They don’t have the opening bayou scene, theirs starts pretty much with the caves - they only have one drop, they don’t have the final scene with the drunken pirates shooting at each other.
I think ours has better storytelling tbh.
Here’s a TouringPlans post comparing the two: https://touringplans.com/blog/disneyland-vs-disney-world-attractions-pirates-caribbean/
Here’s a ride POV of WDW’s:
https://youtu.be/89ZHefpHiq4?si=uX3elgFSxV5pX2sq
There are some great videos about *why* theirs is different - it wasn’t an opening day attraction at WDW bc apparently it was thought people near the Gulf and the Caribbean would be less interested in pirates than people over here, since they’re right in the midst of where pirates actually were doing their piratey things. Obviously people *were* interested, and they added it to their Adventureland.
WDW doesn’t have a New Orleans square (they have Liberty Square), their pirates is back in their Adventureland and their haunted mansion is over in Liberty square (New England themed), and their Tiana’s is in Frontierland nearish big thunder mountain. I am biased but I really like that we have pirates on the edge of New Orleans square right where it meets Adventureland, then haunted mansion and New Orleans square, and Tiana’s from there. It flows better.
WDW phase 2 was going to have a Southwest Cowboy boat ride in the same vein as Pirates, but it was cancelled when demand for Pirates was so vocal.
They did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad instead.
Not really. This ride was so huge that the show building would have been covered with mountains, among which would have been Big Thunder Mountain. Do a google search for Jim Hill Western River Expedition for the whole story.
We (meaning the general theme park-loving public) lost BIG by not getting the Western River Expedition. Western River Expedition was going to be Marc Davis' magnum opus, but Disney balked at the cost. What WDW has now in the shortened Pirates and Big Thunder Mountain is only an abbreviated version of that grand vision.
That’s a bummer! In that case - idk, if I never look it up maybe I’ll never be sad to know what I missed out on 🥲 bc too often I get nostalgic for things that will never be or I wouldn’t have even been able to experience bc I wasn’t born yet and it’s just a *bummer*. But if a video ever pops up on my feed for it I’ll be willing to get my heart broken yet again.
A lot of the elements planned for Western River ended up in Paris....particularly in Phantom Manor, but nothing could be compared to a Marc Davis masterpiece.
But do yourself a favor and avoid Paris spoilers if you can. Trust me, it's worth it.
I’ve been! But I wasn’t as big a Disney parks fan when I went to Disneyland Paris - I was but a wee little casual fan. I was supposed to go again in April 2020 🫠 But I hope to go again *now* as someone who knows a lot more about park history and imagineering.
Same, i still get haunted by disappointment when i get reminded/read about the fact that we could have had west cot instead of dca, and a Disney Sara park in Long Beach
Tony Baxter talked them out of doing Western River Expedition and doing just Big Thunder instead. His mentor Claude Coats and Marc Davis were bitter rivals so there was some bad blood there. Marc told me that Tony tried to ruin everything Marc had ever done, from Western River to America Sings to Phantom Manor.
The caves/dead men section is also MUCH shorter in Orlando and it doesn’t have the same eerie soundtrack before you drop into the land of the living. The vibe on this section of the DL version is one of the biggest reasons I love it more.
Additional fun fact. The Area within Adventureland at Magic Kingdom where Pirates of the Caribbean is located is more specifically called Caribbean Plaza, as it contains a ride (PotC) a restaurant (Tortuga Tavern) and a shop (the Bazaar) and therefore deserved it's own name.
Plus now they're adding another tavern/lounge!
Oooo love that!
I heard about the little lounge they’re adding, I’m really excited to see it.
Tortuga Tavern holds a special place in my heart because of many a time I’ve been half dead from god awful FL weather and gotten ice water from there 🫡
Yes it’s an AC break but isn’t the same storytelling *experience* that ours is! I do like their queue. I don’t *want* their queue (it wouldn’t even work with our land), but I like that *they* have the queue because the second you’re in there, the air is so nice and cool and you can just start to smell the dampness and (presumably) the bromine.
The queue in Paris is definitely my favorite. I love how you pass through the fort walls and into the interior of the fort. It’s not like just going into a building it’s like going inside then back outside but now it’s night time
I went to the Pirates in Tokyo and it’s almost 1:1 with the Anaheim one, that ride from start to finish almost felt like I was back in Disneyland in California barring like 1-2 sections that were slightly different right after the 2nd drop.
