You can’t miss it. The Building can be seen from every area of the park. We know they repaired the roof and the boats have currently been sent off to be repaired and painted
Pirate Adventure
- Thread starter Harry
- Start date
With everyone talking about the ride system and boats, the biggest concern for me when it comes to Pitates is one thing... theming...
With what we've seen by the likes of adventure cove and Gold Rush, the theming on them seem to mostly consist of poorly painted, Barrels and wood planks, no figures, no custom props, etc, including the music being stock if you count music as being part of the theme.
I'm dreading they'd just theme the ride ride with uninteresting and boring basic looking buildings made up of fence panels, or even worse... screens and projections... shudders...
On the other hand, Pirates original buildings were very cartoon-like, more reminiscent of colonial architecture but simplified looking and popped out with life. And don't forget the incredible amount of animatroncis in the ride. The great thing with simple yet numerous figures is that they may break from time to time, but there's always another figure not far from it to distract you and draw your attention away from the broken effect, even when the figure is broken, its still an impressive looking prop. BUT... with Projections and a screens, when it's broken, it's immediately obvious and sticks out like a sore thumb. I remember seeing so many people on The Hauntings forum constantly saying that the projector above the portrait in the library was broken throughout the year... now imagine something like that but more obvious and on a larger scale for a whole season... yeah no thanks.
Back on animatronics, with the sheer size of the building, I think they'd best take the quantity over quality approach with Pirates if they'd ever want to live to the original rides amazing consistency. With how big the scenes were, I'd be pretty heartbroken if they brought it back and the new scenes only had 1 or 2 figures compared to the MANY figures the original ride had, it gave the ride so much life with so much movement happening around you. People would probably always compare it to the original and would laminate how much better the original was, and the park wouldn't be able to ignore that. By that point, would it even be worth bringing it back if it would be inferior to the original?
So yeah. All in all, if they want to do something with Pirates, they'd have to nail it in all aspects personally! They'd probably have to give it it Piraten in Batavia treatment, go full on old-school with detailed set pieces and numerous moving figures. Drayton seem to be great with ride systems, so I'm sure they'd excel with the boats, but again, it's the theming I'd be more more worried about.
With what we've seen by the likes of adventure cove and Gold Rush, the theming on them seem to mostly consist of poorly painted, Barrels and wood planks, no figures, no custom props, etc, including the music being stock if you count music as being part of the theme.
I'm dreading they'd just theme the ride ride with uninteresting and boring basic looking buildings made up of fence panels, or even worse... screens and projections... shudders...
On the other hand, Pirates original buildings were very cartoon-like, more reminiscent of colonial architecture but simplified looking and popped out with life. And don't forget the incredible amount of animatroncis in the ride. The great thing with simple yet numerous figures is that they may break from time to time, but there's always another figure not far from it to distract you and draw your attention away from the broken effect, even when the figure is broken, its still an impressive looking prop. BUT... with Projections and a screens, when it's broken, it's immediately obvious and sticks out like a sore thumb. I remember seeing so many people on The Hauntings forum constantly saying that the projector above the portrait in the library was broken throughout the year... now imagine something like that but more obvious and on a larger scale for a whole season... yeah no thanks.
Back on animatronics, with the sheer size of the building, I think they'd best take the quantity over quality approach with Pirates if they'd ever want to live to the original rides amazing consistency. With how big the scenes were, I'd be pretty heartbroken if they brought it back and the new scenes only had 1 or 2 figures compared to the MANY figures the original ride had, it gave the ride so much life with so much movement happening around you. People would probably always compare it to the original and would laminate how much better the original was, and the park wouldn't be able to ignore that. By that point, would it even be worth bringing it back if it would be inferior to the original?
So yeah. All in all, if they want to do something with Pirates, they'd have to nail it in all aspects personally! They'd probably have to give it it Piraten in Batavia treatment, go full on old-school with detailed set pieces and numerous moving figures. Drayton seem to be great with ride systems, so I'm sure they'd excel with the boats, but again, it's the theming I'd be more more worried about.
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Technically, yes, though at the time of Pirates development, they went under the name of Golding Attractions since the lead designer was Mark Golding himself, which he and his team previously designed Attractions such as the Jungle Palladium. After Pirates, they went under the more well known name Space Leisure, and themed rides like Splash Canyon, Shockwave, The Haunting, and Golden Nuggets!
