What upgrades should/would/will PotC have when its rehabbed?

[1disneydood]

Yeah I'd like to know the POC rehab dates as well. I want to go back for the holiday season '05 but won't schedule it until I get the rehab dates.

Actually I'm not going until EE is operating, whenever that will be.

 

[marni1971]

Imagineer boy is right - how about going up the waterfall (as in Anaheim and Paris) - the layout is already there. Just (well, with a bit of building work) move unload to the top of the return hill. The old unload area gives room for a final scene (to try to tie up the story better) plus a great fx laden uphill climb.

 

[DarkMeasures]

If anything, I would love it if at the end, you go up the lift to the surface then unloading instead of unloading then going up an escalator to the surface.

I wonder if that is possible and if there is room to do so. It would be great though, I could finally be happy on Pirates then.

 

[DisneyDefenders]

Me, Me, Me!

I understand all of you who like to keep things the way they are...but putting me in the ride will definitely bring more ppl to the ride, not to mention bring something there that we've never had...a truly debonaire pirate!
:sohappy:

 

[Djali999]

several months ago I embarked on a research project to see if, through incredibly elaborate expansion, WDW's Pirates could ever be elevated to the status of the versions found everywhere else on the globe. one of these such possible expansions was to restore the proper "up the waterfall" climax (which is unique to DL, by the by) in some way to WDW. the answer is: yes, but not without real difficulty.

to begin with, the portion of the quere that crosses atop the boats would have to be raised anywhere between 8 - 10 feet, and there is simply not room to do this without raising the roof of that entire portion of the structure considerably. of course, to this I say: do it, please, and now! it's a great reason to add a proper "night sky" effect above the boarding area and portions of the right (dungeon) quere.

once this was done, boats could then unload at the point where the left (munitions hall) quere currently loads, along with the fastpass entrance and new gift shop. and what about all that space being used by the current gift shop? enclose it and make it into an extended climax after the waterfall. you could even have the attraction go into the open air for a bit.

so yes, all this is possible -- but improbable in the highest order. wish I were a millionare so I could bribe Disney into doing it.

One thing I should point out is that I don't wish to change the dynamic of the WDW version. WDW is the only version of this show where the guests are not transported back in time - as you board you see the pirate ship on the horizon, headed towards the fort; by the time you exit the caves the attack has begun.

compare this to the drop down into the haunted caves at Disneyland, where the skeletons increasingly assume poses as if they are still "alive" and allows the transition (via a blackout tunnel) into the past which the upward movement of the waterfall climb reverses (we see the pirates rot back into skeletons).

or Disneyland Paris, which transorts us into the past via the upward climb up the waterfall and then transports us back to the present via a giant explosion (the skeletons come last in Europe).

WDW is kind of the odd man out here and I'd like that flavor of the ride, due or not due to an extreme lack of a budget during the original planning stages, to survive.

did you know WDW's Pirates was originally supposed to be on an island in Adventureland?

 

[imagineer boy]

several months ago I embarked on a research project to see if, through incredibly elaborate expansion, WDW's Pirates could ever be elevated to the status of the versions found everywhere else on the globe. one of these such possible expansions was to restore the proper "up the waterfall" climax (which is unique to DL, by the by) in some way to WDW. the answer is: yes, but not without real difficulty.

to begin with, the portion of the quere that crosses atop the boats would have to be raised anywhere between 8 - 10 feet, and there is simply not room to do this without raising the roof of that entire portion of the structure considerably. of course, to this I say: do it, please, and now! it's a great reason to add a proper "night sky" effect above the boarding area and portions of the right (dungeon) quere.

once this was done, boats could then unload at the point where the left (munitions hall) quere currently loads, along with the fastpass entrance and new gift shop. and what about all that space being used by the current gift shop? enclose it and make it into an extended climax after the waterfall. you could even have the attraction go into the open air for a bit.

so yes, all this is possible -- but improbable in the highest order. wish I were a millionare so I could bribe Disney into doing it.

One thing I should point out is that I don't wish to change the dynamic of the WDW version. WDW is the only version of this show where the guests are not transported back in time - as you board you see the pirate ship on the horizon, headed towards the fort; by the time you exit the caves the attack has begun.

compare this to the drop down into the haunted caves at Disneyland, where the skeletons increasingly assume poses as if they are still "alive" and allows the transition (via a blackout tunnel) into the past which the upward movement of the waterfall climb reverses (we see the pirates rot back into skeletons).

or Disneyland Paris, which transorts us into the past via the upward climb up the waterfall and then transports us back to the present via a giant explosion (the skeletons come last in Europe).

WDW is kind of the odd man out here and I'd like that flavor of the ride, due or not due to an extreme lack of a budget during the original planning stages, to survive.

did you know WDW's Pirates was originally supposed to be on an island in Adventureland?