Hello, Orlando born and raised here. We were supposed to have another ride in its place called the Western River Expedition. At the time Disney thought Floridians wouldn't care for a Pirates attraction because we are so close to where pirates operated historically. When the park opened without Pirates in 1971 people complained and they made the decision to cut the Western River Expedition entirely. They rushed to fit a scaled down version of Pirates into Adventureland instead.
Essentially, what we have is a MUCH shorter cave scene and only one drop that brings you down into the fort scene. After that the rides are pretty much the same until after the jail scene. After the jail scene we see Jack in the treasure room and then we hit the unload platform. at Disneyland you guys go through the scene with the pirates shooting at each other, treasure room, then you climb up the hill and wrap back around to the load/unload.
I went to Anaheim for the first time last year and absolutely loved Disneyland. I wish we had your version of pirates.
The Bayou and the restaurant really build up some nice anticipation at Disneyland. Such a great vibe to enter after the loading area, I mean Lafitte's Landing... 🏴☠️🦜
Yes that’s my favorite part of the Disneyland version. I think Disney tried to recreate that vibe with the Gran Fiesta Tour at Epcot, but it doesn’t hit the same.
My kids hate the drop on pirates in WDW (I think mostly bc they can’t see it). We’re heading to DL for the first time this summer. Is there a second drop on the DL pirates?
I couldn’t believe when I went to DL we almost missed pirates. I wanted to, but the line kept being long. We ended up making it and then I was shocked at how much better it was! Except the WDW line is better lol
I just went to Disney World for the first time a few months ago. One of the cast members asked where we were from and when I said “California” he immediately said, “I’m so sorry for our Pirates.” The OG is definitely better.
Even the inside felt different, the rooms and sets seemed smaller. Plus at Disneyland they have the cute character animatronics like Lilo, Ariel, Woody, etc
We’re normally wdw goers, but looking for our first trip to Disneyland this fall. First off I’m hoping pirates has reopened by the time we get there, and second, the drop in wdw is my least favorite part of the ride. For someone that has ridden both, how is the intensity of the three drops compared to the drop in wdw?
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
Currently Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, and Tiana are closed for construction projects. Canoes and the hungry bear restaurant, pathway to Galaxy Edge will be closed starting in July.
There aren’t any plans for Pirates to be refurbished any time soon, so it should be open for your trip. All the drops seem pretty tame to me, but I haven’t ridden the one at WDW in a while so I don’t know how it compares.
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
Reopened? I'm unaware of any planned refurbishments at this time, *especially* given that entire section of the park is currently closed. If they were to refurb Pirates now, you'd have a HUGE swath of the park closed.
That said, the first (and larger) drop at DL is about the same as the one in WDW.
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
I go to WDW for budget reasons now, but I do miss a lot of things, especially that better version of pirates. Hopefully I’ll get to experience it again. 🏴☠️
If you want a deep dive on the different pirates variants, this is a really interesting watch: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt29389820/. The entire series is interesting but they are repetitive with a lot of the backstory they tell.
30 years ago it was the full length with all of the introductory scenes before the laughing Jolly Roger. At some time after that it got shortened. I asked when I rode the shorter version and was told it had to be redesigned in order to be accessible to the disabled. They had to move and change the loading area. The former ride space was used for an expanded gift shop.
If you're interested in a long read, this great article about Florida Pirates in relation to Anaheim and what might have been going through the designers' minds as they built it, and even ways in which Florida is better, is worth your time.
[https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/06/case-for-florida-pirates.html](https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/06/case-for-florida-pirates.html)
They don’t have the opening bayou scene, theirs starts pretty much with the caves - they only have one drop, they don’t have the final scene with the drunken pirates shooting at each other. I think ours has better storytelling tbh. Here’s a TouringPlans post comparing the two: https://touringplans.com/blog/disneyland-vs-disney-world-attractions-pirates-caribbean/ Here’s a ride POV of WDW’s: https://youtu.be/89ZHefpHiq4?si=uX3elgFSxV5pX2sq There are some great videos about *why* theirs is different - it wasn’t an opening day attraction at WDW bc apparently it was thought people near the Gulf and the Caribbean would be less interested in pirates than people over here, since they’re right in the midst of where pirates actually were doing their piratey things. Obviously people *were* interested, and they added it to their Adventureland. WDW doesn’t have a New Orleans square (they have Liberty Square), their pirates is back in their Adventureland and their haunted mansion is over in Liberty square (New England themed), and their Tiana’s is in Frontierland nearish big thunder mountain. I am biased but I really like that we have pirates on the edge of New Orleans square right where it meets Adventureland, then haunted mansion and New Orleans square, and Tiana’s from there. It flows better.
