WDW Pirates - I rode it today

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by RStar

...they removed the PC part of the ride that was so poorly instituted a few years back!

~Bob

They didn't remove it, they altered it slightly and it remains PC and lame.

As for the alterations as a whole, while I still find it an enjoyable ride, I fear that iSm may be right in that it has been altered to a point where it's lost its capacity to be a lasting experience. You just don't mess with perfection. There's a certain amount of tweaking that's fine to do (witness the continual improvement of the Auctioneer over the decades). Upgrade an effect or two, add a small, interesting element. But they can't lose track of what the essential elements are that make it a memorable classic. It's no coincidence, as iSm pointed out elsewhere, that two of the most beloved attractions in theme park history (Mansion and Pirates) share (or shared) the quality of having plausible sources for all the music and sound.

There's an undeniable difference in impact between "Holy crap, I'm in the middle of a pirate battle, all I hear is pirates yelling and cannon fire" and "Holy crap, I'm watching a Pirate battle, it's so exciting!" It's subtle, but there, whether the average guest is aware of it or not. There are thousands of theme park rides that people enjoy, but don't have the nostalgic power that Pirates has. So just because people are saying the still enjoy the ride doesn't mean that it hasn't lost that essential spark that made it ageless.

EDIT: Aw crap, this is the WDW thread. Sorry.