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Fan of the Mouse
07-08-2004, 07:35 AM
I recently visited Disneyland for the first time in about 5 years and I was surprised on how many boats they have added to the Pirates ride. It actually removes some of the enjoyment out of the ride when you are pushing a boat in front of you and having a boat behind you pushing you through the entire ride. Both times we rode, we had to wait in the Jail scene while the other boats made the final climb.

The ride never seemed to have a huge line so I am wondering why not remove some boats and make the best ride at Disneyland an even more enjoyable ride for everyone.

It also looks "cheesy" when you have boats painted bright aqua green floating around, are these the new boats?

Has anyone ever heard anything on this. Is this a new temporary thing or is it permanent?

HorizonsA
07-08-2004, 08:01 AM
Well I have noticed that they are putting in new boats. They are painted to look wood-like, but they are white-ish grayish. I think they are slowly eliminating the colored boats and painting the wood-like boats.

DisneyDustin22
07-08-2004, 01:11 PM
yeah does anyone know exactly what the deal is with the constant backup in pirates lately? the past few times ive been on, during middle of the day when its busier, the boats all backup in the prison cell scene. and from there its a slow slow move to the hill. then once you get to the top, its a traffic jam into the load station again. i dont like entering the que and walking by all the stopped boats full of people while waiting to board.

splashmtngurl
07-08-2004, 04:38 PM
there may have just been a fluke during that period of time because i was in DL earlier this year (may 16th-----) and the ride was just as great as it was when i first remember riding it....like some 12 years ago. i never noticed the color, i am always to busy watching the scenery. i believe that the boat issue has something to do with weight distribution in the cars. The heavier boats seem to slow down more and then cause a backup....just seems like that thought, not sure if its true.

KIDinTHEkingdom
07-08-2004, 11:13 PM
As a frequent rider of pirates I have also realized the back up of the boats on Pirates. They add more boats to the attraction as the day goes on and the crouds increase. The downfall is that the lift for the boats can only bring up the boats in a certain amount of time and only a certain amount of boats can be on the lift at a time. This is the simple folly of dispatch times and what the lift can lift in a certain amount of time along with the folly of the Disney thought of load more and load faster.

BJW
07-08-2004, 11:46 PM
I think since we are in the summer months they probably added more boats to accomodate more people in the crowd. I think Al Lutz said awhile back that Emmer was trying to have more ride vehicles during the day. Before the new regime rides had longer lines with fewer vehicles due to the maintenance budget being cut. I think it's good they're thinking about the guests in the hot sun waiting to get in the building. However, I can see your point about wrecking the quality of the show.

HorizonsA
07-09-2004, 07:16 AM
yeah does anyone know exactly what the deal is with the constant backup in pirates lately? the past few times ive been on, during middle of the day when its busier, the boats all backup in the prison cell scene. and from there its a slow slow move to the hill. then once you get to the top, its a traffic jam into the load station again. i dont like entering the que and walking by all the stopped boats full of people while waiting to board.

I think part of the reason is that some people take so long to load the boats. One time, when I went on it, it took us forever to start because two seperate parties, people who didn't even know the people they were sitting next two were sitting in the same row! They had to reopen the air gates and let one party out of the boat then re-close the gates and then let us go. That's part of the reason why Space Mountain used to break down a lot because people would take forever to board causing rockets to back up and then when the staion gets so backed up, all rockets automatically stop. Same with IJA.

efoxx
07-09-2004, 07:32 AM
The total number of boats hasn't changed much over the years. the amount of boats available on any given day has recently increased. towards the numbers available back when the ride first opened. and I do remember back ups all the way back to before the jail scene way back in the sixties.

Alf
07-09-2004, 10:06 AM
I'll tell you that I was a bit bummed when I took my GF on Pirates for the first time ever !! and we got stuck in a long line of boats near the Pirate Ship scene... it was kind of a bummer for her and it sorta ruined the ambiance!... However we gave it another try near closing time and it was great! the boats were really spaced out and it was alot like I remember it!... Then we went on the matterhorn as the last ride and that line was so short..er.. but I digress :fez:

hbquikcomjamesl
07-09-2004, 12:10 PM
Yes, I noticed the "wood look" boats while I was eating dinner on the 4th. Also noticed that more-or-less every other boat was empty. Might have been a good time to pull some of the empties out. Then again, I was eating dinner around 10:00 (so that I could catch ALL the fireworks, and The Parade, and also because, having taken the "late" Walt's Footsteps tour, I'd had my lunch around 5:00.

Haven't ridden Pirates in a while.

Talk about ruining the atmosphere: did I ever mention the time I was riding it (I think it was either a New Year's Eve, or the 1980 Grad Nite) and there were a bunch of guys in the boat ahead of me singing a verse of "A Pirate's Life for Me" that definitely did not come from the pen of Xavier Atencio (something about "we rape the women and kill the men" and "and everybody's got a girl, except that <name>'s got a guy.")

Then again, if it was Grad Nite, well, I had an interesting graduation. The guy behind me in line was chanting some punk lyric about "mercenaries kill for pain."

Anybody ever get the feeling that the Pirates of the Caribbean learned the trade somewhere off the Cornish coast? Say, maybe somewhere around Penzance? :D