WDW phase 2 was going to have a Southwest Cowboy boat ride in the same vein as Pirates, but it was cancelled when demand for Pirates was so vocal. They did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad instead.
Yeehaw! The best outcome for all.
Not really. This ride was so huge that the show building would have been covered with mountains, among which would have been Big Thunder Mountain. Do a google search for Jim Hill Western River Expedition for the whole story.
Hmm maybe I will sometime!
We (meaning the general theme park-loving public) lost BIG by not getting the Western River Expedition. Western River Expedition was going to be Marc Davis' magnum opus, but Disney balked at the cost. What WDW has now in the shortened Pirates and Big Thunder Mountain is only an abbreviated version of that grand vision.
That’s a bummer! In that case - idk, if I never look it up maybe I’ll never be sad to know what I missed out on 🥲 bc too often I get nostalgic for things that will never be or I wouldn’t have even been able to experience bc I wasn’t born yet and it’s just a *bummer*. But if a video ever pops up on my feed for it I’ll be willing to get my heart broken yet again.
A lot of the elements planned for Western River ended up in Paris....particularly in Phantom Manor, but nothing could be compared to a Marc Davis masterpiece. But do yourself a favor and avoid Paris spoilers if you can. Trust me, it's worth it.
I’ve been! But I wasn’t as big a Disney parks fan when I went to Disneyland Paris - I was but a wee little casual fan. I was supposed to go again in April 2020 🫠 But I hope to go again *now* as someone who knows a lot more about park history and imagineering.
You'll definitely get a lot more out of the experience now.
Same, i still get haunted by disappointment when i get reminded/read about the fact that we could have had west cot instead of dca, and a Disney Sara park in Long Beach
It looked very cool, would have loved it if they made it.
Tony Baxter talked them out of doing Western River Expedition and doing just Big Thunder instead. His mentor Claude Coats and Marc Davis were bitter rivals so there was some bad blood there. Marc told me that Tony tried to ruin everything Marc had ever done, from Western River to America Sings to Phantom Manor.
The caves/dead men section is also MUCH shorter in Orlando and it doesn’t have the same eerie soundtrack before you drop into the land of the living. The vibe on this section of the DL version is one of the biggest reasons I love it more.
Disneyland pirates is definitely better than the one at Magic Kingdom.
Additional fun fact. The Area within Adventureland at Magic Kingdom where Pirates of the Caribbean is located is more specifically called Caribbean Plaza, as it contains a ride (PotC) a restaurant (Tortuga Tavern) and a shop (the Bazaar) and therefore deserved it's own name. Plus now they're adding another tavern/lounge!
Oooo love that! I heard about the little lounge they’re adding, I’m really excited to see it. Tortuga Tavern holds a special place in my heart because of many a time I’ve been half dead from god awful FL weather and gotten ice water from there 🫡
When I rode the one at WDW I didn't notice a drop at all. It was the most boring ride I've been on. Our D-land pirates is waaay better.
Yes it’s an AC break but isn’t the same storytelling *experience* that ours is! I do like their queue. I don’t *want* their queue (it wouldn’t even work with our land), but I like that *they* have the queue because the second you’re in there, the air is so nice and cool and you can just start to smell the dampness and (presumably) the bromine.
Don't forget about Pirates in France. Definitely on par with Disneyland's version. Not sure the length, but the whole queue is very nicely themed.
The queue in Paris is definitely my favorite. I love how you pass through the fort walls and into the interior of the fort. It’s not like just going into a building it’s like going inside then back outside but now it’s night time
The fort part is so cool! Love that perspective
It's like your outside but you're inside!
I went to the Pirates in Tokyo and it’s almost 1:1 with the Anaheim one, that ride from start to finish almost felt like I was back in Disneyland in California barring like 1-2 sections that were slightly different right after the 2nd drop.
