WDW Pirates - I rode it today

[flippyshark]

Okay, so our Florida POTC is in soft opening mode, so I took a spin today after work.

THIS IS AN ALL SPOILER REVIEW

It looks like we got pretty much all the same new stuff. We have the Davy Jones mist curtain, we have all three Jack Sparrow appearances, we have Barbossa, movie score in the battle scene and the subdued movie music in the caves. So, what did I think? Allow me to bullet-point.

Davy Jones effect - It' s kind of a cool effect. Its the first thing you see on our version, just after your boat leaves the dock, and you turn the first corner into the cave. (For those who have not visited our park, we haven't got a Blue Bayou, and the only two scenes in our cave are the beached skeletons and the shipwreck. Our one very tiny drop comes after those two scenes, and leads directly into the fortress attack.) The main weakness with it is, it looks and feels like projected video. Davy Jones is seen in close-up, full face, which really adds to the TV-ness of it. If the image were instead something whispy and ghostly, I would have liked it a lot better. Also, out here at least, the waterfall illusion was not at all convincing. As an introduction to the rest of the ride, well, it's okay. I wouldn't cry if it went away. meh.

Also, our shipwreck scene did not get the new effects you all apparently got.

Talking Skull - Ours used to occur after the shipwreck and just before the drop. Well, he wasn't there at all today! Maybe they are still working on him. Anyway, there was a cast member seated near the drop area, and she kept shining a flashlight beam on the boats as they went by, and saying, in a really snotty sounding voice,"No standing up!" and (my favorite) "No flash photography." This while shining a flashlight on us. This had better be a temporary situation. (grrrr)

Jack Sparrow #1 - He is indeed a convincing simulation of the real thing. Ours is standing in between two dressforms, rather than behind. (From the video I have seen, it looks like California Jack kind of hides behind the dressmakers form, moves around and peeks out from behind and from the side. Ours stands still in one place and ducks and weaves. His feet are in view and firmly planted in one spot.) Everyone oohed and aahhed when they saw him.

Jack Sparrow #2 - This looks just like y'alls. Our "pooped pirate" has been nicely upgraded, and now holds a key and has the same dialogue as CA. A bit of a bummer, his voice over the last several years has been that of my Kodak boss, Gary Rorman. Gary was only heard in our Florida "politically corrected" version. It was fun to ride through with people, point to him and say, "that's my boss' voice." No longer. Anyway, this scene is fine. I spent so much time looking at the new figures, I did not even notice who was chasing whom in the background.

Jack Sparrow #3 - Our POTC has always ended just after the prison scene, with an abbreviated finale. We used to see a treasure room, in which two army guards were bound and gagged, tied to chairs and watching helplessly as three or four pirates shot back and forth at each other. Now, that same treasure room is occupied by Jack, and all those other figures are GONE! Yes, this always humble finale has become less than what it once was. Also, I couldn't hear a word Jack was saying. (He is talking to a parrot in our version, instead of to the guests going by.) This ending came off as really abrupt and anticlimactic to me.

So, in all, our new version takes away while it gives. Johnny D is cool and all, but I walked away a little dispirited. We'll see how I feel on repeated visits. (And someday, I will be able to compare it to the D'land experience.)