Bravo, well said! :sohappy: It doesn't make sence at the end of WDW's POTC. You're in the burning town, pirates steal treasure, the end! And then you go up an escalator ( I'm sure they had plenty of those when pirates where sacking the Spanish Main ) into the gift shop. WDW's needs a going up the water fall badly. If they add this over the lift that takes the empty boats back to the loading area, they can add some new scene's to the old unloading area. One of the other main things is a proper night time sky effect. It looks so fake at WDW, but amazing in DL!

 

[DarkMeasures]

Bravo, well said! :sohappy: It doesn't make sence at the end of WDW's POTC. You're in the burning town, pirates steal treasure, the end! And then you go up an escalator ( I'm sure they had plenty of those when pirates where sacking the Spanish Main ) into the gift shop. WDW's needs a going up the water fall badly. If they add this over the lift that takes the empty boats back to the loading area, they can add some new scene's to the old unloading area. One of the other main things is a proper night time sky effect. It looks so fake at WDW, but amazing in DL!

Well I always considered this:
The superiority at DL's Pirates cancels out with the superiority of WDW's HM.
As in even though WDW has a worse pirates ride, WDW has a longer HM with no escalator at the end. (except unloading)

 

[OliveMcFly]

bork - How about adding the 3.5 minutes that is missing from the Disneyland version.

That's what I was thinking. I was really surprised when I rode DL's POTC. Would there be room for that in WDW?

 

[DisneyChik17]

I have thought(since I've seen the movie) that they should make one of the ships look like the black pearl and then add holographic pirate/dead guys to walk on the ship...don't you guys think that would be cool? Oh yeah and I would be quite pleased if Johnny Depp were occasionally there...lol:lol: . That was my main suggestion...what do you guys think?

-:kiss: CKR :kiss:-

 

[Tara Mae]

I would probably add a little background music to the talking skull...eerie music.
I'd also update the sound affects for the guns and cannons...no complaints about the splashes, they seem to have a lot more to them the past few years...I've gotten wet! Also, I'd probably add some screams to the drop...just to scare the living daylight out of people.
Fog would be nice as you're coming upon the drop..maybe some lightning strikes or strobe lights.
And a few places I'd update to fit the movies.

 

[marni1971]

did you know WDW's Pirates was originally supposed to be on an island in Adventureland?

Do tell us more - I`ve never seen anything regarding this.. I always assumed it was Western River in Frontierland upto 1972, then WRE got the push and PotC got fast tracked where it is now. Can you elaborate? Thanks.

 

[GoofyFan1]

How about losing any and all PC changes that were made the last time around. How about letting pirates chase women because well, they are pirates! :hammer:

Let the pirates be pirates! Give'em the red head!

 

[DarkMeasures]

Let the pirates be pirates! Give'em the red head!

Then the ride will be rated ARRRRRR!!!!!... or NR-17, your choice.

 

[bgraham34]

Jsut dont close it in Dec. this year. I want to ride again. I want to ride again.

 

[csaguy]

I've always been a fan of PoTC since my visits to DL. I wish they would get rid of the Politically Correct version and make it Piratically Correct. More fog and the beginning and end like DL.

 

[Djali999]

Do tell us more - I`ve never seen anything regarding this.. I always assumed it was Western River in Frontierland upto 1972, then WRE got the push and PotC got fast tracked where it is now. Can you elaborate? Thanks.

actually, they were two totally different projects. WDW was never supposed to get a version of Pirates, and Western River had all that land north of Fronteirland reserved for it. but tourists began to demand to know why there were no Pirates at the Magic Kingdom, and the attraction got fast-tracked with a very small budget for December 1973.

now, at this point, WRE was still going to happen. guidebooks and postcards were still plugging this thing. then came a pretty bad fuel shortage in the early 70's here in America and tourism dropped like a rock. all future expansion was stalled...

...and when it started up again, Tony Baxter had pitched his idea for Big Thunder Mountain RR to Disney chairman Card Walker and WRE was effectivley killed. as some of you may know, a smaller version of what would eventually end up being Big Thunder was supposed to wrap around the WRE show building. Baxter did the models for this mini attraction and improved on the show concept.

but anyway, back when Pirates was first greenlit for the MK, Marc Davis had tried to push for updates in animatronic and sound technology over the 1967 DL version, but Walker would have none of it. Davis also was apparently rather apalled at the hacked-down version WDW was getting and produced a number of proposals for improvements in an attempt to get the chair to shove more money at the project. among these were an idea to have the building situated on an island out away from Adventureland, and a rough character sketch of the skeletons of a Pirate captain and his parrot that would sit up, turn back into their flesh-and-blood selves, and chant "sixteen men on a dead man's chest".

Davis was eventually given a small space to design a new show scene, and the rather flat treasury sequence was the result. remember, this was back when WRE was still a go, and he was still preparing for its' inevitable construction...

pretty sad, isn't it? this, among other reasons, was why Davis eventually jumped ship from WDI, which is sad, because he was the driving creative force there after Walt died.

sad thing is, had Pirates been one of the original attractions slated to open with the park in 1971, it probably would have been even bigger and better than the DL version, seeing as WDI actually improved every attraction they shipped over here in the late 60's.