My major beef with PotC is how they muted the sound to the point that the cannons sound like Daisy Air Rifles (PSH-ssshhhht doesn't have quite the "Cool" factor as BOOM!!!, IMHO). As far as adding Jack Sparrow, I don't see it as being necessary, but whenever Disney modernizes something (or as they foolishly like to think of it "making it better") I remember that Walt himself originally intended to have Fantasia be revised and adapted every couple of years. The fact that it never happened in his lifetime doesn't take away from the fact that he recognized change as being inevitable. The rides, even the oldest ones, even the best ones, will invariably be changed to entice old-timers back to the park to see what's different, and to keep the ride (and the whole theme park) ahead of the competition. It's just that now, instead of making completely original changes, they have an outside blueprint-a successful movie. What's most important is to keep the tone, and that's where I fear they'll falter. Because the changes now seem less like a need to keep the ride contemporary, and more a shamelss cash-in on the film's popularity. It's like corpoate cannibalism-make a movie based on a ride, then change the ride to be more like the movie. Maybe one day Disney will pull a Lucas and revise movies based on rides to be even MORE like the rides...that they changed when the movie first came out. Which means they'll have to change the ride again. Hakuna mutata...
I know I'll be mad as Hell when they eventually change The Haunted Mansion to add elements from the movie, but if they make those changes seem natural to the ride's experience-so it doesn't just turn into "Movie! The Ride!"- I'll be less upset. But Disney is run by bean-counters first and dreamers second, has been for decades. I don't see their efforts as being successful by my standards. Here's hoping, for the company's sake, that the standards for most park visitors are significantly lower.
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