Had my first experience at the Pirate show last night, a couple of my friends wanted to go for their birthdays. Ugh. The only silver lining is that they work at Sea World so we got in for half-price; had I paid the full $50, I'd have been apoplectic.
To reconcile the opinions of two posters above, yes, there are bright lights in the waiting areaChristmas lights actually, not sure of the connection to piracy. Unfortunately, they are not bright enough to light up the room, giving it a rather dark and gloomy feel. There are four appetizer stations around the room; when we arrived, the lines were at least 20 people long for anything other than raw carrots (though they did get shorter when the preshow started). Very limited seating, so kids were sprawled out on the floor, crowds milling about, just real difficult to maneuver.
The nickel-and-diming is very chintzy. You cant even pull into the parking lot without taking a flyer pushing the VIP seating. Inside, I expected the group photo, and wasnt shocked by the cash bar and gift shopbut there is also a face painter, a tarot reader, people wandering around selling flags, others wandering around selling light-up swords
all for an upcharge.
Speaking of the bar, the prices were outrageousand thats coming from a regular at PI! $25 for a rum runner in a souvenir cup and a draft Bud Light. Even the Adventurers Club only got $15 back when they had the same monkey heads.
In the main hall, the water does smell a bit, but you get used to it. The food was served about 5 degrees above room temperaturetroubling when pork, shrimp and chicken are on the menu. It was food service quality, what youd get in a corporate cafeteria or maybe at a fraternal hall. Credit where it is due, the potatoes were delicious. The free beer was, well, at least it was free; my buddy swears it was Pabst Blue Ribbon. The wine was a Dixie cup full of sangria-flavored wine cooler. I wasnt expecting a wine list, but still. My biggest problem with dinner was that as soon as we were served, the show started and the seating went dark. Pitch black. Makes the dining experience much more interesting when you dont know what youre about to take a bite of.
The show itself was disappointingat least what I saw of it. If you are on either end section, make sure you are not in the farthest-most 10 seats or so, your view of the action will be limited. Its not the plot is hard to followthere barely is a plot. What little narrative the show has is cut short in the middle so the pirates can do physical challenges right out of
Survivor (and a motorboat raceyes,
motorboat
around the little pool). Nothing to do with the story, no real purpose. The gymnast gypsy girl was amazingthe 5 minutes she did her thing were the only time we werent giving the show the
Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. As a former college fencer, I at least expected some sword play; at the end, I saw about 90 seconds of badly choreographed fencing.
In sum, nowhere near Disney standards, not even up to Medieval Times or Arabian Nights (never been to Dixie Stampede, but judging by all the rave reviews I hear, Dolly gets the edge over the pirates as well). This struck me as just another I-Drive business that exists solely to hook tourists in once, with no concern whether they ever will return. Save your money for someplace else, even if its just McDonalds and a movie.
The DS and MT was very well organized and the food was good, not great, but at least good. Either my husband or I have gotten picked at every show we've been to and had a blast-especially the "pony rides" at Dixie. My dh was picked at Pirates and they got black grease all over his nice shirt and the manager didn't seem to care. Anyway, it was kind of fun, just not quite up to par with the others.
