The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow is now in soft opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We took a trip through the attraction this past weekend and here is our brief rundown. There are a few spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution.
The attraction takes place in Soundstage 4, next door to One Man's Dream, in the former Narnia attraction space. The setup is very similar to Narnia, with an exterior queue running parallel to the building, with a number of switchbacks. Pirates of the Caribbean music plays through the queue, and there are monitors overhead, which were not operational during our visit, but it would seem likely that they will eventually play some video during the wait. The capacity for this attraction is low, around 50 guests per show, so it does not take that many people in the line to generate some significant wait times. We saw waits of between 45 and 60 minutes during the weekend.
Groups of approximately 50 guests are counted into a holding area, and given a brief introduction by a cast member. The doors open, and from here the guests are moved into the pre-show area. This short pre-show is conducted by a mysterious talking skull, which uses projection effects for animation of the face.
Leaving the pre-show, the doors open into the main show area. The room consists of a number of fully realized physical sets, and a curved wide screen in the background. The action takes place in a nearly 100% projected format, with all the characters appearing in various places throughout the sets. The story of the attraction follows the plot of a mysterious skull taking the guests through a number of challenges to see if they have what it takes to join the ranks of Captain Jack Sparrow's crew. This is done with a number of the villains from the Pirates movies appearing on screen, and the guests shouting, or stomping their feet to defeat the villain. Ultimately, Captain Jack Sparrow appears in a projected format and declares everyone there worthy of being a pirate. The roughly 8 minute show concludes by exiting to the outside.
The attraction is an improvement over the former Narnia attraction, but remains of a similar style. If you were not a fan of the Narnia attraction, you will likely not be a fan of this. It does not seem as though it offers much in the way of repeat viewings, and long wait times due to low capacity may well impact your decision to get in line. The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow officially opens to guests on December 6 2012, but will be in previews until then.
We've got some photos of the building exterior, and a look at both the pre-show and main show area below.
Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox