual history. It made far more sense than going backwards in time in the original. And i also like the lift hill in the beginning (which is better themed anyways). Queue is better than even WDW's, which automatically makes it better than DL's. It's also got better and more elaborate scenery and special effects/more advanced stuff (i guess since it's newer). It feels like Imagineers were given full control over the project and outdid themselves. It's a truly stunning experience and i give my eternal gratitude to all that were involved in the ride's building.

I will admit that i have never personally experienced Pirates in Disneyland CA, but i have seen more than enough full videos of the ride to see that it's infinitely better than WDW but not as good as Paris' (including the original "making of" Disneyland videos presented by Walt himself on World of Color which contained a ride through. I've got the gist of it (though i would of course love to ride it someday to fully experience it). It's funny that even at an extremely young age i felt the WDW experience was a little lackluster after seeing the WoC making of the DL version. Made me a bit irritated that we got such a heavily gimped version.

 

[TP2000]

I will admit that i have never personally experienced Pirates in Disneyland CA, but i have seen more than enough full videos of the ride to see that it's infinitely better than WDW but not as good as Paris' (including the original "making of" Disneyland videos presented by Walt himself on World of Color which contained a ride through. I've got the gist of it (though i would of course love to ride it someday to fully experience it). It's funny that even at an extremely young age i felt the WDW experience was a little lackluster after seeing the WoC making of the DL version. Made me a bit irritated that we got such a heavily gimped version.

Those Wonderful World of Color episodes are some of my all-time favorites! The best one was the second one from Spring, 1967 just after the ride opened. Walt had actually passed away five months earlier, but they used footage of him explaining the ride from a 1965 episode of Wonderful World of Color, so it still had plenty of Walt in it.

There's so much great footage, and some really funny lines in this episode! Anyone who has more than a passing interest in the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions simply must watch Walt Disney explain the ride and debut it to the American television audience. And it's in Living Color, no less! :sohappy:

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color introduces Pirates of the Caribbean - April, 1967
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pT36SYP5T4