Dead Men Tell New Tales!

Disneyland has pre-opened it’s newly refurbed Pirates of the Caribbean ride. And the reviews coming back are pretty good.

Overall I am very, very impressed with how this rehab turned out. I was concerned about the Depp-ification of the ride, but I think they handled it just perfectly. There’s certainly new stuff to see, and new faces spouting new dialogue, but it’s all meshed perfectly with what has always been there.

The removal of the 1997 rehab figures and scenes is also a breath of fresh air. Aside from the Politically Correct junk that gone jammed in there, those World of Motion figures never quite gelled with their environments in my opinion. The lone exception being the conquistador guys they added to the Fort around ’00. But the new stuff and new figures really meshes nicely with the original surroundings.

[…] What impressed me the most, as someone who has ridden the ride probably over a hundred times in the last few years, was the amazing quality of the new audio. You can hear things that you never heard before, and individual lines and sound effects ring out as clear as day and really make the more complex scenes play much more effectively to the passing audience. Some of it is attributed to the hundreds (220 of ’em!) of new speakers that have been installed, and some of it is the digitalization of the original analog audio tracks. Combined, along with new audio added for the new figures, really makes the cacophony of sound that often bombarded riders make much more sense. The audio will blow you away!

It sounds like a good refresh of the ride, not a radical change. And it makes me want to go visit Disneyland over the Christmas holidays (which, yes, is insane to do).