Major Pirates Refurb

[IllinoisJones]

A cast member told a friend Pirates is going down in August for 18 months. The CM said it would be just about doubled in size. Anyone else hear this?

 

[hgeisler]

What? ! I'm taking my kids there for the first time in October. I know it just underwent a refurb in July, so I hope not. 18 months is an awful long time:/

 

[Q-man]

Expansion is highly unlikely unless they can do it within the present building. Hard to believe they'd expanded a ride that only during peak times is the line longer than ~20 mins. It would also require either moving the train track or filling in part of the Jungle Cruise. Take a look with satellite view on google maps at how landlocked it is.

 

[magicbob]

Doubling the size would probably entail adding the DLR scenes. The DLR version is much longer with some great scenes that did not get included in the WDW version.

But I'm skeptical about any rumor that says they are going to increase the length of the ride. I think one of the main considerations for abbreviating it in the first place was due to availability of space. If you look at a satellite view, you'll see that there IS a small plot of undeveloped land to the SW of the PotC building. But they would be cutting off a backstage service road if they expand out there. Plus, a project of that scope would pretty much mean gutting everything and starting over from scratch. That seems highly unlikely.

 

[xipetotec]

Pretty sure there are some real estate issues that make size expansion impossible for this ride.

Don't get me wrong, I *love* the DisneyLand version, as much as WDW is *my* Disney park, Pirates at DL is much better. But I can't see it happening at WDW.

 

[Princessmommymouse]

I really hope this isn't true. My husband would be so dissapointed! We went to Disney land two years ago and it was being refurbished when we were there! Our trip is planned for September and he would be so annoyed if it is being refurbed at Disney World when we are there!

 

[GWS]

POC expansion....WOW! I agree with the others that say it would be a difficult and costly. However not impossible for Disney if they really do it.

POC at MK is not as good as the POC at DL so and expansion would be a great addition.

 

[Spacedog1975]

I can only imagine 2 kinds of POC modifications.

1) A new movie comes out and they add characters or moments from the film.
2) Completely retooling the attraction to utilize the "Legend of Jack Sparrow" holo tech.

#2 runs the risk of effectively destroying a long beloved ride. I imagine that at this point audio-animatronic maintenance is much more expensive than projector maintenance.

 

[TheShea's]

I hope it's not in August, we're there for the middle of August and this is one of our favorite rides.

 

[IllinoisJones]

I'm not saying I believe the rumor, but it DOES make sense if they do it. The new Pirate game keeps the aspect of POC current in Adventurland during the refurb, along with Pirate's League. It also allows them to add RFID tech to the attraction, if they're really going the route of using guest names during the ride to make the attractions more interactive.

 

[crazy4wdw]

A cast member told a friend Pirates is going down in August for 18 months. The CM said it would be just about doubled in size. Anyone else hear this?

Seems highly unlikely. I think a portion of the train tracks runs behind the show building along with several access roads. I believe that a new version of "pirates" is planned for Shanghai Disneyland. It's going to be a hybrid of "pirates" and Spalsh Mountain with several high drops. Maybe the CM is getting the Shanghai version confused?

Of course, if we can get a bus driver to confirm this rumor we're good to go!

 

[DanBoris]

Expansion is highly unlikely unless they can do it within the present building. Hard to believe they'd expanded a ride that only during peak times is the line longer than ~20 mins. It would also require either moving the train track or filling in part of the Jungle Cruise. Take a look with satellite view on google maps at how landlocked it is.

The Pirates show building is partially outside of the tracks and there is an empty piece of land south of it so there is room to expand, although I highly doubt this rumor is true. We all know how unreliable CM rumors are.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

You probably mis-heard; they are doubling the size of the gift shop.

 

[ChoppityChops]

I heard they're replacing it with the Starbucks.

 

[xipetotec]

I heard they're replacing it with the Starbucks.

I wish this was Reddit so I could "Upvote" this. Not because I want it ( Do I ever HATE the idea! ), but because it's hilarious

 

[mvk]

Doubling the size would probably entail adding the DLR scenes. The DLR version is much longer with some great scenes that did not get included in the WDW version.

But I'm skeptical about any rumor that says they are going to increase the length of the ride. I think one of the main considerations for abbreviating it in the first place was due to availability of space. If you look at a satellite view, you'll see that there IS a small plot of undeveloped land to the SW of the PotC building. But they would be cutting off a backstage service road if they expand out there. Plus, a project of that scope would pretty much mean gutting everything and starting over from scratch. That seems highly unlikely.

They can easily re-route that service road around a new/addition to the show building. Make it more of a 90* angle instead of the 45* angle it is now. That would be a simple/easy workaround.

 

[Q-man]

The Pirates show building is partially outside of the tracks and there is an empty piece of land south of it so there is room to expand, although I highly doubt this rumor is true. We all know how unreliable CM rumors are.

That is a very small piece of land. The grassy area is about it. The trees obscure a service road and the train tracks. Across Caribbean Way is actually a retention pond/swamp and not something that could really be built on.

 

[ParkCutie]

LEAVE MAGIC KINGDOM ALONE!
for **** sakes

 

[emttink]

We have a tripped planned at the end of Sept with a 3 year old that is tiny and this is one of the few rides she can go on and LOVES it! Stop changing stuff with the Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[Masonmj84]

I don't see the bang for the buck for Disney on this.

Pirates already enjoys a rare combination of being a generally liked attraction with relatively short wait times.

Why mess with a good thing (and, in that regard, who cares if it's not the same as Disneyland Pirates)?

Disney would be much better served spending money improving DHS or DAK than in expanding Pirates. Just my $0.02.