Looks Like POTC Ride Not Going Down This Year

[HydroGuy]

In this thread www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1222667 I alerted everyone that the POTC ride may be down Spring 2007. It now appears based on the same author (Al Lutz) that DLR has changed its mind due to other priorities. See www.miceage.com/allutz/al010907a.htm. Here is an excerpt:

The big island project overall is continuing on the initial plan we outlined for you several months ago. What won't be happening now is a 2007 refurbishment over on the mainland at Pirates of the Caribbean. There are a few reasons behind that decision, and readers sensitive to our criticism of Walt Disney World may want to avert their eyes for this. It's been well documented that the Walt Disney World version of Pirates, already hurt by a ride time cut in half, was given further indignity by getting a dramatically cheaper and less thorough refurbishment last year. While Disneyland management was more than willing to shell out more money again this year for additions to the ride related to the third movie, Disney World management balked at updating Pirates so soon even though they didn't spend nearly as much money on their refurbishment as Disneyland did.

And so Disneyland will also forego adding that Keira Knightley animatronic that Studios chief Dick Cook mentioned on the red carpet at last summer's movie premiere. That movie premiere hasn't formally been penciled in for Disneyland, but the plan to launch the West Coast version of Disney Cruise Line has been bumped up to later this month and the cancellation of Fantasmic! only makes it easier to host the premiere for the third time at Disneyland. Assuming the third movie isn't a flop, and does at least 500 Million in global box office sales, the fourth movie will go into production and may be timed for an opening around 2010 when the Hong Kong version of the ride opens.

 

[MATTERHORN]

Yeah!! I am so glad it won't be going down as we are taking some first timers with us in April!!!

Thanks for the info!

Andrea

 

[csolson2003]

I am sooo excited to hear that, thank you for the info! DH and I are going solo in March and want to see the 'new' POTC since we were there last March with kids and it was done then.

 

[TeacherDad]

Thanks for the great news. I am there March 12-16. Looking forward to riding it for the *first* time.

 

[hlbtimes2]

I so, so, so hope this is true! We have not been on the updated pirates yet. We are going the end of April. I was really sad that we were going to miss pirates this time, and not get to see what they did to it last year.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I so, so, so hope this is true! We have not been on the updated pirates yet. We are going the end of April. I was really sad that we were going to miss pirates this time, and not get to see what they did to it last year.

I'll really keep my fingers crossed for you Linda! We missed it last year too and thats one reason we chose DL over WDW this June to see POTC and hopefully the Nemo Sub ride. I do have to say, Al Lutz's articles are usually right on the money since he bases them on facts rather than just rumors.

 

[Tink33]

Maybe they will put the animatronic of Elizabeth Swann on the new Pirate Island.

 

[Albort]

i think they probably make her somewhere in POTC... id say maybe one of those pop in and out...

though i think they should redesign the line system... its the worst i seen... goes out the door, and then blocks a lot of traffic.

EDIT: curious, anyone knows what TDA means? Al talks alot bout TDA

 

[hlbtimes2]

I think it is Team Disney Anaheim.

 

[TwingleMum]

We are going to DL for the first time at the end of March and I was bummed when I thought we would miss POTC. Now I just have to pray to the Disney Gods that Splash will be open and Nemo in previews

 

[HydroGuy]

I think it is Team Disney Anaheim.

Yep.

 

[consultant]

I'm glad a ran across this thread with the link to Miceage. This will be our third time taking our kids (5 and 7) to Disneyland and I have to admit I've never thought to check which rides will be closed. We are planning on going in April, week after Easter.

It's a busy time but one of the benefits is the extended hours and the fact they aren't suppose to have marquis rides shutdown during busy periods.

I'm a huge Pirates fan (and collector) and would have been mortified to get there and find it closed down! I can live without Fantasmic as we just saw it last Feb at Magic Kingdom in Orlando.

Splash isn't one of our big big favorites but we would miss it. What are the chances it will be shut down the second week of April? Or is that down at WDW, not Disneyland.

Also I assume Tom Sawyers Island is shut down?

Will be our first time on the new Space Mountain, looking forward to that. We can wait for Nemo until next time. Nice to have a new major attraction to try each trip I guess.

 

[HydroGuy]

I'm glad a ran across this thread with the link to Miceage. This will be our third time taking our kids (5 and 7) to Disneyland and I have to admit I've never thought to check which rides will be closed. We are planning on going in April, week after Easter.

It's a busy time but one of the benefits is the extended hours and the fact they aren't suppose to have marquis rides shutdown during busy periods.

I'm a huge Pirates fan (and collector) and would have been mortified to get there and find it closed down! I can live without Fantasmic as we just saw it last Feb at Magic Kingdom in Orlando.

Splash isn't one of our big big favorites but we would miss it. What are the chances it will be shut down the second week of April? Or is that down at WDW, not Disneyland.

Also I assume Tom Sawyers Island is shut down?

Will be our first time on the new Space Mountain, looking forward to that. We can wait for Nemo until next time. Nice to have a new major attraction to try each trip I guess.

I like MousePlanet's list the best in regards to timeliness and accuracy. Here is the one for today's park update:

www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=dl070115xx#Rehabs

You can also check www.riderefurbs.com

Looks like Splash Mtn will be down during your trip, and TSI.

 

[consultant]

I surprised they would have one of the major attractions (Splash Mountain) down during busy Spring Break period. It must have been some sort of mechanical issue that needed to be fixed ASAP or it is just that they wanted to not have it down during the summer. Why not take it down after Labor Day in Sep and back up just before Thanksgiving? Seems a little odd.

How often do they surprise people and get the ride back up before expected? Rarely I imagine.