I would love Space Leisure to return to Pirates, though at this point, maybe many of the original designers have left the company, which would be a bit of a worry. Maybe the new designers would be capable of recreating the original style of Pirates.
Thankfully Pirate Adventure wasn't the only Pirate themed boat ride they did, they also did Los Piratas at Bellewaerde, which was very similar to Pirates (both rides having the bridge sword fight and the lady hitting the man with a broom), but with the ride taking place in Mexico instead. So the company does have experience with Pirate themes and are pretty consistent with them.
As a whole, the original flair and style of Pirates made the ride very special personally, and it would be a shame if the park ever did something with the ride and removed those aspect of the Attraction.
I have shared these Images previously on this forum, however here they are again, it just goes to show the scale that the ride was on and how tired it was looking towards the end as the photos were taken in 2013/2014 I think, seeing these images brings back so many memories in the park when we used to visit 6 or 7 times a year 
The absolute joy these photos bring to this almost 45 year old man is unreal. Thankyou for posting!
I do wonder if the Bryan’s after the success of Thomas land jumped the gun with the hotel like we did get the Ben 10 coaster and Air race built in the main park but also in the last 10 years of operation they lost with out been replaced still away
The Black Revolver 2010
Excalibur 2012
Pirate Adventure 2015
Drayton Queen 2016
Splash Canyon 2017 but SBNO to 2021
Chair Lift 2017
Big Wheel 2017
G Force 2018 but SBNO to 2020
That is quite a lot of stuff to be removed with just Air Race taking over the Black Revolver.
Now with the Pirate Adventure they didn’t have the money to bring it up to H&S standards and they only started to remove the scenes cause of the fire in Germany.
The Black Revolver 2010
Excalibur 2012
Pirate Adventure 2015
Drayton Queen 2016
Splash Canyon 2017 but SBNO to 2021
Chair Lift 2017
Big Wheel 2017
G Force 2018 but SBNO to 2020
That is quite a lot of stuff to be removed with just Air Race taking over the Black Revolver.
Now with the Pirate Adventure they didn’t have the money to bring it up to H&S standards and they only started to remove the scenes cause of the fire in Germany.
The front not changed but down the side there’s new wooden railway sleepers been installed, a new gate and the maintenance door was open.
I doubt they’d do the gate for nothing and same with the door being open. Still optimistic for next year
Well a lot of work is happening around the pirate adventure building
They finished the wall
The Maintenance area looks empty now
Also there was a lot of noise coming from the other side of the building so I went and had a look from the zoo side and they started to take the pirate adventure theming off the side of the building
Also trees have been cut down
They finished the wall
The Maintenance area looks empty now
Also there was a lot of noise coming from the other side of the building so I went and had a look from the zoo side and they started to take the pirate adventure theming off the side of the building
Also trees have been cut down
Shawn TPWW while I was chatting to him did confirm that the next big project for the park was the Pirate adventure building and did confirm what I already knew that the building is currently been stripped and his promised a construction update some time over the summer months.
Pirate Adventure is being stripped?? What would they do inside do you think? Like a pirate rollercoaster orrrr idk
Think it is just finishing off removing the scenes left after the 2019 season. If they can get the ride system restored and the boats repaired or replaced then they can have whatever theme they desire in that building but they be stupid not to stick with Pirates as the Bounty, Dodgems and Jolly Buccaneer all fit in that theme already and the Arcade and Burger bar to easily just the area.
Elise
Administrator
It was partially stripped years ago for the auction as parts were sold on.
It would make sense to continue stripping down the building, especially if future development was at point of heavy consideration .
What I do know, is that the park are aware of how beloved Pirate Adventure is to guests.
I’ve heard rumours that work is going on inside the Pirate Adventure building to restore the ride to its former glory. I believe the work has begun now so the Ride can return next year. Last year Mack Rides boxes were seen outside of the building. As the ride has been SBNO for a decade the mechanics will need testing,the building brought up to Health,Safety and Fire regulations and finally any original scenes being kept wil need to be spruced up. All this work will take time. This work will be worth it though if Pirate Adventur returns next year.