This Shanghai Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean Video Must be Seen to be Believed

You would think so, but POTC 5 special effects are not done by ILM. In fact ILM has only done a few movies for Disney recently, mostly Marvel and Lucasfilm in addition to Lone Ranger and Tomorrowland.

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WDW's Mansion is probably better than DL's at this point. The hitchhiking ghosts are definitely better.

 

From what I've viewed there's a lot of skeletons and rotting flesh and stuff - especially in the final scene.

 

Actually I'd have to say that the Hong Kong "Mystic Manor" pretty much blows the rest of them (Paris most certainly included) out of the water.

 

From what I've seen online, 'Mystic Manor' is very well produced.

And, I still like DL's 'Haunted Mansion' better.

 

I would say there are more skeletons, but only marginally. I'm not sure about rotting flesh, but it never stood out to me. In any version the "outside" part of HM/PM is where it goes downhill for me as it gets too silly.

 

I agree that WDW's Mansion is probably its one leg up over the DLR counterpart, but I personally don't like the new hitchhiking ghosts. The entire attractions is based on scenes that progress at a stately speed with some charming old-timey humor sprinkled here and there. And then you get to the hitchhiking ghosts where the obviously-projections are doing wacky zany things at a breakneck speed. It just doesn't mesh with the rest of the attraction

The footstep stairs and wallpaper eyes are pretty darn cool though!

I don't think there's all that much more dead stuff than in the US versions (in fact the main character, the Bride who appears several times, is living unlike in the US where nearly all the characters are dead), but the overall tone is undeniably more dark/gothic/macabre/whatever than the US counterparts. It definitely plays more to European sensibilities, since a lot of the local parks have spook houses with a similar tone. The lack of narration and the incredible score (surprisingly, based on the same old Grim Grinning Ghosts tune) also adds a lot to the dark tone of the attraction, IMO

And I agree that the final scene gets a little weird in Paris. In addition to that weird crystal/skeleton thing on the descent through the crypt, the "sunset" lighting in the town isn't especially convincing and makes it a little too easy to see the behind-the-scenes stuff going on around you

 

I wonder why Disneyland's HM never got the sound of creaking wood in the portrait gallery that MK version got?

 

It's tough to say. DL's improvements have been much more incremental through the years, slipping one or two things in while removing the holiday overlay. Perhaps they just haven't done a full audio overhaul of the stretching rooms yet, like how WDW's attraction got a top-to-bottom redo. Or maybe the additional equipment would somehow interfere with the holiday overlay (which uses some of that space for gobo lights, and would have audio tracks designed for a different configuration)

It's a very cool effect, so it would be great if DL could get it too. Then again, their stupid holiday overlay (and extensive closures to put it up & remove it) have made it so I haven't seen the attraction in years, so it doesn't particularly impact me either way

 

I seem to recall additional sound effects in the stretching room for the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' overlay.

 

There are surround sound giggling children's voices and other sounds after everyone leaves the room during the overlay. With those sound effects in the room you would think they could put in the creaking sounds during the regular time.

 

Counting AA figures in Shanghai's Pirates, I saw four. Anyone count more?

 

I thought ILM worked on the first four Pirates films? Why not Pirates 5?

 

I've always wondering what video camera they're using to get this level of quality in the video? It's pretty amazing. I used my little GoPro 3 last time in Shanghai and it wasn't nearly as good.