Ditching the cliche, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Disney chose to develop an almost entirely new Pirates of the Caribbean ride for Shanghai Disneyland, creating an experience that does more to evoke the Pirates film series than the original 1967 Disneyland ride.
Here is the first decent-quality fan-recorded full ride video that we've seen for Shanghai's Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Sunken Treasure.
The makes strong use of projection mapping and screens in addition to animatronics most associated with Disney's Pirates rides. To me, that skeleton-to-Captain-Jack effect promises to become one of the most talked-about moments in any theme park ride, anywhere
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Coming this fall: "Disney Parks Rogue One" - a ragtag group of fans steals the plans for Shanghai Disneyland, to build a replica in Florida.
— Theme Park Insider (@ThemePark) May 11, 2016
BTW, if this is any indication, the upcoming boat ride for Avatar may be nothing less than spectacular.
For those wondering about the ride system, my understanding is that this is not a traditional flume ride but rather drives along an underwater track. The vehicle is attached to two separate rails which allow it to rotate at points. And yes, that is a (small) backwards drop at the end.
Want to see how roaring mountain and other exclusive attractions to Shanghai Disneyland look before deciding to visit Shanghai again.
Disney has definitely raised the bar on terms of dark rides.
But universal will try to set it even higher with Nintendo/DreamWorks dark ride.
If they can raise the bar with Dragon Alley, Universal Creative will find a way to beat this
Let the dark ride wars begin.
I'm Chinese from Canada with passable Mandarin and even I think they could have done a better job with the voice acting in this ride. I have heard better Mandarin in Chinese cartoons!
I totally agree with Mr. Trexen, this version of the Disney classic needs to replace the lackluster effort at the Magic Kingdom. Immediately.
And I "NEVER" use language like that....This has reaffirmed my faith that Disney is NOT dead!
As for the skeleton to Jack Sparrow effect, I had to rewatch that small part a few times because it's extremely impressive.
I always hear how great the Paris version is, and I know this one is in a league of its own, but I'd love to ride all of the Pirates versions to compare.
I also agree that this is the ONE ride that is a MUST DO. I probably won't even do Soarin, since it'll be the same version in the US parks. I'm looking for exclusive stuff first. If I have time, I'll do anything that's a copy.
I would never argue for WDW to REPLACE their version with this.... But to ADD it.... yeah, that would be cool!
I know that Little Mermaid is a different type of ride, but it just makes me think about what they could have done to make the underwater scenes more believable.
Shanghai is starting to make the domestic parks look cheap by comparison, Disney needs to do something to improve the stateside parks. And not just add new lands like Star Wars and Avatar, they need an overhaul in general.
The ride though...looks pretty amazing. I wonder if this is the one that will really get people talking again about the age old animatronics vs. screens debate. Looks like this ride has found a way to very effectively blend the two for the most realistic ride experience possible. Nice work. Now bring it home, Disney!!! Your faithful American fans await.
This is what Universal fans have been talking about. This is Forbidden Journey turned in a boat ride. Totally awesome video and the ride looks fantastic, just going to be interesting to see reactions going forward.
Been hearing the Shanghai backers wanted some cool stuff for "bragging rights" on the U.S. parks, looks like they're getting it.
AJ HUMMEL: Bro, anybody ever tell you that you look like Patton Oswald?
Speaking of the little Mermaid ride, some of the undersea scenes in this Pirates ride looked like they came out of Ariel's attraction. Very bright, colorful, and whimsical. It did not seem like PotC, either the ride or the movies in tone and atmosphere.
1. More animatronics (SHDL only has 4 audio-animatronics)
2. Less Screens (SHDL is mostly screens)
3. Longer ride
4. Voice acting is vastly better (Impressive Jack & Davy Jones AA's are poorly represented by the voice acting, regardless of the language. DL Pirate's has legendary voice actors, like Paul Frees)
5. Better theme song ("Yo-Ho A Pirate's Life for me" more memorable than movie theme song)
6. Music in general is better (DL has both sung and intsrumental, whereas SHDL is mostly instrumental)
7. Mix of old and new elements (DL has original Walt Disney elements with movie elements)
8. More drops (2 instead of 1)
9. Has a complete and richer experience (More scenes and fully detailed sets, as opposed to mostly screen with props)
10. It actually has women (Shanghai Pirate's is dude-only)
11. Last, but not least, Walt Disney himself oversaw the DL attraction!
What the purists need to understand is that Walt Disney never wanted DL or WDW to be stuck in the past, if an attraction is in dire need of a revamp to make it relevant for modern audiences then he would have said "make it happen!"
The modern take on the Enchantd Tiki Room is an example, the "Under New Management" update that included Zazu and the parrot from Aladdin, plus the angry animatronic Tiki God that sprung from the center of the theatre was a HUGE improvement over the original which WDW re-installed after the purist backlash.
It's like going to your grandmother's house when you were kid and hoping to watch something cool on her TV but she insists on putting on the Lawrence Welk show.
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The Davy Jones animatronic particularly impresses me.