Should Disney scrap and rebuild Pirates of the Caribbean in Orlando?

[justintheharris]

After visiting nearly all the resorts around the world, I can safely conclude that Orlando has the worst version of Pirates of the Caribbean by miles. Do you think it would be a worthy investment for Disney to close the ride for a few years and entirely scrap and rebuild it? Regardless of whether it's replaced with a version similar to California's or Shanghai's? I know it's not a likely scenario but I personally think Disney should do it.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I think that the sea-battle scene between the ship and the fortress should be majorly expanded. It looks very dated. Maybe some of the experts here who have knowledge of the ride's layout could hypothesize how that could be done. Plus, some of the effects, like the burning village, could be updated. But otherwise I think the ride's fine. I love the queue. The moment you step into it, you're in another world. It's extremely well done.

 

[justintheharris]

I think that the sea-battle scene between the ship and the fortress should be majorly expanded. It looks very dated. Maybe some of the experts here who have knowledge of the ride's layout could hypothesize how that could be done. Plus, some of the effects, like the burning village, could be updated. But otherwise I think the ride's fine. I love the queue. The moment you step into it, you're in another world. It's extremely well done.

I look at it more through the lens of where it stands among the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions in California, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai. Among people who've been on most or all of them, Orlando is almost unanimously last despite being in the most attended theme park in the world.

 

[Master Yoda]

I would be up for taking it to dirt and rebuilding it from scratch.

There is no question that PotC was an afterthought in WDW and it shows.

 

[wdwfan757]

I don't think the ROI would be good enough. Our Pirates isn't the greatest, but it's not bad. I'd much rather have another attraction added in MK or otherwise over adding an extra 5 minutes to our Pirates to make it DLs or turning into CGI city shanghai.

Space is the ride that stands out to me as so inferior that it hurts (literally).

 

[graphite1326]

My teachers always told me that there were no stupid questions...They were wrong.

 

[justintheharris]

I don't think the ROI would be good enough. Our Pirates isn't the greatest, but it's not bad. I'd much rather have another attraction added in MK or otherwise over adding an extra 5 minutes to our Pirates to make it DLs or turning into CGI city shanghai.

Space is the ride that stands out to me as so inferior that it hurts (literally).

I wouldn't necessarily disagree that Disney should invest in another ride in Magic Kingdom (Tron is a good start, but not enough) but after visiting the international Disney parks, it's hard for me to enjoy our Pirates. I also need to consider the fact that the majority of Walt Disney World visitors have never been on another version of the attraction and therefore, the Orlando version is all they know. So at the end of the day, they're probably satisfied.

 

[justintheharris]

My teachers always told me that there were no stupid questions...They were wrong.

Stupid questions tend to be met with a unanimous and obvious reponse

 

[Janir]

I don't know if a scrap and rebuild is needed, but some TLC to bring up its standards to closer to DLR would be great. Expand the harbor siege. Some additions to the beginning of the ride area where the open beaches/skeletons are would be good as well. Less focus on Jack Sparrow overall would be great. Have him in the ride, but not as a the overarching story line focus.

 

[networkpro]

I'd be in favor of gutting the PC theming and replacing it with a more authentic depiction of piracy.

 

[justintheharris]

I don't know if a scrap and rebuild is needed, but some TLC to bring up its standards to closer to DLR would be great. Expand the harbor siege. Some additions to the beginning of the ride area where the open beaches/skeletons are would be good as well. Less focus on Jack Sparrow overall would be great. Have him in the ride, but not as a the overarching story line focus.

I think it would be difficult to bring the Orlando version up to standard with Disneyland's without a massive expansion of the show building.

 

[FettFan]

Remove all movie references please. Jack Sparrow is a Lame Duck, especially now that Johnny Depp was fired from the franchise.

 

[Minnie Mum]

I don't believe in rewriting history, so I wouldn't want all traces of Johnny Depp erased. But it would be great if they reduced him to just one scene. And bring back the old marketplace scene with the Redhead.

 

[ppet]

we wants the redhead!

 

[JIMINYCR]

I would like to see a refurb that improves on some of the scenes. Get rid of Depp. Just dont let that go on when Im there !!! I missed out on PoTC one refurb before and my MK day of fun was greatly diminished.

 

[Heppenheimer]

I'd prefer something along the lines of what they did to the Haunted Mansion a decade or so ago. Fix what's not working, update the effects, maybe add a little razzle-dazzle here and there. But if Disney is going to spend the money, I'd rather see more new attractions built from the ground-up.

 

[SirWillow]

My teachers always told me that there were no stupid questions...They were wrong.

After having worked in the parks, I can tell you that your teacher was absolutely wrong.

However, I'm not sure that this question qualifies. While I shake my head because it's never going to happen, for those that like to be pie in the sky dreamers this could work into that world.

 

[HoldenC]

I voted yes. I used to love this ride but it is truly a snooze-fest

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There is no question that PotC was an afterthought in WDW and it shows.

Only if you've been to Disneyland IMO. In a vacuum, Orlando PotC is an excellent ride, and that's how most guests experience it.

 

[Master Yoda]

Only if you've been to Disneyland IMO. In a vacuum, Orlando PotC is an excellent ride, and that's how most guests experience it.

True, but in this day and age of YouTube, seeing the stark difference in all of PotC's versions is pretty easy.

Don't get me wrong, PotC is still one of my all time favorites attractions in all of WDW, but I would love to see what they could do with a blank canvas.