 

[HydroGuy]

I surprised they would have one of the major attractions (Splash Mountain) down during busy Spring Break period. It must have been some sort of mechanical issue that needed to be fixed ASAP or it is just that they wanted to not have it down during the summer. Why not take it down after Labor Day in Sep and back up just before Thanksgiving? Seems a little odd.

How often do they surprise people and get the ride back up before expected? Rarely I imagine.

When Disney takes a headliner ride down during high season, besides disappointing visitors they also lose a people eater. Splash Mtn can handle about 1750 people per hour. On a busy day when there are 50,000 people inside the park, and an hour long line for Splash Mtn, that is 3.5% of the visitors in line for Splash Mtn. If the ride is down for refurb, those people are in other lines making all other liones longer.

So in general Disney wants to have as many high capacity headliners running as possible during high season.

However, the two off season periods at DLR only last about two-and-a-half months (Jan to mid-March, and then Sept. to mid-Nov.). What do they do when they need to take a ride down for longer than 10 weeks? Well, they have to overlap high season somewhere. Disney seems to have a high commitment to having everything running in summer high season and at Christmas high season, which means Spring Break is the most logical time to take down a headliner when necessary.

Finally, the attendance at DLR through the 50th celebration (which ended last October) was huge, and Disney postponed numerous maintenance projects in order to have as much running as possible through the 50th. The rides were stressed with all of the people, and now many of those rides need work.

I understand that the Splash Mtn refurb is a major deal, and required 4-5 months. So the decided to do it Jan-May, which makes sense to me.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Why not take it down after Labor Day in Sep and back up just before Thanksgiving? Seems a little odd.

Matterhorn was down during that time period. Planning to have two big attaction down at the same time would not be good! They also had fall closures of haunted mansion and small world for the holiday overlays. As well as some short closures of the monorail and train for work on the sub's.

 

[consultant]

Make sense. This will be my first year visiting Disney during the Spring Break period (week after Easter for us). I know it is a busy time but my research shows that this should not be the busiest week as most Spring Breaks for the Southwestern portion of the US appear to not fall on this week, but it will be busy nevertheless.

With Splash being down, no Fantasmic, no Tom Sawyer, and Nemo yet to launch in summer, I'm now considering moving the trip to either week of Thanksgiving (hitting DL on the Mon & Tue before Thanksgiving, or hitting DL the Mon and Tue after Thanksgiving).

Washington schools don't get the entire week off so the kids would be missing school anyway so I'm pretty sure we would hit DL the Mon & Tue after Thanksgiving. That should be a great time by my estimates - major rides should be running for the Holiday Season, Holiday Decorations up, weather not too hot, low crowds since everyone has gone home after Thanksgiving.

My only fear is that some other major attraction will be down then, like POTC which would be a disaster as that's by far our favorite ride. Based on history of closures is there much of a chance a major ride will be down the week after Thanksgiving?

When Disney takes a headliner ride down during high season, besides disappointing visitors they also lose a people eater. Splash Mtn can handle about 1750 people per hour. On a busy day when there are 50,000 people inside the park, and an hour long line for Splash Mtn, that is 3.5% of the visitors in line for Splash Mtn. If the ride is down for refurb, those people are in other lines making all other liones longer.

So in general Disney wants to have as many high capacity headliners running as possible during high season.

However, the two off season periods at DLR only last about two-and-a-half months (Jan to mid-March, and then Sept. to mid-Nov.). What do they do when they need to take a ride down for longer than 10 weeks? Well, they have to overlap high season somewhere. Disney seems to have a high commitment to having everything running in summer high season and at Christmas high season, which means Spring Break is the most logical time to take down a headliner when necessary.

Finally, the attendance at DLR through the 50th celebration (which ended last October) was huge, and Disney postponed numerous maintenance projects in order to have as much running as possible through the 50th. The rides were stressed with all of the people, and now many of those rides need work.

I understand that the Splash Mtn refurb is a major deal, and required 4-5 months. So the decided to do it Jan-May, which makes sense to me.

 

[HydroGuy]

Make sense. This will be my first year visiting Disney during the Spring Break period (week after Easter for us). I know it is a busy time but my research shows that this should not be the busiest week as most Spring Breaks for the Southwestern portion of the US appear to not fall on this week, but it will be busy nevertheless.

With Splash being down, no Fantasmic, no Tom Sawyer, and Nemo yet to launch in summer, I'm now considering moving the trip to either week of Thanksgiving (hitting DL on the Mon & Tue before Thanksgiving, or hitting DL the Mon and Tue after Thanksgiving).

Washington schools don't get the entire week off so the kids would be missing school anyway so I'm pretty sure we would hit DL the Mon & Tue after Thanksgiving. That should be a great time by my estimates - major rides should be running for the Holiday Season, Holiday Decorations up, weather not too hot, low crowds since everyone has gone home after Thanksgiving.

My only fear is that some other major attraction will be down then, like POTC which would be a disaster as that's by far our favorite ride. Based on history of closures is there much of a chance a major ride will be down the week after Thanksgiving?

I went to DLR Thanksgiving week in 2005 for a day trip. It was the day before Thanksgiving.

If you decide to delay your trip, I believe that would be a great time to accomplish what you want. There is no reason at this time for the POTC ride to be down then, although it appears that at some time soon DLR wants to update it to match the POTC 3 movie. With a fourth POTC movie now rumored, I can't imagine that DLR will continue to tinker with this ride indefinitely. In any case, I would be very surprised to see them doing anything like this around Thanksgiving or Christmas. In all likelihood everything will be running during that time. The days on Thanksgiving weekend itself seem to be the worst for crowds (Thurs-Sun), so I think your Mon/Tue plan either before or after is a good choice.