The Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction Bracket -- Round Six, Day One

Pieces of eight!

Funny how quickly the brackets move when there aren’t nearly as many seeds from which to select, huh? That’s how it is with the Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction bracket, surely. We’re now left with just eight options for you to vote on as we enter the sixth round. That, of course, means we’re down to just one matchup per day.

And I gotta tell you, today? Oh, today is a doozy of a vote. Today is a “Josh, you are history’s greatest monster, even worse than whoever is in charge of Ticketmaster” kind of day. Now, I can’t really pinpoint any notable patterns — such is the life of a person who writes these newsletters a few days in advance so he’s not rushing at the last second.

At this point, it’s possible that half of the remaining seeds will be attraction twins (meaning both versions of a given attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, naturally). For now, though, you have just one decision to make. Let’s go.

(1) Pirates of the Caribbean (DL) vs. (3) Rise of the Resistance: Like I said, this one’s tough. I certainly think it is. This is one of those times where I think to myself, “Hey, this really could’ve been the big finale.” (As I know some of you have pointed out to me with past brackets and past difficult choices.) Pirates of the Caribbean is better at Disneyland than at Walt Disney World. Rise of the Resistance is…well, I admit, I don’t know for sure, but I have to assume it is the same roughly speaking at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and in Galaxy’s Edge over at Disneyland. My understanding is that the ride’s the same in both places.

And that is the kicker for me. Rise of the Resistance is a remarkable Imagineering experience, and in a lot of ways, I remain dazzled at how they pulled off everything from the pre-show attack that leads into capture by the First Order, to the presence of AT-AT Walkers in the middle of the ride itself. But you can get that experience at both theme parks. (I want to quickly clarify before you ask: the reason why both versions of Rise aren’t in the bracket is that…well, as I understand it, the rides are the same in both places. No variation means no duplication in the bracket.)

Pirates of the Caribbean can be experienced in some form at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. But if you’ve been on both rides, you know they are not the same. The queues are different, the tracks are different…hell, they’re not even in the same lands. It’s a close one. But I vote for the pirates.

How about you?

Pirates of the Caribbean (DL)

Rise of the Resistance