Official Pirates Lair Pictures, Information, and Reviews

[Dustysage]

Pirates Lair is scheduled to open Friday, May 25th. Rather than having a dozen or more threads with pictures or reviews of the new Pirates Lair at Tom Sawyer's Island, we'd like to encourage all of the early visitors to the island to post their photos, videos, and reviews here in this thread.

We realize that some pictures may end up being included with more comprehensive daily trip reports, but we think the readers would enjoy the convenience of a single informative thread for quickly finding pictures, reviews, and spoilers rather than searching through perhaps dozens of threads.

GENERAL PIRATES LAIR "DISCUSSION" THREAD LINK IS AVAILABLE HERE

Thank you, your help, pictures, thoughts, and videos are much appreciated!

Please post to this thread only if you have new information, pictures, or video to add.

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.

[RobotMirror]

No pics yet, of course, but this interesting map from today's OC register constitutes "new information":

[PhotoMatt]

9:02 a.m. this morning.

The first raft did not leave until 9:20. The "Suits from TDA" were everywhere. Official Disney video and photo crews were there as well.













These are the people who RAN to be first. No matter how hard I try I just can't do it. I mean I can run, but I just can't make a fool out of myself by ingnoring all the CM's telling me not to.

[hollywood1939]

Deadman's cove was awesome, the other parts were pretty basic.

















Davy Jone's heart beats and you hear him talk.










More to come...

[Mac Daddy]

More to come....lots more....I passed Jack, Mountain Girl and Froggy on my way home.

I just wanted to get the ball rolling...










Full descriptions and thoughts coming up. I'm sifting through 500 shots...

[PhotoMatt]

The runners depart. Too bad the raft didn't sink.

No, I am not kidding.











Ooops. I cut off the top right of the sign. I need a do-over please.



















































More to come.

[hollywood1939]

[hollywood1939]

Just a couple of more...

[hollywood1939]

Just a few more and I'm spent. Thanks for viewing.




No more sign...










The End.

[Mac Daddy]

LDF's Lair Shots and Thoughts - Part I

I arrived in the park this morning at 8:50, just before the rope drop:




As Photomat mentioned above, the Island was crawling with suits and CMs at 9:02:








I didn't run, but I did manage to make it on to the third raft. The line was already forming as I arrived:




A CM came through the line around 9:10 and said the official opening time was 9:30 but they would try to move the time up if they could. He was also passing out the Island maps:






The first lucky passengers take off for the island:





This guy was doing a fairly good job of keeping us entertained. He referred to himself as "Mad Eye Moonie" and is no doubt an avid JK Rowling admirer:



Finally....my raft arrives and we take off:

[PhotoMatt]

You turn this....



and you raise this.





















Yeah, you're gonna see alot of versions of this shot today. This is a gimme.






On the way back to civilization.



That's it for Pirate's Lair. I have lots more pics from this morning that I will post as an update.

[Mac Daddy]

LDF's Lair Shots and Thoughts - Part II

And so.....we set off for Pirate Island. WHOO HOOO! (Rather two faced of me to be excited about this as I have been ardently against the idea of scuttling Tom and his friends in favor of these Pirates, but more on that later... : )

It's been awhile since I've been able to take a shot from the middle of the river what with the rafts, the Columbia and the Mark Twain all down at the same time.



I overheard a cm talking on the way over and he said that the wait times might be longer today as at least one of the rafts was having some technical difficulties. Here's a look back at the line that was forming by 9:30:




My first stop was to be Dead Man's Grotto, and I quickly found it using the map.

However....



What they don't tell you is the entrance is on the dock side of the island. If you do not heed this warning, you will be trampled by many little pairs of feet....and an undead pirate or two.

Undeterred, I set off across the island to find the ENTRANCE to the grotto rather than the exit. As I came around the back side of the island, I came across the new bone cage and bilge pumps:










The bone cage offers a good photo op:



If you can get the rope bridge to stop bouncing, the view from the middle is really quite nice:



Upon rounding the island, curious guests gather around this sunken boat and wonder what the crank is for nearby. Hmmmm....




After a few times around and around...



A skeleton refuses to let go of his treasure...





"FASTER! FASTER!"



(More to come...)

Enjoying the pictures in this thread?
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[RobotMirror]

From the pirates swashbuckling/stunt show:

Enjoying the pictures in this thread?
Digg It HERE

[RobotMirror]

From Will Turners Blacksmith Shop:






From the Jack Sparrow photo opportunity (notice all the gold coins and treasure):




Some misc. pics:






Thanks for looking! Overall, I liked it - a little heavy on the skulls and skeletons, but I think kids will enjoy it - the theme seems to be well integrated into the island. The best part is the Dead Man's Grotto, where it seemed most of the resources, including lighting, cgi, and animatronics, went into.

[Mac Daddy]

LDF'S Lair Shots and Thoughts - Part III

(Cool shots everyone! Froggy - I left before the show began. Thanks for the great action shots. )

Continuing around the island looking for the entrance to Dead Man's Grotto, I came upon the caves and shipwreck at the far end of the island...

...which by now was swarming with kids...








Realizing that anyone who was 6'3" was taking his life in his hands, I ventured into the tiny caverns under the ship...









These were made for kids and hobbits....Kobe? Don't even think about it:



Upon rounding the bottom of the island, it became apparent that work was still continuing while guests were in the midst of their rampage. Maybe this raft will be avialable tomorrow to ferry guests across?



A door! To the forbidden area!



And....it doesn't appear to be locked!



I decided to pay my last repects to the old fort.



I ventured further around the corner and came upon another unlocked door! This one was OPEN! Whoo hoo!



DOH!



The new Jack Sparrow meet and greet on the far side of the island looks to be pretty popular:





The new fort bathrooms!



Wha...? If I'm not a "companion" can I use this one?



New fixtures. Where's Barfownz? We'll need a video of this.



(more to come)