no no no no no no yo ho ho

[spatch]

Ok. I need to save up now, take a personal day off if necessary, and make an emergency Disneyland visit before March 6th. According to Al Lutz, that's when they close down Pirates of the Caribbean for a 15-week rehab. When the ride reopens, it'll be updated and enhanced to include Captain Jack Sparrow and other characters from the big bang blockbuster movie. In fact, all of the town scenes will be devoted to Barbarossa and his crew searching for Jack.

You read right: The venerable attraction will finally be The Ride Based On The Movie Based On The Ride. Or, more precisely, The Ride Based On The Movie Based On The Ride Which Doesn't Exist In That Form Anymore. The multi-layered attraction meta-design here is making my head spin.

On the one hand, hooray for Jack Sparrow, everybody loves the swaggering rogue, I'm sure this'll boost attendance to be sure and anything is better than that horrid PC "oh the pirates aren't chasing the women, they're chasing the food!" update in the 90s, but...

But I want to ride the original one last time before it goes the way of Yesterdayland. I love Pirates of the Caribbean. I visited Disney World at the tender age of 6 and two rides immediately jumped out and captivated me: Pirates, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. When I returned home I built recreations of the rides out of my blocks an' everything.. And when I finally visited Disneyland in the late 80s and saw how the original version of the ride completely trumped the Florida version (thrown in hastily after the park's opening because too many guests were saying "Hey, where are the pirates?") I was in total love. I have the full ride audio at home, purchased back when Disneyland had this wonderful store where you could burn your own CDs of classic park audio. There've been times where I've sat down in a dark room, put the CD on, and imagined the entire ride all the way through.

And pretty soon that's all that'll be left for me. I know, selfish, isn't it? Grousing about a ride rehab that will only prove to be way popular (look at the seasonal Haunted Mansion/Nightmare Before Christmas makeover) and captivate new legions of six-year-olds, simply because I won't have the chance to say goodbye to the old one.

So, like I said. Time to save them pennies and dimes and find a winter weekend to run away. Then come back and get out my blocks.

Comments

[hemlock-martini.livejournal.com]

I'm still pissed that Disney World closed down the Nautilus ride without selling me any of the submarines. I was gonna make a bitchin' dragster out of it.

[heathbar27.livejournal.com]

You can crash with me if you do come. I only live about 20 minutes away now.

(Actually, the street I live on is also the same street that Disneyland lives on, just in different towns. Whee!)

[kaichou.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's quite the change. Last time I rode that ride was back in 2000, a whoppin' 5 years ago. :P I guess I'll consider myself lucky and remember it for what it was.. since there ain't much chance I'll be able to swing down to Disneyland by March. ^^

[betweenstations.livejournal.com]

Everyone wants Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

I have never been to Disneyland, but I remember loving Pirates at Disney World when I was little. When I went there this summer, though, it was antiquated and oh-so-disillusioning. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, of course, has been replaced by a Winnie the Pooh hunny pot blustery day type thing.

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

I went to Disneyworld for the first time at age 20. My two favorite rides were Pirates and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I think we rode Pirates 4 times in a row because there was no line that day. We only rode the Wild Ride a couple of times because it ALWAYS had a line and, hey, Pirates!

[ivorjawa.livejournal.com]

Oh, christ. Well. That might be a reason to go to LA.
I mean, other than bombing it.

[dogofthefuture.livejournal.com]

I'll go with you, and then I'm NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN AFTER THEY CHANGE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE STUPIDHEADS AND I WANT IT TO ALWAYS BE THE WAY IT WAS.

Oh god. I'm old, aren't I.

[mykwud.livejournal.com]

Sad news indeed. I was fortunate enough to visit the ride three times before implied-rape became "un-PC"

I've got a rip of the Pirates-ambience audio cd as well w/ the original press-conference at the end... do you know what other rides disney released in that series?

[spatch]

I've got the full Haunted Mansion audio as well, which was released on its own CD. The full Pirates track may have been released like that as well, but I burnt my own at the Disneyland Forever kiosk. I also got the original 60 second radio spots as well plus a song not used in the final ride.

And I have somewhere the episode of the Disneyland series about PotC, recorded off The Disney Channel back when the channel was worth watching 'cause they ran "Vault Disney" late at night. This was also before the PotC movie was released and they included the show in the DVD extras.

[mykwud.livejournal.com]

For your perusally pleasure, here's the cd i've got if it differs from yours:
http://myk.is-a-geek.net/pirates/

[spatch]

My Pirates audio is one 17-minute track. "Disneyland Forever" was this awesome store idea that let you build a playlist of various Disneyland audio (the opening day speech, the original recorded ticket booth announcements, environmental audio from the different lands, and many attraction recordings and whatnot) and have a CD burned for you on the spot with the stuff. If I remember correctly, in 2001 I got the Adventures Through Inner Space audio, some Main Street stuff, and the Pirates stuff. The Haunted Mansion CD was an "Anniversary" release all on its own.

What I really wanted, and what I remember feeling chagrined that they didn't have available for me, was the America Sings soundtrack.

POPGOESTHEWEASELHEEHEEHEEHEE

[tablesaw]

Damn, what I wouldn't give for Adventures Through Inner Space."

If you make it out, perhaps I will try to use my Annual Passport while you're here.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

ooh, trip... fun! sad about the modification, though. :(

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

WTF, NO! NO NO NO NO NO NON ON NONONONONONO!!

[single-doubt.livejournal.com]

Bleh.

Well, if you do happen to make it down here, and wouldn't mind the company, I'd love to spend a day at Dizzyland with the master coaster-rider again. That was an awesome day.

(I'd even promise not to be an hour-and-a-half late this time.)

[pecosy.livejournal.com]

That was a fun day. I think that was the last time I was there. Pirates with Spatch Singing the Song As You Go is the best way to do that ride.

[ctartchick.livejournal.com]

I wish I had the money to send Paul to ... well, either park, really. He hated it when they did the PC revamp of both rides (at Disneyworld, the women were chasing the pirates with brooms after the revamp, if I recall correctly). He'll hate this more.

Memories are memories, and nobody likes to see them change, especially when they were fine anyway.