Hailed by quite a few travel experts as the best amusement
park ride on the planet, I was excited to finally ride Pirates of The Caribbean: The Battle for Sunken Treasure.
Luckily the single rider line was open and extremely
underutilized as the single rider entrance was actually roped off, and you had
to ask a staff member to open the line for you.
Sadly, after my 2nd ride through I was told the
single rider line was closed for the rest of the day. Regardless, standby times
are quite reasonable and I rarely saw a wait time over 45 minutes. However,
waiting outdoors is not the most ideal way to spend a hot and humid Shanghai
summer afternoon, so plan accordingly.
The ride consists of naturally a boat that you sit on along
with 19 other passengers. I highly recommend sitting in the front row to be
fully immersed.
Without revealing too much, you are quickly introduced to
Jack Sparrow and pulled down via falling waterfall to an underground dome with a
spectacular 180 underwater canvas view.
Afterwards, you’re lead to a glistening treasure cave, something
that every kid inside of us who’s ever read any pirate novels has dreamed of.
This is followed by an epic battle with Davy Jones complete
with canon fire and huge giant projection screens. Through the use of huge
magnets underneath the boat, you feel like you’re being sucked up to the
surface.
For a moment you could easily forget you’re on a ride, but
instead on the set with Captain Sparrow himself. 
If you’re curious to view the whole ride, here is my video
below:
I can say without a doubt this is the best amusement park
ride in terms of spectacular design and visuals. Let’s put it this way, if
Disney wanted to charge $50 and only had this ride and TRON, I would gladly
fork over my money.
Well done Disney for upping the bar and creating a new piece
of Disney magic!
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