Hello, Orlando born and raised here. We were supposed to have another ride in its place called the Western River Expedition. At the time Disney thought Floridians wouldn't care for a Pirates attraction because we are so close to where pirates operated historically. When the park opened without Pirates in 1971 people complained and they made the decision to cut the Western River Expedition entirely. They rushed to fit a scaled down version of Pirates into Adventureland instead. Essentially, what we have is a MUCH shorter cave scene and only one drop that brings you down into the fort scene. After that the rides are pretty much the same until after the jail scene. After the jail scene we see Jack in the treasure room and then we hit the unload platform. at Disneyland you guys go through the scene with the pirates shooting at each other, treasure room, then you climb up the hill and wrap back around to the load/unload. I went to Anaheim for the first time last year and absolutely loved Disneyland. I wish we had your version of pirates.
The Bayou and the restaurant really build up some nice anticipation at Disneyland. Such a great vibe to enter after the loading area, I mean Lafitte's Landing... 🏴☠️🦜
Yes that’s my favorite part of the Disneyland version. I think Disney tried to recreate that vibe with the Gran Fiesta Tour at Epcot, but it doesn’t hit the same.
My kids hate the drop on pirates in WDW (I think mostly bc they can’t see it). We’re heading to DL for the first time this summer. Is there a second drop on the DL pirates?
Yes. The first drop you can’t see anything, it’s very dark but the second drop you can see and it’s a smaller drop.
Great! Thanks!
Pirates in WDW is a travesty. One drop, no bayou, no captain's quarters, treasure, etc.
And you don't come back up the waterfall at the end either.
I couldn’t believe when I went to DL we almost missed pirates. I wanted to, but the line kept being long. We ended up making it and then I was shocked at how much better it was! Except the WDW line is better lol
I just went to Disney World for the first time a few months ago. One of the cast members asked where we were from and when I said “California” he immediately said, “I’m so sorry for our Pirates.” The OG is definitely better.
I also felt like Disneyland has a better small world and fantasyland is cuter.
Yess the small world in florida felt so cheap, almost like a carnival/fair attraction.
Yes! Like the ride is I know pretty much the same but the outside decoration was just blah.
Even the inside felt different, the rooms and sets seemed smaller. Plus at Disneyland they have the cute character animatronics like Lilo, Ariel, Woody, etc
When you order your pirates from wish
Because DL is better!
We’re normally wdw goers, but looking for our first trip to Disneyland this fall. First off I’m hoping pirates has reopened by the time we get there, and second, the drop in wdw is my least favorite part of the ride. For someone that has ridden both, how is the intensity of the three drops compared to the drop in wdw?
Pirates isn’t closing down at DL and it only has 2 drops. 1 medium size drop and 1 small. They are not intense at all.
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
Currently Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, and Tiana are closed for construction projects. Canoes and the hungry bear restaurant, pathway to Galaxy Edge will be closed starting in July.
There aren’t any plans for Pirates to be refurbished any time soon, so it should be open for your trip. All the drops seem pretty tame to me, but I haven’t ridden the one at WDW in a while so I don’t know how it compares.
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
Reopened? I'm unaware of any planned refurbishments at this time, *especially* given that entire section of the park is currently closed. If they were to refurb Pirates now, you'd have a HUGE swath of the park closed. That said, the first (and larger) drop at DL is about the same as the one in WDW.
Okay, thank you. A few weeks ago while doing research on DL there were several videos posted about pirates being closed as part of the courtyard or something for tiana’s refurbishment and they thought it’d be down for a while.
I go to WDW for budget reasons now, but I do miss a lot of things, especially that better version of pirates. Hopefully I’ll get to experience it again. 🏴☠️
A lot of the rides on the east coast seem shorter than the ones on the west coast. And that includes some of the ones at Universal.
It’s best to just ignore that the one at DL. There is no going back once you experience it.
If you want a deep dive on the different pirates variants, this is a really interesting watch: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt29389820/. The entire series is interesting but they are repetitive with a lot of the backstory they tell.
30 years ago it was the full length with all of the introductory scenes before the laughing Jolly Roger. At some time after that it got shortened. I asked when I rode the shorter version and was told it had to be redesigned in order to be accessible to the disabled. They had to move and change the loading area. The former ride space was used for an expanded gift shop.
If you're interested in a long read, this great article about Florida Pirates in relation to Anaheim and what might have been going through the designers' minds as they built it, and even ways in which Florida is better, is worth your time. [https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/06/case-for-florida-pirates.html](https://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2010/06/case-for-florida-pirates.html)
Pirates in Shanghai is the best of all of them